Highland WOLF 2013Speyside, 19/20 October
Badenoch and Strathspey Orienteering Club organised this excellent “Weekend of Orienteering in Lovely Forests”, including the final event in the 2013 Scottish Orienteering League. Plenty of ESOC people went, with some great results.
Most of the ESOC contingent were there for the whole weekend, and enjoyed an action-packed schedule, with well-planned courses in some superb terrain.
The first event of the weekend was at Loch Vaa on the morning of Saturday 19 October. This is a moraine area, with lots of complex contours including deep depressions, covered in a mix of scots pine and birch wood, as well as some open areas, mostly heathery. Most people made mistakes, and found it hard to relocate. The weather was luckily dry, with no wind, so it was surprisingly mild. There were lovely autumn colours and beautiful views of the Cairngorms draped in cloud.
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were:
Blue (83 competitors) – Andrew Lindsay 25th, Claire Ward 27th
Green (71) – Mark Wood 8th, Rona Lindsay 18th, Roger Scrutton 29th, Maggie Scrugham 36th
Orange (19) – Ben Brown 10th
Yellow (18) – Rachel Brown 4th
On Saturday afternoon, there was an urban/sprint race in Grantown-on-Spey, on a new map. Unfortunately rain had set in by then, but this didn’t seem to deter anyone, and the town rapidly filled with orienteers. There were 3 courses, all starting in Kylintra Meadows, in the south part of the town. The Short course stayed in the parkland and woods, to avoid crossing any roads; longer courses ran along narrow lanes, past old houses and through a confusing modern housing area, then back to the parkland for the last few short legs.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Long (68 competitors) – Ray Ward 8th, Andrew Lindsay 13th, Mark Wood 25th
Middle (46) – Rona Lindsay 7th, Ian Pyrah 9th, Maggie Scrugham 22nd
In the evening, there was a ceilidh at Nethybridge village hall, organised by the Scottish Elite Development Squad. There was enthusiastic dancing, plus stovies and cakes, a brisk trade at the bar, and a raffle with many and varied prizes, which was an entertainment in itself.
SOL 7 was at Inshriach on Sunday 20 October. The main part of the area is classic hummocky moraine, with even more complex contour detail than Loch Vaa – again, keeping in touch with the map was crucial. It’s a beautiful forest, and very clean underfoot. The longest courses went further north, across some flatter open land, cleared areas and more boggy ground. The weather was sunny early on, with some light showers later, though it was again mild, and there were lovely views of autumnal colours in the surrounding area.
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were:
Brown (28 competitors) – Andrew Lindsay 2nd, Claire Ward 3rd
Blue (62) – Roger Garnett 29th
Short Blue (44) – Mark Wood 1st, Roger Scrutton 9th, Keith Brown 12th, Alastair Lessells 15th
Green (47) – Rona Lindsay 6th, Ian Pyrah 9th, Mary Williams 19th, Sally Lindsay 20th, Maggie Scrugham 23rd
Short Green (37) – Margaret Dalgleish 4th, Anne Stevenson 7th, Fiona Findlay 11th, Brian Yates 14th, Janet Clark 16th
Orange (35) – Kerry Wood 7th
Yellow (13) – Rachel Brown 3rd
White (7) – Megan Brown 4th
Full results for the above events are available in the BASOC results archive:
Loch Vaa
Grantown-on-Spey
Inshriach
The 2013 Scottish Orienteering League tables are available on the Scottish O League Table Archive page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
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