Maroc Newsletter 19th February 2019

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MAROC Newsletter 19th February 2019

UPCOMING EVENTS

Maroc Calendar

Sat 23rd Feb British Night Championships Muir of Dinnet, Ballater
Sun 24th Feb Compasspoint SOL 1 Birsemore, Aboyne

Wed 27th Feb Wednesday Technical Training (WeTT), Westhill sprint training (with Gramp)
Wed 6th March WeTT, Birsemore
Sun 10th March Local event Torphantrick
Wed 13th March WeTT, Dinnet Muir
Wed 20th March WeTT, Banchory sprint training
Wed 27th March WeTT, venue tbc
Sun 28th April Regional event Coull (organiser needed, contact Denise)
Sun 11th May Cairngorm Nature Big Weekend Event Braemar

Deeside Night Cup

Last event of the year is Wednesday 20th Feb at Tilquihillie, planner Scott Reynolds supported by Dan Gooch / Bob Sheridan on the night, followed by the DNC Dinner and Prize Giving at the Burnett Arms Hotel, Banchory. No need to prebook for meal.

Look out for the final standings here

Please see SOA Events Page for full calendar of O fixtures.

The British Night Orienteering Championships are coming to Deeside on the weekend of February 23rd - 24th 2019.

As well as the Night Championship event itself on Saturday evening, there will be a SOL at Birsemore on the Sunday and a SOUL sprint event organised by Grampian Orienteers at Cove earlier on the Saturday.

The Cairngorms Nature Big Weekend takes place on the 11th May with orienteering activities for all the family on offer in both Braemar and Grantown on Spey. Save the date!

DNC overall positions still hanging by a thread

Going into the final race tomorrow there is still lots to play for with the DNC overall positions, although victory for Matthew Gooch on the long course is assured. Ewan Musgrave can still pull off the shock of the season to beat his dad, Jon, but he needs a victory on the final night to do it.
Eilidh Campbell has shown improving form all season and has easily wrapped up the Ladies prize.

In the mini cup competition, the 1-2-3 positions of last week’s table have been reversed and Nick Hale takes a 2 point lead into the final week. Unbelievably, the first dead heat of the season means any one of 4 people can still win the overall title. Kirsty Campbell, just 2 points behind Nick, is a guaranteed Ladies winner and Sam Gomersall and Andrew McMurtrie are also both still in with a shout.

Wednesday Technical Training

Once the DNC season is over we will be running a series of informal Wednesday Technical Training (WeTT) sessions through until the end of March, for everyone at TD4 (light green) standard and above. This will be a mix of forest training - revisiting Dinnet Muir and Birsemore - and sprint training - in Westhill and Banchory. First off will be a sprint session at Westhill, as a joint session with Gramp, on Wed 27th Feb. If you plan to come please sign up using the Doodle poll here, otherwise there won't be a map printed for you! Details of where and when to meet will follow.

Aboyne after-school club restarting

The after-school club in Aboyne will restart on Thu 28th Feb with a block of 5 sessions up to the

end of March. There are still a few spaces available, but please get in touch quickly should you wish to sign up. The club meets at Aboyne Community Centre at 5-6pm, and uses areas of woodland in around the village to learn and practice basic skills. The club is suitable for complete beginners up to orange standard, in P5-P7, and is led by coaches Sarah Dunn and Jon Musgrave. Open to youngsters from any area.

Please complete the form here and return to Sarah

Save the date - Compass Sport Cup 17th March

The Scottish round of the inter-club Compass Sport Cup competition will take place on 17th March at Dunrod Hill by Greenock, organised by Clyde. It's a bit of a hike from Deeside, but it would be great if there was a big enough Maroc turn out to show our form against the other large Scottish clubs (FVO, ESOC and MOR). Pre-entry and course information to follow.

Urgent - Volunteers Needed for Upcoming Club Events!

We're still looking for event officials for our Regional events in April (organiser still needed) and June (planner and organiser needed). If nobody comes forward to fill these roles then the events will not take place. Even if you've never taken on one of these roles before please consider volunteering, as we can assign a more experienced member to mentor you through the process. It's actually a lot of fun and can really help improve your own orienteering.

Volunteers needed for:
Sun Apr 28th Coull (note change of venue)
Sun Jun 30th Potarch
Wed Aug 28th Glen Fearder
Please contact denisewrgb @ googlemail.com (delete spaces) to offer your services / discuss what is required.

North Area Junior Training

All Juniors M/W12 to M/W18 (of at least orange standard) are invited to participate in a North Area Junior Training session on Mar 23rd (M/W10s that are competent at orange/TD3 level are also welcome). This is a joint training for Juniors from all the north area clubs (BASOC, GRAMP, INVOC, MarOC, Moravian). We are hoping that this will be the first of a more regular series run and organised by the north area clubs to promote opportunities for training and socialising.

The training will run on Saturday, 23rd March, at Crathes, starting off in the morning with our usual MAROC training (organised by Fran Getliff, this will also be open to MAROC juniors at white and yellow level and adults). In the afternoon, there will be further training/orienteering games for those Juniors competent at at least orange/TD3 level. We will hopefully have an indoor space for lunch. Please bring a packed lunch. There will be a small fee for attending the training (covering map printing and hire of a room during lunch time).

Please let Katja and Scott know by email ( calvinhobbes18 @ btinternet.com delete spaces) by the end of February if your Junior(s) would like to attend, along with name, age, and level of course they usually run.

Maroc Profile #7

Our club member for this week is one of our committee junior reps and top junior athletes, Kirsty Campbell

Name: Kirsty Campbell

O Age Class: W18
When did you start O? 2009
Where was your first O event? I think it was a JD2D event at Glen Dye but can’t really remember! My first bigger competition was the British schools at Beecraigs.
What are your O strengths? Navigating in areas with detailed and complex contours
What are your O weaknesses? Losing concentration and focus around a course, leading to sloppy O
What is your favourite O area in Deeside? Glen Feardar
What is your favourite O area in Scotland? Anagach, Speyside
What are your O ambitions? This year to be selected to run in the European Youth Orienteering Champs and Junior European Cup . And next year Junior World Orienteering Championships
What is your funniest or strangest O experience? Probably something involving Alistair Chapman (Ed. sounds like we need to quiz Ali about this....)

The new Scottish Orienteering webpage is now live: https://www.scottish-orienteering.org

December SCORE

Don't forget to read the latest issue of SCORE, SOA's quarterly magazine. https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/soa/page/score-magazine

Paper copies can be requested via the SOA office (details in every issue).

As always, contributions from all readers are welcome. If you'd like to discuss, email score@scottish-orienteering.org.