Vision for Orienteering 2025

Q1: The vision will reflect one or more key themes; can you rate the following themes and tell us which you think should be reflected most strongly in the vision. Not Rating Response Answer Options at Greatly Average Count all Increasing the number of participants regularly taking part in 1 3 15 48 87 4.41 154 orienteering Increasing the number of members that regularly orienteer/compete 1 4 22 64 65 4.21 156 Improving and increasing the public profile/image of orienteering 3 3 9 53 89 4.41 157 Increasing international success 5 24 29 43 55 3.76 156 Improving the coaching infrastructure so it can provide better support 5 13 43 56 39 3.71 156 for orienteers Increasing the fun participants have while orienteering 9 20 50 40 37 3.49 156 Increasing the status and recognition of volunteers involved in 4 23 55 46 27 3.45 155 orienteering Improving the sustainability of orienteering by developing volunteers 5 16 47 60 29 3.59 157 Improving the safety & welfare of participants 40 44 55 6 9 2.35 154 Building on and improving the club infrastructure 7 20 59 50 19 3.35 155 Improving the welcoming and friendly environment participants 4 12 42 56 41 3.76 155 experience 5 18 49 48 37 3.60 157 Improving the social interaction surrounding orienteering Building on and improving the competitive experience that 8 13 43 65 26 3.57 155 orienteering offers Increasing the number of events staged by ‘commercial’ partners or 52 38 22 28 15 2.46 155 organisations Making the sport more self-financing and less reliant on government 10 17 58 40 31 3.42 156 funding Demonstrating that orienteering and orienteers care for the 15 21 55 38 26 3.25 155 environment Improving the way we promote orienteering as an attractive, outdoor 2 2 14 58 79 4.35 155 adventure sport Improving the way in which we promote orienteering as a sport for all 6 11 28 57 52 3.90 154 of the family Improving the way in which we promote orienteering as a sport for all 5 15 25 48 60 3.93 153 Making orienteering ‘cool’ 17 16 40 44 40 3.47 157 Other (please specify) 43 answered question 159 skipped question 0

The vision will reflect one or more key themes; can you rate the following themes and tell us which you think should be reflected most strongly in the vision.

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Increasing the number of participants regularly taking part… Increasing the number of members that regularly… Improving and increasing the public profile/image of… Increasing international success Improving the coaching infrastructure so it can provide… Increasing the fun participants have while orienteering Increasing the status and recognition of volunteers… Improving the sustainability of orienteering by developing… Improving the safety & welfare of participants Building on and improving the club infrastructure Improving the welcoming and friendly environment… Improving the social interaction surrounding orienteering Building on and improving the competitive experience that… Increasing the number of events staged by ‘commercial’ … Making the sport more self-financing and less reliant on… Demonstrating that orienteering and orienteers care for… Improving the way we promote orienteering as an… Improving the way in which we promote orienteering as a… Improving the way in which we promote orienteering as a… Making orienteering ‘cool’

Other (please specify)

I think it should be promoted more as an exciting running sport than as family stroll with toddlers. Lots of people aren't aware that it's a race Please, never, ever, use the word "cool" to describe orienteering unless referencing the temperature while waiting to start!!!! Improving the way we promote orienteering as a competitive sport with competitions ranging from schools and local events right through to World Championships. Not recreational, gimmicky, quirky. Promote it as inclusive and unique but not at the expense of being competitive and cool. Making orienteering cool. As per my teenagers thoughts Increasing the asset base - creating and maintaining more maps Reducing athlete contributions for international events I don't see any mention of improving, promoting and developing MTBO, SkiO or TrailO?? I would like to see an inclusive federation that supports and promotes the orienteering sister disciplines: MTBO, SkiO and TrailO. Important acknowledge these sports are just as competitive as FootO. Gives newcomers to the sport more options to participate (not everyone likes or is able to run), and with more of these competitions will help increase the BOF membership figures. The development squad should also look outside FootO for inspiration and training methods. There are other very successful athletes within orienteering who choose not to do FootO, who I am sure could help the GB team in their development and give advice on how to consistently achieve top results, rather than the one-off's that occur at the moment. integrate and promote mountain bike orienteering into the club structure Promote more opportunities and widen access for people with a learning and/or learning disability. Run more Leaders courses across England & Wales to widen access for those that do not drive or have transport. British Orienteering should work more closely with relevant organisations to develop awareness and promote to a wider audience through focussed project (i.e. women only, disability, youths, elderly, BME...). This approach would widen access and working with relevant partners would gain you access into hard to reach sections of the community which are currently untapped. Great opportunity to work closer with FE / HEIs, particularly those with sports, outdoor education and leisure provision. More focus on the family aspect rather than elites - lots of big events are very geared towards elites which can make the rest of us feel insignificant and unimportant Some of this is down to the club and does not need to be dictated by BOF - hence low rating for some areas (eg safety & welfare of participants, which in my mind is already covered by risk assessments etc at club level) Raising public profile is key to increasing participation - through role models and support of our international team at all levels. Increasing the number of young adults (say among ages 18-35) involved in orienteering - greatly important - this is key to counteract the decline in numbers in future. Returning orienteering's street cred as a "proper" sport. Fell Running is a "proper" sport - numbers are up. Adventure racing is up etc. Orienteering in this country is dying on its feet - look at the age profile of competitors. This is not happening in other countries, so it is not the nature of the sport itself which is the problem - stop trying to find silly variants and look instead at how those other countries are keeping a flow of young people into the sport. You could start with France, as it's close. Why are our best elite orienteers not being supported? They are the forefront of our sport and are the best vehicle to attract newcomers into the sports e.g. children looking at their idols. Invest in the performance athletes! Strengthen democratic accountability by making more explicit the links between the regions and clubs and BOF. A comment: a vision is meant to be an overarching simple statement of what the organisation is about. A lot of the statements you make here are means by which a vision could be achieved. Don't overcomplicate it There is no point trying to 'make orienteering fun' or 'cool'. It is what it is. We need to increase numbers participating for them to experience it and enjoy it as it is.

Similarly BOF can’t 'improve' social interaction. This comes from people enjoying orienteering and current participants being friendly and welcoming. t By 2025 many of the current active orienteers will be 75/80/85 and event planners should recognise them as valuable customers with courses that are testing but not dangerous Making Orienteering a recognised Elite and High Performance Sport, who's athletes are respected A growing membership is not mention explicitly here but must, at the end of the day, be part of the vision. Having a central office that actually appears to know something about and really cares about orienteering - Greatly increasing the ethnic diversity of orienteering in the UK finding formats that appeal to those who want to stay very local in their sport Getting it on school curriculum Where's the promotion on major websites off the back of WOC? Nothing on the BBC sports pages, not even on their calendar of major events in the UK! Outside Scotland barely a mention. Missed opportunity! Improving access to orienteering areas of all kinds; building on existing relationships to improve communication with landowners.

Taking advantage of new technology to improve mapping and printing; consulting and advising clubs. Improve the way orienteering connects with other sports and organisations. No need to change the actual orienteering activity eg. Explorer as this provides a false portrayal of the sport as a treasure hunt, reducing image as a competitive sport for RUNNERS. Should target athletic and running clubs as well as schools. Recognise and develop a pyramid structure for the sport, celebrating success at all levels and in all of the offered competition classes. try mentioning what orienteering actually is.... or maybe no-one at BOF office knows Improving the influence British Orienteering has on the international stage including within the IOF As an overworked volunteer I don't need developed I need a rest. I'm seriously thinking of taking a couple of years out of the sport to do something different How with build the sport with other forms of running events.

Have multi events that include orienteering as one of the disciplines making orienteering available for those with disabilities Making it easier for outsiders to get started - e.g. a novice M or W21 runner at JK has no idea what class to enter (from a confusing list of E, L, S and V) and none of these classes cater to the beginner, especially those who are good runners. It shouldn't be made ridiculously easy - I think people want something challenging and fun but perhaps a course with more catching features and a mix of harder and easier legs. A greater emphasis on Junior development - supporting regional squads more. Encouraging tours to foreign places with mixed groups. We desperately need to change people's perception of the sport, particularly for the 20-40 age categories that are more interested in doing Obstacle challenges and similar. "Demonstrating that orienteering and orienteers care for the environment" - badly worded statement. Shouldn't need to demonstrate, should be taking care of the environment regardless. Orienteering is already self-financing! Most events show a profit and most clubs could happily continue as things stand for years. The problem is the administration of the sport costs a lot (far more than it should in my view) so we are paying a good few people to do stuff which doesn't need to be done. Orienteering to become Olympic sport

Promote orienteering as competitive sport (less emphasis on 'sport for all' improving event quality: better maps, better planning Better communication needed from top to bottom in the sport. Since the killing off of the committees there is a lack of communication to regions and clubs.

Some minutes from the new committees would be welcome.

Q2: Once the vision is agreed it will shape the way British Orienteering uses the resources it has available. However there will continue to be resource allocated to the following tasks; how would you allocate resources – assuming no funding from government agencies is available? Taking 100% please allocate it to the following - make sure your total adds up to 100 and use numbers only, please do not enter the % sign: Response Response Response Answer Options Average Total Count Supporting the membership including, the membership 14.23 2,092 147 scheme, the web site, Focus magazine Supporting events and competitions including the major 16.44 2,450 149 events Supporting the talent & performance athletes 17.61 2,589 147 Supporting club development 14.97 2,185 146 Developing and supporting the promotion and marketing 14.05 2,080 148 of orienteering Developing commercial income with a view to making 9.61 1,413 147 British Orienteering more self sufficient Implementing the vision – whatever you prioritised in 16.72 2,391 143 question 1 above answered question 152 skipped question 7

Once the vision is agreed it will shape the way British Orienteering uses the resources it has available. However there will continue to be resource allocated t

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Supporting the membership including, the… Supporting events and competitions including… Supporting the talent & performance athletes Supporting club development Developing and supporting the promotion… Developing commercial income with a view… Implementing the vision – whatever you …

Q3: The following are examples of a vision for orienteering; how would you rate them on a scale of 1 (Poorly) to 5 (Highly)? Rating Response Answer Options 1 - Poorly 2 3 4 5 - Highly Average Count Orienteering – is a sport widely understood and highly regarded for its physical and mental challenges 12 22 32 39 46 3.56 151 and its care for the environment; a sport that is growing and that is accessible and attractive to all Orienteering – is a well-recognised sport meeting the needs of the majority of participants of all ages and abilities; our good practice is 26 33 42 30 20 2.90 151 recognised amongst world orienteering nations and UK sporting bodies Every family tries orienteering and orienteering is recognised as the 27 39 44 29 12 2.74 151 outdoor adventure sport for all The number 1 outdoor adventure 19 24 31 37 40 3.36 151 sport in the UK Orienteering is an Olympic sport 64 22 22 24 20 2.43 152 Do you have any suggestions? (Please specify) 35 answered question 152 skipped question 7

The following are examples of a vision for orienteering; how would you rate them on a scale of 1 (Poorly) to 5 (Highly)?

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 Orienteering – is a sport widely understood and highly regarded for its physical and mental challenges and its care for the environment; a sport that is growing and that is accessible and attractive to all Orienteering – is a well-recognised sport meeting the needs of the majority of participants of all ages and abilities; our good practice is recognised amongst world orienteering nations and UK sporting bodies

Every family tries orienteering and orienteering is recognised as the outdoor adventure sport for all

The number 1 outdoor adventure sport in the UK

Orienteering is an Olympic sport

Q4: Do you have other views about the vision you would like to be considered? If so please enter below.

Response Answer Options Count 55 answered question 55 skipped question 104

Response Text IMO trying to brand orienteering as a 'sport for all' waters down what it actually is. This confuses people as to the nature of orienteering, which is a high octane test of navigation at speed. Some of the things we include in 'orienteering' are not this, they are something else entirely. Orienteering needs to revisit its roots to understand what made it attractive in the first place. We should return to the vision of Brasher and Disley - orienteering administrators should be active in the sport. Orienteering needs to regain the respect of the qualification awarding bodies in education (GCSE, A level etc) a recognition that it appeals to those who don't relate to 'traditional' school sports, including those with 'special needs' (autism, etc). Build from the bottom up, a vision to support and promote grass roots orienteering with a structure of development that allows all competitors to work towards a level they want to achieve, even up to the elite stage British Orienteering should focus on promoting the interests of the sport as a whole and not be compromised by the specific interests of the membership, staff or funding bodies. Currently we appear over dependent on funding bodies who prefer a generic approach to sports development with sports professional staff working with 3rd party providers rather than supporting and developing the club and regional infrastructures. International competition, coaching, participation, events, marketing and fund raising all appear to operate independently rather than working with and relying on each other. Focus on local orienteering clubs and schools much more than main competitions and elites (although this is still important for people to aspire to), as recruiting new members of the public into the sport brings new competitors, volunteers, advertisement by word of mouth, and helps spread costs. I feel British Orienteering need more Officers and Regional Coaches that are visible out in the community, educational settings and club environments. I know this is down to funding and allocating your budget wisely, but having working in sport development for over 10 years, an effective sports development officer can develop your sport, create awareness and support volunteers and club in each region. It would be good to market orienteering to trail runners -why is trail running so popular and yet no one knows about orienteering? If the vision is not managing the gentle decline, the sport should learn from Parkrun, cross-country and overseas orienteering and move to more mass-start and inter-club racing. "A sport run by orienteers". Orienteering is almost unique in being run by active orienteers and should remain so. Non-orienteers have much to offer (particularly in specialist roles) but are highly unlikely to understand what makes orienteers "tick" and why they give up their Sundays to stand around in a wet forest for no reward other than "doing their bit" for the sport. The general public seem to equate orienteering to scouts going for a countryside walk. This needs to change - ideally the vision would be to follow other not-dissimilar sports (e.g. triathlon, cycling, running), which have all had a massive boost in public perception (and hence participation) in recent years. The vision needs to be introduced to children at school age to have any success. Promotion through cubs and brownies would also work The vision statements seem too vague. I think they should be a richer description of the envisioned state of affairs at a specified point in the future. Orienteering is a fairly tough sport - the people who stick at it are the people whom come back wanting more after the first time they spend two hours lost on a moor in the rain. By promoting a different vision of the sport (all friendly and easy) we currently attract people who won't stay and put of the people who actually would. Fell running and adventure running are all on the up, with record numbers. I'd suggest going the same way. You'll get fewer people who come to 2 events and never again but more people who come to 1,000 over the rest of their lives. Orienteering is massively popular with school children. They love it. It needs to be implemented more widely in schools with a better link to to club and national events. "Traditional" forest orienteering can be very exciting and challenging and if marketed in the right way this can be shown to newcomers. Dumbing the sport down and making simple or naff alternatives could be bad for the long term future of the sport. Pursuing Olympic status for me is a waste of time and resources and not the way we should be trying to develop the sport. The international programme should be properly supported and should more closely mirror other nations programmes. In the run up to a home world champs there has been almost no training put on for athletes which is a disgrace Increase the media profile of the performance side of the sport. Not that I can think of just now! Support the performance set-up Clearly supporting members is important. However although Focus is well produced, I question whether it is needed. There is a lot of duplication with the excellent "Compasssport". A cheaper newsletter would suffice and could be emailed. Clubs and events should be largely self-sufficient. We do need supporting structures such as competitions committee, rules etc, but these should not cost much as they rely on orienteers volunteering. I think there is a lot of fuss currently about volunteers - orienteering has traditionally been run by volunteers - huge numbers of us happily give up time every week for this. I don't see any crisis. Cheaper events including British champs so everyone can compete. You should care more about the present members rather than worrying about attracting new members. The sport will finish if event prices keep rising. More input into youth development. Some clubs are becoming highly populated with older members and need to encourage younger members to perpetuate the sport. It needs to have credibility, authority, resipository, scarcity and follow the 7 powers of influence ... Many people (of my age) were introduced to orienteering at University. Centralising University orienteering to two main centres has resulted in a decline/closure of many University clubs; shutting down a potential route for attracting new orienteers. Personally. I am not keen on too many urban races. Urban sprints are great as are jam packed with navigational decisions but if the urban events with longer courses have too much road running, and once a route choice has been made there is just running in not very nice scenery, I would far rather be in a forest. My vision would be to have forest orienteering options every week as now and not too much competition from urban races or I won't see my friends in the forest. Please retain options for creativity from volunteers. The engine behind committed volunteers (particularly if in charge) is inspiration and too many rules and regulations for their own sake can inhibit this (I do not mean rules for safety purposes but some rules are for standardisation rather than anything else. This is fine for a 'standard' event but something a bit different is always good. Some of these have now become established e.g. chasing sprints but could have been inhibited early on. More local events to reduce the amount of travel needed to compete - this has advantages in terms of both cost & time. This should increase participation. I would say that we need to look at what we are weak at as a sport. Social Interaction is probably the most obvious one. No Stop trying to please everyone. There are a lot of aging members who cannot see past the next 5 years - we need to concentrate on the future and make it sustainable. The vision must be comprised of a linked and progressive sequence of elements - promotion of the sport, opportunities to participate, membership of an attractive club structure, opportunities to develop, excel and contribute. This is why the current "strap line" is so good, but has now been in use for quite a while and finding something better is difficult. How can participation and engagement be done more with school and youth groups to draw participants and families into the sport and rebalance the age profile? O should be a challenge, even at entry level, dumbing down for mass participation is fine to give a taste but only as an entry point into a challenging sport. The challenge is both mental and physical, the reward is the experience, not medals or applause. Get inov-8 and all the global clothing suppliers to front the sport and pay for its development. Continue to develop relationships with government and authorities, National trust forestry commission and include in their vision for events, participation and promotion For people who enjoy being outdoors and go orienteering to keep fit are not necessarily people who feel competent or competitive. However, in order to boost the confidence of orienteers who are less confident in their ability to orienteer well it would help to have a 2 tier ranking system - one for elite competitors and those people able to achieve 10 minute ks or less and one for people who are not fast runners but who want to compete at a lower level in the sport but will not feel alienated when they achieve a low score because they are not able to run fast (particularly older people who may have underlying health problems such as arthritis The way that orienteering brings together people of widely varying ages, fitness and experience is one of its key features and could be celebrated more. I feel that the sport should continue to be delivered by the clubs, and the governing body can facilitate this by publicising the sport, working to improve access agreements, keeping abreast of technology, and helping ensure consistency between different parts of the country. Good communication is vital, to keep everyone informed and involved - thank you for this survey. There is no vision that recognises the importance of developing orienteering as a school sport by forging relationships with local authorities. Orienteering ticks so many areas of the curriculum, and while schools programmes do not produce instant results they are a strong investment in the future. Sweden is a fine example. I think with leadership from our NGB, commercial providers could play a major part in developing schools orienteering, allowing clubs to focus on developing their own members and providing a quality progression for school pupils who enjoy the sport at school and want to take it further. Commercial providers might provide employment opportunities for experienced orienteers. This would be my No 1 priority for a strategic long-term vision. Good to target runners, more demand now for adventure races etc and many from our athletics club have shown a natural enjoyment of orienteering and considerable potential. The vision needs to be inclusive of the occasional orienteer, the club standard orienteer and the international orienteer. Other sports recognise different levels of competition and that they are complementary. Inability to compete at the highest level is not the same thing as not wanting to compete at an appropriate level. My greatest concern is the sports sustainability, specifically access to good quality areas and volunteers/organisers to stage future events. Increasingly, we are encountering higher rates for access, losing areas due to conservation groups, and brambles, while having to draw on the services of the same ageing members. As a Scot its quite difficult to answer some of the questions about development and funding as the current system of funding from Sport England means BOF isn't really BOF in Scotland its EOF. We don't get all the benefits of BOF, with some of these being substituted by SOA. I think you need to be clearer on who you are delivering the vision to. Orienteering a sport for all ages that works with other sports to create challenging and creative events that challenge your physical, mental and endurance skills. A vision should be something short and snappy encapsulating the ideals - those are either mission statements or just statements. The closest to a vision is the fourth one but that’s not necessarily true unless you preface it "To be...... " It should emphasize that this is a competitive sport and not a treasure hunt. That you need running shoes and not walking boots. After that message should come the idea that it's a sport that all can compete in. But there are still too many people who don't get that this is about running, Focus on the general public's wider understanding and participation in proper orienteering - and getting them to come back - should be emphasised The sport needs to be built from the ground up. The base of the pyramid needs local participation on a massive scale. Developing the 'elite' and the 'national team' will come from this base. I would like to see the governance of orienteering put back into the hands of people who orienteer rather than those who simply want a career in sports management. That way we might get back to a point where what mattered was what happened at an event - was it fun? Employing 20 people to tell people that something is fun doesn't work if the experience is rubbish. Clubs rather than BO should be the driving force in orienteering. You need to get many more people involved in the sport to ensure a bigger membership to help ensure financial stability. An awful lot of competitors have no interest in the few involved in (inter)national competition. If you are outside of the sport it is almost impossible to get into the sport. You need to make many more opportunities to allow people to try orienteering. In #2 above there is no provision for coaching! On the whole rather a ridiculous survey. Commercial income shouldn't cost us money! Orienteering – is a sport widely understood and highly regarded for its physical and mental challenges; a sport that is growing and that is accessible and attractive to all; a sport that supports our elite athletes to be the best Use top elite athletes to help promote the sport to young people. IMAGE, IMAGE, IMAGE Refer to comments on Question 3. Make the sport more commercially interesting/TV We need to grow, develop, support and promote our elites and use them as THE marketing tool for promoting our adventure sport. (eg Look at Triathlon!) Focus is not necessary. It mainly repeats what is in CompassSport Must focus on promoting a 'sport' rather than an 'activity' or a 'pastime'.

Q5: The 'strap line' we currently use is 'more people, more places, more podiums' (mp3); how would you rate this on a scale of 1 (Poorly) to 5 (Highly)? Rating Response Answer Options 1 - Poorly 2 3 4 5 - Highly Average Count more people, more places, more 26 29 48 35 12 2.85 150 podiums'. Do you have any alternative suggestions? (Please specify) 39 answered question 150 skipped question 9

Do you have any alternative suggestions? (Please specify)

Good strategy but boring slogan Think fast, run smart, love the outdoors Very difficult to achieve as you are trying to make improvements at both ends of the spectrum. Encouraging more podiums puts beginners off so does not match more people. More podiums?? I haven't seen any national team member consistently achieving this ... Have we even had more top three performances since the strapline was first used? Navigating your destiny at your own pace The sport for all Cool running Orienteering - more than just running Run fast, run clever. More people. More places. More fun. Access the outdoors. Read it. Run it. Enjoy it. Unlocking the great outdoors. Acess all areas. Making map reading fun! The strapline doesn't shout "orienteering". It could apply to other sports. Suggest "Going Places" Should the plural of "podium" be "podia"??? Slightly off at a tangent, I'm not convinced that orienteering really is an ADVENTURE sport. Jogging round a park isn't an adventure sport, yet that's the image we promote. Yes it's an adventure when you get seriously lost in a dark and scary Scottish forest, but few of us have that pleasure. We're misleading people! It's a physical and intellectual challenge, not an adventure. you are not investing in the performance athletes so how can you expect more podiums? It is ok but I would prefer something more along the sport for all lines. "Cunning Running" was the best snappy summary of orienteering. Work out what you narrative is first. Then work out your themes and then messages for each theme.. The themes should be your strap line. I dont like the emphasis on podiums. More orienteers; more orienteering. Add something like 'adventure for all'. More people, more places, more podiums could be achieved by having orange courses in the same park every week which is less than people want. "Participate, Achieve & Succeed" Is it supposed to be a marketing strapline? Orienteering - Run hard, think fast Not yet, I'm afraid. Scored 4 only because we should think of something new. Something might emerge once the new vision take shape. Sort question 2 out or lose loads of submission of this took me half hour Although podium places seem to be important for obtaining government funding, what's more important on a day-to-day basis is people enjoying themselves - most of us will never win anything, and if people stop enjoying it, and enter fewer events, the sport will die. I prefer mf3: "more fun for more feet in more forests". That's what we should be trying to achieve. remove mp3 - it's old technology now. BOF appears not to be in the least bit interested in elite Active, Exciting, for all Have Fun be Social no matter your age Challenging your mind, body and soul. I'm neutral about straplines. Generally I find them at best unhelpful and at worst annoying so I'm not really a good person to ask. The strapline we have is inoffensive but perhaps "more medals" would be better understood than "More podia". Anything but an acronym for a digital music file! It just sounds stupid. I quite like it in that it sums up what I think orienteering should focus on - getting more people involved and races happening in more locations and that should also lead to increased competition and more international success though at the same time marketing of our international successes and inspiring people to take part should help the sport grow. I just am not sure it would mean much to an outsider and whether it would interest in the sport The original and natural obstacle race! orienteering - thoughtful running. do you know where you are going? much more than just getting to the finish. Well this one dies not say a thing about orienteering - it could perfectly well apply to any one of a hundred sports so we need something like "adventure running" in there. Too focused on high level competitions and a very few people. Effectively you (BOF) are asking the membership (the many) to subsidise the elite (the few). Think about who its for. I agree with the intent but not sure it works. Need to find a decent strap line and stick with it. Something on the Olympic theme would be more appropriate assuming the infrastructure and intent is there to warrant and support it. podia not podiums No, but we do seem to be falling short on supporting and recognising the third P - Podiums! The original adventure sport There aren't really more podiums and funding for prizes seems to have been cut (only winners of JK and British now getting Buffs when used to be top 3). Running + Navigation in exciting places.