This bulletin provides a brief summary of current SCOA issues, including those items discussed at the committee meeting held on 6^th September 2013.

SCOA fees and levy for 2014

You may recall from the June Bulletin that the Annual General Meeting of SCOA decided on the following changes:

• To introduce a £2 Affiliation Fee for all Senior members from the beginning of 2014. This fee will be collected along with club and British Orienteering subscriptions.
• To increase the event levy to 18p in 2014, rising to 24p by 2017.

At our September meeting, there was some further debate about the introduction of an affiliation fee, particularly bearing in mind that individuals cannot vote at SCOA meetings; only affiliated clubs can vote. Additionally, the surplus arising from this year’s JK is larger than was expected in June. The meeting has therefore decided not to introduce an affiliation fee for 2014. The increase in levy to 18p will, however, go ahead from 1^st January 2014 as previously announced.

Meanwhile a working party has been established to consider further a number of issues arising regarding SCOA’s structure, constitution, and the preferred method for funding it.

2013 SCOA Championships

SCOA's team championships took place on Sunday 7^th July at SARUM's Moonraker relay at Fonthill. A list of prizewinners can be seen at http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/events/2013/08/13/scoa-team-champion...

SCOA's Sprint Championships took placed on Monday 26^th August at TVOC's event at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories near Didcot. A list of prizewinners can be seen at http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/events/2013/08/28/scoa-sprint-champi...

A reminder that SCOA's Long Distance Championships are on Sunday 3^rd November at SOC's event in the New Forest. Don’t forget to enter. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to the first three SCOA members in each class.

SCOA League 2013/14

The first two events for the SCOA League in 2013/14 are now confirmed as:

29 September – BKO event at Yateley Heath. Details at http://www.bko.org.uk/event/2013/09/29/yateley-heath

13 October – TVOC event at Penn Wood. Details at http://www.tvoc.org.uk/flyers/2013%20events/Penn%202013%20event%20flyer.pdf

A list of the events in this season’s league is available on the SCOA website, at http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/scoa-league

Prizegiving for the 2012/13 season will take place at the BKO event on 29 September.  Please attend if you can.

British Orienteering's Association and Club Conference

British Orienteering is holding its annual Association and Club Conference on Saturday 19^th October. The theme of this year's conference is Volunteers and Volunteering in Orienteering, and will focus on the outcomes of a report by the Volunteer Needs Work Group, which was produced specifically to identify ways to lessen the burden on club volunteers.  The report can be read here with details of the conference here.

Jerry Newcombe and Liz Yeadon will be attending on behalf of SCOA, and there may also be attendees from your own club.  Please pass on your views on this important subject to them, so that they can pass them on at the conference.

Silver for Emily at World MTBO Championships

Emily Benham (SARUM) took 2^nd place in the Middle Distance race at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Estonia at the end of August. She was also 4^th in the Long Distance event, and would have been 5^th in the Sprint had she, and 50 other competitors, not been disqualified following a map printing error on an OOB area.

Emily is now ranked 3^rd in the MTBO World Cup Series, and 8^th overall in the world.