Tag: Inter-Club

Sunday saw the Scottish Sprint Orienteering Championships hosted by Clydeside Orienteering Club (CLYDE) in Kirkintilloch. It was also the fourth event in the 2023 Inter-Club Championships.

For the 200 competitors who converged on Kirkintilloch, it was an event for the speedy with some quick courses and quick times!

There were lots of smiling faces among the day’s worthy winners and Easter even came early for some of the competitors with chocolate rewards!

As the fourth round of the Scottish Inter-Club Championships, all the efforts of those involved gaining points for their club. Despite a valiant effort on behalf of Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC) members, Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) remain in the lead in the Large Clubs. Moravian Orienteering Club (MOR) and Inverness Orienteering Club (INVOC) lie behind those two clubs but with three events located in the north region later this year there are still plenty of opportunities to gain points.

In the Small Clubs, Edinburgh University Orienteering Club used their younger legs (?) to hold the lead with CLYDE, perhaps having a reduced number of competitors as they were hosting the event, remaining in second place.

For the Junior Large Clubs, FVO retained the lead but are not scoring at the same rate as last year and with four clubs scoring a better average run rate there is still potential for the FVO juniors to be overtaken. In the Juniors Small Clubs, it is still all to play for the and with the next event of the series being the Scottish Championships who can get the most runners to turn out for the event may have a big impact.

An updated Scottish Inter-Club Championship table can be found here

Thank you to the organiser Rachel Wilson, the planner Ian Davidson and the controller Steve Scott (FVO) and everyone in CLYDE for all your efforts hosting the event.

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 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!!

A sheltered hall at the top of Morningside was an ideal location for the presentation of the 2022 Scottish Inter-Club Championship trophies by Peter Hodkinson and Richard Oxlade. Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO)were presented with the Senior and Junior Large Club Trophies (the juniors have to make sure the adults hand over the chocolates!), Roxburgh Reivers (RR) took home the Senior Small Club Trophy and East Lothian Orienteers (ELO) juniors very generously shared their Junior Small Club Trophy spoils with the other juniors in the room.

After the sheltered surroundings of Saturday’s trophy celebrations, the first event of the 2023 Scottish Inter-Club Championship took place in Holyrood Park at Edinburgh University Orienteering Clubs’s (EUOC) Seat Classic Race. The climb to the starts then saw competitors racing up and down and up and down Arthur’s Seat in gusty conditions.

Following consultation on the 2022 Scottish Inter-Club Championship, it was found that members were in favour of the new format which allowed clubs to gather points through the year rather than previous focus which required attendance at one event.  The Scottish Inter-Club Championship format had been revamped because it was felt that members increasingly saw it as an irrelevance having been held in the last few years alongside the Scottish Individual Championships.  

This new format of the Scottish Inter-Club Championships is aimed to help clubs foster club spirit and enthusiasm.  It aims to be more inclusive as it allows all members to add points to the club total, even those who are unable to travel outwith club areas.  The number of events has also been decreased so that clubs can be clear which events will count towards the Scottish Inter-Club championship.

In order to make the competition more inclusive to all forms of orienteering, the format of the Scottish Inter Club Championships (SICC) was changed for 2022 to include results for all five individual championships, the Compass Point Scottish Orienteering League, the Scottish Urban Orienteering League and regional events.  This empowered members who don’t compete at championship level, or simply prefer urban or sprint orienteering, to contribute towards the overall result throughout the year.

Well winter has arrived, and caused the last event of the 2022 Inter-Club Championships to be cancelled, but it did not stop our volunteer, Steve Scott, preparing the final Inter- Club Championship tables of 2022. See all the details in  2022 Scottish Inter Club Championship Table 

After the 11th event in the Scottish Orienteering Urban League last weekend, hosted by Interlopers (INT) in Livingston, the latest positions in the Scottish Inter-Club Championship have been updated and can be found here.

The Interlopers event allowed the club to climb into 4th position in the large clubs table but the top positions remain the same with Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) in top spot and Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC) in 2nd.  For the observant few you will note that the MAR Orienteering Club (MAROC) and Moravian Orienteering Club (MOR) positions have changed when a bug in the calculating code was ironed out and the current tables are now correct.

In the small clubs table, STAG – St Andrew’s Orienteering Club (Glasgow) – had a good weekend but they were matched point for point by Roxburgh Reivers (RR) and it looks like Roxburgh Reivers are within touching distance of the small clubs title. 

With the excitements of the Scottish Junior Team winning the Junior Home Internationals last weekend it would be easy to overlook the effect the Loch Vaa Middle Event and Creag Dubh SOL6 has on the Inter-Club Championship tables. The tables have been updated and it is great to see Glasgow and Stirling Universities making their first entry into the small club division.

After missing a couple of years due to covid, it was great to see lots of smiling faces on Moncreiffe Hill yesterday for the 2022 Jamie Stevenson Trophy.

Twelve clubs from across Scotland brought teams along to enjoy this junior inter club competition.  The sun shone and there were smiles all round for the club parade started off the event.