SWELL 2026-27 series

The new series for South and West Essex Local League (SWELL) gets underway next month.

The League is run by HAVOC and CHIG, with SOS hosting one or two events each series as well. The events are held on either a Saturday or Sunday between September and June each season.

The programme for this series is as follows:

• Baddow Ridge East - 6 September

• Epping SE - 13 September

• Thorndon Park North - 4 October

• Bedford’s Park - 22 November

• Epping NW - 6 December

• Hadleigh Park - 24 January

• Warlies Park - 14 March

• Thorndon Park South - 4 April

Full details of the series can be found here.

World Championships

Congratulations to Dominique Lazanski for her recent participation in not one but two World Orienteering Championships: the Biathlon in Sweden and the Masters in Poland.

The Biathlon combines orienteering and shooting with a .22 rifle, and this year’s world championships took place in the beautiful rolling countryside and forests of Borås 6-9 August. Dominique took part in all three events - the Sprint, the Relay and the Classic.

A scheduling clash meant that Dominique missed the Sprint event at the Masters in Rzeszow (6-14 August) but she made it through to the W50B finals in the Middle and Long events, where she finished 15th and 34th respectively.

A very demanding but enjoyable schedule - well done Dominique!

Lake District 5 Days

Well done Iain Ambler, Kostya Lutsenko, Alex Lutsenko and Ray Weekes for taking part in the Lakes 5 Days festival of orienteering 2nd to 7th August. 

The weather was "mixed" and some of the courses were very challenging, but there were smiles and a strong sense of achievement at the end!

Orienteering in the Bavarian Forest

Well done to Jacob Stevens for coming 16th in the M50 class at the Bavarian Forest Orienteering festival. More than 650 competitors entered the five day event, and each person’ score was based on their best four days.

Not everyone likes having their photo taken…

Celebration Event

Help up celebrate our 60th Anniversary by coming to our Sprint event in Chigwell School on Saturday 8 August. This is where it all started under the leadership of Michael Brandon, one of the Masters at the school.

There are three courses available, and two rounds of sprints. Bring a picnic and make a day of it! Click here for details

Sprint finish

Well done to the two CHIG teams who competed in Saturday’s British Sprint Relay Championships in Bristol. In the Elite class, CHIGwell fast (Heather Muir, Joe Toller, Harold Wyber) finished 18th, and in the Ad Hoc class Epping Awesome (Iain Ambler, Olly Toller and Tony Maycraft) finished 19th. The full results are available here.

L-R: Tony Maycraft, Harold Wyber, Iain Ambler, Joe Toller, Olly Toller, Heather Muir

Elite course, Leg 1

Dominique’s Danish double

Congratulations to Dominique Lazanski for her double podium finish in this weekend’s Biathlon Championships held in Denmark. On Saturday Dominique finished second in her age group in the Long/Classic, and on Sunday she finished first in the Sprint! The full results are available here.

Dominique after Saturday’s event, on the left

Top of the podium on Sunday

World Cup results

Congratulations to Heather Muir for being selected to represent Australia in the Orienteering World Cup being held in Sweden this weekend. She finished 103rd in the Senior sprints on 30 May and 19th in the mixed sprint Relay on 31 May. Well done Heather - we’re all very proud of you!!

Southern Country Park

On Saturday 30 May we held a "Come and Try It" session in Southern Country Park, Bishops Stortford to introduce the sport to the local community. Twenty people took part, aged between 10 and 73, from a wide range of backgrounds including some runners from Bishops Stortford Running Club. There were four courses to cater for all levels of experience and ability, and it was great to see many participants complete one course and then move on to the next level. Indeed we had some who went from Easy to Medium to Hard: quite an achievement given the very warm weather!

Everyone seemed to enjoy their first taste of orienteering and hopefully we will see some of these new faces again at forthcoming CHIG events.

A big thank you to Tony Maycraft for planning the courses and to all those who helped on the day.

If you missed our event don’t worry - you can still orienteer round Southern Country Park any time you like by using the newly-renovated Permanent Course. You can either print off a map, or download the MapRun app to your phone and it will beep whenever you reach one of the posts. It’s all free - just click here for further information.

Canterbury tales

Well done to Harold Wyber for winning the Mens Open course at the Canterbury City Race Weekend. Harold was first in Saturday’s City race, and second in Sunday’s two Sprints.

There was a good club turnout at the event, with Donatas Tumaitis, Iain Ambler, Jacob Stevens, Thomas Elgood, Joe Toller and Ray Weekes all enjoying the Canterbury sunshine.

The results are available here.

GLOSS Series 2026

GLOSS is a series of races run by the clubs in and around London. There are two courses: the GLOSS course which is about 3½ to 4½ km (with optional extension to around 6 km) and is of moderate navigational difficulty and a ‘Yellow’ course which is about 2km with easier navigation.

There are five races this year, starting with Epsom Downs on 28 June and finishing at Beckenham Place Park on 25 July.

The series includes an inter-club competition for the prestigious London Bus trophy. Each club’s best four events will count towards their series score. The best six handicapped times count towards each club’s event score.

Full details can be found here.

Top of the league

Congratulations to Donatas Tumaitis for topping the 2025-26 Kent Orienteering League on the Blue Course. The League covered ten events, starting with Capstone Country Park on 18 October and ending with Shooter Hill on 16 May. Overall League positions were based on each competitor’s best five scores, and Donatas finished first on Blue with the maximum possible score of 500 points. The Blue course was very closely contested this year, with Donatas’ nearest rival finishing on 499.8 points!

This is the second year in a row that Donatas has claimed the Blue title - what a fantastic achievement!

Full details of the League are avalaible here.

Registration now open

Registration for our 16 June Wanstead Flats event in this year’s London Park Series is now open.

Wanstead Flats is the southernmost portion of Epping Forest. It offers an ideal mix of open grassland for high-speed running combined with a complex path network, patches of woodland, thickets and ponds for technical depth. 

The area has been recently resurveyed, and both long and short courses will use an A3 map at 1:5000.

The event centre is the Holly Tree pub.

Register now by clicking here

Night vision

Congratulations to Campbell Walsh for winning the “long” 2025/26 Night Series organised by SLOW. More than 150 orienteers took part in the series (five long course events between last November and this March) and Campbell finished top of the league with 299 points (out of a maximum of 300) - a fantastic achievement!!

Three other CHIG members took part: Tom Elgood who finished 43rd, Adam Dent 55th and Iain Ambler 115th.

The full results can be found here

Campbell (4th from the left) with his trophy

Come and Try It!

Want a new outdoor challenge? Then try Orienteering - a sport that challenges the mind and the body.

We are holding a free taster event at Southern Country Park, Bishops Stortford on Saturday 30 May. You can arrive at any time between 10:00am and 11:00am, and the event finishes at midday.

The event is suitable for all ages and abilities, and you can take part on your own, with friends or as a family.

We will provide everything you need - courses, maps, guidance and encouragement. Just bring some good outdoor shoes and a sense of adventure!

We will be based in front of the car park in Thorley Lane East, Bishops Stortford, CM23 4BH (what3words: piper.scar.direct). Parking is very limited so please come by bus, by bike or on foot where possible.

If you are driving then please car-share and park in either Moor Hall Lane or Milliners Way, marked in red on map below. From here you can reach the event by walking from the junction of these two roads (what3words: rope.boots.spike) through the Park following the red and white tapes. This will take you approximately 10 minutes.

Any questions? Send us an email

Can’t make it? You can enjoy our permanent course in Southern Country Park whenever suits you - click here for details

Safety! Orienteering is an adventure sport and you take part at your own risk

London Park Race 2026

CHIG is proud to be part of the 2026 London Park Race programme - details here.

There are 10 events taking place on Tueday evenings between 19 May and 21 July, all based near a railway or tube station - making them very accessible.

Each event is an orienteering race - instead of running along a pre-marked route, you navigate from control to control. Competitors start at one-minute intervals and the quickest person back, having visited all the controls in the correct order, wins.
At each control-point, which is marked by a distinctive flag, you "punch" the SI-card you will have been given, into the electronic timer. This proves you've been there and also means you get a printout of your split times at the end.

CHIG’s event is at Wanstead Flats on 16 June.

London calling…

There are just three weeks left to submit your entry for a great weekend of urban orienteering hosted by CHIG and DFOK.

On Saturday 28 March it’s the streets of Beckton, with Start Times between 12:00 and 14:00.

On Sunday 29 March it’s the streets of Canning Town, with Start Times between 10:30 and 14:30.

Registration closes at 16:59 on 27 March - so click here now to secure your place!

British Championships

Well done to all the CHIG members who took part in this year’s British Orienteering Championhips 28 February - 1 March, held in Wales.

Day 1 was the Long Championships at Carreg Goch, which rises to 558m and, according to the flyer, 'this extensive area is wild and remote and showcases the best that the Bannau Brycheiniog terrain offers. It will be a real adventure, especially if we get a misty day'. Turns out there wasn’t much mist but there was plenty of sun, wind, sleet and hail! To get some idea of the conditions take a look at these official photos​.

Altogether 6 club members travelled to the Welsh hills to compete with the nation's best orienteers:

• Harold Wyber finished 34th on M21E

• Donatas Tumaitis 13th on M40L

• Jacob Stevens 31st on M50L

• Iain Ambler 33rd on M50L

• Heather Muir 15th on W21E

• Joanna Qiu 11th on Orange.

Day 2 was the Relay Championships at Margam Country Park and CHIG entered two teams:

• CHIGwell fast: Donatas Tumaitis, Jacob Stevens and Harold Wyber

• Epping awesome: Iain Ambler, Chris Barling and Jeff Pakes (from Quantocks Orienteering).

CHIGwell fast finished 21st in the Mens’ Premier race, and Epping awesome finished 7th in the Adhoc-S race.

CompassSport Trophy qualifier 2026

Congratulations and thank you to all 22 club members who made the journey to Brandon Country Park on Sunday - our biggest team in the CompassSport Trophy qualifying heats for many years. We didn’t qualify for the final but 6th place was very commendable and there were some outstanding individual performances including:

• 1st place for Heather Muir on Women’s Blue

• 2nd for Philippa Allen on Women’s Green

• 3rd for Donatas Tumaitis on Men’s Short Brown

• 3rd for Olly Toller on Men’s Orange.

The full set of results can be found here.

Introduction to Orienteering course

CHIG are hosting a 6-week basic instruction course for adults in NE London from 18th April through to 23rd May 2026, taught by a British Orienteering qualified coach. No prior experience necessary. Each session lasts 90 minutes.

You’ll learn:
How to read an orienteering map and visualise the terrain ahead of you
How to use the compass to take you where you need to go and judge distances 
Tactics for getting where you need to go quickly and accurately
How to get round your first orienteering course
How an orienteering event works and what it takes to race

The programme:
The weekly sessions are held in local parks and forests, progressively building up your technical skills and culminating in a closed competitive course.

Sessions are on a Saturday morning 11am-12:30pm.

18th April – Fairlop Waters Country Park: Introduction to Orienteering and Basic Map Skills
25th April – Fairlop Waters Country Park: Compass Skills and Map Orientation
2nd May – Hainault Forest: Navigational Techniques
9th May – Hainault Forest: Route Planning and Decision Making
16th May – Epping Forest: Advanced Map Interpretation skills
23rd May – Epping Forest: Orienteering Competition

Cost:

£60 for all six sessions.  

Registration:

Click here to register. Places are limited, and allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.