In 2025 we staged 18 MapRuns, during which 167 different people ran 538 races – a great achievement – and MapRun is proving increasingly popular with non-orienteers – people looking for something different, a bit of easy navigation, a convivial atmosphere, and some good exercise.
Furthermore, it’s great to report that we had a different winner for each of the scoring schemes….
- Richard Cronin took the overall points win by a substantial margin, thanks to 4 full 600 point scores;
- Alan Pucill won the efficiency league – scoring the most points per km run;
- and Andy Creber won the aged related handicap league, with Paul Dodd from Chepstow Harriers a close second.
But well done to everyone who tried out MapRun; it’s a great way to introduce yourself to a little easy map reading, and a fun way to spend a weekday evening.
For the 2026 league we stick with 18 events, provided enough people step forward to plan one, but rather than having a somewhat random spread of events around our area, the plan this year is to have one race per month during the ‘dark’ months – January-March, and October-December – with these shared evenly if possible between west of the Severn (Forest of Dean, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire) and East (Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Cotswolds) and two per month in the spring and summer months, one in each of the areas described above. The overall aim is to have 9 events in each of these areas which are moderately local and easy for people to get to.
To add a little incentive, this year we will be offering small participation mementoes in the form of forest piglets…..
you get mummy boar if you run 5 races; Mummy and baby if you run 7, and Mummy, adolescent and baby if you manage 9. The target for league points remains at your best 7 races.
If you enjoy MapRuns and fancy planning one, do let us know – email maprun@ngoc.org.uk – and we can explain what’s needed. It’s very easy to plan a course, and we handle all the publication and map printing etc, while you get to go out and explore you chosen area and pick control sites.