So you have been asked to help/organise/plan an event for SN, well you started right by coming here first. Whether you are supporting a junior league/Saturday open series event or a National, the information on these pages can be useful. This web page has a collection of links, ideas and guidelines that may help you through making that first event a success. If you can’t find what you need here, please contact [email protected]
General
- Whatever role you have may find a need to refer to the British Orienteering rules and guidelines.
- The British Orienteering rules are also complemented by the International Orienteering Federation Rules, but for most events you will not need to refer to these.
Organising
- If you are an organiser of one of SN’s events the following is a must read …Event Organiser Brief
- A 2025 BOF requirement is to have first aid cover for all events. The club members who can fulfil this role are First Aiders
- British Orienteering organisers Information
- Skeleton flyer template
- Thoughts of a new organiser
- Organising a schools event
- Kit for a Schools/Saturday event
- Start Layout for a Saturday Series Event
Planning
- SN planner’s guide: Planning Guidelines 2026
- Please keep the number of controls per course to 29 or fewer (so that we can use the old-type dibbers)
- British Orienteering planners Information.
- We use ‘Purple Pen’ planning software for almost all events. It is free software, and simple to use.
- See the Links page for links to Purple Pen, OCAD and Condes.
- Reference slides showing how to use Purple Pen are here: Purple Pen Course 1 2022 and Purple Pen Course Main 2022
- References slides showing what you need to do to fulfil the mechanics of planning a course are here: The Mechanics Of Planning Course 2 2025
- If the map needs updating, contact the mapping officer for advice, or for a list of club members who can help. (See also Mapping notes below.)
- Once you have finished your planning please send a copy to Steve McKinley so he can prepare the files for Routegadget.
- Simple Maps For Street Events – February 2018 SNaggers article
- March 2018 planning course. Slide presentation: SN Planning Workshop 2018 V1 . Alternatively as pdf (6 slides per page): SN Planning Workshop 2018 V1
Mapping
- Useful mapping information is maintained by BF including symbol sets for OCAD at the British Orienteering mappers support page
- OCAD HowTo’s, visual guides to using OCAD.
- Most of the club maps are in OCAD version 9.2. (Do not later versions of OCAD: any map updates made are not back-compatible so may cause problems).
- You can also use CONDES if you have a licensed copy, or Open Orienteering Mapper
