Fast start to the 2022 UK Orienteering League season

Report by Martin Ward, UK Orienteering League (UKOL) Coordinator

After just the first two months of the 2022 UK Orienteering League (UKOL) season, 11 races have been hosted, and the leaders in many classes are starting to emerge.  This year eight races are required to count in the league, so some have already got a "full set" of points.  In fact, M60 Quentin Harding from Claro Orienteers has won every UKOL race he's run (congrats!) so has 400 points and can't be beaten overall in his age class.

The JK event in South Wales is coming up soon (over the Easter weekend) and includes three UKOL races at the Sprint, Middle, and Long distance races.  Following that the UKOL season continues with the Scottish Championships in Deeside at the end of May, and then the British Sprint Championships in Leeds in June.

In addition to the individual competition, the UKOL includes the club team competition based on the 15 best individual club members’ total scores from a range of age classes as follows:

3 from classes M/W 16 to M/W 21, 3 from classes M/W 35 to M/W 45, 3 from classes M/W 50 to M/W 55, 3 from classes M/W 60+, plus any 3 additional scores.  Clubs do not need to enter this competition - it is calculated automatically for all Clubs that have runners competing in UKOL races.

At this stage of the season, it's too early to see which clubs will come out on top, but currently, the Club League is headed by South Yorkshire Orienteers with West Cumberland Orienteering Club second and Southern Navigators in third.

It is hoped that the individual prize giving for the UKOL 2021 season will take place during the JK weekend - watch out for confirmation and details of that soon.

The 2021 results are on the UKOL website here.