A beautiful crisp October day saw more keen youngsters from West area clubs gather for the second SWAT (Scottish West Area Team) training session at Kippen.

Following the departure of British Orienteering’s Head of Development, Craig Anthony, the organisation has restructured and is looking for a new Operations Manager.

On Wednesday 30^th October, 24 orienteers from Scottish Clubs gathered at the East Lothian Outdoor Centre in Musselburgh for a workshop on the use of SPORTident and SI timing software. Robin Strain led the workshop and imparted some of his vast knowledge and experience to those of us who attended.

This November, Scottish Orienteering has a wide range of courses and workshops available to help you build your skills in orienteering, and to help others improve. Read on for what we have available this month.

Three Scottish Clubs travelled to Pippingford Park in the Ashdown Forest, West Sussex, on Sunday October 20th, to compete in this year’s CompassSport Cup Final, with one claiming a clear victory.

Over the weekend of 11^th – 13^th October the Scottish Junior Team travelled to Northern Ireland for the Ward Junior Home Internationals. The individual races were held on the Saturday at Cassey Water in the Mourne Mountains and the relays at Donard Forest.

If you have little or no experience on how to use SI and SITiming software, Robin Strain will present a free workshop to you how to set up an event and run the timing on the evening of Wednesday 30^th October.

The newly formed Scottish West Area Team squad – also known as the “SWAT” squad – has taken off with over 30 juniors from the west area of Scotland signed up to enjoy training on how to improve orienteering skills.

If you haven’t yet given your input on the competition calendar review, please give your views by Monday 21 October! You can read more about the background of the review below.

The SOA Development team is organising a workshop on orienteering for youngsters with autism and related additional support needs, to be held at Levenmouth Academy, Fife, on Nov 16th. There are a few places available for interested orienteers to attend and contribute to the workshop.