SOUL 6, 2025Stirling Cornton and Causewayhead, 18 October
Those ESOC members who travelled up to Stirling last Saturday to take part in an urban race in a new area, never before used for orienteering, were rewarded with an excellent event featuring some fast and furious running.
Despite being billed as the "Stirling City Race", this urban event was held in the Stirling suburbs of Cornton and Causewayhead. Around 700 years ago this was the scene of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, where William Wallace and Andrew Moray led their combined armies to victory over the English, but now, with the Wallace Monument as a backdrop, we found instead a peaceful 20th century housing estate.
We were promised minimal climb and in fact the up and down over a footbridge across the mainline railway was the only climb most of us encountered. The longer courses had the option of using a level crossing and the uncertainty of this was managed by having optional controls placed on either side, so that should the competitor be held up by a train the time could be deducted from their race time.
Otherwise, the area was made up of numerous suburban roads and passageways, interspersed with small grassy areas. The longest course was 11km (optimal running distance) and this was achieved by criss-crossing the area repeatedly. There was a pleasing mix of long and very short legs with abrupt changes of direction. Navigation appeared deceptively easy but mistakes were still made! The winning time for Course 1 was over 47 minutes. The shorter courses, 3, 4 and 5 all had winning times between 30 and 35 minutes, so a true urban race for all competitors,
Forth Valley Orienteers are to be congratulated once again on staging an excellent event. There were good indoor facilities at Wallace High School. The planner was Mark Wood, who will be remembered by many as a former ESOC member.
ESOC results in the top half of their age class:
- W Open (10 competitors) - Lucie Hamplova 4th
- M Vet (17) - Ewan Kerr 5th
- W Vet (8) - Hannah Durnall 4th
- W Supervet (16) - Helena Nolan 3rd
- M Ultravet (14) - Keven Harding 3rd
- W Ultravet (12) - Alison Harding 2nd, Margaret Dalgleish 3rd
- M Hypervet (13) - Les Dalgleish 2nd, Ian Pyrah 4th
Full results, including Routegadget, can be found on the FVO website.
Further details about the 2025 Scottish Orienteering Urban League, including a list of all the events, are on the SOUL page of the SOA website. Current standings in the league table are here. Note that the final two events in this year's league are at Livingston and Newhaven, Edinburgh, so very accessible to ESOC members aiming to gather more SOUL points before the end of the year!
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