Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club

Scottish Middle Champs + SOL 2, 2024Hill of Alyth & Balfour, 21-22 April

An inhabitant of Hill of Alyth (site of Scottish Middle Champs 2024), spotted by Richard Oxlade (controller) whilst checking control sites
An inhabitant of Hill of Alyth (site of Scottish Middle Champs 2024), spotted by Richard Oxlade (controller) whilst checking control sites
Credit: Richard Oxlade

A double weekend saw relieved Scottish orienteers returning to home terrain with such comments as "my O shoes are now clean of mud from the British" and "proper technical orienteering". At Saturday's Middle Championships event, ESOC runners achieved some great results including 2 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 4 Bronzes.

Map of women's UltraVet course at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024; ESOC got a clean sweep of the podium!
Map of women's UltraVet course at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024; ESOC got a clean sweep of the podium!
Credit: Richard Oxlade

Scottish Middle Championships

Tayside hosted the Scottish Middle Championships on an area used only once before, the Hill of Alyth. An open hill covered in an intricate gorse maze, this suited the East of Scotland area connoisseur (think Whinny Hill, Blackford Hill, and similar areas) - and the mapping of said gorse by Pat Blashill of Stirling Surveys received wide praise.

ESOC runners achieved some great results including 2 Golds (Margaret, Ian), 3 Silvers (Rebecca, Kevin, Mary), and 4 Bronzes (Calum, Crawford, Janice, Eleanor). It was fabulous to see a clean sweep for ESOC on the Women's UltraVet podium! (course pictured)

Since the numbers of competitors was small, below we show ESOC results which fit any of the following criteria: in the top half, in the top 3, or Championship standard time (see also the full results here).

  • W14 (3) - Rebecca Daley 2nd

  • W16 (6) - Megan Brown 5th

  • M16 (3) - Calum Robertson 3rd

  • W Vet 40+ (25) - Sarah McAdam 9th

  • M SuperVet 55+ (30) - Keith Brown 4th, Ronald Nolan 14th

  • W SuperVet 55+ (22) - Helena Nolan 8th

  • M UltraVet 65+ (18) - Kevin Harding 2nd, Crawford Lindsay 3rd

  • W UltraVet 65+ (10) - Margaret Dalgleish 1st, Mary Williams 2nd, Janice Nisbet 3rd, Sally Lindsay 5th

  • M HyperVet 75+ (6) - Ian Pyrah 1st

  • W HyperVet 75+ (4) - Eleanor Pyrah 3rd

View of Hill of Alyth (site of Scottish Middle Champs 2024), as seen by Richard Oxlade (controller) whilst checking control sites
Image: View of Hill of Alyth (site of Scottish Middle Champs 2024), as seen by Richard Oxlade (controller) whilst checking control sites
Credit: Richard Oxlade
Margaret Dalgleish took the Gold on the Women's UltraVet course and Crawford Lindsay took Bronze on the Men's UltraVet course, at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024
Image: Margaret Dalgleish took the Gold on the Women's UltraVet course and Crawford Lindsay took Bronze on the Men's UltraVet course, at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024
Credit: David Robertson
Calum Robertson took Bronze on M16 at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024
Image: Calum Robertson took Bronze on M16 at the Scottish Middle Champs 2024
Credit: David Robertson
Number 1 on the Green course was so close to the start that the purple overprinted triangle obscured the control feature! This was unfortunately only apparent after the maps had been printed, otherwise the triangle overprint line would have been broken during course editing. Perhaps a good argument for the utility of control descriptions? ;) (It's a boulder if you're wondering!)
Number 1 on the Green course was so close to the start that the purple overprinted triangle obscured the control feature! This was unfortunately only apparent after the maps had been printed, otherwise the triangle overprint line would have been broken during course editing. Perhaps a good argument for the utility of control descriptions? ;) (It's a boulder if you're wondering!)
Credit: Sally Lindsay

SOL 2 (Balfour)

MAROC hosted SOL 2 at Balfour in Deeside. After the recent muddy Midlands JK and Northern British, there was a tangible sense of relief from ESOC runners returning to Scottish forests, with such comments as:

"my O shoes are now clean of mud from the British" (Helen)

"proper orienteering" (Sally)

"Balfour was great. It's Deeside so my legs ache from clambering through heather and my shins are all bruised and scratched. But after the JK and BOC this was back to real technical orienteering" (Judy)

"Lovely Deeside forest - quite runnable, bilberries, deer trods quite useful." (Richard)

One unfortunate occurrence was the obscuring of the control feature by the start triangle for Number 1 on the Green course! (pictured)

ESOC results in the top half are shown below (see also the full results here).

  • Blue (35) - Calum Robertson 13th

  • Short Blue (51) - Richard Oxlade 2nd, Megan Brown 4th, Helena Nolan (20th), Finlay Ross (22nd) 

  • Green (27) - Sally Lindsay 11th, Alison Harding 13th

  • Short Green (12) - Mary Williams 1st, Margaret Dalgleish 3rd, JUdith Bell 6th

Further details about the 2024 Scottish Orienteering League, including a list of this year's events and a link to the latest league tables, are on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.

The Scottish Middle Champs event was the fourth in the 2024 Scottish Inter-Club Championships.

Other entries categorised under: Event Reports