Edinburgh Big Weekend 202024-26 January
ESOC turned out in force for the annual Big Weekend organised by Edinburgh University Orienteering Club, with 3 contrasting events and several ESOC prizewinners in the City Race.
The weekend’s events started with Fight With The Night (the 6th of this season’s series), on Friday 24 January at Calton Hill. The assembly area was in Holyrood Park, near St Margaret’s Loch, and the junior course was entirely in the park. The senior start was 1km away in Regent Road Park. There was a timed-out road crossing and map exchange on both senior courses, and the Long had a map exchange too.
ESOC results in the top half were:
Long (126 competitors) – Ben Brown 15th, Oli Warlow 33rd
Short (117) – Rachel Brown 3rd, Alison Cunningham 9th, George Lupton 38th, Maggie Scrugham 40th=, Hanne Robertson 48th, Alistair Armitage 54th
Junior (12) – Maja Robertson 2nd, Connor Lupton 5th
Further details about the Fight With The Night series are on the FWTN page of the EUOC website.
The Edinburgh City Race took place on Saturday 25 January, with the assembly area in Pollock Halls of Residence. The start for shorter courses was nearby, and the far start was at the east end of The Meadows. Senior courses had some long legs through Mayfield and the Grange, with shorter legs in Astley Ainslie and Pollock Halls, and most courses were quite long.
The weather was cool and dull, but stayed dry.
ESOC results in the top half were:
M Open (80 competitors) – Richard Purkis 2nd, Ben Brown 15th, Andrew Lindsay 20th, Alistair Hindle 28th
W Open (72) – Rachel Brown 7th, Isla Simmons 15th, Elspeth Bleakley 25th
M Vet (65) – Mark Wood 8th, Jonathan Ellis 15th, Terry Johnstone 16th, Mark Rowe 26th
W Vet (60) – Helena Nolan 9th, Katherine Kirk 20th, Andrea Davison 25th
M Supervet (56) – Keith Brown 9th, Tim Westmoreland 23rd
W SuperVet (48) – Alison Cunningham 1st, Rachel Fawthrop 14th, Sally Lindsay 23rd
M Ultravet (45) – Martin Caldwell 2nd, Crawford Lindsay 9th, Ewart Scott 10th, Alistair Armitage 11th, Roger Scrutton 22nd
W UltraVet (33) – Janice Nisbet 1st, Margaret Dalgleish 2nd, Rhona Fraser 7th, Mary Williams 12th, Katy Lessells 16th
M Hypervet (9) – Ian Pyrah 1st
W Hypervet (10) – Eleanor Pyrah 1st
W Junior (18) – Maja Robertson 3rd,
M Young Junior (17) – Calum Robertson 3rd, Fraser Lupton 5th
W Young Junior (10) – Megan Brown 3rd, Catherine Rowe 4th, Hannah Kruuk 5th
This was the first event in the 2020 Scottish Orienteering Urban League. Further details, including a list of this year's events, are on the SOUL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
It was also the first event in the 2020 UK Urban League. League tables and other details about this league are available on the UK Urban League website.
The traditional ceilidh on Saturday evening was in the Southside Community Centre, in Nicholosn Street, and was well-attended as usual. The City Race prizegiving took place there, as well as a raffle.
On Sunday 26 January, the first South of Scotland Orienteering League (SoSOL) event of 2020 was held in Holyrood Park. The assembly area was on the grass below Salisbury Crags, near Pollock Halls, and the start was at the southern end of Hunter’s Bog. In this very hilly area, most courses had a lot of climb. Senior courses started with a few controls at the back of Salisbury Crags, then a long leg to the eastern side of the hill, where Blue and Brown had some controls in Meadowfield Park (which was muddy), and there was a gaffled section on Whinny Hill, followed by another long leg to the back of Salisbury Crags, and eventually a downhill finish.
The weather was mixed, with heavy rain for a while, which eased later, and it was quite windy on top of the hill.
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were as follows:
Brown (69 competitors) – Richard Purkis 8th, Oli Warlow 30th
Blue (133) – Peter O’Hara 10th, Keith Brown 15th, Isla Simmons 20th, Heather Thomson 23rd, Rachel Brown 26th, Helena Nolan 34th, Jonathan Ellis 38th, Mark Rowe 40th, Crawford Lindsay 44th, Finlay Ross 50th
Green (148) – Alison Cunningham 9th, Rona Lindsay 11th, Roger Scrutton 21st, Alastair Gordon 26th, Walter Clark 28th, Alistair Armitage 30th, Ian Pyrah 31st, Les Dalgleish 37th, Alastair Lessells 42nd=, Hanne Robertson 45th=, Phillipa Burns 56th, Jim Morrison 61st=, Davide Foffa 63rd, Judy Bell 74th
Short Green (55) – Janice Nisbet 3rd, Margaret Dalgleish 4th, Richard Oxlade 6th, Connor Lupton 7th, Anne Stevenson 10th, Rachel Fawthrop 11th, Dave Kershaw 14th, Eleanor Pyrah 16th, Bill Stevenson 21st
Light Green (33) – Maja Robertson 1st, Alex Stuart 11th
Orange (25) – Joe Gordon 5th, Megan Brown 6th, Fran Humphrey 10th
Yellow (15) – Emily Burns 4th, Ianthe Bleakley 6th
Further details about the South of Scotland Orienteering League are on the SoSOL page of the East of Scotland Orienteering Association website.
Full results and Routegadget for the weekend’s events are available on the Edinburgh Big Weekend 2020 Results page. More details about the weekend are on the EUOC website.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports