Race the Castles 2014 (part 2)Balmoral/Forvie, 18/19 October
The second Race the Castles weekend incorporated the final event of this year’s Scottish Orienteering League, and also the Senior Home Internationals. There was a very high entry for both days, including many international elites, and a great ESOC turnout.
Saturday’s event, SOL 7, was in the forests of Balmoral Estate, with a good view of the castle from the assembly area. This was the first time the area had been used for orienteering – much of the terrain was steep and rough, so the courses were challenging and there were some very long times, but most seemed to have enjoyed the experience.
After a wet and windy night, the weather miraculously cleared at dawn, to give a pleasant, mostly sunny day, with a real festival atmosphere in the assembly field. Many took the chance to explore the castle grounds afterwards.
ESOC results in the top half were:
Brown (58 competitors) – Ray Ward 29th
Blue (95) – Walter Clark 14th, Heather Thomson 18th, Crawford Lindsay 26th, Fran Daley 30th, Mike Stewart 42nd, Roger Garnett 46th=
Short Blue (61) – Alison Cunningham 10th, Alastair Lessells 12th
Green (85) – Margaret Dalgleish 37th, Sally Lindsay 40th
Short Green (58) – Anne Stevenson 15th, Steve Clayton 18th, Jim Clark 24th, Eleanor Pyrah 26th
Light Green (44) – Katie Cunningham 7th, Kerry Wood 20th
Orange (28) – Rachel Brown 10th
White (13) – Jamie Lawlor 2nd, Rowan Lawlor 4th, Joseph Lawlor 6th, Adam Clark 7th
Sunday’s event was at Forvie, a coastal sand dune area north of Aberdeen, very open and mostly runnable. It has intricate contour detail in the dunes, with large expanses of heathery marsh inbetween, and only a few paths. Following the recent rain, several damp hollows had become unmapped ponds, and one marsh in particular was extremely deep. The weather was windy but fine and mild.
ESOC results in the top half were:
Brown (65 competitors) – Craig Nolan 14th, Ray Ward 21st
Blue (77) – Keith Brown 18th, Walter Clark 22nd, Crawford Lindsay 25th, Mike Stewart 26th
Short Blue (47) – Alison Cunningham 15th, Alastair Lessells 22nd
Green (72) – Ian Pyrah 12th, Sally Lindsay 21st, Margaret Dalgleish 22nd
Short Green (41) – Eleanor Pyrah 7th, Jim Clark 15th
Light Green (23) – Katie Cunningham 9th, Kerry Wood 11th
Orange (21) – Rachel Brown 10th
White (12) – Adam Clark 1st
The “King of the Castles” overall prizegiving took place at Forvie – ESOC podium places were as follows:
M14 – Ben Brown 3rd
M35 – Jonathan Ellis 2nd
M70 – Ian Pyrah 3rd
W12 – Rachel Brown 2nd
W14 – Kerry Wood 1st
W35 – Andrea Davison 1st
W50 – Alison Cunningham 1st
W55 – Sally Lindsay 3rd
W60 – Margaret Dalgleish 3rd
W70 – Eleanor Pyrah 2nd, Janet Clark 3rd
Full results, Routegadget, and other event analysis are available on the Race the Castles website, along with links to photo galleries and background details about all the Race the Castles events.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports