The Scottish Orienteering 6-Day Event Company has been keeping under review the progress of the next 6-day event in view of the threat posed by the Corona virus. At present, the intention is to go ahead with the event in Lochaber provided that travel and social distancing restrictions have been sufficiently lifted to enable the event to safely take place and that holding the event would not pose a risk to public health or to competitors or volunteers’ health and safety.

There will be impacts on how the event is run and for competitors.

Competitor Impact

For us to run the event safely, it is essential that all competitors comply with all rules and guidelines laid down by the Scottish Government in respect of COVID-19 including rules on face coverings, self-isolation, travel and quarantine. It is recommended that all competitors download and install the Protect Scotland app on their smartphones. Currently equivalent apps from England, Northern Ireland and Wales are compatible with the Protect Scotland app and there is no-need to install both the Scottish app and another UK app).

It is also essential that all competitors abide by all the specific event instructions in respect of COVID-19; whether given in the event information or by an event official. These will include rules and guidelines agreed with Scottish Orienteering and SportScotland for running the event.

Changes to the Event

Competitors are likely to see changes across the entire event, including registration, entry at the event, merchandising, start procedures and assembly. But with all that, we hope to keep it recognisably the Scottish 6 Days that competitors have loved for over 40 year.

Further details will first be published on the Latest News pages as we continue to assess the risks imposed by the Corona virus and as government policy develops.

Parking at the events is included in the entry fee.

The fees shown below are per day for the main 6-Days events.

SPORTident electronic punching will be used for the 6-Days with mixed SI punching. Competitors with a traditional SI card will dib in the ordinary way, but those orienteers that own or hire a SIAC will be able to use it contactlessly.

There will be a charge of £1 per day to hire an SI card. The charge for a lost SI card is £30.

There will be a charge of £2.50 per day entered to hire an SIAC card. The charge for a lost SIAC card will be £75.

There will be free string and off string courses available each day.

For insurance purposes, all String course participants must be registered for free. This must be done in advance before Sunday 18 July 2021.

Please note that registration for the string and off-string courses is free.

This year there will be no printed programmes – all the information you need will be published online in advance. Race numbers (bibs) and SI Cards must be collected on the day of your first run – you will need to bring your own safety pins to attach the race numbers to your top.

We will not be staging a “rest day” Sprint or Urban event but in an area like Lochaber who needs organised activities!

Main 6 Days Events

Start times for these events will run from 10:00 until 14:00 each day.

This year because of COVID-19, start times will be allocated for the colour coded courses as well as the age class courses. Start times will be pre-allocated for all competitors on all days. The start times will be allocated in accordance with the Scottish 6 Days Club Block system (see below). We expect to publish start times in mid-July.

Usually the elite classes have a seeded start on Day 6. This will not be happening in 2021.

Amendments which affect the course/class entered (and are within the same price band) may be made free of charge up to the event closing date. After the closing date, a small charge will be made for changes to class or start time (depending on map availability). Other changes, such as changes to SI card number will remain free.

Although we are confident that the event will go ahead, we recognise that there is still a possibility that the Covid-19 situation will not have improved sufficiently to allow us to proceed as planned. If we have to cancel the Lochaber 2021 event, competitors are entitled to a full refund of the entry fee (less the SiEntries Booking Fee which is 4.8% of the entry fee).

The Scottish6Days can take no responsibility for the costs of accommodation or travel booked.

Competitors may only cancel their entry before the closing date of 30 June 2021 and will be given a full refund, less an administration charge. We regret that no refunds of entry fees will be possible after this date. The administration charge is 8% of the fee being refunded.

Merchandise may only be ordered, amended and cancelled up until 31^st May 2021. Any cancellations will incur the administration charge of 8%. If at the end of May, we confirm that the we are planning to go ahead with the event, it will not be possible to make any changes to the merchandise order after that date. Merchandise will be available for collection at the event (or if the event is subsequently cancelled, will be posted to competitors). If unfortunately we cancel the event at the end of May, we will also cancel any merchandise orders – and refund monies less the administration fee, alongside the event entry fees.

If you wish to cancel your entry or merchandise order, please email the entry secretary.

Unfortunately, we will not be offering late entries.

At present, we believe that it will be possible to bring dogs to the assembly areas and car parks each day.