The Club Conference will take place 10am – 4 pm on 15th April 2023 in Perth.  The exact agenda is still to be formalised but will include the following:

• SOA finances and strategic plan 2024 – 2028
• Key discussion – what do we mean by a thriving sport and how can we achieve that?
• WOC 2024 Development plan
• Round up of the year with an emphasis on post Covid recovery.
• Feedback from the club listening exercise currently ongoing.
• Competition calendar – achieving the right balance.

A buffet lunch and a fun ‘O’ break will be included.

Anyone who wishes to suggest other items for the agenda should contact suzanne@scottish-orienteering.org or make it known to the members of the staff team hosting the club listening.  

We have allocated 2 places per club in the first instance. These do not necessarily have to be committee members but club members who contribute to the life of the club and wish to attend.  Further places may be made available to further members from individual clubs depending on uptake. Anyone wishing to attend should fill out the registration form.

Following notification of his death, the SOA would like to send our deepest condolences to the family of Ken Davidson who passed away on Saturday 4th March, aged 93. He, along with his late wife Lilian, was one of the first members of Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) when it was formed in 1978.

During his long term membership of INVOC he held the position of president and vice president of the club, acted as organiser for the 1986 British Orienteering Championships at Achilty and co-oordinated the 1994 World Veteran Championships in Strathspey among other things. He also contributed towards the administration of the sport by holding the post of President of the SOA for a period during the 1990’s and editing the SOA’s Score magazine.

He is survived by his son, Magnus, and a funeral service will be held on Friday 24th March at 11.30am in the Funeral Home of William T Fraser & Son, Culduthel Road, Inverness.

In Errochty on Sunday the final 2023 Scottish Night Championship Trophies found their recipients. Thank you to MAR Orienteering Club (MAROC), Balmoral Castle & Estate and Royal Lochnagar Distillery for hosting the 2023 Scottish Orienteering Night Championship in the challenging Balmoral terrain. The various headtorches made for a spectacular sight amongst the beautiful forest for those that lifted their heads from concentrating on the contour and rock details but for those out later or who strayed off course there were some very quiet bits of forest out there.

What a way to start the 2023 Compass Point Scottish Orienteering League (SOL)! There was snow, some great terrain (albeit the snow hid some of the marshes a little too well) and the sun even deigned to show its face after a cold start at Errochty.

The Compass Sport Cup heat at Faskally – hosted successfully by St Andrew’s Orienteering Club (Glasgow) (STAG) – provided an excellent opportunity for clubs to gain some momentum in the 2023 Scottish Inter-Club Championship.

This year’s new format sees one counting event per month with events spread geographically throughout the country. The best 20 club runners count towards a club’s score in the Senior Large Clubs and in the Senior Small Clubs it is the best 10 runners. In the Junior Large Clubs it is the best 6 runners and best 3 runs for the Junior Small Clubs. With one event per month there is ample opportunity for every member to help count towards their club’s total! Current standings can be found here.

In the Senior Large Clubs, Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC), after last year coming a close second to Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO), have taken an early lead with East Lothian Orienteers (ELO) lying in third and Moravian Orienteers (MOR) and Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) close behind.

In the Senior Small Clubs, Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE) have the lead on Edinburgh University Orienteering Club (EUOC) with STAG and Badenoch and Strathspey Orienteering Club (BASOC) having only 29 points between them for third and fourth place. The current shock is that Roxburgh Reivers (RR), last year’s Senior Small Club winners find themselves in fifth place.

It will come as little surprise to most juniors that FVO are currently leading the Junior Large Clubs, but it is a close run things between MOR, ESOC and ELO for second, third and fourth place. Ayrshire Orienteering Club (AYROC) are currently leading the charge in the Junior Small Clubs from RR and BASOC.

The March event for the Scottish Inter-Club Championships is the Scottish Middle Championships being hosted by FVO in Beecraigs near Linlithgow. Entries close on 12th March so get your Scottish Middle Championships Entry in now!!

Sunday saw the East Area Junior training sessions get off to a flying start.

As you may be aware there have been staffing changes over the past year or so with Sarah Dunn leaving her post as Development Manager and Regional Development Officer for the North last May. The post of Development Officer East was also vacant and had been vacant for some time.  We recruited Heidi Ross to the position of Development Officer in September 2022 and Fran Loots as Development Manager in addition to the West.
Times of change allow for revisiting how to do things and changes have been made accordingly. 

Another group of Young Coach Assistants has just completed their training, this time at Glenmore Lodge.  The weather, which had threatened to be absolutely foul, was kind to us and, although we started off indoors by mapping the bar area whilst the snow melted, we soon moved outside to deliver practical coaching exercises.

The 2023 Veteran Home Internationals (VHIs) are taking place in Mallards Pike, Forest of Dean on 30^th Sept. – 1^st  Oct. The selection panel of Will Hensman, Fanni Gyurko and Janice Nesbit have identified six events in the orienteering calendar which will be used inform their selections for the VHIs this year.

For more information on the events being used for selections, courses which should be run and who to contact if there are extenuating circumstances or you are unable to travel to events can be found in the 2023 VHI Selection Policy

Are you 20 years or younger?

Looking for a challenge? Scottish Athletics have announced their Junior Hill League.

Hill running can be a great way to improve your orienteering fitness. Many orienteers regularly challenge for the titles and sometimes hill runners take up orienteering too. Just to name a few ….Pippa Carcas and Claire Ward Interlopers; Angela Mudge, Grace Molloy, Graham Gristwood, Andy Kitchen FVO; Murray Strain ELO.