The Compass Sport Cup heat at Faskally – hosted successfully by St Andrew’s Orienteering Club (Glasgow) (STAG) – provided an excellent opportunity for clubs to gain some momentum in the 2023 Scottish Inter-Club Championship.
Faskally Photo Credit: Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg
This year’s new format sees one counting event per month with events spread geographically throughout the country. The best 20 club runners count towards a club’s score in the Senior Large Clubs and in the Senior Small Clubs it is the best 10 runners. In the Junior Large Clubs it is the best 6 runners and best 3 runs for the Junior Small Clubs. With one event per month there is ample opportunity for every member to help count towards their club’s total! Current standings can be found here.
In the Senior Large Clubs, Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC), after last year coming a close second to Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO), have taken an early lead with East Lothian Orienteers (ELO) lying in third and Moravian Orienteers (MOR) and Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) close behind.
In the Senior Small Clubs, Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE) have the lead on Edinburgh University Orienteering Club (EUOC) with STAG and Badenoch and Strathspey Orienteering Club (BASOC) having only 29 points between them for third and fourth place. The current shock is that Roxburgh Reivers (RR), last year’s Senior Small Club winners find themselves in fifth place.
It will come as little surprise to most juniors that FVO are currently leading the Junior Large Clubs, but it is a close run things between MOR, ESOC and ELO for second, third and fourth place. Ayrshire Orienteering Club (AYROC) are currently leading the charge in the Junior Small Clubs from RR and BASOC.
The March event for the Scottish Inter-Club Championships is the Scottish Middle Championships being hosted by FVO in Beecraigs near Linlithgow. Entries close on 12th March so get your Scottish Middle Championships Entry in now!!
As you may be aware there have been staffing changes over the past year or so with Sarah Dunn leaving her post as Development Manager and Regional Development Officer for the North last May. The post of Development Officer East was also vacant and had been vacant for some time. We recruited Heidi Ross to the position of Development Officer in September 2022 and Fran Loots as Development Manager in addition to the West. Times of change allow for revisiting how to do things and changes have been made accordingly.
Another group of Young Coach Assistants has just completed their training, this time at Glenmore Lodge. The weather, which had threatened to be absolutely foul, was kind to us and, although we started off indoors by mapping the bar area whilst the snow melted, we soon moved outside to deliver practical coaching exercises.
The 2023 Veteran Home Internationals (VHIs) are taking place in Mallards Pike, Forest of Dean on 30th Sept. – 1st Oct. The selection panel of Will Hensman, Fanni Gyurko and Janice Nesbit have identified six events in the orienteering calendar which will be used inform their selections for the VHIs this year.
2022 Scottish VHI Team Photo Credit: Fran Loots
For more information on the events being used for selections, courses which should be run and who to contact if there are extenuating circumstances or you are unable to travel to events can be found in the 2023 VHI Selection Policy
Looking for a challenge? Scottish Athletics have announced their Junior Hill League.
Hill running can be a great way to improve your orienteering fitness. Many orienteers regularly challenge for the titles and sometimes hill runners take up orienteering too. Just to name a few ….Pippa Carcas and Claire Ward Interlopers; Angela Mudge, Grace Molloy, Graham Gristwood, Andy Kitchen FVO; Murray Strain ELO.
As part of the “Making the Most of WOC2024” project being undertaken by Baroudeur Consultancy on behalf of SOA and BOF, you are invited to join the Baroudeur team for an update on their research so far.
The team will
– Share initial insights and themes from their interviews and survey
– Give the opportunity to feed back on some early ideas and areas for development
– Update on progress, next steps and opportunities to get involved
We are delighted that thanks to funding support from the Orienteering Foundation, Scottish Orienteering and Moravian, the club are now seeking to appoint a part-time Club Development Officer(CDO). For more information check out their website.
MORAVIAN juniors a few years ago…some now heading towards being seniors!
I am delighted to announce that Nikki Howard has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer for the Scottish Orienteering Association.
Many of you will know Nikki already both as a competitor and a member of Moravian Orienteering Club. During the past year Nikki has also been employed by the SOA as the Events & Operations Manager and Assistant Coordinator for the Scottish 6 Days.
We were very pleased with the number of very high quality applications we received for the post which reflects on the exciting times that lie ahead with the World Orienteering Championships coming to Scotland in 2024.
We’ll announce plans for Nikki’s current SOA and 6 Days work in due course. In the meantime please give Nikki your support as she takes on her new role.
The idea of competitive pairs was mooted last year and we were delighted when Edinburgh University readily agreed to trial the concept at their Big Weekend. So why would anyone be interested in running in a competitive pair? It turns out there are lots of reasons!
