The fixtures calendar for next year has been finalised and we are very grateful to all of those clubs who have volunteered to host the key dates in the SOA calendar in 2024.Here are the dates for next year, to avoid disappointment, get them in your diary now!

One of the main skills we use when orienteering is planning.  To allow you to plan for the year ahead and develop your skills we have drawn together a list of the coaching and volunteer training opportunities for the year ahead.  To avoid disappointment, get them in your diary now!

Sign up forms can be found on the SOA Website and will be advertised in due course or contact suzanne@scottish-orienteering.org for more details.

Volunteer Day

With lots of calls on all our member’s expenditure at this time of year we are grateful to those who have renewed their SOA membership – either through British Orienteering or direct through SI entries. Did you know that you could give SOA an additional gift this festive period at no cost to yourself if you are a UK taxpayer?

If you are a UK taxpayer and have signed the gift aid form, the UK government will pay an extra 25p for every £1 of your membership fee?

Gift aid is a simple government initiative which allows you to increase the value of your donations at no extra cost to you. HM Revenue and Customs regards membership subscriptions as ‘donations. Therefore, the SOA can claim gift aid on your membership fees.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published its 2024 Prohibited List. The
Prohibited List designates the substances and methods that are prohibited in sport.

Following an extensive consultation period by WADA, the 2024 Prohibited List was
published on 27 September 2023. This gives athletes and support personnel sufficient
time to make themselves aware of the changes, review any medications they use on
Global DRO, and apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) if required before the
updated List comes into effect on 1 January 2024.

Included on the 2024 List is the substance tramadol which will be banned in-
competition from 1 January 2024. Tramadol is an opioid analgesic and is classified as
a prescription only medicine in the UK. Tramadol misuse is of concern because of the
risks of physical dependence, opiate addiction, and overdose. It has led to it being a
controlled drug in many countries. If you are concerned about tramadol misuse, please
reach out to the SOA Anti Doping Lead (Nikki Howard) or Performance Director or speak to your doctor prior to the change in status on the 2024 Prohibited List.

Please visit UK Anti-Doping’s website here to read a full summary of the changes on
the 2024 List.

The following resources are also available to read on WADA’s website:

• The full 2024 Prohibited List
• The WADA 2024 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes
• The 2024 Monitoring Program which includes substances not currently on the
List but are being monitored by WADA for potential patterns of misuse in sport.

The Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS) hold 6 training weekends each year and last
weekend met at Aberfoyle for a slightly damp weekend of training.

Last weekend, Saturday 2nd December, saw the 11th and final Scottish Orienteering Urban League event of the year hosted by Interlopers Orienteering Club (INT) in Livingston . With a dusting of snow meaning that there were no concerns about ice out on the course, those hardy souls got to enjoy running around some parts of Livingston which have not been used for years.

The final results of the 2023 SOUL series can be found here. There are trophies for those winning the various age categories of the SOUL series and it’s sister series the Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) but no medals as was reported in the most recent SOA newsletter.

Following a successful series of Orienteering Edinburgh events in the early Summer, we decided to run a series of lunchtime events in the winter to maximise daylight. For this 4 week series each event starts at Festival Square in central Edinburgh, every Thursday lunchtime for 4 weeks. Each week there are new courses to try. 

Scottish Orienteering, and all the members of the Senior Home International and Veteran Home International teams would like to say a big thank you to Ben Hartmann, and Janice Nisbet (through Fergusson Law) for sponsoring the team kit for the 2023 events. Their contributions meant that all members of both teams were provided with Scotland orienteering tops free of charge. The intention is that future team members will also get given a shirt as recognition for representing Scotland.

If you or your organisation is interested in sponsoring the Scottish team in future (kit or activities) then please get in touch.

The subject of last week’s Community Conversation was ‘Coaching Culture’.   Many thanks to all those who came along and shared their ideas.  The first question that was raised was, ‘How do we get more people to come along to coaching/training sessions?’

Over the past weekend, the Scottish Student Championships took place in Deeside, hosted by Aberdeen University Orienteering Club. The weekend of inter-university competition started with relays at Potarch followed by individuals on the Sunday at Glen Dye. MAROC supported Aberdeen University with the Relays and GRAMP supported with the Individuals. Read on to find out how the weekend went and which University is crowned Scottish Student Champions 2023!.