CompassSport Cup Scottish Heat 2020Errochty, 15 March
ESOC have qualified for the CompassSport Cup Final.
The 2020 Scottish heat for the CompassSport Cup and Trophy was organised by STAG, at Errochty. This is part of Tay Forest Park, west of Blair Atholl, and the area lies on a steep north-facing hillside. The western part is natural woodland, mostly pine forest, with some intricate contours and plenty of rock features. In the east, the forest is more standard forestry plantation. There are some large felled areas, but courses were planned to avoid these. There was one main start, and two finishes, to make best use of the area.
Eleanor & Ian Pyrah report:
"We were happy to take advantage of the club’s offer of transport for this event. Two minibuses made the journey from Edinburgh, driven by Brian Miller and Mark Rowe. Close to the day, a number of potential passengers dropped out for a variety of reasons including the Coronavirus situation, but this did mean that there was plenty of room for the rest of us and we arrived at Errochty feeling relaxed and in good time for our runs.
In line with Scottish Orienteering’s advice there were a few special precautions: no club tents were allowed, there was no results display, other than an online service for those who had access to wifi and, as we found when we arrived at the start, adherence to the start list was abandoned as we were encouraged to take the next suitable start slot. All of these were designed to discourage us from congregating in numbers and it did mean that the event was perhaps not as sociable as normal. However, the weather stayed fine, the courses were great, physically tough as one expects at Errochty, but planned well to maintain the navigational challenge, and the club travel arrangements worked well, encouraging some, who otherwise might not have gone, to make the trip."
ESOC counts as a large club, and were competing with FVO and MAROC in the CompassSport Cup heat. We came 2nd (with 2414 points), behind FVO (2464 points). ESOC had competitors in nearly all of the CompassSport Cup classes, with 25 to count. The winning team qualifies for the final, and if that club came 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the previous year’s final, then the team in 2nd place also qualifies. FVO won the CompassSport Cup in 2019, so this year ESOC have also qualified.
ESOC’s counting scorers were:
1 - Brown: Vicente Lopez (96), Callum Tyler (95)
2 - Short Brown: Mark Rowe (95)
4 - Blue Men: Keith Brown (97), David Nisbet (95), Terry Johnstone (94)
5 - Green Women: Hanne Robertson (96), Katherine Kirk (95), Judy Bell (94)
6 - Green Men: Richard Oxlade (99), Roger Garnett (97), Colin Tyre (94), Peter Halling (93)
7 - Veterans Short Green: Janice Nisbet (100), Mary Williams (99), Roger Scrutton (98), Margaret Dalgleish (97)
8B - Junior Women: Rachel Brown (100), Maja Robertson (98)
9A - Orange Men: Calum Robertson (98)
9B - Orange Women: Megan Brown (96)
10 - Supervet Short Green: Anne Stevenson (100), Eleanor Pyrah (98), Anne Thom (96), Janet Clark (94)
Full results including team scores for both Cup and Trophy are here.
The Final was scheduled for Sunday 18 October 2020 at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands, hosted by Octavian Droobers and City of Birmingham Orienteering Club. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was postponed. Eventually it was held on 17 October 2021 - see this news item for details.
Further information about the CompassSport Cup and Trophy is available on the CompassSport Cup Coordinator’s page.
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