Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club

Moray 2013 - Scottish 6 Days28 July-3 August

The Scottish 6 Days was a week of great orienteering, in 6 different areas on the Moray coast, and was enjoyed by over 60 ESOC members.

The Scottish 6 Days once again delivered a varied set of orienteering challenges, in two types of weather (wet, or sunny and warm). The addition of Euromeeting, along with the big screen and a professional commentator, added to the sense that Moray 2013 was a big event and a guide to what might happen at Highland 2015. Everyone has their favourite area from the week and I’m no exception. I thought Carse of Ardersier was really good, closely followed by Culbin.

Day 1: Lossie, Sunday 28 July
Lossie is a superb area of dune and pine forest just to the east of Lossiemouth, with a mix of complex contour detail and flatter areas with more indistinct features. Sadly, a motorbike track spoilt the effect somewhat, and the bland planning also didn’t help. On top of this, it rained (torrentially at times), which meant the vegetation was sodden, especially in the green area just before the final control. The weather didn’t help the atmosphere, with most competitors getting changed and leaving as soon as their runs ended.
There were some good performances despite the conditions, and a standout 1st place on M35S for Walter Clark.
Day 2: Carse of Ardersier, Monday 29 July
My memories of this area, near Nairn, were from a SOL event in September 2005, and I had low expectations of day 2. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The sun shone, and the courses seemed well-planned, to maximise the potential of what is quite a complex area, and there were some excellent route choice legs. I felt Moray 2013 started properly here.
The following people were in the top 3 in their classes: M35S – Walter Clark 3rd; M55S – Mike Stewart 1st; W40S – Fran Daley 2nd ; W60S – Fiona Findlay 2nd.
Day 3: Culbin, Tuesday 30 July
Culbin is north of Forres, and needs no introduction, being one of Scotland’s finest orienteering forests. As the east is embargoed for the world champs in 2015 we were in the western part of the forest with most of us having a remote finish. The terrain is somewhat rougher than the first two days and this slowed the speed merchants down, thankfully. Another beautiful day led to fast times and the following made the top 3 in their classes:- M35S – Walter Clark 2nd, W40S – Fran Daley 2nd and W60S – Fiona Findlay 3rd.
Rest Day: Wednesday 31 August
The rest day saw the usual action packed choice of Trail O at Culbin, Mountain Bike O at Monaughty, Torrieston and Miltonduff, Radio O at Culbin, the now traditional Sprint, at Lossiemouth on the courses used by the Euromeeting competitors, or even just plain relaxation. As far as I can see, no ESOC members tried the Radio O, probably because they were helping at the Trail O. The latter proved quite popular but for me, at least, will never be something I’ll do very often. The Sprint was well-attended, and the courses were a very challenging mix of complex housing estate and a superficially easier quarry area, where most of the time losses and confusion occurred. In the end, on the men’s course the two Andrews, Dalgleish and Lindsay were the only ESOC runners in the top half. I walked round and took photos; I was delighted not to finish last, and should have been quicker but made a couple of errors in the quarry by not using my compass! On the women’s course, top half finishes were achieved by Heather Thomson, Rona Lindsay, Janice Nisbet and Gillian Findlay. Mike Stewart won the score course that was also available. All these activities took place in sunny and warm conditions.
Day 4: Loch of Boath, Thursday 1 August
This was a new area for most of us, being an extension to the west of an area south of Nairn, last used in 2003. Sadly it rained again, and even though not all the courses went into the wet ditches area of the forest, we all got a tad damp. It was also the launch of WOC 2015 and there was a noisy flypast from Lossiemouth at 2 pm which startled young and old alike.
The following made the top 3 in their classes: M35S – Walter Clark 2nd; M55S – Mike Stewart 3rd; M75L – Bill Gauld (M80) 1st; W60L – Janice Nisbet 3rd.
Day 5: Roseisle, Friday 2 August
Roseisle is NE of Forres, with the assembly area on the Kinloss base. This was ESOC’s helping day and sadly this meant many of us couldn’t take advantage of our late starts. Ewart Scott planned the longer courses and I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of leg lengths, with the associated changes of direction. I thought this was the best planned of my days; just a pity I’m not quick enough. The weather was really good, and it was generally dry underfoot and quite free of brashings, apart from the immediate vicinity of the assembly field, leading to some fast runs.
The following were in the top 3 of their classes: M35S – Walter Clark 1st; M75L – Bill Gauld (M80) 3rd; W21E – Claire Ward (W35) 1st; W40S – Fran Daley 2nd; W60L – Janice Nisbet 2nd.
Day 6: Coulmony and Belivat, Saturday 3 August
This area is south of Nairn, and was another new area for most of us, a mixture of delightful forest in the majority of the area and grotty bogs to the north, where the longer courses finished up. I would have a quite different memory of day 6 if I hadn’t had to go there, having thoroughly enjoyed the first 14 controls of my course with dry feet. The rest was different.
There was only one top three finish on day 6: W60S – Fiona Findlay 2nd.

ESOC overall results and badges
A competitor’s points were the same as their finishing position each day, and the four best (i.e. lowest) finishing positions over the 6 race days were totalled to derive their final score. Not many of us seriously challenged the podium in our classes, but there were some exceptions: in M35S, Walter Clark came 2nd out of 18; in M75L, Bill Gauld (M80) came 3rd out of 38; in W40S, Fran Daley came 3rd out of 16; and in W60S Fiona Findlay came 3rd out of 38.
Others who finished in the top half of their classes were:

M20L (25 competitors) – Andrew Lindsay 11th
M21S (77) – Andrew Dalgleish 8th
M35L (39) – Ray Ward 16th
M40L (59) – Alistair Hindle 13th
M45S (78) – Ronnie Nolan 14th, Clive Masson 33rd, Finlay Ross 34th
M50S (79) – Keith Brown 34th
M55L (152) – Crawford Lindsay 64th
M55S (97) – Mike Stewart 7th
M60L (111) – Dave Kershaw 34th
M65L (133) – Alastair Lessells 36th, Roger Scrutton 59th, Ben Bate 60th, Ian Pyrah 63rd
M75L (38) – Jim Clark 13th
W10A (29) – Rachel Brown 6th
W12A (37) – Kerry Wood 18th
W35L (25) – Heather Thomson 7th
W45L (93) – Helena Nolan 28th
W50L (90) – Alison Cunningham 14th
W55L (83) – Maggie Scrugham 37th
W60L (63) – Janice Nisbet 5th, Mary Williams 19th, Margaret Dalgleish 22nd
W65L (62) – Anne Stevenson 28th
W65S (35) – Maureen Brown 12th
W70L (29) – Janet Clark 13th

In every class, competitors were eligible to claim a badge if they achieved an award standard, based on the number of competitors in the class. ESOC members badges:
Gold Standard
Andrew Dalgleish (M21S), Walter Clark (M35S), Alistair Hindle (M40L), Ronnie Nolan (M45S), Clive Masson (M45S), Finlay Ross (M45S), Mike Stewart (M55S), Bill Gauld (M75L), Rachel Brown (W10A), Fran Daley (W35S), Alison Cunningham (W50L), Janice Nisbet (W60L), Fiona Findlay (W60S), Maureen Brown (W65S).
Silver Standard
Andrew Lindsay (M20L), Ray Ward (M35L), Keith Brown (M50S), Crawford Lindsay (M55L), Dave Nisbet (M55L), Alistair Armitage (M55S), Daved Kershaw (M60L), Alastair Lessells (M65L), Roger Scrutton (M65L), Ben Bate (M65L), Ian Pyrah (M65L), Jim Clark (M75L), Kerry Wood (W12A), Heather Thomson (W35L), Helena Nolan (W45L), Maggie Scrugham (W55L), Mary Williams (W60L), Margaret Dalgleish (W60L), Anne Stevenson (W65L), Kirsteen Kershaw (W65S), Janet Clark (W70L).
Bronze Standard
Ben Brown (M12A), Craig Nolan (M18L), Jamie Cunningham (M18S), Simon Firth (M35S), James Martin (M40L), Mark Wood (M45L), Roger Garnett (M60L), Rona Lindsay (W20L), Judy Bell (W40S), Sally Lindsay (W55L), Eleanor Pyrah (W65L).

Overall results, plus full results for all six days, are available in the Scottish 6 Days results archive.
Routegadget can be found on the Scottish 6 Days Routegadget page (scroll down to find the 2013 events).

Day 1 (Lossie) and Day 3 (Culbin) were the 14th and 15th events in the 2013 UK Orienteering League.

Crawford Lindsay
Club Captain

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