Welcome to the 12th Edition of NNews – a (roughly!) quarterly newsletter from Northern Navigators.
The newsletter contains details of upcoming events and contributions from our members. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this edition.
This newsletter was put together by Thomas Puschmann and Matthew Foskett.
Please let us know (northernnavigators@gmail.com) if you have any comments or wish to contribute to any future editions.
Upcoming Events
Note: Some details are provisional; always look at the website of the organising club for final details.
***This Weekend*** Sat 28th Mar 2026-Elemore Country Park; Sunderland (NN, Local)
Sat 4th Apr 2026-CLARO MaprunPlus; Ripon (CLARO, Local)
Tue 7th Apr 2026-Easter Fun Event 1; Tyne Riverside Park, Prudhoe (NATO, Local)
Sat 11th Apr 2026-Easter Fun Event 2; Castle Estate, Prudhoe (NATO, Local)
Sun 12th Apr 2026-Cumbrian Galoppen; Silver Howe, Grasmere (LOC, Regional)
Sun 12th Apr 2026-Middle Distance; Catterick Garrison South, Catterick Garrison (CLOK, Regional)
Tue 14th Apr 2026-Easter Fun Event 3; Tyne Riverside Park, Prudhoe (NATO, Local)
Sat 18th Apr 2026-Spring Local Series 2; Newburn Country Park, Newburn (NATO, Local)
Sun 19th Apr 2026-Easter Fun Event 4; Tyne Riverside Park, Prudhoe (NATO, Local)
Sun 26th Apr 2026-Low Burnhall Woods; Durham (NN, Local)
Sat 9th May 2026-Summer Series No 1 Shildon; Shildon (CLOK, Local)
Sun 10th May 2026-Newton Aycliffe Urban (UKUL); Newton Aycliffe (CLOK, Regional)
Sun 10th May 2026-BL Bampton Common Cumbrian Galoppen; Bampton Common, Penrith (BL, Regional)
Sat 16th May 2026-Slaley Hall Local; Slaley Hall, Hexham (NATO, Local)
Sat 23rd May 2026-Spring Local Series 3; Percy Pit, Newburn (NATO, Local)
Sat 30th May 2026-Summer Series No 2; Preston Park, Stockton (CLOK, Local)
Sat 6th Jun 2026-Berwick Urban; Berwick-upon-Tweed (NATO, National)
Sat 13th Jun 2026-Summer Series No 3; Yarm, Yarm (CLOK, Local)
Sat 13th Jun 2026-Spring Local Event 4; Seaton Sluice, Blyth (NATO, Local)
Sat 20th Jun 2026–Herrington Country Park, Herrington[TBC] (NN, Local)
Sat 27th Jun 2026-Summer Series No 4; Ropner, Stockton (CLOK, Local)
Sat 3rd October 2026–October Odyssey Day 1 (NN, National)
Sun 4th October 2026–October Odyssey Day 2 (NN, National)
We also have a weekly club night on Wednesdays at 6.30pm in the vicinity of Durham City. Contact northernnavigators@gmail.com for further details.
NN Events in 2026
For 2026 we have a series of local events to put in your diaries – see the fixtures in this newsletter, on the website or on British Orienteering. Some venues are still to be confirmed, but we are aiming to plan courses that will build on existing skills and be suitable for beginners. We are always on the lookout for new recruits to our sport so if you know anyone who might be interested… You will see that we are hosting the October Odyssey weekend this year which is one of the more important events on the North East calendar – please keep the dates free and consider volunteering to help.
We’ll also have the usual Summer Street-Os over the summer – volunteers to organise and plan always welcome for these too.
If you are interested in getting some planning/organising/controlling experience, signing up for one of the local events would be an ideal place to start. I know taking on a role like this is a bit daunting if you’re new, but we really appreciate the help and it means it’s not such a heavy burden for a small number of individuals. Simply speak to one of the committee or drop an email to northernnavigators@gmail.com. Thanks in advance
Wednesday Club Nights
Our weekly club training at 6.30pm on a Wednesday continues to be well attended and a popular way to focus on technique or fitness. The venue changes each week, usually within a 5-mile radius of Durham, and is operated via a WhatsApp group. If you would like to join, contact Debby, and you will be added to the group. Alternatively, the details are put on the website each week (usually by Monday).
A Year with NN
Debby Warren
60 seconds with……..Kate Hampshire!!!!
Kate Hampshire answering questions from the Warrens
What’s your role in the club? I’m on the NN Committee but don’t have a specific role.
How long have you been orienteering? A long time! I began when I was 17, I think, so coming up for 40 years! And I still get lost…
How did you get into the sport? My A-level maths teacher was an orienteer, and he took some of us to a few events back on the Isle of Wight, where I’m from. Then, it was just wandering round an orange course (or occasionally a red) in jeans and trainers. But that all changed when I went to Oxford University and joined the orienteering club. Orienteering became my life, and has stayed that way ever since. (I met my husband, Nigel, through orienteering, and most of my closest friends are orienteers all over the country.)
What’s your warm-up routine? I’m ashamed to admit I don’t really have one. A jog to the start is about it. And sometimes not even that.
What’s your best result? Probably W19A Southern Champion, back in the late 1980s. It’s been downhill ever since then…
What do you eat before your run? Anything I can get my hands on!
Thumb compass or base-plate? Base plate all the way. I’ve tried several times to switch to a thumb compass, but I can’t seem to get on with it, maybe because I take a lot of bearings.
Do you take compass bearings? Yes – a lot! I routinely take a direct bearing from one control to the next; even when I’m not actually running on the bearing, it helps prevent me veering off too much.
What’s your favourite orienteering area? That’s a tough one! I love some of the southern Lakes areas, like Bigland or Great Tower. The forested sand dune areas in Moray are really nice – places like Culbin and Roseisle. Over the years, I’ve also really enjoyed orienteering in some of the Karst limestone areas in Slovenia. Although I generally do much better on less technical areas, I do enjoy the challenge of a good technical area.
Lycra or baggy? Baggy. Or maybe it’s because I haven’t bought any new O trousers in years, so everything I have is now baggy!
Moorland or forest? Depends what kind of moorland or forest! I’m not especially keen on thigh-high heather, or indeed on dense plantation forest. But either a grassy, runnable moorland or a nice bit of open forest are great!
Urban or cross country? I love both. I was a bit of an urban-sceptic in the early years, but now I’m a complete convert. Though if I had to choose one, it’d have to be classic in a beautiful open forest.
Do you pace count? Yes, mainly if the running is quite good and I don’t want to overshoot. I find it especially helpful in very complex sand dune areas, where everything can tend to look the same.
What’s your worst mistake? There have been a lot. But one that sticks in my mind was many years ago now at the OO Cup in Slovenia, as it’s the last really massive mistake I’ve made (touch wood). I took well over an hour on one control and was all over the place. After the race, my somewhat tactless friend, Claire Ward (former GB orienteer) said, “Kate, I don’t understand it. You’re a reasonably intelligent person. How can you make a one-hour error?” I can’t remember what I replied, but somehow the words stuck in my head. Now, every time I make a mistake or am not sure where I am, I remind myself that I’m a reasonably intelligent person and that, instead of running around like a headless chicken, I should calmly work it out. It seems to help!
Are you a results nerd? Not really. As long as I beat Josie Stansfield (FVO), I’m happy. Josie and I started orienteering together at university, and we’ve both remained equally mediocre since then (despite having produced some excellent orienteering offspring). You’ll almost always find us right next to each other, halfway down the results list…
What do you think of Routegadget? I was a bit of a Routegadget nerd at some point. But, since my Garmin broke, I don’t use GPS, so I’ve kind of lost interest.
British Orienteering Champs 26
Thomas Puschmann
On Friday 27th February, Jacob and I went to Richmond where we met the Simpsons and some of the Downings. From there, we drove down to an Airbnb in Pontardawe, South Wales, where we were staying for 2 nights.
The next day, we left the house at about 10 and drove to Carreg Goch, the area for the Long Champs. Carreg Goch is a high altitude moorland with many significant hills and crags. There are also large areas of flat limestone and broken rock which were quite hard to cross in the wet (and haily!) weather.
My timed start was at 11:56 and after a short jog to actually get there in time, I was off! My first and second controls were quite easy but on the third one (a really long leg) there was a bit of route choice to make: either go the straighter route through the rocky terrain or the much longer route along a nice easy path. I chose the path and this ended up saving me about 3 minutes.
Also on the way from 2 to 3 was the start of a hail storm. It was very sudden and I think everyone was glad of the mandatory cagoule rule – otherwise we could have gotten very cold. I made small route choice mistakes on the way to 10 and 11 but other than that my run was fairly uneventful.
I was very happy with how I did, mainly because i managed to beat some of my friends from Lagganlia (see Newsletter no. 10) and also get the silver standard, which is what you need to qualify for Deeside. Afterwards, we all stayed for the prize giving because Jules won M50 and Lauren had won W14.
The next day was the relays. We packed and then left the house about half an hour later than expected, which almost made the girls late for their mass start. I was in a relay team with Julian and Jacob on the short men’s course. Jules was first leg, I was second and Jacob was last. This meant that Jules was in the mass start.
20 mins later, Jules was sprinting down the run in in first place, so I knew that I had to try and keep the lead. Luckily, this was made easier by the amount of people out on the course, there was always a big crowd at the control. I didn’t really make any mistakes, but one time I did take a slightly longer route to a control along a path and might have lost a bit of time. When I got back and handed over to Jacob, our team was still first, but sadly, he didn’t have a good run, and we ended up in 5th place overall.
After that, we quickly packed up and started our long drive back up to Durham.
I really enjoyed the weekend and thank you very much to the Simpsons and Downings for taking us down to the event and looking after us.
Burbage Moor National Event
Jacob Li
On the 1st of February, Jules, Debby, Barney, Thomas and I went to the Burbage national event. When we got there, it was nice to see NEJS coaches Julian and Rebecca and some of the children attending as well. Although It was a very misty and cold day, we had to walk a long distance to download where I dropped my bag, which stretched along the road and into an adventure centre, however I was in a good spirit for a challenge ahead. I was on the green course, and soon I had glanced at my map and realised it was my first time doing a course of that difficulty. It was good the start wasn’t very far away, just a short jog. The area was a rocky moorland with lots of boulders and crags. My first control was on one of those boulders, I somehow got to a ruin though but managed to use that to get to my first control. The next highlight was control 6 which was quite a long leg which involved going along a path for 500m then up a hill and across a stream and re-entrant and into a depression, an interesting spot. The next decent control was 8, which was on the side of a crag and completely surrounded by rocks, I spent a long time wandering around the area and looking for it. And upon eventually finding it, it was very difficult to exit the area due to the immense amount of rocks around it. My control 15 was a slow leg because, upon seeing a taped route, I thought that it was the wrong place and went backwards, but after scanning my map again, I found that the control was a few metres further than the place I turned back from. When I finished, I found out I came in 2nd in my age class and in 3rd overall, and my time was 56:16. I was pretty pleased with my result and also had a lot of fun.
Navigation and Racing Challenges
The British Orienteering Navigation and Racing challenges enable you to track your progress through the colour-coded courses and their corresponding technical difficulty (TD). We want to celebrate those who have achieved these in 2025 and early 2026 – well done all!
Navigation Challenge – 1*
Evelyn Baker 04/09/2025
Navigation Challenge – 2*
Phoenix Cheung 24/12/2025
Evelyn Baker 24/12/2025
Finley Baker 04/09/2025
Navigation Challenge – 4*
Jacob Li 21/10/2025
Oliver Puschmann 27/01/2025
Navigation Challenge – 5*
Oliver Puschmann 09/02/2026
Chris Dale 03/03/2025
Aileen Congreve 27/01/2025
Racing Challenge: Bronze Award – 1*
Evelyn Baker 04/09/2025
Racing Challenge: Bronze Award – 2*
Eli Cheung 09/02/2026
Finley Baker 04/09/2025
Racing Challenge: Bronze Award – 3*
Oliver Puschmann 04/09/2025
Racing Challenge: Bronze Award – 4*
Oliver Puschmann 03/03/2025
Racing Challenge: Bronze Award – 5*
Chris Dale 03/03/2025
Thomas Puschmann 27/01/2025
Racing Challenge: Silver Award – 2*
Finley Baker 24/12/2025
Racing Challenge: Silver Award – 3*
Oliver Puschmann 04/09/2025
Racing Challenge: Silver Award – 4*
Oliver Puschmann 13/10/2025
Racing Challenge: Silver Award – 5*
Chris Dale 03/03/2025
Thomas Puschmann 10/02/2025
Racing Challenge: Gold Award – 2*
Finley Baker 24/12/2025
Racing Challenge: Gold Award – 5*
Chris Dale 03/03/2025
Thomas Puschmann 03/03/2025
Members are eligible for a Navigation Challenge certificate after successfully completing 3 colour-coded courses at the same Technical Difficulty (TD) standard. The certificates are ‘star’ based e.g. 1 star for TD 1 up to 5 Star for TD 5.
Members are eligible for a Racing Challenge certificate after successfully completing 3 colour-coded courses (of the same TD) within the following times:
– Gold Award. Participants time < Course Length (km) x 12.5mins
– Silver Award. Participants time < Course Length (km) x 15mins
– Bronze Award. Participants time < Course Length (km) x 20mins
These certificates are also ‘star’ based, e.g. 1 star for TD 1 up to 5 stars for TD 5 as above.
Edinburgh Big Weekend Poem
Dave Peel and (mainly!) ChatGPT
Maps creased at the corners,
fingers numb in the cold,
headtorch halos cut through January dark
as footsteps drum over muddy grass.
Stone closes whisper choices—
left, right, trust your gut—
the city watches quietly
while runners slice its shadows.
Cobblestones flash,
alleyways fold and unfold,
controls hide like secrets
only the brave can find.
Up Arthur’s Seat the wind laughs loud,
steals your breath, steals your plan,
then hands it back at the summit
with a view worth every wrong turn.
Mud on calves,
rain on smiles,
tea steaming in cupped hands—
victory measured in moments, not minutes.
Three days of compass faith,
of legs burning and minds alive,
of teammates becoming friends
somewhere between start and finish.
Edinburgh holds us,
then lets us go—
maps damp, hearts full,
already dreaming of next year.
Please send any contributions for the next newsletter to northernnavigators@gmail.com