Thank you to BASOC and GRAMP for their stellar work in hosting the recent Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) events which provided very different areas to test our skills. Results can be found on the Scottish Orienteering League page
Dunachton (BASOC)
This area provided a lovely mix of birch woodland, grazed farm land and open moorland with areas of intricate contour detail, crags and boulders, dense juniper and ruins to test our concentration. Despite being the weekend after the JK the organization was seamless. Thank you to the Organiser Janette MacLeod, Planner Jane Chisholm and Controller David Esson (GRAMP).
We tend to all have our aims when we enter events – we can’t all win, but often have aims like beating a clubmate or rival, finishing in less than a certain time, doing better than last time or simply just having fun in the outdoors. Preparing before the event and looking at how you performed after the event can help you to take stock and make it easier to reach goals in the future.
Scottish Orienteering are offering 2 free workshops to support participants attending the Scottish Orienteering Championships. The first will be held before the event to help you prepare and the second after the event to help you to objectively analyse how you performed.
Scottish Orienteering is proud to support Clean Sport Week (taking place this week – 11–17 May 2026), the annual awareness campaign led by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) that champions fair play, integrity and drug-free sport.
This year’s theme, ‘Built not bought. 100% me.’, celebrates athletes who achieve true, lasting success through hard work, talent and commitment. It sends a clear message: champions compete clean and don’t take shortcuts.
Following on the success of the Capture the Flag game at the Scottish Championships in Barry Buddon last year, we are organising a Junior Get Together and Games at the Scottish Championships at Grandtully again this year.
Over the past few years the SOA has organised a Club Networking Day with the aim to provide the opportunity for clubs to come together and exchange ideas.
This year we are responding to feedback and holding two events – one in the north and one in the south – to make the events more accessible: ● Saturday 12th September – Dunblane (Braeport Centre) ● Saturday 19th September – Boat of Garten (Community Hall)
April’s Community Conversation had a theme of marketing and outreach to newcomers. SOA comms & marketing Director, Katherine Ivory, started the session off with an overview of three practical tools that are being used to promote orienteering to wider audiences, leading into discussion about the new SOA leaflet for newcomers.
Event Publicity and Planning for Success
Communications work never stops, with continuous needs around sharing information and encouraging interest. Given the limited resources for this within the volunteer-driven orienteering community, what can help make things as efficient and effective as possible?
Congratulations to Morag McLuckie (Moravian Orienteering Club) and Katja Neumann (MAR Orienteering Club) who have both successfully completed the Scottish Certification in Coaching Orienteering (SCCO) Lead Coach qualification. They are the first candidates to successfully complete this new course which is the advanced level of the Scottish Orienteering Coach Education Pathway. Both agree that it was an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience, if a little demanding! We are delighted to have them as part of the Scottish Orienteering team of coaches and look forward to hearing more about their coaching experiences.
This week saw the retiral of our Coaching and Volunteer Officer, Suzanne Robins-Bird who joined SOA, initially on a short term contract, in November 2021. We are very grateful for everything she has accomplished during her tenure including finalising the course content, with the support of the tutors, of the SOA coaching qualifications, aligning the SOA coaching qualifications to the Scottish Coaching Certificates, extending the volunteer education provision and her push to celebrate the efforts of volunteers within our sport. We are very glad that Suzanne will continue as one of the SOA coaching tutors and know that she is looking forward to having the time to get involved with delivery of development work for her club Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC).
The JK 2026 Sprint event saw the presentation of the 2025 BOF Volunteer of the Year Award to one of our members – Terry O’Brien BEM of St Andrew’s Orienteering Club of Glasgow (STAG). The Volunteer of the Year award recognises an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to supporting the delivery of orienteering activities with passion, energy, and enthusiasm. Well done and thoroughly deserved Terry!
