and is the IOF website down?
The IOF website is working fine for me. There is no Uganda on their list of national federations.
It's a variation of the Nigerian scam. They want to "learn how to orienteer but have no funds for travel." If you send cash, they can visit and learn from your club. You can send all the money you like, but you won't get a visit.
Yeah it seemed fishy of course, but I was curious if they were invoking the name of a real orienteering federation.
And I still can't get to
the IOF website.
Your link worked for me in both chrome and IE.
These requests are quite common when a running club puts on a track and find meet. The procedure we follow is to send an invitation letter as requested with the caveat that all expenses are the responsibility of the competitor/federation, and list the specific event dates that the meet covers.
Same system as a former Soviet country tried with our adventure race - i.e. send us an invitation and we'll attend. As above, scam sensing neurons over-working so emailed back inviting them to enter and pay first. Nothing.
Yes, not the first I've seen - had one from a former Soviet-bloc country before too. First one from Africa. The only orienteering I was aware of in Africa is in Northern Africa and South Africa.
I´ve seen entries at numerous - I think IOF sanctioned - meets from an "unusual country", but so far I´ve never seen one orienteer actually start...
Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia and South Africa are the only African countries that have IOF recognized federations. Kenya and Mozambique definitely have some kind of activity going on. Somalia I doubt if much is happening, but they have a gmail-address which implies there is someone who have updated the contact information in the last five years...
Hey come join us in Cape Town for a monthly Colour-coded O event this Sunday. Or South African O Champs 22 September WRE. But don't know about Uganda.
There are clearly some outstanding navigators in Somalia, although they seem to be using their talents mostly at sea rather than on land.
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I've just received news from the CEO of the Uganda Orienteering Federation that, with my approval, I will be visited by him and 5 orienteering officials in mid January. (Does he know it could be minus 30C here?) They will pay all their expenses. It may or may not be legit (There does appear to be a Ugandan cycling/olympic administrator with the same name, and some 2012 IOF minutes do refer to a possible Ugandan Orienteering application). However, our club is more or less inactive, so I have really nothing to offer them even if it were legit. I have no intention to respond, though I am inclined to suggest they attend the Vancouver sprint camp instead ;-)
I also received that note this week in my Orienteering Ontario role. They sent me the same message a few months ago, and when I googled, this discussion thread was one of the first hits. I didn't answer them that time either. :)
Totally off topic but in light of Blair's comment, I can't resist sharing this clip from Canadian satirical news show, "This Hour has 22 Minutes".
I had extensive contact with some Ugandan orienteers leading up to NAOC 2012. They sent money via Western Union to cover all expenses (entry fees and accommodations) for a team of 4 plus a coach, but were apparently in the end denied visas to leave Uganda. I also spoke with someone on the phone to arrange the payment. I ended up refunding their money but we had it for a couple months.
I do not know what is legit or not, whether they really orienteer or not, but it did not seem to be a scam.
Mozambique had a team at the World Schools this year. They definitely existed and
were respectable orienteers.
This discussion thread is closed.