Our September Community Conversation had a theme of using Permanent Orienteering Courses (‘POCs’) to encourage and widen participation, and saw good cross-club discussion with members on experience and ideas.   POCs have loads of potential as means of offering easy taster courses, quick-to-set-up training courses for club sessions), and self-serve ways for individuals to practice skills and progress.  What can help clubs make best use of them to support orienteering development work?

Thank you to all of those who took time out of their Monday evening to attend the SOA Annual General Meeting. A small group but essential for our governance joined the Board to hear our chair Jonathan Molloy summarise the SOA actions in the last year and have the opportunity to raise queries about the reports contained in the AGM Booklet.

Keith Dawson, the SOA former Chair of the Board/ avid Mountain Bike orienteer and Event Coordinator reflects on the 2026 World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships held in Moray:-

So WMMTBOC26 in Scotland is a wrap! A vision of three years ago became a wonderful reality this week in the beautiful and varied forests of the Moray coast. Thank you so very much for all your kind and immensely enthusiastic comments about the races and your wonderful smiles.

Last weekend Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC) hosted the 4th Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) event of 2026 at Cademuir. Cademuir has been described by all involved in this event as a beautiful but quite awkward area to plan on. Along the high ridge of the area the short grass, intricate contours and rock detail provide excellent running whereas the slopes on either side of the ridge become very steep and less enjoyable. Thankfully our planner, Peter O’Hara, endured the wind and weather the day before the event on the exposed area to put out the controls and also managed to plan it so that everyone got to enjoy the intricate contours in the sunshine allowing everyone to take advantage of the fast conditions! The views were worth the climb for those who stopped to soak them and the sunshine in.

We’ve reviewed the webpages which detail the courses and learning opportunities for all volunteers – check out the new look here. However, we also want to reassess the courses we offer to ensure they meet your needs and are delivered in a format which suits you.

Read on to find out more about how you can help …

Scottish Orienteering, with the support of Sport Scotland Summer of Sport funding have been running an initiative to attract families into orienteering, with taster coaching sessions followed by local events.

Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) in conjunction with Masterplan Orienteering put on the Inverness Eagle Weekend which combined a Scottish Orienteering Urban League (SOUL) event, a World Ranking Middle distance event and a Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) into one weekend of glorious orienteering with a ceilidh as the cherry on top!

The 2026 AGM sees Tim O’Donoghue standing down as Safety Director having served as Director for 6 years. Neil Polwart of Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) has indicated that he would be willing to stand for the position of Director on the SOA Board and as such a vote will be held as part of the AGM. The Proxy Vote form for the AGM has been updated to reflect this (2026 AGM Proxy Form) and the AGM Booklet updated as at today’s date (10th September 2026) with Neil Polwart’s support information detailed below.

Last weekend saw St Andrews Orienteering Club of Glasgow (STAG) hold their 1000th event in Tollcross Park, Glasgow in their over 40 year history.