Highland WOLF 2016Kingussie, 10/11 September
There was a great turnout from ESOC (and some great results, too) for this excellent weekend, which included the 8th event in the 2016 Scottish Orienteering Urban League, and the 5th Scottish Orienteering League event of 2016.
The Highland WOLF (Weekend of Orienteering in Lovely Forests) was organised by Badenoch and Strathspey Orienteering Club, and featured 3 different length events plus a ceilidh.
The first event, in the morning on Saturday 10 September, was a Middle Distance race in Glen Gynack, above Kingussie. The starts were quite high, and the first few controls on the longer courses were on open, heathery moorland. All courses explored the sloping coniferous forest below, which had plenty of features and a network of paths. The finish was in a grassy arena behind the Duke of Gordon Hotel, which provided the event centre. The weather was fine and sunny.
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were:
Brown (38 competitors) – Andrew Lindsay 19th
Blue (66) – Laura Robertson 5th, Claire Ward 8th, Rona Lindsay 9th
Green (89) – Mike Stewart 10th, Alison Cunningham 11th, Roger Garnett and Maggie Scrugham 26th=, Helena Nolan 37th, Finlay Ross 42nd, Roger Scrutton 44th
Short Green (34) – Alastair Lessells 3rd, Judy Bell 6th, Hanne Robertson 7th, Janet Clark 14th, Heidi Ross 17th
Light Green (26) – Rachel Brown 3rd
Orange (32) – Maja Robertson 16th
White (14) – Megan Brown 2nd
On Saturday afternoon, there was an urban Sprint event in Kingussie, with the same event centre and finish as the morning’s event. The weather continued fine, so there was a good atmosphere between the events as people relaxed nearby, chatting and eating lunch at picnic tables outside. The starts were again some distance away, and courses started in forest, descending via fields and residential areas to the steep valley of the Gynack Burn, then along some confusing pathways through back gardens to the finish.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
M Vet (34 competitors) – Ray Ward 2nd, Keith Brown 10th=
M SuperVet (20) – Crawford Lindsay 5th, Mike Stewart 9th
M UltraVet (14) – Alastair Lessells 5th, Roger Scrutton 6th
W Open (21) – Laura Robertson 1st, Rona Lindsay 5th, Claire Ward 6th
W Vet (39) – Fran Daley 6th, Alison Cunningham 8th
W SuperVet (14) – Sally Lindsay 4th
W UltraVet (10) – Eleanor Pyrah 5th
W Junior (20) – Rachel Brown 3rd
W Young Junior (15) – Maja Robertson 2nd
M Young Junior (20) – Laurence Ward 3rd
This was the 8th event in the 2016 Scottish Orienteering Urban League. Details of all the SOUL 2016 events, and the final league tables, are on the Urban League 2016 page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
On Saturday evening, there was a ceilidh in Kingussie, with food and drink available, good music, enthusiastic dancing, and the usual fundraising raffle. A few ESOC members had enough energy to join in.
SOL 5, the next day, was at Uath Lochans, in Glen Feshie. This was a brand new map and the terrain consisted of mature pine forest with contour and rock detail throughout. Longer courses visited higher ground with some very large crags. The weather was fine again, though very windy, and there were lovely views from the assembly area.
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were:
Brown (37 competitors) – Laura Robertson 5th
Blue (76) – Martin Quirke 25th, Mark Wood 29th, Tyler Morrison 32nd, Keith Brown 33rd
Short Blue (59) – Claire Ward 1st, Alison Cunningham 12th, Roger Garnett 14th, Alastair Lessells 25th
Green (69) – Kerry Wood 24th, Roger Scrutton 30th=, Sally Lindsay 32nd
Short Green (42) – Heidi Ross 19th
Light Green (41) – Rachel Brown 11th
Orange (34) – Fiona Findlay 15th
Yellow (24) – Laurence Ward 3rd
White (23) – Calum Robertson 1st, Megan Brown 5th
Further details about the Scottish Orienteering League are on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
Full results for the above events are available in the BASOC results archive:
Glen Gynack
Kingussie
Uath Lochans
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports