SCOA Bulletin: December 2012

This bulletin provides a brief summary of current SCOA issues, including those items discussed at the SCOA AGM and the committee meeting on 6th December. 

 

Yvette Baker Trophy

Congratulations are extended to Southern Navigators and Berkshire Orienteers for qualifying for the Final of the Yvette Baker Trophy.

 

SCOA League

The prize-giving for the 2011/12 SCOA League took place at the SCOA League event at Kings Wood (near High Wycombe) in October.  Photographs from the prizegiving can be accessed from the SCOA website here.

Latest results from the SCOA League can be viewed here

The next SCOA League event is at Wendover on Sunday 16th December.

 

2013 SCOA Championships

As previously mentioned, we have the following SCOA Championships scheduled for 2013:

  • Sprint Championship at Wellington College on Saturday 6th April
  • Middle Distance Championship at Bagshot Heath on Sunday 7th April
  • Long Distance Championships in the New Forest on Sunday 3rd November 2013

     

    JK 2013

    Organisation of the JK is progressing well. 

    Day 1 (Sprint) and Day 3 (Long) have been confirmed as World Ranking Events.

    Entries opened on 1st November and we now have some 200 entries.

    There has been a good response from clubs to the request for volunteers to help at the JK.  Most Team Leaders have now been identified, and over the next few weeks they will be selecting people to resource their teams from the pool of volunteers.  If you have not yet volunteered to help, please contact the volunteer coordinator in your club – click here for more details.  And remember:

    1. there are some very attractive incentives for volunteers,
    2. enter by Thursday 3rd January to take advantage of the best entry prices.

     

    EMITag punching system

    EMITag is a wrist band which is ‘punched’ when it is brought within approximately 50 cms of a control unit.  The band contains a set of LEDs which will flash for approximately ten seconds once the control has been ‘punched’.

    EMITags were used at the SOC urban event in Southampton in early November.  SOC are producing a report based on feedback from competitors, but the general response was positive.  All those surveyed would be happy to use it again. It is not clear, however, that the system offered any significant advantages over conventional EMIT cards for foot-O (unlike for Mountain Bike-O or Ski-O where competitors do not have a spare hand to hold the EMIT card).  It was also noted that some particular considerations need to be made when planning and organising events using the system; these will be included in the final report. 

     

    News from British Orienteering

    The new Chairman for the Events and Competitions Committee is now in place.  Volunteers have been appointed to the three main Working Groups and a further three Advisory Groups to support ECC’s efforts.  Terry Smith (SOC) has been appointed to the Event Systems Group, and will chair the Technology Advisory Group.  Richard Sharp (TVOC) has been appointed to the Event Scheduling Group (which broadly replaces the National Fixtures Group) and to the Programme & Publicity Group.

    Two work groups have been formed to assess needs within British Orienteering; a Volunteer Needs Work Group and a Coaching Needs Work Group.

    Work is underway to create a revised Strategic plan for British Orienteering, which will be available for discussion at the AGM in March 2013.

    Financial support for Community Orienteering is scheduled to end in March 2013.  Some limited support will be available after that date, which will be focused on clubs in the Midlands and the North.

    British Orienteering is developing some new products to encourage participation by young adults and families.  Initial roll-out will be in the Midlands and the North of England; the products are:

    • Xplorer – which is primarily a Park Orienteering type event for families with young children.
    • Run Challenge – a long-O score event lasting about 45 minutes aimed at students and young adults.
    • Virtual-O – effectively a virtual event; the participant completes the course as and when they wish, recording their arrival at controls with their smart phone and uploading their results to compare/compete with others.

     

    Membership Renewals

    Members are reminded that their club and British Orienteering memberships come up for renewal at the end of December.   British Orienteering has issued renewal notices by email, but some individuals have found that the email appeared corrupted.

     

    SCOA Committee Vacancies

    As mentioned in previous bulletins SCOA still has no Secretary or Treasurer.  SCOA cannot continue to function effectively without these officers.  Please please please therefore give serious consideration as to whether you could undertake one of these roles.  A copy of the job spec for both roles is attached below.

    Neither role is very time-consuming, but they are vital for the smooth-running of our sport.  Please offer to take on one of these roles by clicking here.