SWELL 2025/26 South and West Essex Local League

4th Feb 25

SWELL is the South and West Essex Local League, an individual league which is run by Havering and South Essex (HAVOC) and Chigwell and Epping Forest (CHIG) orienteering clubs with Essex Stragglers Orienteering Society (SOS) hosting one or two events a season as well. There are eight to ten events held on either a Saturday or Sunday between September and June each season. The league is open to everyone. By virtue of taking part in a SWELL event you automatically qualify for the league, you do not need to register for the league. 

As a minimum, White, Yellow, Orange, Light Green, Green and Blue courses are offered and normally a Short Green. At some events a Very Short Green, Brown and even Black may be offered and possibly Short Blue and Short Brown.

Current scoring, after the sixth event at Langdon Hills is:

Scoring after round 6

Six rounds gone, one to go - Weald Park on 8th March - but the change this year is only your best six scores will count, putting a little more emphasis on performance as well as attendance!!

WHITE - Olivia Muggeridge is white course champion with a round still to go. Well done.

YELLOW - Sister Sienna Muggeridge has also secured yellow course champion title.

ORANGE - Tunde Farago is almost home. Only Isla Findlay can catch her.

LIGHT GREEN - Hugo Maule-Lidbury has an unassailable lead. Well done Hugo.

OVERALL GIRLS - Olivia Muggeridge can only be caught be her sister, Sienna or by orange leader, Tunde Farago.

OVERALL BOYS - Light green winner, Hugo Maule-Lidbury has doubled up and will be overall boys winner.

SHORT GREEN - Francis Ronnau-Bradbeer leads, but has 6 runs. Noreen Ives is in striking distance with another run to count.

GREEN - Gavin Avey-Hebditch holds a sizeable lead. The chasing pack can overhaul.

BLUE - Only seven points separate the top three on the blue course. Can Ian Byford, last years overall winner, hang on ?

BROWN - Antoine Pesenti is nearly there on the longest course.

OVERALL ADULT - Only five points separate the top three, but they all have six counting scores already. They can improve, but the chasing four orienteers only have five runs counting and can all catch the leading three.
       
TOP FEMALE - Noreen Ives has a big lead, with only Jackie Sidthorp able to catch her.

Most of the Junior categories are settled, but there's a lot to play for in the Adult ones.

See you at Weald Park.
Thanks
Dale
 

Summary of winners since 2005/06

League events

SWELL Point Scoring Rules

1. SWELL season runs 01 September to 30 April each year

2. Maximum 8 events, minimum 6 events to be included in a season

3. Best 6 events score

JUNIORS (below M/W21)

4. Score up to 100 points according to finishing position on White, Yellow, Orange and Light Green courses.

5. Courses are White (School Years 3-6), Yellow (Years 7 & 8), Orange (Years 9 & 10) and Light Green (Years 11-13).  

6. Juniors running down a course score 50% points, 2 courses 25% points, 3 courses 10% points.

7. Juniors competing as a pair each score 50% points; juniors score 10 points if with an adult.

8. Disqualified competitors score 10 points.

9. Medals for overall winners on White, Yellow, Orange and Light Green.

10. Trophy for overall highest scoring Girl and Boy.

ADULTS (M/W21 and above)

11. Adults on White to Light Green courses score up to 50 points according to finishing position.

12. Adults on Green, Short Green, Blue, Brown and Black courses score up to 100 points according to finishing position.

13. Disqualified competitors score 10 points.

14. Medals for overall winners on Green, Short Green, Blue, Brown/Black.

15. Trophy for overall highest scoring Female and Male.

16. Organiser and planner for an event receive 100 points each. An individual organiser and planner can only receive this benefit once per season.

Getting started

Orienteering means maps, forests and adventure. You can walk, jog or run and choosing your route to the red and white markers is fun. It does not matter how old, young or fit you are - you go at your own pace. If you like excitement, fresh air and exploring the countryside then Orienteering is the sport for you.

Orienteering can best be described as competitive navigation on foot. You find your way around a course going from point to point using a specially drawn large scale map and a compass. No expensive kit is needed - just sensible outdoor clothes (long trousers are compulsory at most events), a good pair of trainers, a red pen, a clear polythene bag to put the map in and a whistle for safety.

Getting started is easy. Each league event has a minimum of 5 courses. If you are new to the sport, you can start with the beginners courses of about 3 kilometres (white and yellow), and when you get more confident, you can move up to the intermediate courses of about 4 kilometres (orange and light green). In addition, there is a longer course of about 5 kilometres (blue), aimed at experienced orienteers.

Time

All events have registration from 10am until at least 11. 30am. Starts normally will be from 10.30 until 11.30 (Saturdays) and 12.30 (Sundays).

Courses will normally close at 1pm on Saturdays and 2.00pm on Sundays.

Courses

All events will have courses suitable for beginners, improvers and experienced orienteers. 
(A minimum of colour coded standard White, Yellow, Orange, Light Green and Blue courses will be on offer at each event.)
There will be help and advice for beginners at every event. (Please contact the Co-ordinator if you wish to bring a large group so that we can make arrangements to give you extra help with Registration and allocating Courses and Start times)

Cost

Saturday events: Seniors: approximately £7   Juniors: £3 
Sunday events:   Seniors: approximately £8 Juniors: £3

Pre-entry preferred. There may be limited entry on the day.

The events on Sundays are larger events, with a wider range of courses and normally a larger map. 
All events normally use electronic punching (SI). There will be an additional charge of £1 to hire an electronic punching “dibber” if you do not own one.

Car parking

Essex County Council charge a car parking fee for events on their areas.  Other areas' charges vary.

Dogs

Unless otherwise stated dogs are welcome at these events, but must be under strict control at all times, both in the Registration area and in the competition area. 

Contacts

HAVOC’s website is at www.orienteering-havoc.co.uk
CHIG’s website is at www.chig.org.uk
Essex Stragglers (SOS)'s website is at www.stragglers.info

The SWELL coordinator, Dale Bennett, can be contacted via