Join the Scottish Orienteering Leadership Team: Seeking Nominations to the SOA And Six Days’ Boards

Published: July 1, 2025


Strong governance is the essential foundation of the success and sustainability of Scottish Orienteering and so our sport. It’s vital that we now ensure effective succession for Board membership. Two particularly important roles will become vacant at the end of this summer: the SOA Board Chair, and the Scottish Six Days (S6D) Board Chair. In addition there are other Director roles to fill.

Could YOU step forward to join the team taking our sport forward? We are seeking people with real drive and ambition for Scottish Orienteering to ensure future generations continue to enjoy our fantastic sport.

The current SOA and S6D Chairs, Richard Oxlade and Dave Kershaw respectively, will be stepping down at the end of this summer after making significant contributions during their tenures – for which considerable gratitude from Scottish Orienteering is due.

The vacancies that will arise at the AGM are as follows, with role descriptions available via the hyperlinks below:

SOA is keen to encourage nominations from across the breadth of Scottish orienteering: Boards work best when they are both representative of the organisation’s membership and are able to draw on a wide range of skills, experience and perspectives. It’s also important that Board members are spread well across areas and clubs, to ensure all voices are heard effectively. Currently the Board includes individuals from Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE), Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC), Interlopers Orienteering Club (INT), Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) and Solway Orienteering Club (SOLWAY).

Of course, these roles require strong drive and commitment to seeking the best for Scottish Orienteering, with a willingness to tackle challenge. In return, they bring reward and fulfilment in equal measure. Terms are typically for three years (with an option to extend with a second term), with time commitment of roughly a couple of days per month for Board meetings and other contributions as appropriate. Could YOU contribute to Scottish Orienteering through stepping up for a role? Or perhaps you know someone who would be a good candidate and could start a conversation with them. Without good people coming forward there is a very real risk to SOA’s effectiveness and sustainability. Ensuring key roles are filled with appropriate candidates is something for us collectively to address urgently. If you value Scottish orienteering, please think seriously about how you could support it and be a part of the conversation.

What’s the SOA Board all about?
Scottish Orienteering is the governing body for orienteering in Scotland and is responsible for oversight and development of the sport to ensure that it continues to grow and flourish. The SOA Board plays a vital role in steering SOA forwards and driving delivery. Its work involves setting out a clear forwards strategy and giving direction to the staff team for their delivery work – particularly around supporting clubs and volunteers, and promoting orienteering more widely. In addition, an important role lies in maintaining strong relationships with government bodies such as sportscotland (which supports SOA development work with significant grant funding each year), British Orienteering and other relevant organisations. The board has some key duties to ensure a robust foundation for SOA:

  • Appropriate stewarding of SOA resources (derived from membership fees, levies and external sources particularly the sportscotland grant funding for development), ensuring that these are used wisely for the benefit of the sport across the country.
  • Ensuring that SOA meets its legal obligations, for example in areas like child protection and anti-doping are met.
  • ensuring that a full programme of high quality national level events is staged each year – which can only happen because of people like you!

What’s Involved

Although each member of the Board has a particular area of responsibility, the Board operates collegiately, drawing on a wide range of skills and experience – whether from experience in running a club, specific technical areas such as IT or marketing, or simply from participation in orienteering at any age or level. It’s vital to have a diverse board that represents well the breadth of Scottish Orienteering. Board members come together regularly through a mix of in-person and virtual meetings to discuss and agree policies and actions, working closely with the SOA’s staff team (particularly the Chief Operating Officer, Nikki Howard) to support their delivery of the Annual Plans through which our strategic aims will be achieved. The Board all contribute their time as volunteers, managing delivery of their roles around other work and life commitments. Board members have dual roles, as directors of the SOA as a company limited by guarantee, and also as Trustees of it as a registered Scottish charity. Directors take up their post ideally for a three year period with the possibility of extending their role for a second term of three years.

Could you contribute your experience and insight to ensure the effective and
sustainable delivery and development of Scottish Orienteering?
The opportunities to be filled by nominations from the SOA membership and voting at the AGM in September are listed below, with role descriptions available from the hyperlinks:

To discuss any of these roles and express interest, contact Richard Oxlade via president@scottish orienteering.org, or Dave Kershaw, chair of the Scottish Six Days via david_kershaw@blueyonder.co.uk. You can also contact any of the current SOA Board members – see https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/about/board-of-directors/ .