Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club

British Orienteering Championships 2017Southern Lake District, 6-7 May

This year’s British Long and Relay Championships were nearer to home than in the last couple of years, and a sizeable contingent of ESOC members competed, in glorious weather that showed the Lake District at its best.

The 2017 British Orienteering Championships were held in the Finsthwaite Valley, near Newby Bridge, Cumbria. The Long Distance race was on Saturday 6 May and the Relays were on Sunday 7 May.

The Long Distance event was at High Dam, on the NW side of the valley, an area that some had visited previously, though the map has now been extended to include much new terrain. Most of the terrain was typical Lake District mature deciduous woodland, with intricate contours and rock detail. Longer courses ventured onto some very steep slopes in the west of the area and also onto rough open ground higher up. The last controls were on an open slope giving good spectating opportunities, and there was a very long run-in. The weather was fine, sunny at times, with a cool breeze, and it was unusually dry underfoot.

ESOC’s best result, and only podium place, came from Rachel Brown, who had a great run, winning W14A.
Other ESOC results in the top half were:
M60L (71) – Crawford Lindsay 35th
M80 (14) – Jim Clark 7th
W21E (29) – Rona Lindsay 15th
W50L (50) – Helena Nolan 18th
W55L (46) – Maggie Scrugham 16th
W60L (33) – Janice Nisbet 17th
W65L (35) – Margaret Dalgleish 11th
W70L (19) – Eleanor Pyrah 4th

The Relay event was nearby at Summer House Knott, on the SE side of the valley. Some had competed here a few years ago, as part of the 2014 Northern Championships weekend. This is a compact, very technical area, full of rock and contour detail, with some coniferous plantation, lovely deciduous woodland, and lots of spring flowers. The arena was in a sheltered grassy field, and there were spectator controls on the longer courses. The weather was sunny and warm all day, and it was again very dry underfoot.

ESOC had 6 teams.
* Our best result came from ESOC Sith (Andrew Lindsay, Craig Nolan, Rona Lindsay) who came 2nd in class C, Men’s Short, which had 29 competing teams.
* In class L, M/W70, ESOC X-wings (Alastair Lessells, Eleanor Pyrah, Ian Pyrah) were also on the podium, in 3rd place (out of 10 teams).
Other results:
* In class H, W50, ESOC Jedi (Janice Nisbet, Maggie Scrugham, Helena Nolan) came 8th out of 16.
* In class J, M60, ESOC Landspeeders (Crawford Lindsay, Les Dalgleish, Roger Scrutton) came 18th out of 26.
* In class K, W60, ESOC Ewoks (Sally Lindsay, Mary Williams, Margaret Dalgleish)
came 5th out of 8.
* In class S, Mixed Ad Hoc, ESOC past + present (Chris Huthwaite, Catriona Phin, Clive Masson) came 6th out of 27.

Full results, Routegadget, reports and photos from the weekend are on the BOC 2017 Results page.

The Long Distance race was the 8th event in the 2017 UK Orienteering League. There are more details about the UKOL, including the updated league tables, on the UK Orienteering League page of the British Orienteering website. ESOC is now 32nd in the club league.

Saturday’s race was also part of the UK Elite Orienteering League – see the UK Elite Orienteering League website for full details.

Next year, the British Long & Relay Championships will be held on Deeside, with the Long Distance race at Balmoral on 19 May and the Relays at Torphantrick on 20 May.

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