The Greater London Orienteering Summer Series (‘GLOSS’) is an annual Summer inter-club competition between orienteering clubs in and around London, with the prize being the prestigious London Bus trophy shown.
There are two courses: the GLOSS course which is about 3½ to 4½ km (with optional extension to around 6 km) and is of moderate navigational difficulty, and a ‘Yellow’ course which is about 2km with easier navigation. Navigate between control points – you decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time. Beginners welcome!
The best six handicapped times for each club at each event score points, which are totalled at the end of the season. GLOSS uses a handicap system in determining individual performance , based on how well you perform against the average of your British Orienteering Ranking Scheme scores. The base file for the scoring is this extract from the Ranking List.
Flyer for the 2025 GLOSS series (pdf)
Sun 22 June NorthlaFields SLOW – GLOSS Scoring – Results
Sun 29 June Hornchurch Country Park HAVOC – GLOSS Scoring – Results
Sat 5 July Haileybury School HH – GLOSS Scoring – Results
Sun 6 July Fairlop Waters CHIG – GLOSS Scoring – Results
Sun 13 July Nonsuch Park MV – GLOSS Scoring – Results
Sun 20 July Harmondsworth Moor LOK – GLOSS Scoring – Results
The completed GLOSS series scoring events is below. The scoring is best 5 of 6 scores, which means HAVOC hold the Red Bus trophy for another year – Congratulations!
Contact for GLOSS series: gloss@londonorienteering.co.uk (Catherine Galvin LOK)
2025 Series Event 6 – Harmondsworth Moor 20th July 2025
The finale of the 2025 GLOSS series was held at another brand new area, Harmondsworth Moor, tucked in between Heathrow Airport and the M25, just south of the M4. Not only did the area offer a unique sound scape but also a super clear A3 sprint / urban style 1:4,000 map to help competitors confidently navigate between the areas partitioned by the River Colne and the Wraysbury Rivers. Aircraft descending towards the airport runway could be glimpsed during the GLOSS course from the higher vantage points adjacent to the M25. And tasty ripe blackberries abounded.
Hosts were LOK. Thanks to Neil Brooks who, in addition to organising permissions from British Airways and their property services firm (CBRE), planned, put out the controls very early on and did the IT. Further thanks are due also to Charles Spence for otherwise handling all the organisational aspects and Ian Marsden (HH) for controlling. We are also grateful to Alistair from CBRE and ranger for the Moor, who ensured that we had exclusive access to our own special car park for this event.
Neil ensured that there was plenty to keep you thinking while making one’s way round the 3.5 km, 80 m climb and 22 controls course. Direct routes across the tickly tall grass, however, were less attractive than they would have been a month ago or so.
Unhandicapped course results are now available on our website as is a link to Routegadget. You can use RouteGadget to show the planner where you went and review others’ routes.
Quickest on the GLOSS course this time was Nick Barrable (M40) of SYO in 23:20, pipping Harold Wyber (M40) of CHIG in 25:19. Harold merits a special mention as he made to all six GLOSSes in the series, being the fastest or second fastest competitor on each occasion. Nick’s time was only slightly longer than the GLOSS expected winning time of 20-22 minutes. Quickest female was Helen Marsden (W45) of HH in 32:15.
For handicapping purposes competitors are awarded points based on how well on the day they outdo their average ranking scores across all British Orienteering (BO) ranking events over the past year instead of their best six. Full details of the handicapping approach is here and the list of average scores for all BO members as at 21 June 2025 is given in the penultimate column here. Unranked competitors are each assumed to perform at 0.95 against expectations.
Quickest on handicap ie the individual whose ratio of actual event points to expected points based on their current ranking was again Danni Angelova (W55) of DFOK in a time of 70:16 minutes with a ratio of 1.206. Five clubs fielded a full team of at least six successful competitors for the handicap competition. DFOK prevailed over HAVOC thanks to a strong showing on handicap with HH third.
HAVOC had already won the 2025 GLOSS series going into the final event, thereby retaining the London Bus Trophy for another year.
Full handicapped results are here. Any scoring queries to Paul Todd at fixtures@londonorienteering.co.uk.
That’s it for this year but see you all again in 2026.
Catherine Galvin – 2025 GLOSS series coordinator (LOK)
2025 Series Event 3 – Haileybury 5th July 2025
A cooler day today at Haileybury, a new area to orienteering and the former home of the East India Company college, which is now Haileybury College. The grounds include extensive woodlands, which the planner Emese Svab made full use of when planning the 3.5 km 50 m climb 14 controls GLOSS course. Finding controls in the woodland was slightly tricky in that vegetation was in places high and the water features all dried up. The extension course offered the opportunity to run past the entrance of the impressive college quadrangle as well as visit the manicured grounds.
Thanks also to Neil Gostick for organising and scouting out this new area for us to enjoy and also to Hedley Calderbank for controlling. Thanks also to Simon Errington for producing such a high-quality sprint style map for use at events like GLOSS and HH’s Saturday series. Finally also thanks to David Dixon, photos from the event are available here. Truly a team effort in terms of putting on the event from HH.
Unhandicapped course results are now available on HH’s website as is a link to Routegadget. You can use RouteGadget to show the planner where you went and review others’ routes.
Quickest on the GLOSS course this time was last week’s planner Chris Price (M21) of HAVOC in 21:18, just pipping Harold Wyber (M40) of CHIG who had been quickest at the previous two GLOSSes, bang on the GLOSS expected winning time of 20-22 minutes. Quickest female was Kerria Lines (W21) of HH in 27:24.
For handicapping purposes competitors are awarded points based on how well on the day they outdo their average ranking scores across all British Orienteering (BO) ranking events over the past year instead of their best six. Full details of the handicapping approach is here and the list of average scores for all BO members as at 21 June 2025 is given in the penultimate column here. Unranked competitors are each assumed to perform at 0.95 against expectations.
Quickest on handicap ie the individual whose ratio of actual event points to expected points based on their current ranking was Danni Angelova (W50) of DFOK in a time of 59:16 minutes with a ratio of 1.291. Four clubs fielded a full team of at least six successful competitors for the handicap competition. Hosts HH, with no less than 48 GLOSS course finishers, prevailed over HAVOC with ‘only’ 10 competitors. CHIG prevailed over fourth placed LOK.
Full handicapped results are here. Any scoring queries to Paul Todd at fixtures@londonorienteering.co.uk.
Entries are open for next week’s event – MV’s event at Nonsuch Park. I am very shortly off on a week’s summer holiday by the seaside on the north coast of Germany, so no further reports from me for a while.
Catherine Galvin – 2025 GLOSS series coordinator (LOK)
2025 Series Event 2 – Hornchurch Country Park 29th June 2025
It was a good day to run early as Hornchurch Country Park, the home WWII RAF Hornchurch, reached a scorching 29c by late morning. Protection from the searing sun was an important factor in deciding route choice around the 4.2km 30 m 13 control GLOSS course. Hornchurch Country Park has matured as an area in the 10 years since HAVOC first mapped the area, with more dark green on the map than before. Great that Havering Council re-mows the rides across many of the grassy areas every so often, helping progression across the terrain
Thanks to Chris Prince for planning the GLOSS course, which kept you thinking all the way round, Colin Jackson for organising and rest of the crew from HAVOC. The only hiccup was control #8, located just off a grassy ride, which was working for early competitors but at some point later stopped recording punches, meaning that most competitors had a missing punch and some lost time wondering if the control was misbehaving only for them.
Unhandicapped course results are now available on HAVOC’s website as is a link to Routegadget. You can use RouteGadget to show the planner where you went and review others’ routes.
Quickest on the GLOSS course was (again) Harold Wyber (M40) of CHIG and Chloe Fowler (W21) of HAVOC, in 24:30 and 36:09 minutes respectively. Harold’s time was over 2 minutes over the GLOSS expected winning time of 20-22 minutes and that was after taking out two longish legs before and after the aforementioned malfunctioning control.
For handicapping purposes competitors are awarded points based on how well on the day they outdo their average ranking scores across all British Orienteering (BO) ranking events over the past year instead of their best six. Full details of the handicapping approach is here and the list of average scores for all BO members as at 21 June 2025 is given in the penultimate column here. Unranked competitors are each assumed to perform at 0.95 against expectations.
Quickest on handicap ie the individual whose ratio of actual event points to expected points based on their current ranking was Tim Bywater-Lees (M65) of HH in a time of 43:14 minutes with a ratio of 1.16. Four clubs fielded a full team of at least six successful competitors for the handicap competition. Hosts HAVOC saw off DFOK with HH, four of whose scoring members were weary from their overnight exertions at the Harvester down in Kent, placing third.
Full handicapped results are here. Any scoring queries to Paul Todd at fixtures@londonorienteering.co.uk.
Entries are open for both of next weekend’s events. On the Saturday, HH host at a new area, Haileybury School and Woods near Hertford and CHIG host at Fairlop Waters, handily located for northeaster reaches of the Central Line, on the Sunday. So plenty of orienteering to enjoy as the GLOSS series heads into July.
Catherine Galvin – 2025 GLOSS series coordinator (LOK)
2025 Series Event 1 – Northala Fields 22nd June 2025
Sun and wind were the order of the day at the inaugural event of the GLOSS 2025 series at Northala Fields, Greenford. Controls were placed artfully adjacent to and on (but not on top of) the 4 large conical mounds that visually dominate this area. Competitors also visited all nooks and crannies of the terrain, which also featured minor streams and swales, woodland, scrub as well as wetland habitat. Competitors on the extension got to visit the summit of two of the mounds, the taller at 22 metres affording views panoramic views of London, as well as visiting Marnham Fields on the other side of the road. Trickiest control was the GLOSS course final control, cunningly hidden several metres below the Finish in a walled off area.
Thanks to Ollie O’Brien for planning the courses, Steve Clelland for organising and rest of the crew from SLOW.
Unhandicapped course results are now available on SLOW’s website as is a link to Routegadget. You can use RouteGadget to show the planner where you went and review others’ routes.
Quickest on the 3.1km (as the crow flies!), 30m climb, 19 control course were Harold Wyber (M40) of CHIG and Heather Findlay (W40) of SLOW, in 16:44 and 24:15 minutes respectively. Harold’s time was over 3 minutes under the GLOSS expected winning time of 20-22 minutes.
For handicapping purposes competitors are awarded points based on how well on the day they outdo their average ranking scores across all British Orienteering (BO) ranking events over the past year instead of their best six. Full details of the handicapping approach is here and the list of average scores for all BO members as at 21 June 2025 is given in the penultimate column here. Unranked competitors are each assumed to perform at 0.95 against expectations.
Quickest on handicap ie the individual whose ratio of actual event points to expected points based on their current ranking was Sebastian Parris (M40) of HAVOC with a time of 22:30 minutes with a ratio of 1.139. Three clubs fielded a full team of at least six successful competitors for the handicap competition. Hosts SLOW prevailed over HAVOC, current holders of the London Bus GLOSS trophy, with LOK in third place.
Full handicapped results are here. Any scoring queries to Paul Todd at fixtures@londonorienteering.co.uk.
Entries are open for next Sunday’s event, hosted by HAVOC at Hornchurch Country Park on the other side of London. See you there for the next instalment of the 2025 GLOSS series!
Catherine Galvin – 2025 GLOSS series coordinator (LOK)
For Organisers and Planners: The GLOSS Guidelines are here. Plus GLOSS Purple Pen Guidelines.
