Edinburgh Big Weekend 201925-27 January
There was a huge attendance from ESOC for the annual Big Weekend organised by Edinburgh University Orienteering Club, with great orienteering and several ESOC class winners.
As is now traditional, the first event of the weekend was Fight with the Night (the 6th of this season’s series), on Friday 25 January at Calton Hill. The assembly area was in Holyrood Park, near St Margaret’s Loch, and the junior start was nearby, with the junior course entirely in the park. The senior start was 1km to the W, in Regent Road, and the courses looped around Calton Hill, with some controls on the Long course in the busy urban area to the NW, before returning via Abbeyhill to Holyrood Park.
ESOC results in the top half were:
Long (87 competitors) – Richard Purkis 6th, Ben Brown 16th, Terry Johnstone 41st=
Short (109) – Alison Cunningham 6th, David Robertson 36th, Judy Bell 39th, Maggie Scrugham 44th, Alistair Armitage 50th
Junior (16) – Rachel Brown 4th
Further details about the Fight With The Night series are on the FWTN page of the EUOC website.
The Edinburgh City Race was on Saturday 26 January, and due to the WOC 2022 embargo, was west of the city centre. The assembly area was at The Dean church, with good indoor facilities including a café, and the start was outside the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One). The junior courses set off westwards, down to the Water of Leith and along the river to the Dean Village, while the senior courses immediately ran into the Dean Village for a few controls. Courses 1 to 4 then headed through the West End to the complicated multi-level area around The Exchange. The longest courses went still further, to Lochrin Basin and the Dalry Colonies. All then zig-zagged around the Dean Village, before an uphill finish at the entrance to the Dean cemetery.
The weather was mostly fine, with light showers, and it was quite mild.
ESOC results in the top half were:
M Open (70 competitors) – Richard Purkis 3rd, Craig Nolan 20th, Ben Brown 23rd
W Open (64) – Helen Bridle 5th, Elspeth Bleakley 23rd
M Vet (65) – Walter Clark 14th, Alistair Hindle 17th, Jonathan Ellis 18th, Mark Wood 22nd, Terry Johnstone 29th
W Vet (60) – Helena Nolan 4th
M Supervet (58) – Keith Brown 10th, Crawford Lindsay 19th
W SuperVet (41) – Alison Cunningham 1st, Sally Lindsay 14th
M Ultravet (44) – Roger Scrutton 9th, Ewart Scott 17th, Les Dalgleish 19th, Alastair Lessells 20th
W UltraVet (20) – Margaret Dalgleish 3rd, Fiona Findlay 8th
W Hypervet (7) – Eleanor Pyrah 1st
W Junior (19) – Rachel Brown 2nd, Maja Robertson 3rd,
M Young Junior (16) – Rowan Lawlor 4th, James Kruuk 7th
This was the first event in the 2019 Scottish Orienteering Urban League. Further details, including the tables and a list of this year's events, are on the SOUL page of the Scottish Orienteering website.
It was also the first event in the 2019 UK Urban League. League tables and other details about this league are available on the UK Urban League website.
There was a lively ceilidh as usual on the Saturday evening, in a new venue, Greyfriars Charteris Centre, in The Pleasance, and the prizegiving for Saturday’s race took place there.
On Sunday 27 January, the first South of Scotland Orienteering League (SoSOL) event of 2019 took place in Holyrood Park. The assembly area was on the grass beside Holyrood Palace, and there were two starts. The junior start was 1km away, around the bottom of the hill to the E, and the junior courses led back around the hill to the finish below Haggis Knowe. The senior start was also 1km away, but uphill, on the col at the S side of Whinny Hill. Senior courses went up, down and around Whinny Hill, with a few controls in Meadowfield Park, and then a long leg across to the slope behind Salisbury Crags, where there were a few controls in the complex contours above Holyrood Palace, before heading down to the finish.
It was a fine day with some sun, but cold and very windy higher up. The underfoot conditions were quite good, with surprisingly little mud.
ESOC results in the top half of the results for their course were as follows:
Brown (55 competitors) – Richard Purkis 4th, Craig Nolan 10th, Oli Warlow 21st
Blue (144) – Walter Clark 24th, Peter O’Hara 32nd, Alistair Hindle 33rd, Jonathan Ellis 41st, Tyler Morrison 45th, Peter Halling 46th, Finlay Ross 68th, Michael McPhillips 72nd
Green (128) – Alison Cunningham 4th, Rachel Brown 21st, Roger Scrutton 26th, Richard Oxlade 27th, Les Dalgleish 38th, Sally Lindsay 43rd, Alastair Lessells 50th, Leonne Hutchinson 52nd, David Robertson 54th, Colin Tyre 61st
Short Green (58) – Margaret Dalgleish 4th, Eleanor Pyrah 13th, Mike Stewart 15th
Orange (26) – Rowan Lawlor 3rd, Megan Brown 11th
Yellow (20) – Calum Robertson 1st, Ianthe Bleakley 7th
White (8) – Robbie Martin 3rd, Hannah Kruuk 4th
Further details about the South of Scotland Orienteering League are on the SoSOL page of the East of Scotland Orienteering Association website.
Full results for the weekend’s events, including Routegadget and other analysis, are available on the Edinburgh Big Weekend 2019 Results page. More details about the weekend are on the EUOC website.
Steve Rush's photos from the City Race feature lots of ESOC competitors.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports