Coast and Islands 2025Shetland, 20-25 July
Credit: Rhona Fraser
Great weather, terrain, maps and courses combined to make this a wonderful week of orienteering
Coast and Islands 2025 was organised by Masterplan Adventure, and all the events were on new maps in areas never used before for orienteering, with 5 orienteering events (4 in terrain and 1 urban) and a rest day on Wednesday 23 July. The terrain was runnable and open (no trees), featuring complex contours, many rock features, small lochans and marshes, very few line features, and wonderful views. There was a choice of Long, Medium, Short or Orange courses, and there was a String course too on the “forest” days.
15 ESOC members competed, and thoroughly enjoyed the week - it was well worth the long journey. The Friday overnight ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick arrived in time for the local Parkrun.
Keith Brown reports: “The ferry arrived about 7am on Saturday morning and many of the passengers were orienteers of which a sizeable proportion decided to do the Bressay Parkrun. This is accessed by a short ferry from Lerwick to Bressay. The 09:00 ferry reached capacity and headed across but without everyone (both runners and parkrun volunteers). Then when it dropped the passengers it headed back. There was a briefing for those who had made it across and it was announced that it was the 300th parkrun on Bressay. Meanwhile the ferry made a second trip with the remainder of those waiting who got a briefing on the ferry. This meant a slight delay to the start. When everyone was there the director led everyone up to the start and the run was soon underway. It was not in a park but on the road with an out and back route with about 90m of climb. The 175 finishers meant it was Bressay’s record number of runners up from the normal average of about 45. A great start to the week’s activities.”
The first three days of orienteering were in Northmavine, the northwest part of Shetland mainland, and there was no suitable parking, so there was a shuttle bus running from parking in Brae, or some people cycled there.
Day 1 - Nibon, Sunday 20 July
Nibon is around 10km north of Brae, rugged terrain above the coast.
Keith: “Sunday saw the first day’s orienteering at Nibon with most people getting the bus from Brae (the buses worked really well). The area was pretty remote with lovely views. The start was a bit of a drag up the hill but meant overall the courses were net downhill. The area was quite hilly but very runnable with a good accurate map. The courses (Classic style) were well received and most people seemed to enjoy themselves.”
The weather was fine and sunny, with a cooling breeze and a little mist.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
- Long (74 competitors) - Helen Bridle 20th
- Medium (114) - Paul Clatworthy 19th, Sarah Crawford 21st, Richard Oxlade 27th, Megan Brown 36th, Crawford Lindsay 55th
- Short (79) - Helena Nolan 4th, Ronnie Nolan 11th, Sally Lindsay 16th, Ewan Crawford 26th
Day 2 – Islesburgh, Monday 21 July
A smaller area, about 3.5km north of Brae, with terrain similar to the first day but perhaps a little rougher.
Keith: “Monday was again a bus ride from Brae, but this time a bit closer. The courses were Middle style. Again there were great views from a lovely area. The mapper had changed and people had fun figuring out what the different mappers’ styles were. Again the map and courses were good and well received by most. The terrain was very runnable with short grass, rocks interspersed with lochans. The weather stayed good and everyone was having fun chatting about their experiences.
The evening saw a talk by Marsali Taylor, a local author/historian/guide. It was interesting, bringing up lots of things about Shetland and its history with a few inaccuracies to fuel the discussions.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
- Long (77 competitors) – Ben Brown 17th, Helen Bridle 24th
- Medium (113) - Sarah Crawford 12th, Paul Clatworthy 24th, Richard Oxlade 32nd, Megan Brown 48th
- Short (84) - Ewan Crawford 1st, Helena Nolan 5th, Ronnie Nolan 16th, Sally Lindsay 23rd
Day 3 – Hamar, Tuesday 22 July
Hamar is a little further north, about 11km from Brae, with views across to Nibon.
Keith: “The courses were Classic again, with the mapper the same as day 1. Again, great views, courses and map (they noticed a rock on the map that wasn’t on the ground so a black bag was put out where the rock should have been). The event had good weather to boot. Does Shetland really get all the poor weather we hear about in the forecasts?
In the evening, there was a ceilidh in a local hall in Brae that had a good band, so everyone could get rid of the last of their energy with the rest day coming up.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
- Long (74 competitors) – Ben Brown 10th, Helen Bridle 35th
- Medium (110) - Sarah Crawford 7th, Paul Clatworthy 12th, Richard Oxlade 36th, Megan Brown 38th, Crawford Lindsay 54th
- Short (83) - Helena Nolan 4th, Sally Lindsay 18th, Ronnie Nolan 32nd
On the Rest Day (Wednesday), orienteers explored all over Shetland - popular destinations on Mainland included Sumburgh Head, Jarlshof, and St Ninian’s Isle, while some headed to other islands such as Mousa (with the famous broch), Yell, or Papa Stour.
Day 4 – Muckle Hoo, Thursday 24 July
This area was in West Mainland, near West Burrafirth, with parking at the ferry terminal (for larger vehicles) or beside Assembly, and there were 2 separate start windows, to spread people out. The courses were Classic style. The weather was bright in the morning, and there was mist and showers later on.
Keith: “There was no bus for this and limited parking so there were two shifts, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon. This area was a bit more intricate and the map was done by a third mapper, but again the map was very good. The runnability was great and the courses again were good.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
- Long (72 competitors) - Ben Brown 10th, Helen Bridle 34th
- Medium (109) - Sarah Crawford 8th, Paul Clatworthy 15th, Richard Oxlade 36th, Megan Brown 59th
- Short (87) - Ronnie Nolan 3rd, Ewan Crawford 5th Helena Nolan 12th, Sally Lindsay 19th
Day 5 – Lerwick, Friday 25 July
This was a Sprint event in Lerwick, with Assembly and Finish in Fort Charlotte, and the Start was nearby. The courses headed straight into the steep, narrow alleyways above the harbour, with lots of steps and interesting route choice. The weather was cloudy at first with a couple of very light showers, and sunny later on.
Keith: “There was plenty of discussion at the end about best ways to go with many people thinking they’d made wrong decisions in the heat of the moment. The rain threatened but held off which was good, as the alleys and stairs would have been treacherous if wet.
The 5 days orienteering was done, with many catching the evening ferry to head off for the Scottish 6 days, whilst a few stayed for more Shetland.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
- Long (81 competitors) - Ben Brown 14th, Helen Bridle 20th
- Medium (102) - Paul Clatworthy 2nd, Richard Oxlade 28th, Megan Brown 29th, Sarah Crawford 48th, Crawford Lindsay 51st
- Short (81) - Helena Nolan 4th, Ronnie Nolan 9th, Sally Lindsay 12th
Here are a few more comments about the week from ESOC competitors.
Helen Bridle: “Paul came second on the sprint day, despite a large detour going to 13 on the way to 3! Ted and Ben loved the string course and getting to help pack it away and turn off the controls, plus the great prizes and overall rosettes. My favourite days were day 1 (fantastic sunshine, wonderful views and exploring the terrain for the first time) and day 4 (more complex and the climb didn't seem so bad) and definitely not day 3 when I ran off the map!
What else we did - Hermaness nature reserve, lots of sea cliff walks and bird spotting, parkrun on Bressay (the 4th island we visited), sauna and sea swimming at St Ninian’s while the boys constructed an amazing sand fortress, Jarlshof prehistoric site and seeing puffins at Sumburgh.”
Helena Nolan: “Coast and Islands was an amazing event, maps were great and areas very runnable. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and because there were no start times you could turn up whenever you were ready to run which was perfect. We were lucky with calm ferry crossings and lovely weather; the orienteering would have been much harder in the mist. Ronnnie managed to play all the golf courses on Shetland, and Whalsay, the most northern course in the UK, was a wildlife spotter’s dream. We saw Minke whales, porpoise, seals and an otter - fantastic.”
Crawford Lindsay: “As far as I know there had never been orienteering in Shetland; the areas were good with challenging contours and rock features, and very few obvious tracks. In addition, Shetland is lovely with great birdlife and few people. The maps were great, the terrain fantastic and challenging, and it was a relaxing week with an excellent sprint to round it off nicely. Also the weather was good, dry and with firm underfoot conditions. We had a great holiday beforehand in Shetland and afterwards in Orkney.”
The full results, plus analysis, for each day are on the Coast and Islands website. This also includes the final details about the week’s events.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports