Month: May 2023

The SOA accounts for the year to 31st December 2022 have now been finalised and approved. They are available to view here

Well what a weekend! Some great terrain, fabulous courses and amazing team spirit on show this weekend at both the Scottish Orienteering Individual and Relay Championships.

2023 was the turn of the west area clubs to host the event and the west clubs – Ayrshire Orienteering Club (AYROC), Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE), Forth Valley Orienteering Club (FVO), Loch Eck Orienteering Club (ECKO), Solway Orienteering Club (SOLWAY), St Andrew’s Orienteering Club Glasgow (STAG) and Tinto Orienteering Club (TINTO). ECKO allowed their maps of Creag Mhic and Inverawe Country Park to be used, obtained landowner permissions whilst members of all the west area clubs acted as officials and volunteers to ensure everything went off smoothly and we all had a great event.

Last Saturday we had our first joint training session for the West (SWAT) and East (ESOA) area regional training squads. The regional squads are for juniors TD3 and above. The aim of the regional squads is to let juniors have fun and make friends through orienteering. The training took place at Galamuir led by SWAT coach Roger Goddard. The FVO stars TD1-2 also joined in with the training. The FVO Stars will go on to join SWAT once they are TD3. 

At the start of the session the juniors broke into four different coaching groups: FVO stars, TD3, TD4 and Adults. The SWAT and ESOA squads worked on simplification and relocation. The relocation exercise was very tricky with a few very well hidden fences and earth walls making the exercise challenging. Despite the woods being described as ‘disgusting’ by an enthusiastic SWAT member there were lots of smiles and lots of learning.  

TD3 Group working on Simplification

The SOA AGM will take place on Monday 5th June online at 7pm.

Today we have published the AGM Booklet which includes all proposals and nominations of Directors which require your voting. There will be the option of proxy voting by post and online and we hope to engage in some dialogue prior to voting in person. We still welcome further nominations for the vacant Board Director positions and truly hope you will consider putting your name forward.

We have outlined all the proposals for voting below.

AGM PROPOSALS

You can download the Proxy Form here or it can be completed online Online Proxy Form

The 2022 AGM Minutes can be found here

A link to the AGM can be obtained by emailing nikki@scottish-orienteering.org

What a great start to Orienteering Edinburgh. With the weather on our side, there was a festival vibe in the appropriately named Festival Square.

Do you know of someone who has gone above and beyond for the benefit of orienteering? The President’s Medal is handed out annually at the AGM to recognise significant contribution to the sport. We truly welcome all nominations.

Anyone or any club/ organisation, other than previous winners, can be nominated even those who has been nominated previously. Nominations should be submitted by Friday 2nd June.

Please take 2 minutes to tell us who should be shortlisted for this award by completing this Google Form – President’s Medal Nomination

Previous winners include:

2022 Judy Bell (ESOC)

2021 Tim O’Donoghue (SOLWAY)

2020 Janet Clark (ESOC) and Sheila Reynolds (MAROC)

May’s Community Conversation provided those who attended an insight into why the Making the Most of WOC 2024 Report was commissioned by the Scottish Orienteering Association and the British Orienteering Federation, how the consultants Baroudeur carried out their research and the conclusions drawn as a result of the research.

For those who were unable to attend, a copy of the slides can be found here

The next Community Conversation will be the SOA AGM on 5th June 2023. Those who wish to propose any matters of business to be heard at the AGM should contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org

With the retiral of current board members there are several board positions which the SOA are looking to fill and we ask anyone interested to speak to a current board member or contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org The board positions available at the AGM are President, Operations Director, Development Director, Marketing and Communications Director and Equality, Welfare and Diversity Director.

Moravian Orienteering Club’s New Development Officer 

Last month we were excited to announce that Moravian Orienteering Club has appointed a new Development Officer – Will Hall. Club development officers are central to the development of a club. Club development officers help to lead the development of a club’s volunteer workforce and support the club to further build its capacity for new members. Previously Forth Valley and Tayside Orienteering Clubs have had development officers which enabled them to sustainably grow their membership. 

Let’s speak to Will to find out more about him and his plans working with Moravian: 

Around 16 junior orienteers and 9 or so parents from the east of Scotland went to St Magdalene’s Hill in Perth last weekend for a morning of coaching. This involved being put through their paces and answering the question: How long is the rope?

For those who attended the Club Conference on 15th April, a short summary of the data gathered and project proposal for Making the Most of WOC 2024 was provided to aid discussions on the day. The SOA Board are however aware that for most members they may have engaged with the data gathering carried out but have not had the opportunity to hear more about the results and the proposal. To that end, as previously indicated there will be a community conversation taking place on Monday 8th May at 7pm online providing a summary of the work carried out by Baroudeur and allow a discussion on the data gathered.