Street Orienteering in the Capital

Written by Vinh-Phuong Hoang, SLOW Street-O series coordinator.

How SLOW's Street 'O' series has evolved

The series has grown over the years since its initial inception in 2003 but the concept remains the same: a one hour score event with social held monthly through the winter.

What started out as a SLOW member club night is now an open event and attracts a large number of people not in any orienteering club. Often it is someone’s first experience of orienteering. The events regularly get over 80 people, which is a huge difference from 15 in the first couple of years. LOK and DFOK now also organise some of the events in the series.

The events are a great way of exploring parts of London and discovering new interesting features, even in areas you think you know well. It also is a good reason to get out in the dreary dark winter nights when it is so easy to make excuses not to.

No commitment and plenty of opportunities to socialise

London is blessed with an extensive public transport system and the event venue, usually a pub, is chosen such that it is easily reachable by public transport. This allows people without a car to attend, who might otherwise find it difficult to participate in forest/ rural events.

The social aspect of Street-O events is extremely important. Usually a venue that serves drinks, at least, is picked, so that people can hang around afterwards. It is great seeing the buzz and people sitting and chatting with people they haven’t met before. In the early years, the events were often based at club members’ homes with homemade food, which was lovely but became unmanageable as the series became more popular!

Try orienteering in the Capital

SLOW’s 2024/25 street orienteering “Street-O” series is nearing its end with only two more events to go. However, if you are thinking of trying street orienteering, come along to our next events as it is easy to learn.

There are friendly volunteers on hand to explain how it works to anyone who hasn’t done an event before. The club also promotes running in pairs or groups, as that adds to the social side and also encourages participation of those who may feel unsafe running by themselves in the dark. People also tend to find it easier navigating in the streets compared to the forest, perhaps due to the familiarity of maps on phones, so can be a good first way into the sport.

If you are interested in coming along to the remaining events, go to https://slow.org.uk/streeto/series2425/ for details.
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There are plenty of other clubs based around the Country that offer street orienteering events throughout the year. To discover upcoming events near you, visit our event finder via the button below. 

Street orienteering events