Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club

SOL 2, 2023North Pentlands, 19 March

The second event in this year’s Scottish Orienteering League was organised by ESOC, with a great turnout of helpers as well as competitors.

The North Pentlands need no introduction! The event parking was in Dreghorn Barracks, with the event centre in the gym. There was a short walk to the start, through an underpass below the Edinburgh City Bypass, and the courses followed clockwise loops to the finish in the fields to the west. The shortest courses used paths on the lower ground, and the longer courses had increasing complexity and climb. The longest visited controls on the far side of Allermuir Hill and Capelaw Hill, as well as the slopes above Bonaly. The higher terrain was mostly open tussocky moorland, with some complex contour detail, crags and marshes. Lower down there were many fences, plus areas of gorse, mixed woodland and some steep slopes. An army training exercise was in progress nearby, which enlivened proceedings with some alarming bangs and smoke from time to time. The weather was fine and stayed dry.
This event was run in conjunction with the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sports) Relays and there were many students competing, from all over the UK. Edinburgh University won the event.

ESOC results in the top half of their courses:
Short Brown (21 competitors) – James Ball 11th
Short Blue (30) – Crawford Lindsay 10th, Katherine Kirk 14th, Finlay Ross 17th
Green (44) – Megan Brown 8th, Les Dalgleish 17th
Short Green (34) – Margaret Dalgleish 2nd, James Murdoch 5th, Sally Lindsay 6th, Anne Stevenson 12th, Ian Pyrah 16th
Light Green (27) – Calum Robertson 5th, Olly Simmers 6th, Cameron Chapman 12th, Simon Firth 14th
Orange (25) – William Atkinson 3rd, Arielle Muir 5th
Yellow (9) – Dylan Davidson 3rd

Full results, including Routegadget and other details about the event are available on the SOL 2 event page on this website.

The 2023 Scottish Orienteering League tables can be found on the SOL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.

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