SOL 1, 2016Elibank, 6 March
There was a sizeable ESOC contingent at the first event of the 2016 Scottish Orienteering League, presented by Roxburgh Reivers.
Elibank is in the Tweed Valley, near Walkerburn village.
Eleanor Pyrah reports: “It was the first time that Elibank had been used for orienteering since 2010 and those of us who had never been had heard dire warnings about the roughness of the forest. It was a pleasant surprise then to find mature coniferous forest with, for the most part, good going underfoot. There was plenty of contour detail and a variety of rock features. A big climb up to the start ensured that the climb on the short and medium length courses was not excessive although the longer courses were presented with the additional challenge of Elibank Craig Hill at the southeast end of the new extended map.
After a snowy start to the day for some, the weather turned sunny and we were treated to magnificent views over the Tweed Valley whilst being transported by minibus from the event centre at Walkerburn Rugby Club to a forest assembly point. It was unfortunate that one of the three minibuses suffered a puncture causing delays but late arrivals at the start were accepted without fuss and the organising team did well to enlist some extra help from willing car drivers to help get everyone to and from the forest.”
Keith Brown adds: “The weather was lovely; mainly sunny with a few clouds, but it felt quite cold when standing around. The courses headed off into the forest and generally people felt that the map was pretty good. Most people seemed to enjoy themselves.”
ESOC members in the top half of the results for their course were:
Brown (37) – Alistair Hindle 8th, Jonathan Ellis 13th
Blue (59) – Mike Stewart 22nd, Keith Brown 27th
Short Blue (31) – Heather Thomson 2nd, Alison Cunningham 5th, Alastair Lessells 15th
Green (43) – Walter Clark 5th, Margaret Dalgleish 15th, Judy Bell 16th
Short Green (36) – Fiona Findlay 5th, Jim Clark 11th, Anne Stevenson 13th, Eleanor Pyrah 14th, Leonne Hutchinson 16th
Light Green (23) – Rachel Brown 7th
Orange (8) – Jamie Lawlor 4th
Yellow (8) – Joseph Lawlor 1st
White (8) – Megan Brown 4th
Further details about the Scottish Orienteering League are on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
Full results from SOL 1 are available on the Elibank results page of the RR website.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports