Joint Winners for 2019 Tulloch Homes Young Orienteer of the Year
Last year – with the kind support of Tulloch Homes – we launched our Young Orienteer of the Year Award and for 2019 this has been awarded jointly to James Hammond (FVO) and Oscar Shepherd (INVOC).
The award was created to recognise the contribution young people bring to our sport, largely through their volunteering efforts within their local clubs.
Two outstanding nominations came through which made the selection panel decide there had to be two worthy winners this year.
Oscar Shepherd (Inverness Orienteering Club)
“Oscar has really stood out in INVOC as an active volunteer at every local event – whether control collecting, car parking or running SI. He has thrown himself into course planning and has been responsible for 2 of the INVOC school league events. That meant giving up time to attend training courses for planning and computing and becoming quite an expert in Condes and the SI Timing software.
“To date he has completed 120 hours of volunteering – which has been recognised through the Saltire Award and Leadership Programme. It is no exaggeration to say that orienteering is no one of the main things shaping Oscar’s life and giving him focus to succeed and help others.”
James Hammond (Forth Valley Orienteers)
“As well as his contribution to our event organisation, James has recruited a number of his school colleagues into the sport, ahead of the Scottish Schools Championship in early June. He regularly shadows these individuals on TD2 and TD3 courses locally, acting as an informal coach.
“He has formed a small training group in the Linlithgow area which practices on the Permanent Courses at Beecraigs, and is the first point of contact for orienteering enquiries in the junior school at Linlithgow Academy.”
Congratulations to both James and Oscar and we look forward to following their progress over the next 12 months and beyond! A sincere thank you to you both for all you have already contributed to orienteering.
Two great ambassadors for the sport!