2024 saw Edinburgh hosting elite athletes from across the globe for the Sprint World Championships in an event that has been described by some as potentially being the best ever.
We are looking to ensure that the success of the World Championships is built upon through the new Scottish Orienteering 4 year strategy. This strategy represents a collective vision for the future of orienteering in Scotland which aims to support the vision of orienteering as a thriving sport for all generations through the key themes: changing perceptions, engaging experiences, lifelong pathways and foundations for success. An outline of the Scottish Orienteering Strategy can be found here.
The evolution of the Scottish Orienteering Strategy confirmed that clubs are the essential backbone of our sport. The implementation of this strategy will be a team effort across the Scottish orienteering community with everyone contributing and the SOA development focus being on connecting and supporting clubs. Over the years the SOA Development Fund has supported Scottish clubs wishing to undertake projects with the aim of developing the sport. As we look to continue to build on the new Scottish Orienteering Strategy we are therefore focusing the current SOA Development funding on projects which a) support the expansion of the sport within the 20 to 40 age group b) continued development of orienteering participation following WOC 2024, and c) within clubs who saw a dramatic decline in membership as a result of Covid. We are asking clubs to come forward with any proposals which build on these themes.
To find out more about this year’s fund, head to the SOA Development Fund page where you will also find the link to the application form.
The deadline for applications is 21st March 2025.
Photos from FVO’s work with the Donaldson’s Trust that was funded by the 2024 SOA Development Fund.
ESOC’s ‘Events in a Box’ facilitated easy access into orienteering for newcomers near to where they live and was funded by the 2024 SOA Development Fund.
We all know the Scottish Six Days is an amazing event – can you help us spread the word to new audiences and encourage even more people to enjoy orienteering?
We’d love to have some quotes that can be used (with or without your name, as you prefer) in publicity and engagement work. So please share what the Six Days means to you.
As you are aware the SOA has opted to move from three regional development officers to two development officers with a shared remit covering the SOA area. We are aware the clubs would prefer to have a specific contact and, on that basis, we have provided below details of which development officer will be the primary contact for each club. They have been assigned based on previous contacts and a partial geographic split. The assigned development officer should be your first point of contact for any queries relating to development, including funding and accreditation.
Community conversations bring members together each month to share experiences, successes, challenges and ideas on an allocated topic. This month’s conversation focused on development and recruiting newcomers. Community Conversations are open discussions so provide a great platform to see how other clubs work with newcomers and what learnings could potentially be taken forward into your own club.
This year’s Scottish Night Championships gave everyone the opportunity to practise their headtorch orienteering skills prior to the British Night Championships this weekend. East Lothian Orienteers kindly hosted the event at Balgone Estate, just south of North Berwick.
Our wonderful sport relies heavily on volunteers who have built up loads of experience over the years in a multitude of roles – coaching, officiating at events, serving on the committee, running SI, organising weekends away and generally helping out. All of you who do these jobs have a lot to pass onto new people coming into those roles. Working with experienced volunteers complements the training that formal courses provide and is a vital part in ensuring succession on the volunteer front.
A big thank you to everyone who participated in our first monthly online Community Conversation of the year, held earlier this week on the topic of Communications & Marketing.
A vital part of SOA’s function is to bring together people from across the Scottish orienteering community, and these monthly sessions aim to provide regular opportunities for sharing experiences and discussing successes, challenges, and ideas. Each session has a different focus but with the common goal of exploring things clubs are doing or would like to do to develop and promote orienteering, as well as ideas for practical things that SOA could do to support clubs, particularly as we are now embarking on the new four year strategy periodLooking to the Future – the new four-year strategy for Scottish Orienteering 2025-2029
As the delayed white Christmas cold weather descended over Scotland a group of us hardy orienteers made our way up to Speyside for a chance to get in some top-quality terrain. The camp was joint for SEDS (Scottish Elite and Development Squad) and the British Orienteering squads to people travelled from all over the UK to join.
The camp was based out of Kincraig which provided a great location for the training areas and most importantly a warm hall to sleep in. The general plan of the camp each day was Wake up > Breakfast > Train > Café > Train > Tea > Sleep, which seemed like we were nailing the athlete lifestyle.
As the year comes to an end it’s always a good time to take stock, and a lot happened in Scottish Orienteering in 2024. The World Orienteering Championships (WOC) obviously stands out – the event was very visible and the energy and enthusiasm of the hundreds of volunteers who delivered the event smoothly and safely on each day was clear for all to see. Volunteers are usually visible at our events but there’s also a lot of less visible hard work that goes on behind the scenes. It’s just as important for our sport so I’d like to shine some light on it.
