Club Kit ...

Home A Brief History The Gopher Getting Started Successes Who's Who Club Kit

Guildford Orienteers are now the proud owners of a brand new club strip which became available in June 2003. The new suits are still in our tradiitional club colours of Red, White and Blue (Royal and not Navy). We were very fortunate to secure sponsorship from the Clement Windows Group for our Junior tops, so a big thank you to Peter Clement for his generosity.

We are buying the new suits from the German supplier OL-Shop Conrad and we can get tops with long or short sleeved tops, solid or mesh fabric (any combination), plus long bottoms as illustrated.

Newcomers to the sport may well ask what on earth are O Suits and why are they needed ??

"O Suits", as they are referred to, may look like horrible nylon pyjamas, but there is some logic to the choice of fabrics :

  • it is light, so not much weight to carry when running hard.
  • it doesn't absorb water (rain or sweat), so doesn't tend to get heavy once wet.
  • it doesn't snag too easily on twigs, brambles etc unlike other fabrics.
  • it is comfortable regardless of the time of year, and can be supplemented with a thermal layer in the winter.

    It is an IOF (International Orienteering Federation) rule that full leg cover must be worn (at the majority of events, though there are sometimes exceptions), so if you are new to orienteering, or a seasoned veteran there are a few options open to you.

  • as a beginner any comfortable tracksuit bottoms are fine. I wouldn't recommend jeans as they won't keep you warm if you get wet.
  • if you take the sport more seriously, then you can buy Orienteering bottoms made of the same nylon material as the tops.
  • or, you can buy body hugging Lycra bottoms.

    In all cases, you can protect your shins either with reinforced socks called "Bramble Bashers", or protective gaiters. There is no reason why shin pads as used in soccer, rugby, hockey etc shouldn't be used.

    Ordering GO Club Kit

    At the moment we are only ordering new kit as requested and will not be carrying a stock of suits. This is to reduce the risk of ending up with a stock of unwanted kit. It will however mean that you may well have to wait a while for your new suit as we will need to get a reasonable number of requests together before placing an order.

    Sizes

    SIZE
    XXS
    XS
    S
    M
    L
    XL
    XXL
    Height
    145
    (57")
    160
    (63")
    162-170
    (64-67")
    168-176
    (66-69")
    174-182
    (68-72")
    180-186
    (71-73")
    184-194
    (72-76")
    Chest
    75
    (29.5")
    81
    (32")
    82-89
    (32-35")
    90-97
    (35.5-38")
    98-105
    (38.5-41.5")
    106-113
    (42-44.5")
    114-117
    (45-46")
    Hips
    80
    (31.5")
    89
    (35")
    90-97
    (35.5-38")
    98-105
    (38.5-41.5")
    106-113
    (42-44.4")
    114-120
    (45-47")
    121-123
    (47.5-48.5")
    Sleeve + Shoulder
    59
    (23")
    66
    (26")
    71
    (28")
    76
    (30")
    81
    (32")
    85
    (33.5")
    -
    Outside leg
    83
    (32.5")
    -
    101
    (40")
    103
    (40.5")
    105
    (41.5")
    108
    (42.5")
    -
    Inside leg
    68
    (26.5")
    -
    74
    (29")
    79
    (31")
    83
    (32.5"
    84
    (33")
    -

    These sizes are approximate only, so to give you a better feel for the size you may need, here are a few pointers based on some of the regular club members who have already purchased the kit.

    The XXS is aimed at the youngsters - ages from about 8 to 11. The bottoms should hopefully fit an average 10 year old. They can always roll the sleeves up and wear 6 extra fleeces until they grow a bit!

    We haven't ordered any XS as yet, and the supplier did not have bottoms defined for this size (we in fact made up the XXS!!). You may well find that Small may be a better option if you think the wearer may have a growing spurt!!

    My son Toby who is a pretty average 14 year old wears small top and bottoms, and as a small older than teenager ... but only just!!, I also wear the same size bottoms but opted for a medium top ... small may have been better!

    Mark Smith and Pete Nicholls who used to model our older style of O Suit are both medium in top and bottoms and are both close to 6 feet tall. Marks son Ben is also in mediums ... he can pinch dads when his get ripped!!

    The larger members of the club e.g. Jim Morris bought a large but wishes he had now gone for XL, and Jeremy Wilde went for a large when he should have gone for medium ... illusions of grandeur I think, or perhaps plans on some excessive eating and drinking soon!!

    If you aren't sure, best to go for a slightly larger size. The bottoms seem to be a pretty accurate leg length, and we sized ours based on UK leg lengths as opposed to what would appear to be very long legged Germans!! The waists all seem to stretch for miles and have a decent tie cord so they should stay up .... we hope. Hopefully enough folk will soon have the kit so you can ask to try somebody elses on before ordering, but best not to ask after a run ... that would be fairly revolting, and perhaps at -3 minutes may not be the best time to start trying on somebody elses O Bottoms ... but you can ask if you want!!

    If you want new club kit please email , or by phone or at events with your order requirements.

    Last Update : 26 Oct 04