Event spotlight: British Night Championships 2025

The planning process

I am a project manager and engineer professionally, so I am no stranger to planning and problem solving.  I am naturally inclined to plan a long time in advance which I find takes a lot of the stress out (although not all!).  The most rewarding moments of event planning were the interactions with others – members of the event team, landowners and suppliers, all of whom were a real pleasure to work with.  Finding a solution to a problem is always a good moment, and there were a few of those during the preparation.

The process of securing permission for the event started in October 2023. We began with the Touch Estate, that owns the moorland and the deciduous woodland. They took some convincing as the area has not been used since 2015.  However, they were supportive in principle and were responsive throughout.  It soon became apparent that we would not be able to accommodate parking at the area, which led to a rethink but conclusion that we could (in principle at least) shuttle competitors to the area by bus.  As courses were developed, we worked closely with the estate to agree the extent of the area and crossing points, this involved consultation with the tenant farmers and some tweaks to courses to mitigate their concerns.  Further consultation was necessary for the establishment of marquees and a contingency plan if the buses were not able to turn/drop off at our preferred location.

The middle of the event area is owned by Forestry Land Scotland.  FLS were supportive but their response was a blow as they advised that felling was planned and that there is a protected bird’s nest within the only runnable woodland on their land, which consequently we could not use. Fortunately, the FLS environment team were pragmatic and agreed to courses passing on the track relatively close to the nest site.  This meant that the only way to include the moor within the event was to have a section of dead running through the FLS area to join this to the woodland below.  We hope that the runners on courses 1 & 2 agree that this was an acceptable compromise to make.

The final piece of the jigsaw was the park and ride.  As seems common these days, we struggled to get a response from the local authority and had to rely on tacit rather than explicit approval.  This remained a considerable risk to the event, particularly when combined with uncertainty over how busy the car park would be on the night

One party that we did not think of consulting was PetroIneos, who own the pipeline that runs through the field where the marquees were.  One of their representatives showed up just as the marquee erection was completed and instructed us to remove them as they were above the pipeline!  Thankfully a few minutes of friendly blethering led to a compromise that averted an accommodation crisis by moving the end of one marquee, so it wasn’t directly above the pipeline.

Looking back, the only thing I would have preferred to have used a different car park so that we had full control over that part of the event, and to reduce the uncertainty associated with permissions.  We received about half the entries in the week before they closed, this was fairly nerve-wracking!  Having a stepped entry fee should help with this.

Event day

We had a total of 318 entries which we were delighted with.  We had hoped for 300 or more but were conscious that it was a long way to travel for many; we were being fairly blunt about the technical complexity of the area and competency requirements; and that the entry fee was quite high.

There are few areas in the UK that offer more technical orienteering than is available at Touch.  In the end we were very fortunate with the weather, this could have added another significant level of challenge.

It was hugely rewarding to see so many people enjoying the anticipation and experience of their run.  There was a fantastic atmosphere around the marquees after the event, which was great payback for all the effort.

Seeing the weather forecast become more settled and for the weather to transpire as it did on the night was a great relief and made a huge difference to the level of comfort of all involved!

It’s been lovely to receive such a lot of positive feedback from people after the event and to know that our efforts were appreciated. In particular, the feedback from competitors immediately after and since the event confirms that the planner, Alasdair Mcleod, made excellent use of the terrain.  The marquee was buzzing with stories being swapped after the event.

The main event was followed by a UKOL-ranking event at Plean Country Park, organised by FVO member Rob Truswell. Speaking of the event, he said: 

“The main function of event at Plean was to help people make a weekend of the British Night Championships. We had 318 participants, and also had about 30 volunteers on the day, many of whom had already done a shift at the Night Championships (I lost count because people just turned up and started helping unbidden!).

Some of the volunteers were members of the Scotland West Area Team (juniors and parents), for whom the Plean event served as a fundraiser. A great day was had by all.”

Our volunteers

Our volunteers formed an integral part of the event. We had forty offers of help from club members, however we were keen to avoid competitors needing to help as well, so in the end we had 34 club members plus 10 mountain rescue team members.  In all there were just under 70 shifts that these volunteers fulfilled.

We are hugely grateful to everyone for coming out to help.  Particular thanks go to Neil Polwart for looking after the park and ride; Rona & Jonathan Molloy, Neil Conway and Chris Godfree for leading the start teams and for everyone involved in managing the starts so effectively and doing a great job of tidying up; Will Hensman, Brad Connor and Dave Coustick for their IT services and dealing with some challenging issues on the night; and everyone involved in managing vehicle movements for keeping everyone safe.

It was a great pleasure to work with Alasdair Macleod (planner) and Duncan Archer (controller) to plan the event.  Alasdair became a father the weekend before the event and his role was very ably filled by Paul Hammond on the night itself. 

What I would say to those who are looking to join their first major event...

Go for it!  If you enjoy orienteering, then this is surely the ultimate challenge.  The courses at the Championships should be of a high standard in technical terrain so you are likely to be in for a treat.  If you are not very experienced then it’s important to get used to night orienteering in advance, you’ll enjoy the event much more as a result.

British Night Championships 2025 results

With thanks to Colin Matheson for providing images from the night.