“Get Up to Speed” Videos

Last year, Sport England awarded South London Orienteers £3,850 for a project to help teenagers develop the orienteering skills needed for more technical courses.

This is our “Get Up to Speed” project.

As part of this project, we have produced a series of eight short videos. The videos are presented by athletes from the GB Orienteering team and are filmed in different locations.

The videos aim is to help juniors deal with more technically demanding courses, but they can also be used by newcomers wanting to “get up to speed”. Each video focuses on a specific orienteering skill.

The Playlist

One video per week is launched each Friday at 5pm during January and February. The video release is linked to races and coaching sessions taking place across the South East: watch a film, focus on a technique and have a successful run.

All the videos were produced by SLOW Development Officer Sarah Brown, with editing by Katherine Bett of Southern Navigators.

Newcomer’s Video

We realised as the videos were made it would be good to have a video to inform and guide beginners on what to expect at their first orienteering race. SLOW decided to fund this and we were delighted that Graham Gristwood agreed to host – his enthusiasm and expertise add a lot. Filming took place near Stirling and we were very lucky with the weather for the time of year, with sunshine complicating and permitting some of the shots.

The film covers the orienteering map, courses, controls, equipment and what to wear, and ends with Graham linking to the series of Skills Videos so that once beginners have the guide they can easily see explanations of techniques to help them improve.

Further reading: please see our introduction to orienteering.