SOL Competition rules and guidelines-Scottish Orienteering

SOL Competition rules and guidelines

The Scottish Orienteering League provides a series of high quality events; throughout Scotland throughout the season. High quality venues, maps and quality courses are the key aims. Other key objectives include: elite development and selection, encourage national level competition, act as a flagship and publicity vehicle, to create continuity of quality, and coordinate with other high-quality BOF events. Updated Aug 2012 to standardise classes and descriptions in line with the BOF guidelines.

Rules

Except where noted below, events shall be run under the
British Orienteering rules for long distance events. Organisers should familiarise themselves with these rules.
The courses shall be numbered in descending order of difficulty with Black (M21L) as course 1 and White as course 12.
Course/Colour/Age combinations are shown in the table below.
SOL points may be awarded to people “running up” in the one of the age classes associated with the colour they run. By default the oldest such age class is used for seniors.
SOL points will be awarded by the system detailed in a separate article (SOL Scoring system by Trevor Hoey).
A competitor’s total SOL score from the season will be the sum from the best 4 events. All entrants who are members of SOA are eligible. Non-SOA orienteers are welcome at all events, but may only compete in the league provided they notify the SOL coordinator and finish at least 4 events.

Guidelines

Maps for courses 11 & 12 shall be collected at the car park/assembly. It is the competitor’s responsibility to collect his or her own map before proceeding to the start.
Junior competitors must state both their age class and course when entering an event.
If the event is combined with a UK-level competition (National event, Future champions cup, British elite championships etc.) some variation in course length and/or course combinations may be permitted.
Pre-entries may to be required by a maximum of 15 days prior to the event but clubs may set shorter deadlines if they so wish. In addition, clubs should adopt a flexible approach to late entries and EOD, possible at higher rates.
All pre-entered competitors shall receive pre-marked maps.
Only one map scale shall be used per course. Normally 1:10,000 shall be used for junior and over-45 courses and either 1:10,000 or 1:15:000 for courses 1 & 2. Course planning must not be compromised for printing convenience.
The map shall be accurate and recently-surveyed. Map corrections should be included on the competitor’s map either by overprinting or updating the electronic map file.
Results shall be displayed by course (not class) but shall show age class in an additional column.
Every effort must be made to issue published results within 7 days.
Only IOF pictorial descriptions shall be available for all courses. Where possible these should be available with the online or posted final information; otherwise they shall be available for collection on the day at assembly or before the prestart.
Final event information should be published at least 7 days prior to the event.
Final information for events shall state “Competitors take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.”
The organising club shall make arrangements for first aid cover and be prepared to assist any competitors who get into difficulty or who become overdue for whatever reason.
Competitors from the same club on the same course (not just the same class), shall start at least four minutes apart.
Electronic timing shall be used. Split times from this may be used to determine the final result (e.g. excluding legs around a misplaced control), at the discretion of the controller.
A start list shall be provided and competitors should start at the assigned time: punching starts shall be possible but should only be available to some competitors (e.g. event helpers, split start parents, those missing their start through no fault of their own) at the discretion of the organisers.
SOL events must be registered with the SOA Fixtures Secretary by 31st March of the year of competition.
An embargo shall be observed by those wishing to score points in the SOL. The embargo period is one year, or from the date on which the venue is announced if this is less than a year
It the SOL is part of a multiday event, the embargo does not affect those other events (e.g. a Night race may be held the night before the SOL).
The award of SOL status to a club will be made by the SOA Fixtures Secretary in consultation with the Competitions Convenor at least one year prior to the competition season.
Entry fees for all non TD5 courses should be charged at the student/junior rate (entrants are likely to be juniors, newcomers or injured).
A string course or similar activity for very young children should be provided.

Shadowing

Parents are reminded they should declare if they are actually helping a Junior competitor as opposed to following. Assisted juniors are competitive in their colour course (e.g. White) but not in age class (e.g. W10B)

Course/Colour/Age mapping table

Course	Technical	Corrected		Age Classes
No.	Difficulty	Crse lgth	Course	Junior		Adult
		Ratio		Men	Women	Men	Women
1	5	1.00	Black			M21
2	5	0.85	Brown	M18 M20		M35 M40
3	5	0.69	Short Brown			M45 M50 M21S	W21
4	5	0.56	Blue	M16	W18 W20	M55 M60 M35S M40S	W35 W40
5	5	0.45	Short Blue	M18S M20S		M65 M45S M50S	W45 W50 W21S
6	5	0.39	Green		W16	M70 M60S M55S	W55 W60 W35S W40S
7	5	0.33	Short Green		W18S W20S	M75 M80 M70S M65S	W65 W70 W75 W80 W50S W55S W60S W45S
8	4	0.30	Light Green	M14 M16B	W14 W16B
9	3	0.50	Long Orange
10	3	0.25	Orange	M12 M14B	W12 W14B
11	2	0.22	Yellow	M10 M12B	W10 W12B
12	1	0.14	White	M10B	M10B