Wanted: Old GPS watches for schools orienteering

Were you a good girl or boy last year? Did Santa bring you a shiny new GPS watch? Do you now have an old watch lurking unused at the back of the drawer? If so – would you consider donating it to support orienteering development in East Lothian Schools?

East Lothian Outdoor Education would love to have a set of GPS watches to add to their schools kit. As part of the orienteering exercises they run for schools, teachers are given spreadsheets of times/splits from the exercises along with lesson plans to use these within the school. Orienteering is truly a cross-curricular sport and this can provide fantastic maths lessons. This year they are adding route gadget to this pack of resources and commented that it would be good in the future to add data from GPS watches.

Judy Bell, SOA Regional Development Officer for East Scotland, said:
“Having used our old GPS watches with a school running/orienteering club, I wondered if any orienteers could help to give more kids the opportunity and would consider donating old and unused watches (and their charging cables if possible!). The kids love using them, and ours are now referred to as the “Run Faster” watches as the motivation factor can be great, and they love seeing the data after.

“Any watch and brand will be appreciated – as long as it still works, we can use it!”

If you would like to donate an old watch, please contact judy@scottish-orienteering.org or bring yours to the Assembly at Birsemore SOL on 24th Feb, where a box will be available for watch donations. Donations may be taken at other events too – please contact Judy for details.