Season’s Greetings! We know there are a number of events planned over the festive season and we are delighted to see that changes to Government guidance still permit outdoor activity and for events (under 500people) to go ahead. However we also wanted to reaffirm some of key guidance messages in place to ensure any orienteering events and activities are taking appropriate precautions to ensure they mitigate risk of the spread especially of the new, high transmissable covid variant of Omicron.

Our guidance issued 16th July still remains in place and the event risk assessments were updated in August should be used to help plan and organise events taking into considerations covid guidance. We felt it important to clarify a few areas of guidance at this time: 

• Minimise the number of people involved with on the day delivery of the event/activity
• Indoor venues would ideally not be used for any part of the event/activity. However, we also recognise it is December in Scotland so if an indoor venue is in use it is vital that Scottish Government guidance is followed and 1m physical distancing is enforced. Further Scottish Government guidance is available at Coronavirus in Scotland – gov.scot No more than 100 people are permitted to be standing in an indoor venue so please take this into consideration. 
• Please ensure there is adequate hand sanitizer available at key touch points 
• Avoid display or provision of results at the event
• Pre-registration is still a requirement of events in Scotland
• We recommend no prize giving takes place to prevent crowds from gathering, even in an outdoors space.  

The Senior Home Internationals is the annual competition between teams from England, Ireland (Northern Ireland and Eire), Scotland, Wales – the home nations. It would normally involve 3 men and 3 women in the M/W 20 age category (aged 20 and under) and 6 senior men and 6 senior women (aged 21 years and over). It is an important event for offering international competition opportunity and experience to many up and coming British and Irish elite athletes.

This year’s competition had a number of challenges – the location near Southampton (almost as far as you can get for most of our athletes!), the November date (out of competition season for the top runners), and the clashes with various other competitions (such as JWOC and cross country races) and life events (university open days) – all of which made selecting a competitive team very difficult. Despite asking a number of athletes, we were unable to fill the team in M21 or W21, but fortunately Alex Carcas took a day trip out from working in London, and Lorna Eades kindly stepped up from helper role to make sure that we at least had 3 full relay teams for men and women.

See you all next year on Sat 26 Jan 2013 for SOUL1!

Todays results: SOUL6 Urban results Final SOUL 2012 Standings

Well done to all 13 series winners!

A big entry is anticipated as the race is also a NOPESPORT urban event, and is planned by respected planner and experienced orienteer, Martin Dean of FVO. So far a total of 717 orienteers have completed at least one of the SOUL events suggesting Urban races have a definite appeal, even in Scotland where we have more than our fair share of good classic O terrain.

Open

In the open races, the Men's open has been particularly well contested with the top 7 all having 4 or more counting scores, but Simon Gardner (EUOC) has already secured victory with a 2nd race win of the series at Livingston. The race for the minor placings is close between ESOC clubmates Andrew Dalgleish and his younger rival Andrew Lindsay. In the Women's Open, Kirstin Maxwell (EUOC) has a commanding lead but would be vulnerable to a good result from ESOC's Helen Bridle, currently in 4th but with only 3 counting runs so far.

Junior

The junior races have produced some good performances. Calllum White (INVOC) leads the M16- class with 4 good counting scores, but Sascha Chepelin (GRAMP) has 3 wins from 3 races so could overtake him with another good score.

W16- is more open with any one of Lyndsay Robertson (Clyde), Jennifer Ricketts (MAROC) and Carolyn White (MDOC) still in with a chance of winning, but any sort of a score from Lyndsay at Dunblane shouold secure 1st place.

M12- has been a bit less competitive, in part due to the difficulties achieving good courses for juniors in compliance with BOF guidelines on urban events and under 16s. Michael Paterson (Clyde) is the only competitor who can acheive 4 counting events so is strongly placed, with Jake Chapman (MAROC) who has 2 wins from 2, best placed to overtake if Michael slips up. Ewan Musgrave (MAROC) is currently 3rd but only 2 points ahead of Jamie Goddard (FVO) in 4th, who'll be on home turf (tarmac?) for this one.

In W12- Kerry Wood (ESOC) has a narrow 8 point advantage over Kirsten Robertson (Clyde) in 2nd. Alice Wilson (Clyde) in 3rd could sneak a win if there are any slip ups ahead of her.

Veteran

The veteran classes are always competitive in Urban  races, and the bad news for current MVet leader Dave Robertson (Clyde) is that urban specialist Martin Ward (SYO) currently in 6th place,  is making the trip up from Yorkshire and could overtake him with a win. 7th placed Paddy Walder (Clyde) could also pinch it with a win, but this may be asking a bit much of the planner of the following day's SOL! Rookie Alan Bothwell (TAY) is defending a top 10 place against some stiff competition from old hands Terry O'Brien (STAG), Andrew MacPherson (CLYDE) and Davie Frame (TAY).

A win for current WVet leader Alison Cunningham (ESOC) would secure her the title at Dunblane, but anything less would leave the door open for current 3rd placed Lyndsey Knox (RR) to take it with a race win. A good result for 4th placed Rachel Kirkland (INT) could move her above 2nd placed Eileen Maxwell (RR).

Super Vet

The top 2 in MSVet are fighting it out for a win. Current leader (but also Dunblane planner) Martin Dean (FVO) sits this one out. If he manages to confuse Donald Petrie (Clyde) into any result other than a win then Martin takes the title. A win for Donald will tie the series and give the organiser a bit of a headache with regards to prizes! 3rd place is still up for grabs with Crawford Lyndsay (ESOC) vulnerable to a good result from any one of Robin Strain (ELO), Les Dalgliesh (ESOC) or Ian Ditchfield (MV).

WSVet has been another highly competitive class with Janice Nisbet (ESOC) securing a deserved series victory with wins in the last 2 races. The minor places could still go to any of Sally Lindsay (ESOC), Pauline McAdam (STAG), Amelia Petrie(Clyde) or Sheila Strain (ELO).

Ultra Vet

In MUVet, Ian Pyrah (ESOC) has already sewn up the series title, and Robert Philp (KFO) looks safe in 2nd place. Any sort of a result for Brian Yates (ESOC) should secure 3rd.

An uncharacteristic mispunch at Strathaven for both ESOC clubmates, Eleanor Pyrah and Janet Clark had kept the WUVet result open, but a win for Eleanor at Livingston secured a SuperVet family double alongside Ian. Any result for Janet at Dunblane should secure 2nd spot, but 3rd place is very much up for grabs.

League scores

Updated after SOUL 5 at Livingston (please advise if you spot any anomalies).
Link to the leage table

The Senior Home Internationals (SHIs) were held last weekend in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The team flew out on Friday afternoon and travelled over to the accommodation at The Share Centre next to Lough Erne near Enniskillen. Read More…

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.

The 2022 Scottish Sprint Championships were held in Dundee on Sunday, as part of the Sprint Scotland orienteering festival. The races acted as the first international trial for the GB senior national team, and newly-appointed BOF Performance Director Bernie Dietzeig was in town to watch a star-studded field of athletes race on a hilly course at Balgray.

There was a good division of the spoils at the end of the day, with no fewer than 11 clubs having an athlete on the champions podium. Results from all three races at Sprint Scotland can be found here (Scottish Sprint Champs is race 3), and a full list of champions is here

The races also counted for points in the 2022 Scottish Inter-Clubs Championship, and league tables after 13 events are here. There’s no change at the top of the Large Clubs division, although FVO made ground on ESOC’s lead. The Small Clubs division continues to be intriguing, as ELO retook the lead from RR after day 1, only for RR to snatch it back following the championship event.

The next SICC event will be a regional race organised by INVOC on Sunday at Creag Leach and Craig Dunain, although this clashes with the British Championships in England, so many of the top athletes may be occupied elsewhere.

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.

Six Scottish juniors have headed to Denmark for the Junior World Orienteering Championships which start this Sunday.

This statement from our President has been released to clarify proposals put forward ahead of our AGM which is being held this Saturday (22^nd June) starting at 1.30pm at the Scottish Sprint weekend.

For the 2018 new membership year, from 1st November 2017, we’ll be offering an additional membership option to new and existing members. As well as the new option meeting the needs of our members, our funding from sportscotland is based on member numbers so it is a valuable aid to growing our membership and further developing orienteering in Scotland.