Every year in the autumn the Veteran Home Internationals (VHIs) are held and sees senior athletes from M/W40 through to M/W70 come together to compete. Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales come together with 24 athletes each and the event circulates around the countries
So far we have received two fantastic nominations for our Young Orienteer of the Year award. It’s always encouraging to hear about the contributions that our young people are making in all areas of the sport often while training as elite athletes too.
Finlay McLuckie – MOR
Finlay has made a huge contribution to the sport of orienteering in recent years, and this year he has excelled himself! At club level, Finlay is a very willing and active participant in various club activities, such as our regular pre-event coaching sessions and welcoming newcomers at CATI events. He has contributed to running local events, particularly as a planner and is currently our Junior representative on the club committee. This year he accepted the considerable responsibility of Assistant Planner of Day 1 of the Scottish Six Days on Royal Deeside. He fulfilled this role very competently , running several of the longer courses to assess technical and physical difficulty! After the event he sought feedback from colleagues on the courses, demonstrating considerable maturity and understanding of how to improve as a planner. Finlay’s contribution to our sport extends beyond Moray. He was proud to put on his kilt as a part of the prize-giving team at the World Sprint Championships held in Edinburgh last summer!
Euan Tryner – EUOC
Euan was EUOC secretary last academic year and is now captain of the club while in his 2nd and 3rd years of study respectively. This is early to take on these roles in ones university journey. Both roles, but especially captain, demand taking on a lot of responsibility for how the club is run and how it presents itself to both the orienteering community and the university institutions. He deals with this responsibility extremely well in my opinion. In addition to this, he is an athlete representative on the British Orienteering performance steering group, providing valuable insights from athletes into shaping the future of British orienteering. All of this is while training to be an elite athlete.
We are happy to take any last minute nominations up until Thursday 23rd. Use the form to tell us about your young hero.
The last weekend of September saw junior athletes and senior athletes from across the nations converging on the Lakes to take part in the Junior Inter Regional Championships (JIRCSs) and the Senior Home Internationals(SHIs). The JIRCs involves all 12 of the British Orienteering Federation associations bring their juniors to compete against each other and the SHIs involves the home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) bringing their best senior athletes to challenge each other for dominance over a weekend of orienteering.
Read More…Every year we celebrate the contribution made to the sport by our young people. This year we have decided to deconflict our Young Orienteer of the Year award with Volunteer Week in June by asking for nominations later in the year and presenting the trophy at the Junior Inter Areas in October. We are eagerly looking forward to hearing what our young people have been up to in our clubs and squads. This award is not about performance but rather contribution to the sport through volunteering and in the past we have had activities as diverse as running school clubs, mapping, writing newsletters, coaching and officiating at events recognised and celebrated.
Do you know a young person under 21 who is inspiring others? Consistently assisting with club activities? Or making a difference by raising the profile of our sport through their volunteering?
Use the form to nominate your young hero and give them the recognition they deserve.
The fourth and last Scottish Orienteering League event of 2025 saw us all off to the East Lothian seaside. Interlopers (INT) had timed the event to avoid the bird nesting season, updated the map and worked hard to engage with the four landowners to make sure control placing/car parking was possible.
Within our clubs we know that many hands make light work and more often than not a problem shared is a problem halved. So each year we offer the opportunity for clubs to come together to meet other club volunteers, the SOA Board and staff and share the experiences from their clubs with others who may be a different size or area.
Well done to East Lothian Orienteers (ELO) who pulled together to host their first every Scottish Orienteering League event (SOL) at Hartside Hill. The Hartside Hill event was ninth event of the 2025 Scottish Inter Club Championships and as well as the third SOL of 2025.
Not only was it the first SOL that ELO had ever hosted but they also offered us the challenge of fresh terrain in an area mapped for the event. Whilst for some it brought back recollections of Limeriggs, it proved to be as promised a large plantation forest with deep cleughs, varied rides, and an extensive ditch network. For most the errors were of our own making and certainly there were quite a few sticks carried home by those whose hair had provided some protection.
The September session in the SOA’s monthly online Community Conversations series focused on access to orienteering areas and navigating permissions. Arranging access for orienteering is often viewed as at best a drain on clubs’ organisational resources and at worth a headache that ultimately can thwart an event from happening. So how can clubs work best with landowners and tenants, to get good outcomes all round?
As for pretty much everything, building relationships is key – whether with individuals where land is in private hands or with employees as representatives of statutory or charitable organisations (councils, Forestry Land Scotland, RSPB, National Trust, MoD etc). Finding out who exactly to speak with can sometimes take a bit of detective work but persevere and engage positively: we are all ambassadors for our sport. There may be other land users to build relationships with too, to achieve good outcomes. Shared use is the norm, whether with the general public or with other specific interest groups (mountain bikers, archers, clay-pigeon shooters etc).
Read More…Do you know of someone who has gone above and beyond for the benefit of orienteering? The President’s Medal is handed out annually at the AGM (22nd September) to recognise significant contribution to the sport.
We are aware that there are plenty of people who work tirelessly within their clubs, giving hours of their time to promote the sport, but never seek recognition. We truly welcome all nominations so we ask you to ensure we hear of everyone who deserves recognition.
Nominations can be submitted via President’s medal nomination form.
The President’s medal was awarded to David Robertson (ESOC) last year as recognition of his efforts promoting orienteering in schools and youth groups.
Previous winners are:-
2023 Jon Cross (FVO)
2022 Judy Bell (ESOC)
2021 Tim O’Donoghue (SOLWAY)
2020 Janet Clark (ESOC) and Sheila Reynolds (MAROC)
Read More…The SOA accounts for the year to 31st December 2024 have now been finalised and approved. They are available to view before the online AGM on Monday 22nd September 22nd September at 7pm.
The 2025 AGM Booklet can be viewed and contains the zoom link for the online meeting but if there are any issues please contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org