This bulletin provides a brief summary of current SCOA issues, including those items discussed at the recent Executive Committee meeting.
2015 British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships
Plans for next year's British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships, which SCOA is hosting, are taking shape well. More details of the events, including how to enter, will appear early in the New Year, along with requests for helpers. In the meantime, SARUM have kindly offered to lead on activities for kids, and BADO to lead on car parking at the Sprint event.
A quick reminder of dates and locations
- Saturday 9th May – Sprint Championships being held at Aldershot Barracks
- Sunday 10th May – Middle Championships being held at Naphill (just to the west of HighWycombe).
SCOA Long Distance Championships 2015
SCOA's Long Distance Championships next year will be held at the SARUM Saunter on 8th March at Sidbury Hill, Tidworth (west of Andover). More details in due course.
SCOA Score Championships
SCOA will also be holding a Score Championship in 2015. This will be held at SN's event at Long Valley North in the Autumn.
SCOA League prize-giving
The prizegiving for the SCOA League for the 2013-14 seasons took place at the SCOA League event at Kings Wood on 19th October. Photographs of the prizegiving can be seen at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ztu97fybpm8jsv9/AAB5BNLPrNSyjKndvvJoYyWa?dl=0 (with thanks to Ian Buxton).
Coaching
A coaching education course (UKCC Level 2) is being held in December and January, for aspiring coaches. Seven members of SCOA are attending, with the intention of boosting the coaching capacity within the region. It is hoped that another course will be organised in Spring 2015, so if you are interested in training to become a coach then please contact Dave Rogers (drogers@woodglade.co.uk) for more information.
World Orienteering Championships 2015
Please see the attached note from Jon Wheatcroft, who is looking for volunteers to join his team to help at the World Orienteering Championships in Scotland in early August 2015.
British Orienteering seeks nominations
Each year British Orienteering seeks nominations for a number of awards:
- Club of the Year – in recognition of clubs that play an important part in their community
- Silva award – in recognition of an individual who has made a significant contribution to orienteering through 'field' activities.
- Mapping awards – a number of awards to encourage high standards of mapping and related activities.
Clubs and individuals are encouraged to submit nominations.
Levy rates for 2015
As mentioned in the last Bulletin, the SCOA levy from 1st January 2015 onwards will apply only to levels A, B and C events, at a rate of 45p per senior participant*. No SCOA levy will
apply to level D events from 1st January. Organisers of events in 2015 should therefore allow in their budgets for a levy per senior participant* of:
| Level D events | £1.10 | this being the British Orienteering levy for 2015 |
| Level A, B and C events | £1.55 | being £1.10 British Orienteering levy, £0.45 SCOA Levy |
* with juniors counted as 1/3rd of a senior
SCOA pools the resources of the region’s clubs in order to provide coaching for juniors, training for officials, co-ordinate fixtures, organise our largest events, and generally to support orienteering within the region.
World Orienteering Championships 2015
For only the third time in forty years, Britain is hosting the World Orienteering Championships in 2015. A group of us, all currently drawn from TVOC, have been successful in bidding to play a significant and high profile role in this major undertaking near Inverness in Scotland next summer. We will be responsible for staffing the finish zone at all WOC events. We would love to have a few more in our team. This therefore an invitation for anyone else from SCOA to come and join us.
Many will remember working with the SCOA team which undertook a similar but larger task when WOC was last hosted in the UK. On that occasion, our duties included the (manual) timing too. This time, that is being handled by Oxford resident Jon Marsden, with whom we will work closely.
We will need two groups of volunteers: -
- A core of at least seven orienteers who will need to work on all races to try to achieve a consistent approach.
- A second group of about sixteen at any one time which can vary in composition from race to race and can include non-orienteering family and friends. The essential quality required by many here will be assertiveness! (see tasks, below)
Tasks: -
At the moment, it is anticipated that the core group will be dealing directly with the world’s elite orienteers, keeping them moving through the finish area, ensuring that they download, collecting SI cards and issuing splits. Tasks for the more flexible group will probably include controlling access to the finish, mixed and map mark-up zones by coaches, VIPs, press and other media as well as assisting with doping control and safeguarding water & supervising its collection by athletes.
Most volunteer helpers will probably wish to compete in some or all of the (almost) concurrent Scottish 6-Day Event. This will be possible for all six days for all but the core group who will be unable to compete on one day. (See website http://www.scottish6days.com/2015/ for details of possible clashes, locations etc.) As our role is very much in the public/televisual eye, we will have to wear uniform to look good (better?) on TV.
If members of any other SCOA clubs wish to be involved, please let us know very soon as well as filling in your details at http://www.woc2015.org/volunteers#mc_embed_signup
Accommodation is already getting booked up, and you are advised to make arrangements soon.
Further details can be found at http://www.woc2015.org/
Glynis & Jon Wheatcroft wheatcroft@waitrose.com 01491 - 837923
