The Series

Welcome to the LVO WEE Series 2007 web site. The Wednesday Evening Events go local this year with 3 Series over 3 Months in 3 Regions with 3 Coordinators. With some promotional activity in each area we hope to extend participation and also hope that our regular WEE participants as well as club members will get into the habit of travelling a little further. A number of LVO members will make their debut into the world of event planning, so do come along and support them.

In May we go to the County Armagh events with Fiona coordinating. There’s a WEE break on the last week of May for a Mountain Bike event (Details on the LVO fixtures page) before heading to South Antrim in June with Wilbert coordinating. The series returns to the capital in August with Susan and Davey coordinating in Belfast Parks. A grant application has been submitted to Belfast City Council to allow new areas to be mapped with more publicity and the possibility of free entry!

The Format

This is an informal series of events aimed at providing some local mid-week competitive courses, focusing on the social side. Starts will be between 7pm and 7:45pm sharp. No starts will be available after 7:45pm. Courses will also be closing at 8:30pm sharp and controls lifted from this time onwards. If you think you'll be out longer than 45 minutes please come along early! The reason for closing courses at 8:45pm is due to fading light and safety issues. In particular check the times for the August events as they may start and finish even earlier.

There will be helpful advice and coaching available for new-comers. The entry fee is £2.50 per person which will include a pre-printed map and also hire of a SportIdent Card (also know as a SI Card or dibber) if required for the night. The events can be treated as either Park-O for the experienced orienteer, a come-and-try it for the new comer, or a simple walk in the park for anyone!

The plan is for two events to be available each night: a short and a long course. The short course will be of an easy 'yellow' type standard of 1.5 - 2.0km distance. The longer and harder 'light green' type course will be approximately 4.0km depending on the area, though probably somewhat shorter in the park venues.

The Points

A separate winner will be declared for each of the 3 series. Points will be awarded depending on performance, and the best 3 results from each series will be used to determine the winner, so if you have to miss a week you will still be in contention.

The aim of the handicapped points system is to enable everyone to compete on an equal footing. Each competitor will be allocated a Percentage Adjustment Factor depending on their age class. Thus if your age class is an M40 (men aged 40-44), the adjustment factor will be 90%. If you take 30 minutes to run a race, your handicap time is 30 minutes x 90% = 27 minutes. This handicap time will be used to work out the order for points. If you do not indicate your age class on the registration slip, then the handicap time will equal your actual course time. The winner each evening on both courses will be awarded 100 points. Second place gets 99 points, 3rd place gets 98 points and so on.

The last night of each series will conclude with a simple BBQ with prizes to be awarded to the winners of each course. There will also be best newcomer prizes for those who have not participated in the WEE Series before as well as spot prizes – you have to be there to win! So plan to stay on for a hot dog and chat over your course.

An innovation this year is an Adult Child Contest. Aimed at getting children and parents to compete at their own level and in particular to give the kids a tool to get their Dad off the sofa for an evening! The child runs the short course while the adult runs the long course. Simply enter the name of the partner on each Registration Card. Best combined points score wins. The child must compete unassisted and be under 14 on 31 Dec 2007 (ie class M/W14 or below). The adult must be over 18. Again there will be a prize for those who have not competed in the WEE Series before.

The Electronic Stuff

We will be using pre-printed maps and electronic punching this year for all events.

For anyone who has not used electronic punching before - don't worry. There will always be someone available to explain what happens. The benefits are instant overall results, split time results for everyone, and a much more appealing overall experience for participants - new and old alike. We will be using the latest version of the SportIdent equipment. So, if you've got your own SI card - bring it along, if not - we'll lend you one for the night. If you want to purchase your own SI card you can buy these on line from SportIdent UK

All competitors will be issued with their own pre-printed map on the night, which they can then keep as their souvenir.

All that remains for us to do now is to encourage as many people as possible to come along on the Wednesday nights. The cost is only £2.50 per person (including map and free hire of SI card).

To understand a little bit more about the skills involved, there is a wealth of material available online. Two useful starting points are:

• BOF - New to Orienteering
• IOA - Beginners

However, the best way to find out about the sport is simply to come along and we'll explain everything to you first hand.

Further Information

Send an email to WeeSeries@niorienteering.org.uk or telephone Stephen on 028 9268 3812 for any further information on the overall series. It would also be appreciated if leaders would let us know if any groups (eg scouts, guides, schools) are planning to come so that we can have sufficient maps printed.