BASOC eNews November 2024
Alvie SOL reports, orienteering events to look forward to, training dates, workshops and much more.
1. BASOC SOL at Alvie
From the Chair: many thanks to all – BASOC and ‘friends’ – the event was a huge effort by all. We had 348 entries with 316 competitive runs on the day. There was also a very busy String course with 23 entrants.
Thank you to Alvie Estate for letting us use their land, Russwood for sponsorship and KJs Bothy Bakery for coffee / soup / scones / muffins etc.
There are organiser and controller reports on the event website page.
From Jo: Does anyone have a Hiviz still from SOL? Missing 1 with BASOC and several tabards with Ask me for Help
2. Tuesday=O, November and Coaching day in December
This will be on 5th and 12th November at Ellan Wood Carrbridge. See the website for details.
There will be no Tuesday=O for the rest of November (and probably until the Festive week) as the Northern Night Cup starts on Wednesday 20th November.
There will be a coaching day on Sunday 15th December 10:30am to 12:30pm (approx). The area we will use will be Loch Vaa SE. There will be.avariety of exercises at TD4 - TD5 (ish). More details will appear on the BASOC website by the end of November, along with a sign up form. Please complete the form so we know who is coming along. Any questions should be directed to Lynne.
3. Northern Night Cup 2024 - 2025
The first NNC event is Church Wood (Grantown) on 20th November 2024.
All details are on the BASOC website, along with entry details.
Entries will close on Sunday 17th November at 23:30.
The rest of the series is (all Wednesday evenings):
- 4th December 2024 (MOR) Cluny Hill, Forres
- 11th December 2024 (INVOC) Torr Wood
- 22nd January 2025 (BASOC) Loch Vaa, Boat of Garten
- 29th January 2025 (MOR) Quarry Wood, Elgin
- 5th February 2025 (INVOC) Torvean, Inverness
4. BASOC Club Champs and training opportunity
The club champs in on Sunday 1st December in Nethybridge and should be a fun day for all club members. There will be a score event with a twist. This will be suitable for all with support as required for those who are less experienced. There will be a bring your own lunch. In the afternoon there is the opportunity to learn more about timing technology. Again suitable for all who are interested. Details will be updated on the website. It is free to club members who can register on the day. Please feel free to bring any friends.
FVO are organising a training in Speyside on 30 November and have kindly invited any BASOC members to join. 1000-1400 at Loch Vaa with a mix of linear courses and team activities. A great chance for some quality training in a lovely area. There will also be an evening activity from Altnacriche and heading into Craigellachie. Please can you let Janette know if you are planning to attend.
5. Scottish Orienteering workshops
A Message from Scottish Orienteering: We have several opportunities coming up for future event officials. Please have a look at your fixtures lists and members who may wish to learn about officials roles and point any potential officials in the direction of courses that might help or be necessary for them. There is more detail of all of these on the forms or the SOA training Calendar
Organisers workshops
- Organising Demystified March 10th & 31st, online – 2 workshops with home tasks in between that will deal with organising a Level D event.
- ESW & Organiser workshops - a whole day including organiser and event safety workshops that will equip you to organise a Level C event – Spring, central belt – date and exact venue tbc
Event Safety workshops
A requirement for all event officials
- Monday 9th December, online
- Monday 10th February, online
6. Scottish 6-Day Company (S6D) and Deeside 2025
A message from the S6D Company
This is a general request to all Scottish clubs for help both with Deeside 2025 and with the 6-Day company.
Deeside 2025 urgently requires a Treasurer to work with the Event Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator to, initially, set a budget prior to entries opening on 1 December. The budget will need to be monitored and adjusted as necessary as the event approaches and accounts prepared after the event. Assistance in preparing and monitoring the budget will be available from the Finance Director of the 6-Day company. A brief description of the role is available from Lynne.
Several directors of the 6-Day Board will be retiring at the AGM in November and replacements are sought to help oversee the series of events going forward. In particular, the current Day Coordinator Director and Chair are standing down. Appointments would normally be for an initial period of 3 years and meetings generally take place 4 times a year online. Descriptions of the directors responsibilities can be found at: About Us : Scottish 6 Days
We would be grateful if you could make your club members aware of these vacancies and encourage anyone who is interested or would like further information to contact Dave Kershaw regarding the 6-Day Board or either Dave Kershaw or Richard Oxlade regarding Deeside.
7. Deeside 2025
BASOC are a helping club on the last day – Friday 1st August at Glen Dye. Please note this date in your diary. Rob (Hickling) is one of the planners and Janette (Macleod) is co-organising.
The Deeside 2025 event website has details of the events. Entries will open on 1st December 2024.
8. Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) 2025 dates
Highland MTBO weekend of events (sprint, middle & long) for 5-7 September 2025.
- 5/9/25 Lochardil and IRA (Jane Chisholm)
- 6/9/25 Culloden Woods
- 7/9/25 TBD but possibly Carse of Ardersier.
The World Masters MTBO is 8-12 September 2026.
- 8/9/26 registration/model Altyre
- 9/9/26 middle, Roseisle Forest
- 10/9/26 sprint, Sanquhar, Forres
- 11/9/26 mass start, Lossie Forest
- 12/9/26 long, Darnaway.
9. Local events
- Saturday 2nd November: MTBO Elgin & Quarry Wood
- Sunday 24th November 2024: Altyre Fairy Wood, Forres, MOR
See Item 2 for NNC events.
10. Message from Eddie Harwood (MOR)
We don’t usually include this type of item but Eddie is involved in an interesting journey. Please read the message below.
In November I will be driving a 4W vehicle full of supplies to Lviv in Ukraine. This is with the charity Pickups for Peace and I will join a convoy of around 50 vehicles. The Ukrainians say that the vehicles so far delivered have saved many hundreds of lives. The vehicles are then transferred to eastern Ukraine where the vehicles so far delivered have helped to save hundreds of lives.
As I then have to get out of Ukraine and get to a Polish airport to fly back to the UK this is not going to be cheap. I would very much appreciate any donations, no matter how small, that help me towards these costs. You can donate directly via their website and claim gift aid, but if you do please message them to say that your donation is to support my trip. If you are not eligible for gift aid you can also, if you prefer either send them a cheque, or hand me a sum in cash and I will let them know the amount that I have been given.
Cheques payable to “Pickups for Peace” can be sent to: Pickups for Peace, East Memus, Forfar, DD8 3TY
If using this method please remember to include a message that it is to support my trip.
11. BASOC Board meeting, 12th October 2024
The minutes of the Board meeting will be on the website soon.