JK 2026 Day 3 - Long distance Rannoch ForestSunday 5th April
Credit: Matt Tinsley
The 2nd day for the overall JK podium saw juniors make ESOC proud. Ingrid & Kirstin came 1st & 2nd in W10A, Emma Daley 2nd in W14A, Simon Hindle 3rd in M10B. They were followed by Mary Williams 3rd on W75L. Just missing out were Hamish Mair 4th on M10A, Helena Nolan & Sally Lindsay 5th on W60L & W70L.
The long distance event was also held in Rannoch Forest with the same arena as the middle distance event the day before. Those staying at Kilvrecht campsite had posted updates the night before and in the morning, in addition to the official ones from Jon Cross, the JK Co-ordinator. Again, many ESOC members were in the top half of their age category. There were podium places for Ingrid, Kirstin, Emma and Simon who all cemented their overall podium positions. Well done also to Ben Brown who came 3rd in the M21L, achieving a Championship time on a day when many competitors returned on their courses.
Sally Lindsay reports:
With a very poor weather forecast for Saturday night, there was some doubt about the Day 3 event going ahead. But in the end, Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, with less snow on the ground than Saturday, and everything was fine, though the arena was getting very muddy with the passage of many feet. The ESOC tent had withstood the rigours of the night and provided a good base for meeting, commiserating and general socialising throughout the day. Crawford and I had middle starts and swithered about taking cagoules (highly recommended but not mandatory) - in the end we wore them and were very glad, because the weather alternated between beautiful sunshine and blizzards, so it was quite cold.
The terrain was mature conifer forest, similar to the previous day. The final details were rather cryptic, saying only, "In places, the terrain has the typical hazards of undergrowth, bracken, steep slopes, crags, dense forest, and the occasional fallen tree. But much of it is glorious!". I thought this was a bit over-optimistic - I found it mostly very rough, and wet underfoot. My course was comparatively short, and didn't venture into the very roughest part, where there were apparently many fallen trees making navigation difficult. After some big mistakes the previous day, I was more careful, and managed to keep track of where I was most of the time. Many of us found the mapped vegetation boundaries difficult to understand - they were shown with green dashes that looked too much like ditches, instead of the usual black dots, and several sections mapped as white seemed to me to be less than runnable. The advantage of all this was that the fast people couldn't go as fast as usual, so I had a good result and an unusual experience on the run-in, being announced by the commentary!
ESOC results in the top half:
- M10A (12) - Hamish Mair 6th, Luke Durnall 10th
- M10B (3) - Simon Hindle 3rd
- M18E (46) - Calum Robertson 22nd
- M21L (14) - Ben Brown 3rd
- M45S (13) - Will Mair 6th
- M60L (61) - Keith Brown 31st
- M65L (63) - Kevin Harding 19th
- M75L (34) - Peter Halling 9th
- M75S (10) - Malcolm Mahony 4th
- W10A (6) - Ingrid Edenbrandt 1st, Kirstin Tinsley 2nd
- W14A (26) - Emma Daley 2nd
- W18E (30) - Megan Brown 8th
- W21E (48) - Rachel Brown 11th
- W40L (19) - Sarah Crawford 6th, Sarah McAdam 8th, Hannah Durnall 10th
- W55L (49) - Hanne Robertson 24th
- W60L (63) - Helena Nolan 7th
- W65L (36) - Alison Harding 12th
- W70L (28) - Sally Lindsay 4th, Janice Nisbet 15th
- W75L (12) - Mary Williams 5th
Full results can be found for day 3 and the overall podium here
This race was also part of the UKOL, with individual standings updated here after the 3 days. As a club, ESOC is now lying 11th.
Photos from Wendy Carlyle can be found here
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