With another Grade C controllers course taking place in the Aviemore Area on 15th September, we thought it would be useful to hear from one of our controllers. So thank-you Lindsey for all your work controlling, among other things, and writing us the following article.

The Scottish 6 Days is coming to Deeside in 2025..Make sure that you have the dates of the Scottish 6 Days in 2025 in your diary – 27th July to 1st August 2025.

This is a great opportunity to be involved in the planning, controlling or organising the event and build on your experience. There have been difficulties in securing access due to landowner and wildlife restrictions. Now that access has been secured it is vital that we get people into key roles as soon as possible.

The Scottish 6 Days is an incredibly important event in terms of funding and reputation for Scottish Orienteering. This event we have employed an Event Co-ordinator, Nic Crossley, who has an events background but we really need the support of the orienteering community to support her as she delivers the event. There are three types of roles that we need to fill as soon as possible – club day officials, controllers and position on the central organising team . The current allocation of days, areas and clubs is proposed as follows

Clubs have been asked to put forward names of those who would be interested in being involved. You may have been asked already but if you wish to be involved in a planning or organising or assistant controller role, please make sure that you have told your club of your interest as soon as possible. The assistant controller is normally recruited by one of the organising clubs for the day.

If you are interested in being a lead controlling, please remember that controllers can not come from one of the organising cubs on that date. Please let Nikki Howard know if you are interested in controlling nikki@scottish-orienteering.org.

As in some previous years the Central Organising Team will be made up of orienteers from across Scotland. There are a number of roles which remain to be filled including There is also a need for volunteers to act as Day Co-ordinator, Treasurer, Trader Co-ordinator, Event Centre Manager, Merchandising, Information, String course Co-ordinator, Equipment Co-ordinator and Social Co-ordinator. Please let Richard Oxlade know if you are interested or want further information president@scottish-orienteering.org

Responses would be appreciated as soon as possible.

As notified at the Annual General Meeting held on 24th June this year, we will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 14th September 2024 at North Inch Community Campus, Perth at 10am.

The EGM Booklet will be published in the next few days with details of the resolutions and nominations for new Directors being brought forward.

It wasn’t only the fantastic organising team and volunteers doing Scotland proud at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) this year, we had several home athletes for the crowds to cheer on as well.

Grace Molloy (Forth Valley Orienteers) was the star of the show, demonstrating that 2 winters out in the US on a track scholarship have moved her on to the next level physically. As audiences in Edinburgh and watching at home on TV could see, she was able to mix it with the best in the world, and came away with a fantastic 6th place in the individual Sprint race. She also ran a great first leg in the GB Sprint Relay team, changing over in 2nd place (the team went on to finish 7th), and made it to the Quarterfinals of the Knock Out Sprint. She had this to say about the experience – “It was special having a home WOC, especially one as close to home as Edinburgh. I was delighted to finish 6th in the Sprint after a fantastic course through the old town. The results in the other races were a bit disappointing but I was happy with my races and the whole week was an incredible experience. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!”

The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) took place in Czechia in early July, and 5 of the 12 athletes in the Great Britain team were Scots or members of Scottish clubs.

Scottish Orienteering is holding a Club Networking Day (rebranded Club Conference) on Saturday 14^th September at the North Inch Community Campus, 10am – 4 pm.

Collectively everyone involved created something really special in terms of WOC 2024 and WOC Tour.  Many competitors in WOC Tour and the teams from all over the world taking part in WOC 2024 have given us really positive feedback, “Best Ever” being a common theme. Even those who didn’t visit but watched from afar commented on how brilliant the TV coverage was.

The work put in by everyone was outstanding and we can be really proud of what we achieved together. This was not just the work that took place during the two events but the immense amount of hard work for years beforehand.  And it could not have gone ahead without funding from EventScotland, The City of Edinburgh Council, British Orienteering Federation and of course SOA and Scottish 6 Days on behalf of Scottish Orienteering Members.  All that hard work turned a creative vision into a beautiful reality. 

Thanks to you all on behalf of the Boards of the Scottish Orienteering Association and the Scottish Orienteering 6 Day Event Company

After the June 2024 AGM, we thought now was a pertinent time to give you a bit of background about your current board and a quick summary of what their jobs involve. You will have seen from the 2024 AGM Booklet that some of the board ( Chair, President, interim Operations Director and Finance Director) have indicated they will step down from their posts in September when an EGM is being held as part of the Club Networking Day in Perth on 14th September (more to follow on this later).

Chair – Keith Dawson

The role of SOA Chair is an interesting and varied one, including Charing the Board to ensure it provides a clear strategic direction to SOA, through ensuring the Board meets it’s financial duties to maintain the health of SOA, to an ambassadorial role with stakeholders. This leads onto ensuring good governance practices are maintained. All this, working with a committed group of like minded individuals working to make sure the sport is a thriving one. 

The last two years have been particularly challenging and interesting. Highlights were ensuring that WOC24 eventually took place amidst major financing challenges, successfully applying for the World Masters MTBO Champs in 2026 and helping shape SOA strategy for the next four years with our major funder Sport Scotland. Sadly my increased responsibilities to Ukraine and recovering from a major injury preclude me continuing. I know my successor will find it an interesting role and much less challenging with WOC24 behind us.

Scottish runners enjoyed some success in Poland at the weekend, with James Hammond (Forth Valley Orienteers) taking a silver medal in the M18 long distance – apparently GB’s first ever forest medal in EYOC history! He was only 6 seconds from the gold.

The 2026 World Master Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships (MTBO) are being held in Moray between 3-7 June.

The embargoes areas for the event have been announced and are shown on the following map.

If competitors run in Foot Orienteering events within the embargo areas they can still enter the 2026 event but will be classed as non competitive for the 2026 event.