BASOC eNews February 2021
Credit: Phil K
Orienteering is still in hibernation - but BASOC members have been out and about . . .
1. Return to orienteering – or not yet.
Following on from the Scottish Government First Minister statement on Tuesday 23rd February 2021, Scottish Orienteering have issued the following statement:
“While some progress is being made to suppress the virus and incredible efforts towards vaccinating adults is taking place, from the First Minister's statement today it looks as though our events and activities remain suspended for now. We must all follow the guidance to stay at home with the hope of more positive news to come.
We will work with sportscotland on the guidance for 12-17year olds and also work to prepare our clubs with any additional information we obtain about what Level 3 may look like come April.”
2. Read about Adrian Hope’s ‘Life as an orienteer’
British Orienteering have published an article about Adrian.
3. Kenyon family NC500
The Kenyon Family completed this on 25th January 2021 – well done an excellent effort from you all. They raised £700 with this effort. Woo hoo! From Lil:
"I know how geeky you all are so here are some stats from our 525 miles (Ed note: what, you are not metric when riding the bike?).
Top speed; 37.8mph (an eye waterer down the Pluscarden hill 😂)
Best average; mile 21 mph
Worst average; mile 4.0mph, extreme sheet ice.
Longest Ride; 30 miles
Shortest Ride; 1 mile-too icy
Person with most wipeouts; Fergus - obviously, myself 2nd then Faith, Phil didn’t have any, on account of him only managing 2 rides 🙄
Phil 31 miles, Faith 91 miles, Fergus 175 miles, Lil 228 miles.
Height climbed; 8,637 feet, almost twice the height of Ben Nevis.
What has also been very nice is how considerate vehicle drivers have been, no road rage experienced, making our road trips a pleasure 😊"
The Kenyon family are now into ‘Turfing’ and here is an extract from the Outfit Moray Facebook page:
“Lil's family are totally hooked on the game. She likes that they get so much exercise together, but don't notice because they are having so much fun.
Faith likes the family rivalry and the fact she can choose to walk, run or cycle, whilst Fergus likes the sense of satisfaction he gets when he takes a zone, and that he's inspired to take more. He also enjoys how It takes him to new places to explore.
Lil was also very excited to let us know that she was first in the world at one point 😂”
4. Orienteering opportunities
The ongoing message is still ‘Stay at home, Stay local’ and restrict travel to your local council area. Clare & Alice were able to stay within these guidelines and use the INVOC iROMP at Keppernach (near Cawdor) recently. Clare would recommend this (although it is only available until the end of February) as it was not too rough or wet underfoot. The Kemsleys also visited the Carse (near Ardersier) iROMP in January.
Keep an eye out on the INVOC website for more iROMP and MapRun opportunities.
All the BASOC training kites / tubes have been collected in. There are still MapRuns and 5km runs available for you though.
5. Coaches - have you done the CWPS training yet?
This is a reminder to all active Licensed coaches in SOA that the Licence requirements are changing in the middle of 2021. From June/July 2021 an additional requirement for being a Licensed coach will be completion of the sportscotland Tutor led Safeguarding training. The tutor led part (3 hours) is Module 2 - this Module can only be accessed following prior completion of the on-line Module 1 (45 minutes).
There is normally a charge for attendance at Module 2 but in March British Orienteering have offered to pay for 2 courses for SOA coaches. These are on 9th March and 18th March 18:00 - 21:00. Places are available on both courses. Booking is via the Google form on the SOA website.
Coaches from some clubs have responded well to the offer of the training, whereas coaches in some other clubs seem to be suffering from lockdown blues.
So in summary - free training for the required training for licensed coaches is on offer and this ends on 18th March.
When you have completed this training, please let Clare K know so that the records can be kept up to date.
6. Lochaber 2021
6 BASOC members have entered so far. The next price increase date is 30th April 2021. For more details about the event head to the Lochaber 2021 website.
From the MOR newsletter some information about campsites:
For those who haven't entered yet, the main campsite recommended on the S6D (Linnhe Lochside Holidays) no longer have spaces for tents - I know lots of you are posh and have campervans so this won't apply. However, the Glen Nevis Camping and Caravan Park are still taking tent bookings and are over £100 cheaper for the 7 nights!!