Welcome West Cumberland Orienteering Club is based in the Western half of the English Lake District with a large membership spread over the main centres of population; from Silloth in the North to Gosforth in the South; with members well represented in Cockermouth, Keswick, Workington, Aspatria, Cleator Moor, Egremont, Whitehaven, St.Bees and a lot of the rural area as well! We host events on a weekly basis from informal Thursday nights to district or regional events held at weekends. Everyone is welcome to try the sport. For more information see our introduction to the sport 'What is Orienteering'. There are a number of organisations that WCOC have been pleased to support with donations over the years. Click here to see the list. If you would like details on how to join WCOC, or renew membership, click here.

"The club has embraced the ethos of working towards Clubmark as part of their development to bring the sport to more people and to provide an excellent coaching and competition programme." Hilary Palmer, British Orienteering Read all about Clubmark on the clubmark website www.clubmark.org.uk

Calling all WCOC members... The club are staging a Regional event at Harrop Tarn in August as part of this year's Lakes 5 Days. Our event is on the Tuesday (24th) and we will need willing hands to help with the various jobs on the day. Please take this opportunity to help out - the more helpers we have, the easier the chores! See this link for further details. News 17/07/10 The qualifying round for the Compass Sport Cup will now take place on Sunday 12th September 2010 at Formby sand dunes, near Liverpool. This is an excellent technical area and well worth the travel. Meroc are the organising club. We need as many runners as possible to ensure that we qualify for the final which takes place in October. Orange to Brown courses are available but to be competitive you must run your age class. A bus will be organised. If you are available to run please contact Margaret Mackenzie know with your age class, ecard number and if you want to travel on the bus. 17/07/10 The Peter Palmer Relays take place on Saturday 4th/5th September 2010 at Chetynd Army Barracks near Nottingham. This is the premier junior event in terms of orienteering and socialising with juniors from all over the country. The relay is run over 6 legs with all abilities involved ( M/W 12 – 18 yellow to green) The competition starts at approx 4.30am!!! so we need some juniors to run night legs – but that shouldn’t be a problem with so many of our juniors competing successfully in WCOC night series. Last year we took two teams to the event – can we repeat this again. If you wish to compete in this excellent competition please contact Joyce Hemingway. There is more information about the relays on the BOF website. 14/07/10 For those of you who would have loved to travel down to this year's KIMM in Devon but feel that it's a tad too far, John Slater is organising an alternative trip to the TINTO Twin. See here for details. 14/07/10 Lewis Taylor, Charlotte & Rosie Watson have been selected to represent England at the Ward Junior Home International. This year the event is based around Perth over the weekend of the 10th and 12th of September and includes the Park World Tour qualification event on the Friday. While the girls are seasoned veterans, this is Lewis' first cap and comes after some good results at the selection races. Well done to you all! 16/06/10 MTBO - Those of you who followed the MTBO World Masters at Gdansk recently will be aware that Tony Brand Barker had an excellent tournament finishing 3rd in M50 claiming his place on the podium. Another club member wins a medal on the world stage. Well done Tony! Full results at www.harpagan.pl/worldcup. 28/05/10 Please note that there will be no Orient8 session running on Tuesday 1st June (half term) but the sessions will re-commence at Whinlatter Visitors Centre on Tuesday 8th June at 7.00pm. 10/05/10 British Orienteering have announced the names of the athletes who are to be invited on the various tours this summer. WCOC athletes have secured four places..... outstanding!! Charlotte Watson is selected for the premier, International Racing Camp, to be held in Gdansk, Poland from 31 July to 7 August. Lewis Taylor and Rosie Watson are to go to the Talent Coaching Camp to be held at Cairngorm, Scotland from 24-31 July. Katrina Hemingway is going on the Junior Regional Squad's Lagganlia Tour from 31 July to 7 August. This will undoubtedly inspire our up and coming juniors to improve their skill levels and become contenders for future years. 09/05/10 Please note that there was a mistake posted on this page last week regarding the start time for Orient8 sessions. The sessions run each Tuesday night until July, starting at 7.00pm, not 6.30pm as stated. Also, can all participants please make sure that they are kitted out to orienteer in forested areas, i.e. suitable clothing and footwear (and please bring a compass if you have one). The format will be different from the indoor sessions, with stuctured coaching sessions aimed at Yellow to Light Green standard with the more experienced athletes being encouraged to meet for a long run. (Charge £2 per person.) The sessions are being held at the Whilatter Forest Visitor's Centre and will continue each Tuesday night until July when Orient8 will return to Stainburn School. Junior coaching will continue, with the next sessions being planned for Saturday 22nd May and Saturday 17th July. Watch this space for more information nearer the time. 03/05/10 Congratulations to our British Champions, Katrina Hemingway (W14A) and Charlotte Watson (W18E) who took the top honours at the championships last weekend at Cannock. Well done also to Helen Winskill who was 3rd (W21E), Susan Skinner 3rd (W45L) and Lewis Taylor who was 5th (M18E). Rosie Watson (W16A) and Tony Duncan (M65A) also secured top ten places. Congratulations also to Alice Rae and Sam Pagett who finished first on their respective B classes. Our Women's Premier team (Charlotte, Rosie and Helen) had a fantastic run to finish first in the relays but were unlucky to have mispunched! Full results can be found here. 22/04/10 Charlotte Watson has been selected for the Junior World Orienteering Championships being held at Aalborg, in Denmark between 2-11 July 2010. She joins five other W20s in the team, showing her dominance in the W18/W20 age group. Charlotte has had a very impressive set of results in the majors so far this year. Congratulations and wishing her the best of luck! 04/04/10 A fine set of results again for club members taking part in the JK Festival in Devon this Easter with a bagful of overall top ten places. Two champions this time round; Alastair Thomas winning the M10A class and Charlotte Watson achieving a fine win in the W18 Elite class. Fingers crossed for success in the relays tomorrow! Full results and photos on the JK Homepage. 02/04/10 A great start for some of our ladies in the JK Sprints today in Bicton, Devon. Top ten places for Kate Skinner 4th (W12), Katrina Hemingway 6th (W14), Charlotte Watson 5th (W18E) and Susan skinner 8th (W45). Keep up with the competition results at the JK Homepage. 18/03/10 Congratulations to Roger Jackson who has been awarded a 'Services to Orienteering' award from British Orienteering. All at WCOC appreciate the work that Roger does and will agree that he thoroughly deserves the accolade. The nomination cited the endless work that Roger carries out on behalf of the club (including the many positions he's holding/held on the committee), his involvement in Schools leagues and the key role he's played in the development of the sport in the region. For many years Roger has produced the North West fixtures list which is distributed to all NW clubs. He initiated the popular Cumbrian Galloppen structure which is now widely recognised for providing a series of twelve high quality events across the Lake District every year. Roger also contributes regularly to CompassSport magazine. I'm sure the whole club will be pleased with Roger's award. Well done! 08/03/10 The early spring sunshine came out and provide a glorious day for yesterday's Galoppen at Mitredale, Eskdale. Thanks to Neil Kerrison for planning and Graham Watson for organising. Results here. 07/03/10 The Roll of Honour just keeps growing! Well done to Margaret Mackenzie, Lewis Taylor and Roger Jackson who won their respective classess to be crowned British Night Champions at this weekend's competition in Edinburgh. This illustrates the strength in depth our club has in this variant of the sport, thanks in part to our excellent Winter Night Series. Congratulations also to Katrina Hemingway who adds Scottish Sprint Champion to her ever growing list of honours after yesteday's competition, also held in Edinburgh. 07/02/10 Not sure what the collective noun for a group of smart, well presented orienteers is, but here's one on the left, just prior to yesterday's Carlisle Urban Races (Click to enlarge). The tops have sold out very quickly but Joyce Hemingway is about to place another order with the suppliers, so if you'd like to place an order, let her know as soon as possible. 01/02/10 Congratulations to Lewis Taylor (M18E) and Katrina Hemingway (W14A), pictured right who came first and second in their respective classes at this year's Northern Championships hosted by South Yorkshire Orienteers just south of Sheffield, which secured the title of Northern Champion for both of them. Well done, both! 24/01/10 There was a fantastic turnout for our annual club chase today at Manesty, Keswick. Andy Warner's gaffled courses made for a really interesting format, with a couple of butterflies thrown in to deter competitors from following each other (not that they would dream of doing so..). Thanks to Andy and also to Alan Irving for the handicaps. Well done to Jenny Jennings (pictured right), this year's chase winner and all of the winners of the courses. Full results here. Photos of the prizewinners in the Gallery. 12/01/10 The annual club night took place on Saturday night and a great time was had by all. A new venue with a familiar format. Well done to all those who picked up awards. See Natalie's report for full details. 01/01/10 Happy New Year to all of our members. We hope you have a happy and successful 2010, on and off the map! A big thank you to those who made a tremendous effort to put on the Festive Events, Dave Fenwick for Boxing Day (results here), the Wrens for the snowy event on Binsey on Sunday (results on BorderLiners website) and Dave again for New Year's Day in Setmurthy (results here). Thanks also to the Nelsons for the Beer Trail. Because access to the area has been difficult during the glorious weather (!) Pete and Barbara have extended the finish date for the trail to 31st January. Also, the long awaited Trimtex Club Tops have arrived in the new design, pictured on the right (Click to enlarge). The tops come in all sizes from small (very) to XXXL. The club have again subsidised the new tops so the prices are reduced to £25 for juniors and £30 for adults. To place your order, contact Joyce Hemingway, but hurry because stocks are decreasing already! 27/11/09 Those that made it to the Whinlatter event last night got their first taste of winter.... with hail and snow while out on the courses. Some weren't prepared for it, and did not have adequate clothing. From now on evening event planners will be checking for bumbags and survival bags! 1/11/09 A very scary night was had by all at last week's Spook O event. The club's haloween special continues to be popular with over 300 participants on the night. It's hardly surprising though, when you see the quality of the dressed sites. Well done and a big thanks to Jane Hornsby and everybody who helped make the evening such a success. Thanks also to Roger Jackson for the photos. 25/10/09 All change at the recent AGM on the committee with Joyce Hemingway stepping up to Chair now that Ged Hagan has completed his three year tenure. Jane Hornsby also takes a well earned rest with Susan Skinner taking over the role of secretary. Margaret Mackenzie has stepped down from the committee with Graham Watson and Mike Harrison taking up the challenge. 04/09/09 The Summer leagues were wrapped up with last night's finale at Whinlatter. Prizes were presented at the Coledale Inn following the event. Congratulations to the league winners: novice course female Ruth Jennings and novice course male Alastair Thomas, for the short course ladies Katrina Hemingway and short course men Paul Eton. On the long, Charlotte Watson again wins the ladies and Lewis Taylor picks up the mens title. A club first - all prizes picked up by juniors! Next week sees the start of the popular Autumn park races in preparation for the long Winter! 11/08/09 Many members enjoyed glorious weather for last week's Scottish 6 Days which was centred around Perth. Most have returned now to lick their wounds and look forward to the rest of the Summer programme. Congratulations to our prizewinners, Charlotte Watson (pictured) for her win on W16A, Mike Pearson for winning M65L and Bobby Hagan who came second in M20S. 27/07/09 Our club Statistician informs us that Alan Irving is approximately 38th WCOC member to join the Bob Graham Hall of Fame. (Working on the premise that there are now around 1500 BG completers it means WCOC members make up about 2.5% of 24hr club membership. Pretty impressive for a 'small' O club!) Well done to Alan who managed the round in 22hrs 40mins. 27/07/09 Our Juniors go from strength to strength! Congratulations to Charlotte Watson and Graham & Katrina Hemingway who have been selected for the 2009 Junior Home Internationals. WCOC and SROC are the only clubs that have 3 selections. Well done! 13/07/09 A big well done to Nick Moore on his successful Bob Graham round at the weekend. Nick came in with a comfortable seven minute margin, joining that elite list of WCOC BG'ers. See some of the stunning photo's of Nick's run uploaded by Alan Irving. 13/07/09 Congratulations to the Bradley/Birkinshaw/Olausson team who won this year's Parish Relay event, last Thursday. Also, well done to the Cowper/Guise/Padgett combination who were victorious in the Junior relay. A total of 20 teams took part in the event. Lookout for the videos (coming soon) on the gallery, courtesy of Mike Pearson. Big photo from the night here. Results here. 19/05/09 Congratulations to Charlotte Watson who has been selected to represent Great Britian in the forthcoming European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) which are being held in Serbia from 2nd - 5th July. Also to the following juniors who have been selected for tours: Hannah Bradley (Lagganlia, 25th July - 1st August) Rosie Watson (Badaguish, 25th July - 1st August) Charlotte Watson and Graham Hemingway, Lewis Taylor (reserve) (Halden, 18th July - 1st August) Chris Brand Barker, MTBO European Champs and JWOC Well done to you all! 17/05/09 The inclement weather failed to materialise for today's Muncaster Regional event. Although entries were disappointingly low, that didn't detract from the enjoyment of those who ran on a particulary nice area. Find results and splitsbrowser here. Maps and courses will be loaded on Routegadget soon so that you can share your run with your fellow competitors. 17/04/09 Last night saw the finale of our spring fell series. Congratulations to all winners in the various classes. Thank you to John Slater for the organising and coordination (ably assisted by Kate) and to all who contributed by manning the events on the nights. Also, to Pete Nelson who ran all of the courses to sweep up and collect controls. 17/04/09 Well done to the many members that took to the Northumbrian Hills last weekend for the annual JK International event. Despite a number of good runs round Newcastle University in the sprints, WCOC only gained one podium place on the Friday with Charlotte Watson's fine 3rd place in W18. We also managed a few medals on days 2 & 3. The organisational logistics were very interesting on the Monday for the relays! Again, despite some great runs, WCOC didn't quite make the podium this year in the relay event. See here. for full results. If anyone has any photos, please pass them on and we can place them on the gallery. 16/03/09 Well done to all club members who made the trip to Farleton Knott yesterday for the CompassSport Cup qualifier where WCOC finished top (again). The Final is on Sunday 18th October 2009 at Fineshade, Near Corby (Northampton), so lets look for a great turnout again. Results for yesterday's qualifier here. 16/03/09 Thanks to Mike Pearson who has supplied some photos from this year's BOC for the gallery. If anyone has any photos that other members would be interested in, please either email them or put them on a disk and pass them on at any event. 10/03/09 Thank you to Andy Warner who kindly organised the informal event on High Hows, Borrowdale last Saturday. It's a pity there weren't more able to make it, but those who did commented on what great courses Andy had put on. See here here for results. 23/02/09 Congratulations! West Cumberland Orienteering Club have been selected as British Orienteering Club of the Year! See here for the write up on the BOF website. Having been selected as one of the runners up last year, the committee decided to apply again this time round. The submission required answers to nine questions about the club's activities and the opportunities that we provide for volunteers and competitors. Click here for a summary of our submission. Along with the club's selection for the Participation and Club Talent Squad Projects, the club of the year award is a fitting reward for the effort that WCOC members put into their club. WCOC will now be entered into the nationally acclaimed CCPR Sports Club of the Year competition. Watch this space! 11/01/09 Congratulations to Katrina Hemingway who has just got her selection for Interland! Brilliant! A just reward for all of her hard work. The international event is at Burnham Beeches, Hertfordshire on February 22nd. Details on www.orienteeringengland.org.uk 11/01/09 Well done to the brave souls who turned out for the annual club chase this morning. A great turnout! Especially well done to Andy Bradley (planning), Alan Irving (statistician), Roger Jackson for the maps, Alison Wilson for starts and finish and those who went out twice to bring in controls! Well done also to Steve Breeze, this year's chase winner and all of the winners of the courses. See here here for results. 11/01/09 A big thank you to everyone who supported the annual club presentation night last night. The format was slightly different this year, but most seemed to enjoy the food and games. A special thanks to Natalie and Joyce for working hard on the night. Log on to the forum to let them know what you thought so that they can begin planning next year! Click here for a list of award winners. 02/01/09 Many thanks to all who were involved in the special festive events over the Christmas period. Planners, permission seekers and printers all did a sterling job, especially Dave Fenwick who once again gave up a huge chunk of his holiday for the benefit of the rest of us. This year we were especially blessed with the weather. Even Setmurthy was beautiful on New years Day! Results for all of the festive events are available here. 21/12/08 We've just been made aware of a website that could be of interest to club members. It's called PhysioBench and as well as offering on line physio advice to enable people to self manage their injury it includes free advice on many common sporting ailments. Check the 'Links' tab above to access the website. 8/12/08 Well done WCOC Juniors!!! A fantastic second place in the Yvette Baker final yesterday saw an improvement on last year's third position. Even with some of our stars not able to make the trip, the juniors did exceptionally well to beat bigger squads, including some very big orange course runners (with beards and sideburns). Well done to everyone involved! Here's to next year... 3/12/08 Charlotte Watson has been recognised for her outstanding performance at the Junior Inter Regionals earlier this summer. She was asked by NWOA to run up, onto the W18 course, and against a lot of top competition she won the race by a clear margin. This win was instrumental in securing that NWOA took the overall win. At the recent Lakeside Training weekend she was presented with the "Run of the JIRC's" trophy." 16/11/08 Well done to John Slater, Kate Charles and Ray, Pete and Barbara Nelson for putting on today's Copeland Chase. The weather was glorious, the courses were well planned and the after run refreshments were very welcome. What a pity that there was a clash with the British Schools; many more members could have enjoyed the event. Looking forward to next year already. For results, see the Copeland Chase web page. P.S. John has promised to post his thoughts on the 'Planners Comments' thread on the forum. Those that took part can leave the organisers some well deserved feedback. 05/11/08 The club held it's first Winter indoor activity session last night, 'Orient8 ', with a fantastic turnout. The format this week was physical circuits mixed with mental orienteering associated activities. The format of each session will be changing on a weekly basis. Check the Gallery for pics. Also, a thread has been started on the forum to leave comments or suggestions for future sessions (click the forum tab above and follow instructions to take part). 28/10/08 Mhairi Mackenzie had another great weekend of competition at the Senior Home Internationals. She took an emphatic win in W21E, 8.3km 335m, taking 76.13, with a five minute clear lead. This was in Craig a Barns, a notoriously tough, steep and rocky coniferous plantation near Dunkeld. Mhairi also ran anchor leg for the Scotland1 relay team. Setting off in fourth position and almost four minutes adrift she gradually hauled them all in, and once in the light green forest near the end she turned on the power to take the lead and win by twelve seconds. 13/10/08 Well done to Charlotte Watson for a great set of results in the European Youth Orienteering Championships (see here for results http://www.eyoc2008.ch/dyn/eyoc/). Charlotte finished first Brit in the long distance and sprint races, and ran up a class (W18) in the relay where she gave a good account of herself against world class opposition. Charlotte says she really enjoyed herself and was thrilled to be part of a GB team with world class athletes and top-notch coaches. 13/10/08 Congratulations to Mhairi Mackenzie who won the Open Ladies Class in the City Of London Urban Orienteering event at the weekend. She won the 6.1km (22 controls) course in 39.56, a minute clear of second placed, fellow Edinburgh student, Becky Carlyle. The course went through historic alleyways and past dramatic architecture, ranging from the towering skyscrapers of major corporations to the labyrinthine walkways of the Barbican estate, not to mention iconic landmarks such as Bank, St Paul's Cathedral and the Gherkin, before finishing at the Broadgate Arena. 7/10/08 The committee have been debating long and hard to obtain club jackets that can be worn at events, promoting team identity and raising the profile of the club. A sample is available for viewing at evening events (in Joyce Hemingway's boot!). Click here for details. If you have any comments or views on the new jackets, click on the forum link above. 10/09/08 Today sees the launch of our website's forum (click the button above to access). It's very similair to the NopeSport forum, but restricted to WCOC members. To join for the first time you will need to submit a few details which will confirm who you are (email address, etc.). This information will not be used for any other purpose than verification of your identity as a WCOC member for access to this forum. Once you've been verified, you can take part in all of the discussions in the forum and start new threads yourself. Please take care not to offend anyone with the material you submit - or you will invoke the wrath of the Administrator who will take appropriate action! This is an experiment to see if the forum is something that users of the website will use - if it's a success, we'll keep it up, if not, we'll drop it. 9/09/08 Congratulations to Charlotte Watson on selection for the British Orienteering Start Squad as a W15. Charlotte has continued to impress, following on from a very active summer of tours and foreign competitions. She joins several of her closest rivals in the squad, which includes Aine McCann and Katrin Harding. We wish them all the very best. And, as if that wasn't enough, Charlotte has also been selected to be part of the European Youth O Champs Team as a W16. Fantastic achievement! 4/09/08 Congratulations to club member Tony Brand-Barker who recently competed at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Poland and took a podium place in the M50 class. Tony was third in the 11.2km Classic distance race, just over two minutes behind the leader in 58.29. 29/08/08 That's it! The Summer is now officially over with the last Summer Evening Event having taken place at Coledale last night. Congratulations to the league winners: for the novice course Esther Moore (junior female) and Philip Jennings (junior male), for the short course Kim Leslie (senior female), Ged Hagan (senior male), Katrina Hemingway (junior female) and Nathanial Green (junior male). On the long, Charlotte Watson (senior(!) and junior female), John Slater (senior male) and Lewis Taylor (junior male). Now we can all enjoy the warm-down Park Races in preparation for the Winter night series. 14/08/08 West Cumberland once again win the Golden Gauntlet! The annual match took place at the Summer Evening event on Latterbarrow last night in near perfect conditions. Pete and Barbara Nelson's courses provided fast running (and slow stream crossings) on a newly mapped area. A different format for calculating the winners of the annual challenge match was tried again, in an attempt to take fair account of the uneven numbers of runners from both clubs. Unfortunatley, a few mispunches from Borderliners made it difficult to match WCOC's scores. Perhaps a more central venue will attract more evenly matched teams next year! 31/07/08 Congratulations to Mhairi Mackenzie who finished a fantastic 4th (1st Brit) in the World University Orienteering Championships long distance race in Estonia. By all accounts, the race was long and tough with many marshes and thick forests that were difficuilt to avoid. It was also very warm which proved to be a real test of physical and mental endurance. Mhairi was only a few seconds down from a medal position! 17/07/08 Families led the way in this years Parish Relays. Congratulations to Angela, Tony and Chris Brand-Barker who won easily and so plan next years event. Second home were Debbie, Charlotte and Graham Watson. Unfortunately Rosie was unwell, so didn't get to run. Closely behind Charlotte finished Bobby Hagan, completing the third place run with Louise and Ged. The junior event was won hands down by the odds-on favourites, the Hemingways. Well done to Katrina, Christopher and Graham. Well done and thanks to Alan Irving who was left to plan the event on his own as the rest of last years winning team now reside in the Southern hemisphere! (A long way to go to avoid planning a relay!). Thanks again also to Roger, for the maps. See the gallery for photos of the event. 14/07/08 Congratulations to Charlotte and Rosie Watson who have been chosen to represent England (again) for the Junior Home Internationals which will be held in September. At this rate, they'll get more caps than David Beckham! Well done girls. 30/06/08 The ladies continue to show the way! Congratulations to Margaret MacKenzie who has recently completed the Bob Graham Round, hot on the heels of Kate Charles who completed in May. Both finished with time to spare! Well done, both. Men - the gauntlet has been thrown... 21/03/08 Congratulations to Charlotte Watson who won the W16A class at the JK. Also congratulations to the Intermediate Mens 48- relay team (Lewis Taylor, Graham Hemingway and Charlotte Watson) who came 3rd out of 37 teams