SCOA Bulletin: March 2013

This bulletin provides a brief summary of current SCOA issues, including those items discussed at the committee meeting on 7th March.

 

2013 SCOA Championships

There have been a couple of date and location changes for the SCOA Championships scheduled for 2013; change are shown below in bold:

    • Middle Distance Championship at Oxshott Heath (near Esher) on Sunday 7th April
    • Sprint Championship at Wellington College on Sunday 12th May  Changed again - more details in due course.
    • Long Distance Championships in the New Forest on Sunday 3rd November 2013

Gold, Silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the first three SCOA members in each class. Classes are as follows:

 

Middle Distance

M/W 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20-40, 45-50, 55-60, 65+

Sprint

MYel - A yellow standard course for M12 or younger competitors

WYel - As above but for W12 or younger competitors

MJun - A sprint race for M14 and M16 competitors

WJun - As above but for W14 and W16 competitors

MOpen - A sprint race for M18-M40 competitors

WOpen - As above but for W18-W40 competitors

MVet - A sprint race for M45-M55 competitors

WVet - As above but for W45-W55 competitors

MSVet - A sprint race for M60+ competitors

WSVet - As above but for W60+ competitors

Classic

Standard age classes

 

More details of all of these events will appear on the SCOA website once they are available. See http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/scoa_events

 

JK 2013

The JK is now just three weeks away, and a number of key people within SCOA are working frantically to ensure the event is a great success.

Individual entries for the weekend now exceed 2,900, with entries for the Sprint exceeding 2,000 for the first time ever.

There are some problems and concerns, notably over the state of some of the car park fields.

Manpower also remains a concern. Many thanks if you are one of the large number who have volunteered to help. However we could still do with a few more helpers, so if you have not yet volunteered then please contact your club's volunteer coordinator – see http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/content/2012/01/12/jk2013-volunteers...

 

Financials

SCOA's only sources of income are:

    • club fees (£25 per club)
    • event levies (currently 13.5p per competitors with juniors counting as 1/3rd)
    • surpluses from major events, for example this year's JK, which provide a significant but infrequent boost to the finances.

SCOA's major items of expenditure are:

    • payments to the English Orienteering Council - who use them to fund the cost of sending teams to the Junior, Senior and Veteran Home Internationals and to the Interland),
    • funding the Junior Squad and
    • paying grants – to subsidise the cost of attending First Aid courses, event offcials' courses, Junior tours, and the like.

 

Over the past five years, our expenditure has risen markedly; the cost of the English Orienteering Council has more than doubled, and grant requests are also substantially greater. Whilst this year's accounts will look very healthy because of the expected surplus from the JK, the underlying position is of a deficit of around £2,500pa.

Ways of dealing with this deficit will be considered at the Annual General Meeting in June. However it looks likely that there will need to be a significant increase in the rate of levy charged, or material reductions in the provision of grants and the funding of the junior squad.

 

Annual General Meeting

SCOA's AGM will take place at the Friends Meeting House in Newbury on Thursday 6th June, followed by a quarterly business meeting. Members of SCOA-affiliated clubs are welcome to attend.

 

SCOA Committee Vacancies

As mentioned in previous bulletins SCOA has been without a Secretary or Treasurer since last June.

Jerry Newcombe, who has been Treasurer for a number of years and who continues to act as interim Treasurer pending the appointment of a replacement, hjas agreed to continue as Treasurer for the time being.

However SCOA remains without a Secretary. This is not a difficult or time-consuming role (see the attached job spec), and it does provide valuable insight into what is happening on the orienteering scene. Please please please think whether you could do this job. Just drop a line to chairman@scoa-orienteering.org.uk.