British Sprint Relay Championships 2026

The British Sprint Relay Championships 2026 will take place on Saturday 27 June at the University of Bristol North Village Campus.

Travel

Please see the separate 'getting to the event' page.

Assembly

Entering the drive, through the gate past the ‘no entry’ sign, towards Wills Hall, Assembly is in the Hall directly in front of you at the end of this drive, within Wills Hall. Bear slightly left for the doors into Assembly. Toilets will be nearby. There should be no need for club tents, particularly as travel should ideally be by public transport but Club banners to decorate the Arena would be welcome.

Traders & Catering

Compass Point will be on the field nearby, selling Orienteering kit. Please support them.

There is no onsite catering provided, given the time of day. Please bring your own water.

There is a café next to the huge Watertower on the Downs, 600m SSE of Wills Drive on Stoke Road. There are also several cafés and a Waitrose supermarket along and at the east end of North View, east of White Tree Roundabout. Anyone heading back to the Cribbs Mall will find an array of different eating places there, including restaurants around the Vue cinema over at The Venue, southwest across Merlin Road from the Cribbs Mall, with a walkway between the two places. Regrettably, accessing the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens and their otherwise excellent café, normally open 10:00am-4:30pm, will put you on the course area and risking disqualification!

For anyone choosing to stay in the three budget hotels close to Sunday’s British Sprint Championships at UWE and choosing to catch the bus over driving, they can connect with the 1 and 2/2a and get to and from their hotels by taking the M1 or M4 Metrobus to/from Cribbs Mall from/towards A4174 near UWE. You should not board/alight at the bus stop actually at the UWE Campus bus station but at the ‘UWE The Gardens’ stop, on the road outside, for both buses. M1 and M4 start/terminate at Cribbs Mall bus station and go to/through and from Bristol city centre but by different routes.

The Map

The map is drawn to ISSprOM 2019-2. The map scale for the Elite class is 1:4,000. All other classes are at the recommended enlargement to 1:3,000. Originally produced by Mike Forrest of BOK, it has received updates from several BOK and UBOC (University of Bristol Orienteering Club) members and has been updated for this event again by Mike Forrest.

An earlier version of the map, used for the Southwest Sprint Championships in April 2023 is here.

Eligibility

The 2026 British Sprint Relay Championships are open to members of the British Orienteering Federation and to members of overseas IOF affiliated Federations.

To be eligible to be British Sprint Relay Champions, all members of a team (except for Ad Hoc teams) must meet the club representation eligibility requirements in the British Orienteering Rules of Orienteering and the individual eligibility requirements below. For the full rules of competition and eligibility see Competition Rule T on the British Orienteering website.

To be eligible to be a British Champion an individual competitor must, on the day immediately preceding the day of competition in question (i.e. Friday 26 June 2026), be a member of British Orienteering. To be eligible for British Sprint Relay Championship medals all the members of a relay team must be eligible under the criteria specified:

either  be a British citizen;

or  have been a member of British Orienteering in each of the three membership years preceding the year of the competition.

For Juniors who are not British citizens, the membership criteria are:

Competition classes

Elite

Teams consisting of FOUR (4) people, of which at least TWO (2) must be female.

4 LAPS, first and last laps (shorter than laps two and three) must be run by females. The four must all be members of the same club or an ‘Alliance team’ (see below).

Veteran (40+)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people in age classes M/W40 or older, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS, middle lap shorter, free running order.

The three must all be members of the same club.

Super Veteran (55+)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people in age classes M/W55 or older, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS, middle lap shorter, free running order.

The three must all be members of the same club.

Ultra Veteran (65+)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people in age classes M/W65 or older, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS, middle lap shorter, free running order.

The three must all be members of the same club.

Junior (16-)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people in age classes M/W16 or younger, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS, middle lap shorter, free running order.

The three must all be members of the same club or an ‘Alliance Team’ (see below).

Young Junior (12-)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people in age classes M/W12 or younger, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS, all laps same length, free running order.

The three must all be members of the same club or an ‘Alliance team’ (see below).

Ad Hoc (no age class restrictions)

Teams consisting of THREE (3) people, no age restrictions, of which at least ONE (1) must be female.

3 LAPS - middle lap shorter - free running order.

NOT a B.S.R.C. Championship class. Members need NOT all be members of the same club.

Note on female / male laps

Laps to be run by men are open to all. Women’s laps are restricted to females (see British Orienteering Trans policy). Accordingly, teams can comprise:

- Elite teams - ALL female or ONE male and THREE females or TWO males and TWO females

- Other teams - ALL female or ONE male and TWO females or TWO males and ONE female

Alliances

Elite alliances

In the Elite class, geographically adjacent clubs are permitted to form combined teams (‘Alliances’) for this event. Alliance teams are treated as competitive and are eligible to win trophies/medals. Two clubs that wish to form such an alliance must satisfy the following criteria:

• The two combining clubs must be geographically adjacent.
• Neither club has fielded a team that finished in a top three position in the previous three calendar years in the British Sprint Relay Championships Elite class.

Junior alliances

In the Young Juniors (12-) and Junior (16-) classes, clubs from the same Association and/orgeographically adjacent clubs are permitted to form combined teams (‘Alliances’) for this event. Alliance teams are treated as competitive and are eligible to win trophies/medals. Clubs may only combine to enter ‘Alliance’ teams if they have already entered as many complete teams as they are able to in each class.

In circumstances where combined teams are formed, clubs must pick their best runners for their own club team or teams, before seeking to form an alliance to give their additional junior orienteers the opportunity to run in the competition.

Any attempt by clubs to do otherwise may lead to their alliance team being declared non-competitive. The spirit of this initiative is, therefore, that clubs form teams from their own members and are encouraged to develop their own club juniors; it is not the intention for 'elite' teams to be formed.

Prizes

The British Sprint Relay Championship Trophy is presented to the first elite team.

British Championship medals will be awarded to the first, second and third placed team members, in each class. Competitors are only eligible for British Championship medals in the class they have entered and if all members of the team satisfy the Eligibility requirements above.

Event officials

Weekend Coordinator: Mike Forrest (BOK)

Day Organiser: Richard Rossington (BOK)

Planner: Charles Daniel (BOK)

Controller: Graham Nilsen (DEE)

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the University of Bristol for permission to use their North Village in Stoke Bishop and to their site and facilities staff for help and advice. Thank you also to the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens, who have kindly agreed to close early to allow competitors full access to the courses in safety.