On her appointment as Performance Director Fanni Gyurko has raised the topic of selection criteria and team selection for all teams representing Scotland at Home Internationals, with support from the SOA Board of Director we are publishing here the selection policy for the VHI due to take place in October. Please read below and any questions can be sent to Veteran Team Manager Janice Nisbet.

Well some may say that the best things come in small packages and perhaps the same could be said about this weekend as it certainly packed a big punch, with the Scottish Middle Distance Championships counting towards the Scottish Inter-Club Championships on Saturday swiftly followed by the 2nd Compass Point Scottish Orienteering League event of 2023 on Sunday. Add to that the convergence of lots of students from as far afield as Cambridge for the 2023 BUCS individuals and relay orienteering event meant lots of excitement!

Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) held off the weather on Saturday to take us to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow for the Scottish Middle Distance Championships. Full results can be found here with a full list of the Scottish Middle Distance Champions

The start may have been muddy but there was plenty of variety and the abundance of students made for a great atmosphere. The selection of cakes being sold certainly seemed to go down well with all in attendance!

The Scottish Middle Distance Championship was the third of the monthly events which form the Scottish Inter-Club Championship. This month’s results can be found on the Scottish Orienteering Championship’s page and using this link here

The 2022 Scottish Inter-Clubs Championship sped into full action as the majority of the clubs got their first scores on the board, following the EUOC Big Weekend.

The Big Weekend featured two scoring events, with an Urban race around the West End of the city, and then a Classic distance race on the iconic Arthur’s Seat. The Urban race also counted as the first event in the 2022 Scottish Orienteering Urban League, and both events were included in the UK Orienteering League programme, so there were a large number of visitors from over the border in attendance.

There is a new leader in the Large Clubs division of the SICC, as ESOC took full advantage of the races being in their home city to notch more than 40,000 points for the weekend and catapault themselves straight into the lead, with a 5000 point margin over FVO.

It was a good weekend for ELO in particular in the Small Clubs division, as, led by some impressive junior performances, they opened up a fairly comfortable lead over Roxburgh Reivers to head the table after the first scoring event for the smaller clubs.

MAROC continues to lead the Junior Inter-Club table, but has been closed down by both FVO and ESOC, with several lowland events to follow soon, while ELO’s juniors top the table for the Small clubs.

Full results from the weekend are with Robin Strain, and league tables after three events are here.

The next event in the Inter-Clubs Championship will be ESOC’s SOUL races on 6th February, followed by a Dark ‘n’ Dunes Weekend, as ESOC and Interlopers host the Scottish Night Championships and the first event in the 2022 Scottish Orienteering League the following weekend.

Scottish Orienteering is running an informal practical evening workshop on at Dunblane High School from 7-9pm on Wednesday September 25^th, to help you learn how to use MapRun – the smartphone app which allows you to create and take part in orienteering “events” using GPS signals to identify control sites.

Are you new to orienteering but not sure where to start? Claire Ward, SOA Performance Director, put together this guide, as featured in the latest issue of SCORE.

We’re always happy to celebrate volunteers who help make orienteering across Scotland brilliant, and today we’re saying thank you to FVO’s Steve Scott and finding out why “every club should have a Steve!”

The Scottish qualification round of the 2022 Compass Sport Cup and Trophy brought more than 400 competitors to Callander Crags for a memorable race in tough underfoot conditions.

FVO brought out a new map of the area, but heavy rain in the hours leading up to the race meant that the steep slopes below the crags, which demarcate the Scottish Midlands from the Highlands, were quite slippery in places.

FVO won the Compass Sport Cup round by 76 points from ESOC, although as FVO is also hosting the final, and has a reserved place, both clubs progress. The Compass Sport Trophy round was the most competitive of any of the eight national qualifiers, with no fewer than 15 clubs chasing one of the three final berths. Three-time winners Interlopers booked their final place by winning the competition, including overall victories on both Open courses, and they are joined in the final by MAROC and Moravian, who were separated by only four points at the end of the day.

Results including WinSplits and Routegadget can be found on the FVO website

The event also counted for points in the 2022 Scottish Inter-Club Championship, and ESOC continues to lead the way in the Large Clubs division from FVO, who closed up slightly on their lead. INT now has more than 100,,000 points logged and remains 3rd.

The overall lead in the Small Clubs division has changed hands once again, as RR got in front of ELO to establish a narrow 400 point advantage. The Junior competition for small clubs is still led by ELO, with TAY moving into second position. Almost all of the clubs are now in play in the Junior Inter-Clubs, with only the student teams and TINTO yet to get off the mark.

Updated SICC tables after 11 events are here

As clubs across Scotland wrap up their Night-O leagues, it’s been fantastic to see so many Night- O events over the last few months. 

Pride Month is still an important time for progress towards inclusivity and equality. With the rising pushback against equal rights in countries like the USA and UK, many arguments focus on equality in sports. But inclusivity is equally important to many people; AUOC is fortunate enough to be an inclusive club with trans individuals and allies alike.

The Progress Pride Flag