Quantock Orienteers' Virtual Lockdown Challenge

Report by Alasdair Shaw member of Quantock Orienteers.

Our Club Virtual Lockdown Challenge:  
Land's End to John O'Groats and back again.

When we entered Tier 4, we had to suspend all our planned activities, so we started looking for something else to do.  We created an online planner’s course for our Junior Orienteering Group activities and pushed out a few more Virtual Orienteering Courses.  We also encouraged members to take part in the Missing Maps Project which helps to produce maps of remote areas to be used for humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Then Lockdown was announced, and we felt the need for something that would give us the feeling of togetherness of completing a common physical challenge.  After a few calculations, we decided to run Land’s End to John O’Groats as a club. Completing it by 22 February 2021.

We set up a form on our club website for members to record their distances and a map so all club members could see where we had got to. We then announced it to the club via email and social media.  The response was amazing. Over 20 people have contributed regularly to the total, including some of our youngest members.

Along the way, we put a shout out on Facebook to other clubs as we passed through their areas. Some took up the idea themselves and did their own versions of the challenge.

Having started on 4 January, we reached John O’Groats on 31 January. And promptly turned round to head back, turning the challenge from a LEJOG to a LEJOGLE.  Hopefully, we will be able to finish by the end of the extended Lockdown.

Find out more about this virtual club challenge here.

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