Christmas Cup 202229 December - 1 January
The second Christmas Cup series featured a varied selection of challenging areas for some great orienteering over the festive season.
Organised by Masterplan Adventure, the Christmas Cup again offered 4 events, and this year they were on 4 consecutive days.
Day 1 - Dundurn, Thursday 29 December
Dundurn is in a beautiful setting SE of St Fillans, on Loch Earn, and was used for Day 3 of the Scottish 6 Days in 2019. It’s a very technical area, with lots of small hills, and the final details described the terrain as having three distinct sections: mostly runnable forest with intricate contours and crags; denser conifer plantation; open area with contour detail. There are many marshes and patches of fallen trees.
David Robertson reported, “…there was some snow sitting in the open….Marshes were very wet and a few of us disappeared up to the top of our thighs. Lots of controls and change of direction meant concentration all the way through. Veg was very well mapped I thought.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Long (45 competitors) - Alison O’Neil 12th, Rachel Brown (running as EUOC) 16th, Ben Brown 19th
Medium (41) - Maja Robertson 7th, Finlay Ross 20th
Short (22) - Judy Bell 9th
Day 2 - Edinchip, Friday 30 December
Edinchip is just west of Lochearnhead, in the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. Unfortunately this event was cancelled, due to heavy snow overnight which resulted in difficult road conditions. Competitors who were already in the area were allowed to collect their map and go round their course if they wished. Rhona Fraser commented, “Lots of wet snow but lovely in a masochistic way.”
Day 3 - Fairy Knowe & Doon Hill, Saturday 31 December
Fairy Knowe and Doon Hill lies south of Aberfoyle, and is a large area with varied terrain. For this event, just the northern part was used. The final details said there would be deciduous woodland, fast and visible, in the east of the map, and evergreen plantation with lower visibility in the west. The Long course was planned to go a little further south, but following very heavy rain, it had to be shortened as the river was uncrossable.
Alison O’Neil commented, “Much vaguer and faster orienteering today, with some controls in dingy green that foxed a few people. I didn't think the course lost anything with the cut-off.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Long (51 competitors) - Alison O’Neil 18th, Rachel Brown (running as EUOC) 19th, Keith Brown 24th
Medium (43) - Maja Robertson 12th, Finlay Ross 15th, Calum Robertson 19th
Short (21) - Megan Brown 4th, Margaret Dalgleish 7th
Day 4 - Niddrie, Sunday 1 January
This was a 2-part Sprint event in a new area for orienteering. The map covered the streets between Niddrie Mains Road and the railway line to the north, and courses zig-zagged around the complex pattern of roads, business premises and new housing, with plenty of traps for the unwary, and full concentration was needed. There was general agreement that it was well-planned.
Judy Bell said, “Courses were excellent….in the redeveloped part of Niddrie and was very easy to take the wrong street due to the non regular street layout.”
Walter Clark added, “I really did think it was good! A lot of it is modern housing and intricate….a brand new high quality sprint area”.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Prologue
Long (41 competitors) - Ben Brown 9th, Paul Clatworthy 14th, Helen Bridle 16th
Medium (15) - Ronnie Nolan 8th
Short (25) - Megan Brown 2nd, Judy Bell 9th, Eleanor Pyrah 14th
Chase
Long (38 competitors) - Ben Brown 8th, Paul Clatworthy 12th, Helen Bridle 19th
Short (24) - Megan Brown 2nd, Judy Bell 8th, 12th, Roger Scrutton 11th
Full results and further details about the event are on the Christmas Cup website.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports