SOUL 5, 2016Westhill, 25 June
ESOC members at Scottish Orienteering Urban League (SOUL) 5, followed by a Level C event at Glen Feardar
SOUL 5, WESTHILL - Saturday 25 June
Event 5 in the Scottish Orienteering Urban League (SOUL) was held at Westhill, near Aberdeen. This event had a fairly modest entry for a SOUL with 83 competitors on the day. 9 intrepid ESOC members made the journey north.
Westhill, a newly mapped urban area, is a smallish satellite town for Aberdeen, with the oil industry featuring highly in the names of companies to be seen around the outskirts of the town. Indeed, the parking and event centre (both excellent) were in the premises of a company in the oil industry. The main theme of the courses was advertised in advance as being route choice, and this proved to be the case, although the choices often seemed fairly even. It was a day for fast runners!
Most people got wet; some people were drookit. Thundery showers were frequent and heavy and the later starters were treated to thunder and lightning to add to their watery woes. Those who had been at the British Sprints in the Olympic Park in London a couple of weeks ago were however old hands at running in thundery rain and this weather was a minor problem!
ESOC results were as follows:
Men's Open (13 competitors): Andrew Lindsay (M21), 8th
Women's Open (6 competitors): Rona Lindsay (W21), 2nd
Supervet Women (6 competitors): Margaret Dalgleish (W60), 3rd
Ultravet Men (8 competitors): Roger Scrutton (M65), 3rd, Les Dalgleish (M65), 5th, Robert Findlay (M65), 6th and Jim Clark (M80), 7th
Ultravet Women (6 competitors): Janet Clark (W75), 4th and Fiona Findlay (W65), 5th
Full results and other details for this event are on the SOUL 5 news item on the GRAMP website.
Details of all the SOUL 2016 events, and the final league tables, are on the Urban League 2016 page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website.
GLEN FEARDAR - Sunday 26 June
8 even more intrepid ESOC members stayed over for the Level C event put on by MAROC at Glen Feardar, close to Balmoral. The area is in a ‘hidden valley’ and has a combination of open hillside, birch woodland, mature plantation and patchy natural pine forest. There were also many ruins (deserted crofting townships) scattered through this once densely populated but now totally uninhabited area.
Glen Feardar was bathed in glorious sunshine and the assembly area was in a grassy field with wonderful views for those not exhausted by the physical nature of the terrain. There was a longish walk to the main start which meant the shorter courses took in some terrain that competitors possibly might not have encountered in the past - at least those of us who don't live locally. Near the start the terrain looked fairly innocuous but bracken and other lush vegetation, coupled with the heat, made it quite tough going. The more challenging terrain came later. The courses were very enjoyable but most people were pretty exhausted by the finish.
ESOC members in the top half of the results were:
Brown Course (28 competitors): Andrew Lindsay 13th
Green Course (26 competitors): Les Dalgleish 9th
Full results for this event are on the Glen Feardar event item on the MAROC website.
Glen Feardar (with an extended map) will feature as part of the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering Event (Royal Deeside) in 2017. This event just scraped in before the embargo came into force.
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