Badenoch & Strathspey Orienteering Club

BASOC eNews March 2020

Torrox Leg 1
Torrox Leg 1
Published: Wed 18 Mar 2020

We face a very uncertain time in every aspect of life; it certainly is not life as we have known it.

Covid-19 update: thanks to Gemma for this message

"I know that many of you will have already heard that BOF have suspended all orienteering events in the UK as of yesterday morning (Tuesday 17th March). This currently includes our Tuesday training sessions as well as all events including the British Champs and the JK. Our event planned for 19th April has been postponed and we'll keep our summer weekend and WOLF under review.

As an active and social club, this will hit us hard. However, these are exceptional times and we can work together as a club to find a way to work through it. On Monday, the government specifically stated we should get outside for exercise even if we are in a household that is self-isolating. However, it's important that we keep any additional strain off the emergency services (so no injuries please!).

Firstly, I will ask all club members to travel as little as possible. Feel free to use your local areas for training; the maps are on Dropbox; I will make sure they are all available as PDFs and you are welcome to print them out. If you would like virtual O courses, there are many club members who I'm sure will oblige by planning something for you or setting you a GPS challenge. Please remember that we are now in capercaillie season and some of our areas have restrictions. If you have questions about where we can access, please get in touch with Gemma or another committee member.

Secondly, it would be great to get the club interacting more using social media. We limit the members who can post to our public Facebook page but we do have a private group that any members are welcome to use. You'll find it under "BASOC members". If you're not currently a member you need to apply to join but we'll approve you as quickly as possible. Don't feel you need to keep to O-related subjects; just keep chatting! If you have any other ideas of how we can interact, we're very open to suggestions.

Thirdly, some of us will need to self-isolate; indeed some already are. If you need any help during this time, whatever the reason, please get in touch with any of the committee and we will do our best to help you. We are all here for each other in the good times so let's show what BASOC can be in the hard times too.

We'll keep you informed of any major changes through the website, Facebook and eNews.

For now, take care of yourselves and make the most of what is likely to soon be plenty of leisure time!"

Editor (Lynne): thank you to Gemma and the committee for this supportive message. We must also remember to support those who are facing a difficult work situation. As a club we have many who are self-employed and / or work with people in the out of doors. They face a very difficult situation at the moment and we should ensure that they are given the support of all of us in any way we can.

Please keep up to date with the orienteering situation on the following websites:
BASOC
, Scottish Orienteering, British Orienteering

So, what can you do?

1. Exercise in fresh air and green spaces.

Keep an eye on the BASOC website - there will be suggestions for 5km runs (with a map), O exercises in some areas (often 'virtual' controls, great for your confidence in saying 'I know I am in the correct place'), MapRun courses in some of our urban areas, possibilities of uploading your GPS track, 'making a picture' course, etc.
Hilary is working hard on this, please get in contact with her if you have ideas and would like to contribute.
Outdoor exercise is essential for our physical and mental well-being; hopefully as a country we will avoid the severe lock-down measures they are experiencing in Italy, Spain and France.
Please avoid driving as much as possible and remember to reduce social interaction to a minimum. Keep safe while you are doing these activities, let someone know where you are going and let them know when you return.

2. Orienteering from the comfort of your own home.

Have a look at the World of O "Route to O season 2020", Route Choice Challenges while waiting for the real action. Here you are given a leg from a course, you work out how you would do it and then you can compare your route with others and read through the detailed analysis.

Scottish Orienteering also plan to have a daily puzzle.

To get you started, have a look at the attached image from the Malaga O Sprint camp. Imagine you have picked up your map and are faced with the leg Start to 1. How would you do it (and you have 5 seconds to decide)? Once you have your route, look for alternatives, I reckon there are about 3 viable routes (and I did not chose the best one).

3. Recent committee meeting minutes.

The minutes of the committee meeting on 17th February 2020 are available on the website.

4. There has been some orienteering in 2020!

Many BASOC had entered events in February and March and there have been some excellent performances (apologies if I have missed any!).

And plans for future events are on hold so no British Champs (Long, Relay, Middle, Sprint), no JK, no local BASOC, INVOC or MORAVIAN events, no SOLs. Keep fit and be ready to 'Be the best you can be' when orienteering starts up again.

5. And for the future . . .

PARKRUN TAKEOVER

Although Parkrun has been suspended across the world, we are intending to take on all the volunteer roles and promote orienteering at Aviemore Parkrun on Saturday 23rd May (or at an as yet to be determined date). 7 people are needed for the volunteer roles, and we'd like others to be there to talk about orienteering with participants - which of course means you can do the run as well if you want.
For those not in the know, Parkrun is a weekly, free, timed 5k run/jog/walk, which takes place at numerous locations around the world. Aviemore's route is out and back on the Speyside Way from the north end of the town.
If you'd like to run or help, please register online if you haven't already, and let Hilary Q know that you're interested.
The short-term future of Parkrun is currently in doubt, and we might have to re-arrange this date, but in the meantime please register online with parkrun!

6. Fantastic Fanatics

BASOC has joined Fantastic Fanatics, a new online fundraising platform for sports clubs. Please support us if you can by using the Fantastic Fanatics website.
You don't need to create an account to shop online, but if you do create one you can also register a credit/debit card which will raise money for BASOC when you use it in partnered shops.
They have all sorts of partner shops and keep adding more so do keep an eye on it and see if your favourite shop has just been added! We'll keep you updated with how much BASOC "earns" through it. Thanks for your support.
There is further information on the BASOC website.