SOL 1 2026 - Dunachtonmore, KincraigSunday 12th April
Credit: Sally Lindsay
The first SOL of 2026, in an area adjacent to the Highland Wildlife Park, saw a good turn out and strong results from ESOC members, with Sally Lindsay 3rd on Short Green and 8 others in the top 10 of their course.
The organising club, BASOC, described Dunachtonmore as "a lovely mix of birch woodland, grazed farm land and open moorland. There are areas of intricate contour detail, crags and boulders, dense juniper and ruins. All providing a variety of orienteering challenges." There were warnings of overgrown paths, bouldery streams and wet marshes. On the day for most, it seemed to be the wind, especially the gusts, that was the main talking point.
Alison Harding reports:
Sunday started bright and cold in Boat of Garten, promising for the event. However rain started as soon as we arrived at the car park, a neat right turn just before the entrance to the Wildlife Park and next to the assembly area. The rain eased but threatened more and it was windy so I headed to the start in my cagoule. Whilst it seemed sheltered I knew the area had some exposed hillsides so decided to keep it on.
I had expected the ground to be sodden but did manage to cross a marsh to my number 1 without disappearing deeply. To get to no. 2, I had to navigate one of the manned deer fence gates and cross another marsh. Number 2-4 I found tricky as the controls were not exactly where I expected and later others said it took a while to get into the map so maybe that was my
issue. Controls 5-8 were straightforward and involved the clever use of bungies (elastic straps) to ensure the deer gates closed after passing through without requiring marshals. I was quite warm by this time. Getting to 9 was easy but the change of the ground conditions near the control made it tricky. The juniper bushes were not impossible to cross but involved weaving my way through, plus some larger bushes confused the sight-line. Also there seemed to be more ruined walls or small rocks strewn around (maybe part of an old cairn - see https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/18637/dunachtonmore). No. 9 to the end was very exposed and windblown so I was glad of my cagoule. Altogether a compact area with a few challenges helping to erase the memory of the JK long race 🤔.
Longer courses (I did green) used a 1:10000 map and travelled further north crossing the big stream where it was deeper.
The coffee van was great with delicious lunch options and the ScotJOS cake stall with its usual sweet treats.
ESOC results in the top half:
- Brown (21) - Ben Brown 6th, Anna Edenbrandt 7th
- Blue (46) - Megan Brown 15th, Hannah Durnall 16th
- Short Blue (46) - Helena Nolan 11th, Kevin Harding 17th, Fran Daley 19th
- Green (27) - Alison Harding 6th, Maggie Scrugham 8th
- Short Green (17) - Sally Lindsay 3rd, Judy Bell 8th
- Light Green (22) - Emma Daley 6th
- Yellow (13) - Ingrid Edenbrandt 4th, Luke Durnall 10th
Full results can be found on the BASOC website
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