Tag: ScotJos

Autumn is a busy time for the Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS) as we bid farewell to those heading off to University, welcome in the new squad and compete at the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs) and Junior Inter Regional Championships (JIRCs). With the JIRCs in Wales and 2 weeks later the JHIs in Birmingham –  the Scots were on tour.  Read on to catch up with all the ScotJOS news …

Junior Inter Regional Championships

The Junior Inter-Regional Championships were held in South Wales at the end of September. This sees teams of juniors from all 12 British Orienteering regions compete against each other with individual races on the Saturday and relays on the Sunday – and lots of time for fun and games in between.

To make the loooong journey more bearable for the juniors (and accompanying adults!), they set off by coach on the Friday afternoon with an overnight stop in Birmingham planned. In the spirit of the event we even allowed a few North West, Yorkshire and Irish juniors to join us on the coach as they were now based in Scotland.  With lots of quizzes and singing (and food!) to keep us going we arrived in Wales in good spirits to some lovely sunshine.

The Individuals were held at Kenfig Burrows – a complex area of sand dunes on the South coast. After the application of the necessary war paint (and the adults attempts to build a  better flag pole than the Welsh team’s)  there was time to meet up with friends, play some football – oh and do some orienteering! 

The team all performed fantastically with Scotland securing a strong lead (27 points) over the other teams. There were medals for Douglas MacDonald (INVOC) who was 1^st in M14, Laurence Ward (INT) 3^rd in M16, James Hammond (FVO) 1^st in M18, Ruth Gooch (MAROC) 1^st in W16, Emily Atkinson (ELO) 3^rd in W16, Isobel Howard (MOR) 2^nd in W18 and Daisy McNamara (AYROC) 3^rd in W18. Ruth Gooch also won the award for Best Individual Performance thanks to an impressive four and half minute lead on the W16 course. 

The teams all retired to Rougemont School in Newport for the evening for food, football, prize giving, more quizzes, a quick moonlit Strip the Willow and then bed on the gym hall and dining room floors. 

The weather changed for the Sunday and we set off in the rain for Llantrisant forest for the relays.  This was a steep wooded hillside crossed by forestry tracks, and mountain bike trails. The arena was towards the top of the area and there was lots of climb in all the courses. The woodland was also very “green” in places.

The boys relay set off, followed by the girls to lots of noise. The teams run with a 16, then a 14 and finally an 18 on the last leg. A run through mid-course gave us a chance to cheer on further before we waited expectantly for them to appear back out the forest and run up the track to the handover area. The Scottish teams set off strongly with our juniors leading the packs but then the dreaded miss punches of relays started to appear. With the two hotly tipped men’s teams (Scotland 1 and South Central 1) disqualified, the race was open. The Scotland 2 team of Finn Duguid, Calum Robertson and Adam Barrie successfully brought the win home for Scotland.  In the girls race Daisy McNamara had an excellent 3^rd leg  overtaking several teams to return first only to discover their team was disqualified due to an earlier miss punch. However Scotland 1 returned next picking up Gold for Ruth Gooch, Esme Kelly and Isobel Howard.

Overall Yorkshire and Humberside took the win the relays with 261 points with Scotland 2^nd on 258 points. However with the strong win on the individuals, Scotland retained the Junior Inter-Regional Championship trophy. As well as the trophy’s for the men’s overall and women’s overall.

A tired but victorious group of juniors boarded the coach for the loooooong trip back North.

Huge thanks to Swansea Bay Orienteering Club for organising the event. For a small club to put on both the individual and relay events was very impressive. The juniors were delighted to see Megan Carter-Davies and Ben Mitchell running the computing – it’s not often you turn up at an event to have a current World Champion running the download! 

Full results for both races and the points are available at https://www.sboc.org.uk/results

Two weeks later the juniors hit the road again to head to Birmingham for the Junior Home Internationals. Armed with more quizzes for the journey and plenty of food we headed south by coach again, picking up some of the English team from the Lakes on the way.  We did draw the line at them trying to display the St George’s Cross on our bus though!

Both days of the competition were held at Sutton Park in Birmingham, with the juniors staying overnight at Beaudesert Scout Camp. Whilst Scotland was battered by rain, we headed to Sutton Park in glorious sunshine ready to take on the other nations.  With face paint applied the juniors headed to the start whilst the adults waited for them to appear at the spectator control and bemoaned the fact they had forgotten the binoculars again as they tried to identify who was approaching! There was a lot of fast running on paths but lots of vegetation to catch out the unsuspecting. Although the running was fast, mistakes were costly with relocation difficult.

Junior Home Internationals

The team all performed fantastically with Scotland scoring 72 points – only 5 points behind England. There were medals for Douglas MacDonald (INVOC) who was 1^st in M14, Finn Duguid (TAY) 2^nd on M16, James Hammond (FVO) 1^st on M18, Adam Barrie (MAR) 2^nd on M18, Lucy Ward (INT) 3^rd on W14,   Isobel Howard (MOR) 2^nd in W18 and Iris Macmillan (ECKO) 3^rd in W18.

It was then time to head back to Beaudesert, with an ice-cream stop on the way, for more fun and games in the sunshine. The weather was so pleasant that the evening’s ceilidh was held outdoors in part of the walled garden illuminated with floodlights. Although not traditional Scottish dancing, we were treated to a hilarious mix of fun dances which everyone managed to find the energy to join in with.

On Sunday – after a slightly belated start due to mechanical problems with the coach door we headed to the southern part of Sutton Park for the relays. The girls headed off first with the boys start 10 minutes later. From the start they disappeared straight into the undergrowth and we were left with an anxious wait for the 1^st runners to appear at the spectator control.

Finn Duguid had a great 1^st leg for the boys returning in 1^st position, and handing over to Douglas. Rory Black then appeared chasing the England’s Tommy Rollins. The English however overtook on the 2^nd leg and James Hammond fought hard on the final leg to take the silver for the Scotland 1 team. The Scotland 2 team of Finlay McLuckie, Calum Robertson and Adam Barrie finished in 5^th place.

Finn Duguid had a great 1^st leg for the boys returning in 1^st position, and handing over to Douglas. Rory Black then appeared chasing the England’s Tommy Rollins. The English however overtook on the 2^nd leg and James Hammond fought hard on the final leg to take the silver for the Scotland 1 team. The Scotland 2 team of Finlay McLuckie, Calum Robertson and Adam Barrie finished in 5^th place.

In the girls relay Ruth Gooch had a strong 1^st leg handing over to Esme Kelly in 2^nd place. Isobel Howard then set off on third leg with a mission to catch the English runners, but was thwarted by some badly behaved dogs who made access to one control difficult. However, the Scots 1^st team still finished in 4^th place, with the team of Ellie Darlow, Eilidh Connor and Daisy McNamara in 5^th.

The final scores for the relays were England 58 points and Scotland 46 points, meaning that England took the victory in the Junior Home Internationals. Congratulations to England.

A special mention to Ruari Cottier who brought his bagpipes and piped back all the final leg Scottish runners, helping to give them the energy for the final sprint to the finish.  We may not have won the JHIs but Scotland certainly won on team spirit and determination. Well done to a great team. Full results for both races and the points are available at https://wmoa.org.uk/wp/junior-home-internationals-6th-8th-october-2023/

Selections for ScotJOS 2023/24

With the 2^nd year 18’s heading off to University, the new squad for 2023/24 has been selected. Congratulations to everyone selected – we hope that you will make the most of the opportunity to improve your orienteering whilst having lots of fun on the way. There are 6 camps planned throughout the year, as well as a summer tour to Scandinavia to look forward to.

Congratulations to the following juniors:-

Selection for Talent Scotland

In addition to the Scottish Junior Squad there is also the British Orienteering Talent Scotland Squad, which in conjunction with Talent North and Talent South from the tier 3 of the British Orienteering Performance Pathway.  ScotJOS aims to provide a friendly supportive team in which to develop as an orienteer, with the Talent Squad helping the juniors to develop towards being an elite athlete. With a stronger focus on athlete development, it works with a subset of the ScotJOS juniors, providing additional Sports Science and Race Preparation camps as well as a series of online workshops.

Congratulations to the following juniors who were selected to be part of Talent Scotland for 2023/24

Thank You

Finally a huge thank you to everyone who helps support the Scottish Juniors – parents, clubs, coaches, cake buyers! –  we couldn’t do it without all your support.

In particular a huge thank you to Marjorie Mason from MAROC who has been the ScotJOS treasurer for the past 10 years, and does the most amazingly efficient job to support the ScotJOS team. She has however decided that it is time for her to move on and we are seeking a new treasurer. Marjorie had kindly offered to shadow them for the 1^st year to help settle into the role. If you feel this role could be for you, please get in touch. 

If anyone is interested in helping ScotJOS but feel that accounting isn’t for them, there are lots of ways to be involved – planning exercises, coaching in the forest, hanging controls, shadowing, cooking, driving, herding, ordering kit, organising fundraising. If you would like to volunteer or find out more please get in touch with Judy at scotjos@scottish-orienteering.org.

After the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival, the ScotJOS juniors headed off for a weekend of orienteering in the sunshine in Northern Scotland.

Warm up drills in the sunshine

Today in a celebration of the young people that contribute to our sport, we are highlighting the activities of our nominations for Young Orienteer of the Year 2023. We are delighted to announce that the winners this year are Charlotte Horne and Isla O’Donoghue who between them are the mainstays of Aberdeen University Orienteering Club.

ScotJOS headed to the Moray coast for a training camp in March. Although the traditional
Moray areas are all embargoed due to the Scottish 6 Days, we were able to visit some of the less
well known areas. There was also the draw to return to the Duffus Hall – one of the favourite
venues in the ScotJOS list of halls. It is a lovely big hall and has hot showers and a separate
(carpeted!) hall for the coaches – who like a little more comfort than a hard wood floor!

Friday evening was the traditional night-O at Carsehill and a chance to stretch the muscles after a
long drive and meet up with orienteering friends. We then headed to hall for dinner and the after
dinner entertainment – lessons in erecting and taking down the new ScotJOS tent! You learn many
skills at a ScotJOS weekend, not just orienteering.

ScotJOS and Talent Scotland had their 1^st training camp of 2023 last weekend. The camp was based in Livingston with its multitude of underpasses, alleyways and complex housing estates providing the ideal location for a Sprint orienteering camp. 

Last weekend ScotJOS gathered in Aberfoyle for their first camp of the 2022/23 session. Despite the
rain of last week, the weather brightened and the juniors enjoyed some very technical training.

Congratulations to the following juniors who have been selected to be part of the Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS) for 2022/23.

The ScotJOS team are looking forward to working with the new squad members to support their orienteering development and we hope to have a lot of fun along the way as well as plenty of hard work.    

It was Scotland’s turn to host the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs) and  juniors from all over the UK and Ireland congregated in Speyside for a weekend of fantastic orienteering. 

The JIRCs see teams of juniors from the 12 British Orienteering regions go to battle, with individual championships on the Saturday and relays on the Sunday. Each team can consist of 4 juniors in each category of M/W 14,16 and 18.

Every two years the Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (Scotjos) organise a 2 week trip to Scandanavia to provide the juniors with the opportunity to experience different terrains and compete outside the UK.

For obvious reasons this has not happened for a couple of years but this summer the squad have headed off to Sweden.