1. Welcome and Apologies
DK welcomed everyone to the meeting with a special welcome to Jonathan Molloy attending for the first time.
Apologies: Keith Roberts (KeithR)
2. Register of Interests
JM and RO had advised DK of their interests otherwise no changes were noted. All to advise DK of any amendments.
3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting of Directors
Minutes of 6th February 2025 and 20th March 2025 meetings were approved and accepted.
4. Matters Arising
All covered later in meeting
5. WOC 2024
DK indicated that the report to the IOF was still outstanding. Jon Cross indicated that would complete within the next two weeks.
6. Finance Report
KR had circulated a finance report prior to the meeting but added the following comments:
The cash balance as detailed in the report includes the early entries for Deeside 2025 which will be spent in due course.
The audit is progressing and almost all of the information has been provided to the auditors.
Each year previously in terms of Company law requirements micro entity accounts have been filed for the S6D. Now that the SOA are preparing consolidated accounts the S6D require to submit longer accounts. This means that one measurement may require to be amended in respect to grants received from Event Scotland. KR is discussing this with the auditors and he will email all of the Directors once there is an understanding of the requirements.
The contract with SOA is being discussed with Pat Bartlett. It has been agreed its terms will refresh the format and content of the document for our mutual current circumstances by 30 June 2025.
Deeside 2025 Budget
RO as treasurer for Deeside 2025 shared the draft budget for the event. The budget is based on an entry per day of 2,500 and at present it forecasts a surplus of £13,490. There is some concern as entries currently sit at approximately 2,200 per day but it matches with previous entry numbers at this time and so he believes that entries of 2,500 should be possible. The budget includes a contingency of £20,000 and costs are approximately the same as previously although event services and first aid have risen dramatically. The budget was formally approved by the Board.
7. Deeside 2025
RO expanded on his report prepared in respect of Deeside 2025 preparations.
Entries
Entries are usually expected to be approximately 80% of final entries at the end of April. This would mean that entries are on-line to meet the estimated figures used in the budget. RO confirmed that there will be entry on the day.
There has been some anecdotal evidence that there is a lack of accommodation but RO explained he has investigated and there remain camping opportunities within 30 minutes of the event and both hotel and glamping accommodation within Aberdeen area. The intention is to put out a blog post to try and diffuse chatter about accommodation. There was a discussion about the previous provision of a camping site and how it was important to ensure there was some camping provision when considering location of future events but it was agreed that the S6D could not host a camp site but would look to link with an existing site.
Start Times – self selection
David Nicol (Entries coordinator) is keen to have self-selected start times as in the past it has taken him 2 weeks to allocate start times. Late entries would self-select start times anyway.
The consequence is that there is more time to game the scoring system i.e. run in block 5 only. As a result, when considering how to roll out self-selection a couple of modifications to the rules had been introduced. Concern had been raised about issues of those with split times such as parents and only the 1st run in any one entry block counting.
There had also been a decision to have the best of 3 out of 5 runs to count rather than 4 out of 5 to allow planners / controllers to drop a run. It was suggested that the entry team should check the impact that using 3 runs may have on tied positions so there could be clarity when it came to results. For elite classes every day counts.
RO indicated that the entry team would check there were no unintended consequences but people would be guided towards blocks (clubs being allocated blocks) and the individual could pick. In the event that the individual has not picked they would be allocated to have clarity.
The Board approved the use of 3 out of 5 runs but asked the entry team to check the rules in respect of self-selection to avoid unintended consequences.
Action: Entry team / COT to check rules for self-selection to ensure no unintended consequences such as for split starts.
Permissions
RO reported there have been a few issues but the majority of these have been resolved with the remaining being dealt with at present. It was noted that having started with 10 potential areas there were 4 for which permission was eventually granted and parking has remained a challenge.
Traffic Management
This is in hand but outstanding. It has taken some time to obtain progress with Aberdeenshire Council. The 3 points which require traffic management are the turning to Glen Fearder, pedestrian crossing for Creag Choinnich and road closure for Glen Dye.
Mapping and Planning
This is on track but there has been some delay due to forestry / access issues.
Day Organisation
No issues and sufficient volunteers in place
Equipment Team
An inventory spreadsheet is being prepared and will be clear this year whether there are 2 or 1 set of equipment for the clarification of day teams.
8. 2027and Strategy / Business Plan
The Board discussed the summaries of views obtained from the SOA Board, Club Chairs and the Community Conversation which were summarised and circulated before the meeting.
It was agreed that using the regional structure to organise would allow focus rather than having to find people from across the country. It would provide more certainty as to what was happening. It was also essential that there was longer term planning in terms of the location of events.
Possible changes in the format of 6 days were discussed:
Changing / shortening the event
Colour coding events rather than age class
More family friendly / holiday event
The Board agreed that we need the core event format to be the driver with 3 days feeling too small and needing 4 days to be viable and attractive to competitors.
In terms of the next event (and subsequently) there are options of SW Scotland, Oban, Highland or Perthshire. There requires to be a decision before Deeside as to the future location and then a rota going forward. It was agreed that these four options would be taken away by NH (SW), JM (Highland) and DK (Perthshire and Oban) to consider and to determine the location for 2027 and the plan going forward.
It was agreed that the area approach would be taken forward in respect of organisation and DK would speak to the East Area about them potentially taking the lead for 2027. This area approach would be compared against the SOA championship calendar.
Action: DK, NH and JM take the potential areas for 6 days forward for next meeting.
9. Mapping Payment requested from clubs
KR excused himself from this discussion due to conflict of interest as he was a member of GRAMP. The request for a contribution towards mapping costs had previously been received from MAROC and GRAMP.
After discussion, it was agreed that there should be a policy that each request would be considered on a case by case basis. Neither club had been specific about the amount they are seeking so DK would go back to clarify and both clubs would be treated equitably.
Action: DK would seek clarity from GRAMP/MAROC and KR to draft policy in respect of potential mapping payments.
9. AOB
None
10. Date of Next Meeting
Agreed 12th June provisionally but looking at the potential areas for 2027 before that.
List of actions:
Action: Entry team / COT to check rules for self-selection to ensure no unintended consequences such as for split starts.
Action: DK, NH and JM take the potential areas for 6 days forward for next meeting.
Action: DK would seek clarity from GRAMP/MAROC and KR to draft policy in respect of potential mapping payments.