Scottish Championships 2015Ardnaskie/Inverawe, 23/24 May
This year’s event was hosted by the West Area clubs, near Oban. There was a strong ESOC presence and some excellent results, in a very strong field with many international competitors.
On Saturday 23 May, the Individual event took place at Ardnaskie, on the southern shore of Loch Etive, near Taynuilt. (This was the venue for Day 2 of the Scottish 6 Days in 2011, centred on Oban). The terrain gave plenty of navigational challenges, being a mixture of rough open, birch and oak woodland, in an undulating area with many marshes. Most courses involved quite a lot of climb, though there were no big hills. There were few man-made features, and relocation was difficult. Some marshes were very slow and tussocky; the oakwoods were more runnable.
The weather was dry, though cloudy, and it was very wet underfoot.
Congratulations to the ESOC champions: Rachel Brown (W12), Eleanor Pyrah (W70) and Jim Clark (M75).
Other ESOC members in the top half of the results for their class were:
M10B (3 competitors) – Rowan Lawlor 2nd
M21S (4) – Tyler Morrison 1st
M50S (6) – Keith Brown 1st
M60L (19) – Roger Garnett 7th
M65L (26) – Alastair Lessells 10th, Roger Scrutton 12th
M65S (1) – Robert Findlay 1st
W21E (36) – Claire Ward 11th
W40L (6) – Heather Thomson 3rd
W45L (21) – Helena Nolan 11th
W50L (14) – Alison Cunningham 4th
W55L (15) – Sally Lindsay 6th
W60L (11) – Mary Williams 3rd
W65L (17) – Fiona Findlay 7th
Sunday 24 May saw the Relay event, at Inverawe Country Park, on the E side of the River Awe, near Taynuilt. This area has a great variety of terrain, including complex deciduous woodland with many paths around some fishing ponds, beechwoods on a steep-sided hill, open moorland, flat grassy fields by the river. Although there was no spectator control, the changeover area had a good view of incoming runners. The weather was dull, with some sharp showers at times, and there were wonderful views up Loch Etive from the highest moorland controls.
There were 10 ESOC teams:
Women’s Open (14 competitive teams)
ESOC Jedi 10th (Claire Ward, Heather Thomson, Bex Harding)
Handicap 14+ (13 teams)
ESOC Land Speeders 7th (Alastair Hindle, Crawford Lindsay, Helena Nolan)
Handicap 17+ (18 teams)
ESOC Droids 4th (Craig Nolan, Mary Williams, Alison Cunningham)
Handicap 20+ (23 teams)
ESOC Rebels 3rd (Maggie Scrugham, Eleanor Pyrah, Terry Johnstone)
ESODC Naboo 5th (Ian Pyrah, Roger Scrutton, Roger Garnett)
ESOC X-Wings 14th (Anne Stevenson, Alastair Lessells, Ronnie Nolan)
ESOC Sith Lords 15th (Margaret Dalgleish, Bill Stevenson, Sally Lindsay)
ESOC Yoda 18th (Les Dalgleish, Katy Lessells, Mark Kassyk)
Junior 44- (11 teams)
ESOC Ewoks 9th (Kerry Wood, Ben Brown, Rachel Brown)
Junior 36- (7 competitive teams plus 3 non-competitive)
ESOC Gungans n/c (Rowan Lawlor, Jamie Lawlor, Leonn Hutchinson)
Helena Nolan, ESOC Club Captain, commented: "Congratulations to everyone who competed at the Scottish Champs, and well done for no mispunches in the Relays! A special well done to Rachel Brown, Eleanor Pyrah, and Jim Clark, who became Scottish Champions."
Full results and other details are available on the Scottish Championships pages of the Scottish Orienteering Association website:
Individual event
Relay event
A few photos are available in the following albums in ESOC's Google Album Archive.
Individual
Relay
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports