The public get a taste of Orienteering at WOC 2024

Together with the support of WOC, Scottish Orienteering, British Orienteering and Enrich Education, four days of free family activities took place. Launching with the first day in the impressive finish arena of the Individual Sprint Finals, with a festival atmosphere and Edinburgh Castle as a backdrop, a Maze provided an excellent opportunity for young children and plenty of adults unfamiliar with the sport to try their hand at the challenge.  

Over 200 people enjoyed the challenge with the youngsters having three or four goes attempting to beat their personal record.  

Saturday to Monday saw the activities move to the popular Meadows recreational area of Edinburgh. The Maze was the star of the show with the addition of three short orienteering courses to give people a real flavour of what orienteering is all about.  

The activities proved extremely popular with new families, adults and a number of elite athletes giving it a go as they took a gentle jog around the park on their day off.  

Peter Brooke Operations Manager commented “It was fantastic to see so many new people enjoying the activities. The Maze and courses available saw around 500 people take part over the four days. With the majority being young children and insisting on having three or four goes each, it goes to show just how engaging Orienteering is. Hopefully all who gave it a go will have gone away inspired by the whole event and take up orienteering in the future. To quote one parent, we didn’t realise just how fun orienteering was” 

In addition to the activities, on the Friday and Sunday, an information gazebo was within the arenas to speak to orienteers and members of the public to discuss orienteering and explain what was taking place to those unfamiliar with the sport.  

We’d like to thank WOC, Scottish Orienteering and Enrich Education for their support during the weekend who helped make everything happen and look forward to hopefully seeing lots of these families enjoying orienteering in the future.