All those from the North were glad to be travelling south to escape the weather for the third Compass Point Scottish Orienteering League Event (SOL) of 2023, where Tayside Orienteers (TAY) had managed to organise the sun to shine! There may have a been a nippy wind whistling round the car park but Dunalastair’s mix of open moorland and natural forest proved warm and welcoming.

The orienteering was technically challenging and plenty of people struggled with their route choice to despite the open terrain! For those that mastered the navigation and managed to find their way through the bog myrtle and across the bogs there were some great results which can be found together with routegadget via the TAY website

The overall SOL results have been updated and you see how you fare after 3 events on the SOL page of our website here

People had travelled from all over the UK for the event, which as well as being SOL 3 was also the last selection race for this year’s Junior Regional Orienteering Squad (JROS) Camps which offer opportunities for juniors from the twelve orienteering regions to gain further training and experience. JROS was established to nurture junior orienteering talent and runs camps, which aim to provide training whilst enthusing athletes with a sense of fun and purpose, for juniors between the age of 15 and 20.

Many thanks to TAY, their members and all others involved in staging the the event with a special mention for all the hard work for ensuring such a great event for the organiser Mike Pearson, the planner Alan Downie and controller Terry O’Brien BEM (STAG). The Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (Scotjos) Cake Stall seemed to go down quite well too!

We are notifying all members of our intended Annual General Meeting date of Monday 5th June 2023 to be held online.  There will be a proxy vote option for those unable to attend.  We are in the process of putting together the AGM handbook to outline proposals and matters of business however we welcome any proposals from clubs/members that you wish raised at the AGM please contact our chief operating officer Nikki Howard at nikki@scottish-orienteering.org to outline any proposals or matters of business for consideration.

We are seeking election of some SOA Board members and request anyone interested in any of the positions to contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org or speak to a member of the current Board. All role descriptions can be provided on request. 

President

Operations Director

Development Director

Marketing and Communications Director 

Equality, Welfare and Diversity Director

The 2023 SOA Club Conference held last Saturday in Perth provided an opportunity for representatives from 13 clubs to voice their opinions on the direction of our sport and exchange ideas on how to recruit and retain new members.

The 2023 Senior Home Internationals (SHIs) are taking place at Merthyr Common South, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales on 9-10th September 2023. The selection panel of Fanni Gyurko, Jon Musgrave, Lorna Eades and Mark Nixon have identified the events in the orienteering calendar which will be used inform their selections for the SHIs this year.

Young people are the future of our sport and we are once again delighted to announce the opening of nominations for the Young Orienteer of the Year award kindly sponsored by Tulloch Homes.  This annual award gives us the chance to recognise and celebrate the considerable contribution to orienteering by young people through their volunteering.

Sunday saw the Scottish Sprint Orienteering Championships hosted by Clydeside Orienteering Club (CLYDE) in Kirkintilloch. It was also the fourth event in the 2023 Inter-Club Championships.

For the 200 competitors who converged on Kirkintilloch, it was an event for the speedy with some quick courses and quick times!

There were lots of smiling faces among the day’s worthy winners and Easter even came early for some of the competitors with chocolate rewards!

As the fourth round of the Scottish Inter-Club Championships, all the efforts of those involved gaining points for their club. Despite a valiant effort on behalf of Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC) members, Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) remain in the lead in the Large Clubs. Moravian Orienteering Club (MOR) and Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) lie behind those two clubs but with three events located in the north region later this year there are still plenty of opportunities to gain points.

In the Small Clubs, Edinburgh University Orienteering Club used their younger legs (?) to hold the lead with CLYDE, perhaps having a reduced number of competitors as they were hosting the event, remaining in second place.

For the Junior Large Clubs, FVO retained the lead but are not scoring at the same rate as last year and with four clubs scoring a better average run rate there is still potential for the FVO juniors to be overtaken. In the Juniors Small Clubs, it is still all to play for the and with the next event of the series being the Scottish Championships who can get the most runners to turn out for the event may have a big impact.

An updated Scottish Inter-Club Championship table can be found here

Thank you to the organiser Rachel Wilson, the planner Ian Davidson and the controller Steve Scott (FVO) and everyone in CLYDE for all your efforts hosting the event.

GRAMP will be holding the GRAMP Annual Dinner at Hazlehead Park Cafe on Friday 28^th April at 7pm. This will tie in with our Regional event on Glen Dye on Sunday 30^th April. They are celebrating 50 years of orienteering in the NE this year and they want to extend the invite to all former GRAMP members.

There will be a 2 or 3 course meal with tea/coffee and cake – £30 or £36. Family of former members welcome too (children’s menu will also be available). And special dietary requirements can be catered for.

If you wish to join GRAMP please RSVP to Zoe (secretary@grampoc.com) preferably by Monday 17^th April so further details can be sent out to you.

Hope you can help them celebrate and bring along some good tales of orienteering exploits whilst in GRAMP!

Please pass on to any other former GRAMP members you know.

ScotJOS headed to the Moray coast for a training camp in March. Although the traditional
Moray areas are all embargoed due to the Scottish 6 Days, we were able to visit some of the less
well known areas. There was also the draw to return to the Duffus Hall – one of the favourite
venues in the ScotJOS list of halls. It is a lovely big hall and has hot showers and a separate
(carpeted!) hall for the coaches – who like a little more comfort than a hard wood floor!

Friday evening was the traditional night-O at Carsehill and a chance to stretch the muscles after a
long drive and meet up with orienteering friends. We then headed to hall for dinner and the after
dinner entertainment – lessons in erecting and taking down the new ScotJOS tent! You learn many
skills at a ScotJOS weekend, not just orienteering.

Our monthly series of Community Conversations is relaunching on Monday 3rd April with a conversation with our Treasurer about the SOA Finances. This topic will be looked at as part of the Club Conference being held on Saturday 15th April in Perth and if you have not yet signed up – then find out more here

The community conversations were launched as a means of ensuring that we hear the views of our members, through a virtual discussion on what was hoped to be a monthly basis. With a change of personnel and because we were aware that there was a overabundance of consultation projects going on through BOF and also the Making the Most of WOC 2024 project these were temporarily put on hold.

The learning gathered from the Making the Most of WOC 2024 project is being brought together into a project proposal by the consultants, Baroudeur, who will share their thoughts and findings at the Club Conference on 15th April.

Following on from that consultation with the SOA community, we are keen to be relaunch our Community Conversations. The first in the series will be a look at the SOA finances. Our treasurer, Ben Hartman, will explain how the SOA is financed, how the budget is spent and lead a discussion on the current financial position of the SOA. We are keen to hear from a diverse range of our members on their thoughts on how the SOA is financed and plans that need to be made for the future in terms of funding/ focus. Please register for the session on Monday 3rd April at 7pm by emailing Nikki Howard on nikki@scottish-orienteering.org

As ever, we would welcome any suggestions of topics for discussion but at the moment we have the following programme pencilled in so far:-

• Making the Most of WOC 2024 (8th May)
• SOA AGM (5th June)
• Club Development Planning (3rd July)
• Access Issues (4th September)
• Volunteer Strategy (9th Ocotber)
• The coaching culture (6th November)
• 2024 look ahead (4th December)

A Grade C controllers’ course is being run on 22nd April at Kinnoul Hill near Perth. If you are interested in becoming a controller and providing a vital service for the growth of our sport, please fill in the registration form.

We asked our president and Operations Director, Richard Oxlade, about his role as a controller and why he would recommend it to others.