Double Dukes weekendSouth Achray/Trossachs, 1/2 April
ESOC turned out in force for Forth Valley Orienteers’ double-header weekend, featuring events on both sides of the Dukes Pass, including the second Scottish Orienteering League event of 2017.
On Saturday 1 April, there was a Middle Distance event at South Achray, scene of last autumn’s Junior European Championships Relay event. South Achray is part of Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, and lies just north of Aberfoyle. The event centre was at Dounans camp. The terrain was in two parts; the start was nearby, in the southern part. This was mostly open, with deciduous woodland on small hills, and marshes between. Most courses passed the camp buildings before continuing in the northern part, where there was steeper plantation forest and very marshy ground lower down. The weather was warm and sunny some of the time, with a few short sharp showers, and it was very wet underfoot.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Blue (59 competitors) - Laura Robertson 3rd, Rona Lindsay 12th, Keith Brown 30th
Green (55) - Alison Cunningham 8th, Ben Brown 25th
Short Green (38) – Les Dalgleish 4th, Dave Kershaw 6th, Margaret Dalgleish 9th, Maggie Scrugham 10th, Alastair Lessells 13th
Light Green (11) - Rachel Brown 3rd
Yellow (7) - Megan Brown 4th
Full results are on the South Achray results page of the FVO website.
SOL2 was a little further north, over the Dukes Pass, on the map of The Trossachs, west of Callander. This is a very technical area with steep slopes, lots of rock (including some very large crags) and intricate contour detail. There were many marshes, almost no tracks, and much of the area is open deciduous woodland. Such rough terrain meant that most courses were shorter than usual, with a lot of climb, and there were some very long times and retirals. The weather was fine and bright with some warm sunshine. It was very wet and muddy in places.
ESOC results in the top half for their course were:
Brown (44 competitors) - Rona Lindsay 20th
Blue (69) - Tyler Morrison 17th
Short Blue (45) - Alison Cunningham 5th, Dave Kershaw 9th, Peter Halling 15th
Green (68) - Maggie Scrugham 7th, Alastair Lessells 14th, Sally Lindsay 20th, Roger Scrutton 23rd, Ben Brown 29th
Short Green (38) - Margaret Dalgleish 2nd, Anne Stevenson 6th, Jim Clark 17th, Eleanor Pyrah 18th
Light Green (24) - Rachel Brown 2nd
Yellow (17) - Megan Brown 7th
White (10) - Calum Robertson 1st
Full results are on the SOL2 results page of the FVO website.
Further details about the Scottish Orienteering League are on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
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