ISLE OF MAN ORIENTEERING KLUBB GIVEN SUPPORT FOR NEW ORIENTEERING MAPS

Two new locations have been mapped for orienteering in the Isle of Man with the support of Manx Lottery Trust, making way for the exciting development of permanent orienteering courses.

Isle of Man Orienteering Klubb was awarded £2,500 to help fund the mapping and creation of permanent orienteering courses at Conrhenny Wood and Tholt-y-Will Forest. The funding has been used to create orienteering maps for both locations, which required the skills of a specialist mapper, in addition to the placement of permanent orienteering markers and the resources to fix them in place.

Mapping of the two locations was undertaken during the summer, along with the planning and placement of permanent orienteering markers for courses at the new sites. These mapped locations will add to the range of venues across the Island where orienteering activities can take place, and once complete, will be available to download for people of all ages to use in their own time.
William Higgins, a founding member and development officer of Isle of Man Orienteering Klubb, said: ‘We are grateful to Manx Lottery Trust for its support of this project, in addition to the Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture for the provision of posts to place the permanent orienteering markers on.

‘The map of Conrhenny Wood and permanent orienteering markers were ready for launch at the final event of the Summer Mini-Series, organised by Isle of Man Orienteering Klubb. The map of Tholt-y-Will Forest was launched at the 7 Kingdoms Isle of Man Orienteering Championships in September. Both locations proved fantastic venues for orienteering with a wide age range of participants undertaking the different events.

‘We are looking forward to the next event on Boxing Day morning at Conrhenny Wood and to 2021 where we hope to introduce even more people to these two exciting venues.’

Sarah Kelly, Chairman of Manx Lottery Trust, attended the final event of the Summer Mini-Series in September to officially launch the new map at Conrhenny Wood. She said : ‘Orienteering is very popular in the Isle of Man with people of all ages involved in the activity. It is not only great fun, but also fantastic for skill development in younger people. We were pleased to award this grant and hope the new mapped locations and courses are as popular as others around the Island.’

Manx Lottery Trust’s Smaller Grant Programme provides community funding between £300 and £2,500. Information and application forms can be found at www.mlt.org.im/grant-programmes.