SOL 1, 2023Errochty, 12 March
There was snow for the first event of the 2023 Scottish Orienteering League, which was organised by St Andrew’s Orienteering Club, Glasgow.
Errochty is part of Tay Forest Park, west of Blair Atholl. This event was originally intended to be SOL 4 in 2022, but that was cancelled due to access issues. There was some doubt about whether the event would be able to go ahead this time, because heavy snow was forecast. Luckily the weather turned out better than expected, though the parking field had a good cover of snow, and rising temperatures through the day meant it turned very muddy, so that driving out of the field was quite a challenge.
This is a technical area on a steep north-facing hillside. The western part is natural woodland, mostly pine forest, with some intricate contours and plenty of rock features. In the east, the forest is more standard forestry plantation, and there were some areas of fallen trees. There are some large felled areas, but courses were planned to avoid these. There were two starts, and also two finishes, to make best use of the area for the different length courses. Underfoot conditions were quite rough, and snow-covered features were sometimes confusing. There were some very long times, and more retirals than usual. The weather was mostly dry, with a little rain and also some sun.
ESOC results in the top half of their courses:
Blue (33 competitors) - Maja Robertson 17th
Short Blue (26) - Fran Daley 5th, Hanne Robertson 6th, Finlay Ross 9th, Crawford Lindsay 12th
Green (31) - Peter Halling 10th
Short Green (36) - Margaret Dalgleish 5th, Sally Lindsay 9th, Judy Bell 13th, Ian Pyrah 14th
Light Green (25) - Calum Robertson 3rd
Full results, including Routegadget and other details about the event are available on the SOL 1 event page of the STAG website.
Details of all the events in this year’s Scottish Orienteering League are on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
Other entries categorised under: Event Reports