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Cheshire and Merseyside Schools' Orienteering League Rules and Scoring System

General

Purpose

To promote the sport of Orienteering to school and youth groups in Cheshire and Merseyside by providing a series of orienteering events, a competitive league, a Primary School's Championship and a relay event each school year.

Organisation

The league is organised on an informal basis and co-ordinated by members of Merseyside Orienteering Club and Deeside Orienteering Club.

Courses

The league will have four courses, yellow, orange, light green and green (or long light green where green is not possible). A non-competitive white course will also be provided for novices and primary school children.

Competitors

A Schools League competitor is a member of a school or youth group affiliated to Merseyside Orienteering Club (Meroc), Deeside Orienteering Club (DEE), the British School's orienteering association or a junior member of either Meroc or DEE who registers their school year rather than the British Orienteering Association (BOF) age.

Competitors should register at events using their gender and correct school year, e.g. BY8 (Boy year 8), GY10 (Girl year 10).

Eligibility

To be eligible schools must reside within Meroc and DEE areas, i.e. Merseyside, Cheshire and part of SW Lancashire.

Pairs

Competitors may run as pairs on the yellow and orange courses only and may score points for their school team. Pairs on other courses will be classed as 'Non competitive'. Groups of more than two on any course will be classed as 'Non competitive'.

Trophy

The "Two Rivers" trophy will be awarded to the winner of the Senior School League.

Senior School League Rules

Teams

Teams comprise of six counters and schools may have more than one team. The first six highest counters count towards team 1 the next six highest, team 2 and so on. To score team points a team must have at least three counters.

Schools may nominate names for teams but they must retain the name of the school and the order in the title, e.g. Anfield Reds (1). Schools not wishing to have names will simply be "school name 1" etc.

Scoring

Team Points

The school team with the highest individual points scores 25 team points, the next highest team score 24 team points etc. down to 6 team points.

All teams (and part teams) score at least 5 team points. 11. The team with the highest number of team points wins at the end of the season.

The season will normally consist of six events. This may be reduces due to event cancellation or if an event inadvertently clashes with another schools event.

Individual Points:

Individual points are calculated on the following basis:

Course points x Year weighting factor = Individual points

Course Points

The base time for the yellow course will be shall be the time of the leading eligible competitor from year 7/8 who shall score 400 course points.

The base time for the orange course will be shall be the time of the leading eligible competitor from year 7/10 who shall score 600 course points.

The base time for the light green and green course (or long light green) shall be the leading eligible competitor from any year and they shall score 800 and 1000 course points respectively.

If a competitor from a year other than 7/8 on the yellow or years 7/10 on the orange beat the base time they will be awarded points for the base time only.

The course points for all other competitors are calculated using the base time as a percentage of their own time. E.g. Green course. Base time 30mins 00 secs. A competitor with a time of 35mins 00 secs scores (30:00/35:00) x 1000 = 835 course points.

Weighting Factor

Competitors from each year will receive a weighting factor as follows:

Weighting Factors
  Boys Girls
Year 7 1.4 1.65
Year 8/9 1.25 1.4
Year 10/11 1.1 1.25
Year 12/13 1.0 1.1

Scoring Examples

The winner of each course would score as follows:

Example Scores
Class Course Base Course Points Weighting Factor Individual Points
GY7 Yellow 400 1.65 660
GY7 Orange 600 1.65 990
BY7 &GY8/9 Yellow 400 1.4 560
BY7 &GY8/9 Orange 600 1.4 840
BY7 &GY8/9 Light Green 800 1.4 1120
BY8/9 & GY10/11 Yellow 400 1.25 500
BY8/9 & GY10/11 Orange 600 1.25 750
BY8/9 & GY10/11 Light Green 800 1.25 1000
BY8/9 & GY10/11 Green 1000 1.25 1250
BY10/11 & GY12/13 Yellow 400 1.1 440
BY10/11 & GY12/13 Orange 600 1.1 660
BY10/11 & GY12/13 Light Green 800 1.1 880
BY10/11 & GY12/13 Green 1000 1.1 1100
BY12/13 Yellow 400 1.0 400
BY12/13 Orange 600 1.0 600
BY12/13 Light Green 800 1.0 800
BY12/13 Green 1000 1.0 1000

Note: There are now no requirements for a minimum number of runners on the yellow or any course. Competitors are encouraged to run the course suitable for their ability. Due to the weighting factor competitors running down a course are likely to score fewer points. Competitors running up a course have the potential to score more points but may score less.

Courses

Schools' League Course Designs
Course Technical Difficulty Course length(km) Estimated Winning Time
White 1 1.5 +/-20% 15-20 minutes
Yellow 2 2.0 +/-20% 20-25 minutes
Orange 3 2.6 +/-20% 25-35 minutes
Light Green 4 3.3 +/-20% 30-35 minutes
Long Light Green 4 4.3 +/-20% 35-40 minutes
Green 5 4.0 +/-15% 35-40 minutes

Primary Schools Championship Rules

  1. The Primary Schools' Championship will be the sixth or last event in the season.
  2. The Championship will be set on a yellow course.
  3. Competitors must run individually (pairs will be non-competitive).
  4. School teams shall comprise of four runners.
  5. The first eligible finisher shall be awarded 1 point, the second 2 points etc.
  6. The school team with the lowest aggregate total from the best four competitors from that school shall be the winner of the Primary Championship.

Contacts

For further information, contact either of the two league co-ordinators:

  • MEROC: Jane Woollard () (tel: 01704 873 699)
  • DEE: Malcolm Irvine () (tel: 0151 648 7201)
a hill Runcorn Bridge