Edinburgh Big Weekend 201221/22 January
This great weekend was another big success for Edinburgh University Orienteering Club, with many excellent ESOC results in Saturday’s City Race and Sunday’s SoSOL event.
The Edinburgh City Race on Saturday 21 January had 5 courses this year, with 2 starts - longer courses started from the east end of The Meadows, and the Junior/Women’s Ultravet course started within the grounds of Pollock Halls. The longer courses went through the university buildings around George Square, then to closes along the Royal Mile, into complicated buildings in Dumbiedykes, through the Southside and finally visited a few final controls around Pollock Halls. Once again, there were many surprises and interesting route choices. The weather was chilly and windy, with a few sharp showers, but fortunately mild enough to avoid any ice.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Men Open (93 competitors) - Andrew Dalgleish 9th, Ray Ward 16th, Alistair Hindle 25th, Craig Nolan 35th, Walter Clark 38th, Andrew Lindsay 39th, Mehmet Karatay 46th.
Women Open (75) - Claire Ward 1st, Helen Bridle 3rd, Rona Lindsay 11th, Gemma Richards 25th, Elspeth Bleakley 35th.
Men Veteran (67) - Mark Wood 4th, Chris Huthwaite 7th, Clive Masson 25th, Mike Stewart 27th.
Women Veteran (39) - Helena Nolan 2nd, Alison Cunningham 4th.
Men Superveteran (43) - Crawford Lindsay 10th, Roger Scrutton 18th.
Women Superveteran (26) - Sally Lindsay 3rd, Margaret Dalgleish 10th.
Men Ultraveteran (13) - Ben Bate 2nd, Ian Pyrah 5th, Alastair Lessells 6th.
Women Ultraveteran (8) - Eleanor Pyrah 1st.
The ceilidh on Saturday night was well-attended as usual, and the dancefloor was full throughout the evening.
Sunday’s event on Arthur’s Seat was the first in this season’s South of Scotland Orienteering League. There was a high start for the longer courses, on the saddle to the south of Whinny Hill, while the shorter courses started by St Margaret’s Loch. The Blue and Brown were gaffled (i.e. they had variations, with loops followed in a different order) and had the option of a mass start, giving exciting head-to-head racing that many enjoyed. All the longer courses were quite tough, with lots of climb, and gorse in places. The weather continued breezy and somewhat chilly, though it was bright and sunny with wonderful views.
ESOC competitors in the top half of the results were:
Brown (44 competitors) – Craig Nolan 5th, Andrew Lindsay 7th, Chris Huthwaite 10th.
Blue (87) – Mehmet Karatay 2nd, Gemma Richards 22nd, Heather Thomson 23rd, Nigel Fawthrop 29th, Helena Nolan 35th
Green (90) – Mark Wood 1st, Alison Cunningham 5th, Margaret Dalgleish 11th, Ian Pyrah 15th, Alastair Lessells 16th, Rachel Fawthrop 20th, Sally Lindsay 21st, Jim Clark 41st, Anne Stevenson 43rd
Light Green (43) – Rona Lindsay 6th, David Matthews 17th
Orange (21) – Ben Brown 9th, Kerry Wood 10th.
White (14) – Rachel Brown 1st, Laurence Ward 5th
Full results and Routegadget from both events are available on the Edinburgh Big Weekend 2012 Results page.
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