Scottish Night Championships 2026Muir of Dinnet, 14 February
Credit: David Robertson
There was a small ESOC contingent, with a few medal winners, at this year’s Scottish Night Championships, hosted by Mar Orienteering Club.
Muir of Dinnet is a National Nature Reserve with rough, tough terrain – steep rocky pine forest on the higher slopes, and hummocky moraine with birch woods lower down. The event centre was at the Victoria Hall in Ballater, a few miles to the west, and competitors were bussed to the Burn O’ Vat Visitor Centre, where there were shelter tents and clothing dump. The main start was a 20-minute walk up the hill. Courses started off on the heather-covered slopes before descending and crossing the road to the moraine area. It was technically challenging, and there were many retirals and long times. Following weeks of rain, the underfoot conditions were wet, but the weather that day had been fine and it remained dry on the night, though cold, with a little snow underfoot higher up.
Back at the event centre, a wood-fire pizza van did a roaring trade while everyone waited for the prizegiving.
ESOC’s best result came from Fran Daley, who won the W Vet class.
Other ESOC results:
- M18 (4 competitors) – Calum Robertson 4th
- W 16- (5) Emma Daley 3rd
- W Supervet (7) – Hanne Robertson 3rd
- W Ultravet (6) – Sally Lindsay 3rd, Rhona Fraser 5th
The results, including Routegadget, are available on the Scottish Night Championships page of the MAROC website.
There’s also a Scottish Night Championships report with a few photos on the Scottish Orienteering website.
Some stayed on to compete at a Regional event organised by Grampian Orienteering Club on Sunday 15 February, and a few others came for the day. This event was at Potarch, which is on the south side of the River Dee, about halfway between Aboyne and Banchory. It’s an area of mature coniferous forest on a hill, with some blocks of thicker forest, and paths, tracks and rides criss-crossing the map. There were some deep marshes near the starts, and the terrain was fairly wet throughout. The weather was fine and bright.
ESOC results:
- Brown (27 competitors) – Rachel Brown 13th, Robert Wyllie 27th
- Blue (37) – Ewan Crawford 24th, Fran Daley 28th, Crawford Lindsay 31st
- Green (34) – Emma Daley 8th, Sally Lindsay 11th
- Light Green (14) – Rhona Fraser 12th
- White (5) – Isobel Crawford 4th
Full results are on the Potarch results page of the GRAMP website.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports