The last newsletter for the year has been issued with the announcement of this new website.
There is also news of our first event in January in Quarrelwood with a beautiful photo taken by Debbie McWilliam.
Welcome to the 51st MOR Orienteering News for 2020. As you can see I missed one when there really wasn't ANY Orienteering news and there have been a couple of extra ones thrown in for good measure. Thanks to Roo for filling in the missing ones when we were lucky enough to be away on holiday!! I am hoping that 2021 won't be quite such a challenging year for "O" news. Anyway, whatever happens next I wish you all an excellent new year when the time comes.
New Website
There is an exciting piece of news for the New Year - as from January 1st we will be switching over to our new website, mor.scot. For a while it may be a work in progress for those of us who are just learning how to use it, but Paul has done an excellent job of setting it up. It is very clear to view and you don't need a specific log in to view it. I would like to also thank Ian who has done so much work on the existing site. We are so fortunate to have these computer experts in our midst, willing to put in hours on end to develop these sites. THANKS to both.
2021 Lossie Forest MAD (Moravian Athlete Development)
Elizabeth and Paul Furness have put kites out in Lossie Forest for those of you who would like some technical training during January. Both options are TD5, with the Short at 2.7km and the Long at 4.9km, and give ample opportunity to practise navigation in vaguely contoured terrain. The Long also has a short loop in the mega-contoured dunes at the top of the map.
Any club member who is permitted to travel to Lossie Forest within the prevailing Government Covid-19 regulations can go and run at a time to suit them. At present, you may only meet and exercise with others from your household or from one other household up to a maximum of 6 people (+ under 12s). YOU MUST READ THE GUIDANCE NOTES FOR THE EXERCISES ON THE WEBSITE BEFOREHAND.
The link to full guidance on the exercises and to download maps: http://www.mor.scot/node/2 (yes, it’s the new website! Filed under Coaching – MAD)
Online Orienteering - Message from Malcolm
Apologies that this news is going out when the event is virtually finished but you can have a look at what is happening anyway and try the maze etc as mentioned by Malcolm
"There is also the orienteering Unlocked event; a 10 stage special Christmas event following on from the successful series during the first lockdown. https://orienteeringunlocked.com/the-best-of-2020-entry-info/ for more information.
For those into Catching Features, I have a frustrating maze in Darnaway playable right now and hope to have a Christmas Fun Run up in the next few days (if I can make it work!)
Best wishes, a Happy Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year to you and all orienteers."
New Year's Eve Hills Session
If you have not filled in the contact form Steve will have spare copies and pens. Or message Steve and he will email you a copy to print yourself and bring along. COVID brief 0930, followed by warm up jog to Helgar's Hole then split into safe groups to run the different hills. The plan is to continue "hills" as the rules allow us to exercise within 5 miles of the local authority border. Unbelievable but true. If not then Penelope and Steve will go to Skye and run there instead.
Next Event - Saturday 16th January Quarrelwood
Quarrelwood - So the last event here was cancelled by COVID but we couldn't let Peter McLuckie's courses be missed. With thanks to Spynie Kirk for use of their parking. Event Details and thanks to Debbie McWilliam for this gorgeous photo of Quarrelwood.
Thoughts on Micro-O from Eddie
I have been wondering whatever happened to Micro-O. This was a great idea by the IOF who introduced sections of micro-O into middle distance races.
The idea is simple. The course, (or section of it,) is marked on the map as normal with the descriptions lacking a control code. In the area of the control there would be 2, 3 or 4 controls placed only one of which is the correct one. If I remember correctly your time counted so long as you punched one of them. However punching a wrong one of the bunch resulted in a fixed time penalty (say 2 minutes). Having punched one of the bunch you couldn't change your mind.
This allows people who want to run without intense navigation to run hard and pick up lots of time penalties and others to make sure they get it right but slower.
We have the perfect terrain for micro-O particularly in any of our sand dune areas.
A great idea for lockdown?
