After my late plea we have had a couple more nominations who deserve a mention.
Scarlett Kelly – FVO
Scarlett is one of our key volunteers, across a range of activities.
Event planning: Scarlett has planned three top level events for us in the last 12 months, at night, in a Sprint and at the Club Championships. Her attention to detail and preparation are second to none, as she planned, scoped, revised and replanned course legs at Kippendavie to ensure the best possible experience for more than 200 competitors. The event was also used as the 2024 Scottish Student Championship, and Scarlett won wide praise from her age-peers for the quality of her event.
Coaching: As a member of the GB junior team, Scarlett has a considerable personal training workload, but, having come out of our Junior Stars programme herself, she takes a strong view that it’s the duty of elite athletes to put something back into the sport. She’s one of our principal assistant coaches in the Orange training group, and regularly shadows and mentors other youngsters in training, having already taken her first step on the coaching ladder with a formal qualification.
Mapping: There are very few junior mappers in the UK, and, as far as I can see, no junior women who make maps. Scarlett, during a training run, spotted the potential of Tullibody village as a potential Sprint area and surveyed the area for mapping, producing work of a very high standard. She already has a second map in the pipeline.
Being a role-model: Scarlett is at all times a positive role model for other young orienteers, both in the level of her training and in her application to racing. She can be trusted to do her very best, regardless of the physicality of the terrain (the rougher and greener the better) or the weather conditions. Scarlett was involved in the medal presentations at the World Championships in 2024, and she reprised this role this weekend as she handed over medals at the Scottish Score Championship, in her role as the “invited VIP”.
Emily Atkinson – ELO
Emily has had run for Scotland and Great Britain. She finished first at the JEC sprint and top placed GBR relay team. She regularly helps at club events with Download, start and collecting controls. She helps newcomers at events, describing what to do and is always fully involved in all aspects of club events. She has planned several events for the club including the Scottish Urban League 2 in February 2025. Test ran the courses ahead of SOL 3 which was on a brand new area for orienteering. Sorry Emily we don’t have a photo of you.
Well done to everyone nominated for phenomenal contributions to the sport through out the year. The winner is being decided and the presentation will be made at the JIAs today.
Last month we announced we were excited to be able to offer two exciting opportunities to work with us as Scottish 6 Days Assistant Co-ordinator or as the coordinator for the Scottish Elite and Development Squad (SEDS).
We are calling on all those who may be interested to forward to us their CV and a covering letter by close of play 31st October.
Full details of the positions being offered can be found via the following links:-
Forth Valley Orienteers brought the Scottish Orienteering Championship season to a close in the shadow of the Falkirk Wheel with the Scottish Score Orienteering Championships. Unfortunately autumnal weather meant there was no sun to cast any shadows but they did get the delights of contrasting the feat of 21st century engineering against the roman history of the Antonine Wall while they got wet! They even got the option to use the Roughcastle Tunnel as a route choice which is 180m long and forms part of the canal tow path.
This year it was the turn of Wales to host the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs) where the four home nations come together to compete for the glory. Having held aloft the Trophy at the Junior Home Internationals hopes were high on the long bus journey down that the double could be achieved like last year where on Jon Musgrave’s last year as Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad coach they raised both the Junior Inter Regional Championship (JIRCs) Trophy and the Junior Home International Trophy.
Scottish Orienteering is excited to launch a brand-new Junior Photo Competition – and we want you to be part of it! This is your chance to showcase the spirit of orienteering through your own lens – whether it’s about fun, adventure, beautiful places – or something else! Read on for what we’re looking for and how to enter – the closing date is 30 November.
This month the Junior European Championship (JEC) took place in Stirling and the Trossachs. Many of you will have seen the many British Orienteering Federation posts but for those of you who didn’t there were some Scottish junior performances and of course our amazing volunteer efforts which deserve to be highlighted. Not only had the volunteers lead by the lead organiser, Jason Inman of Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) taken on the challenge of hosting JEC with races for spectators but they had also adding the Veteran Home Internationals (VHIs) to the mix.
What do they say? You don’t have to mad to accept the challenge of organising these things but it helps? – Jason Inman with Marie Claire ShanklandRead More…
Every year in the autumn the Veteran Home Internationals (VHIs) are held and sees senior athletes from M/W40 through to M/W70 come together to compete. Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales come together with 24 athletes each and the event circulates around the countries
So far we have received two fantastic nominations for our Young Orienteer of the Year award. It’s always encouraging to hear about the contributions that our young people are making in all areas of the sport often while training as elite athletes too.
Finlay McLuckie – MOR
Finlay has made a huge contribution to the sport of orienteering in recent years, and this year he has excelled himself! At club level, Finlay is a very willing and active participant in various club activities, such as our regular pre-event coaching sessions and welcoming newcomers at CATI events. He has contributed to running local events, particularly as a planner and is currently our Junior representative on the club committee. This year he accepted the considerable responsibility of Assistant Planner of Day 1 of the Scottish Six Days on Royal Deeside. He fulfilled this role very competently , running several of the longer courses to assess technical and physical difficulty! After the event he sought feedback from colleagues on the courses, demonstrating considerable maturity and understanding of how to improve as a planner. Finlay’s contribution to our sport extends beyond Moray. He was proud to put on his kilt as a part of the prize-giving team at the World Sprint Championships held in Edinburgh last summer!
Euan Tryner– EUOC
Euan was EUOC secretary last academic year and is now captain of the club while in his 2nd and 3rd years of study respectively. This is early to take on these roles in ones university journey. Both roles, but especially captain, demand taking on a lot of responsibility for how the club is run and how it presents itself to both the orienteering community and the university institutions. He deals with this responsibility extremely well in my opinion. In addition to this, he is an athlete representative on the British Orienteering performance steering group, providing valuable insights from athletes into shaping the future of British orienteering. All of this is while training to be an elite athlete.
We are happy to take any last minute nominations up until Thursday 23rd. Use the form to tell us about your young hero.
The last weekend of September saw junior athletes and senior athletes from across the nations converging on the Lakes to take part in the Junior Inter Regional Championships (JIRCSs) and the Senior Home Internationals(SHIs). The JIRCs involves all 12 of the British Orienteering Federation associations bring their juniors to compete against each other and the SHIs involves the home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) bringing their best senior athletes to challenge each other for dominance over a weekend of orienteering.
