Sprint Scotland 2025Livingston, 3 August
Sprint Scotland 2025 featured 2 separate events in complex urban terrain, including the 5th event in the 2025 Scottish Orienteering Urban League. There was a good turnout from ESOC, with some prizewinners.
Sprint Scotland 2025 was organised by Masterplan Adventure. Both events were in the Howden area of Livingston, with the event centre at Howden St Andrew’s Primary School, and the Finish for both events was in the school grounds. The surrounding terrain is very complex - modern housing estates with intricate pathways, steps, grassy areas, and courtyards, giving good route choice and demanding full concentration. Artificial barriers added to the navigational challenge and everyone enjoyed the well-planned courses. The weather was warm and sunny, luckily with a cooling breeze.
Race A, in the morning, was also SOUL 5. The Start was close to the school, and the courses zig-zagged around the area to the north, where the housing is in rectangular blocks, on a south-facing slope. Longer courses had a couple of controls in woodland too.
ESOC results in the top half for SOUL 5:
- M Open (61 competitors) – Ben Brown 20th
- W Open (30) – Helen Bridle 5th
- M Junior (9) – Calum Robertson 2nd
- M Vet (19) – Paul Clatworthy 9th
- W Vet (17) – Rachael Imrie 9th
- W Supervet (17) – Emma Anderson 6th
- M Ultravet (18) – Kevin Harding 5th, Crawford Lindsay 8th, Martin Caldwell 9th
- W Ultravet (14) – Alison Harding 1st, Sally Lindsay 3rd, Janice Nisbet 6th
- M Hypervet (11) – Ewart Scott 1st, Les Dalgleish 5th, Roger Scrutton 6th
Most people had a couple of hours between races, so there was plenty of time for socialising over lunch, before Race B in the afternoon. The Start for this was a short walk away, and the courses snaked through the area to the south of Howden East Road. The housing here is arranged around courtyards, superficially similar but with many minor differences to add to the navigational puzzle.
The results for both races were added together to give the overall results, and there were prizes for the first 3 in each class.
ESOC results in the top half or top three overall:
- M Open (59 competitors) – Ben Brown 18th
- W Open (30) – Helen Bridle 5th
- M Junior (8) – Calum Robertson 2nd
- W Junior (3) – Emma Daley 3rd
- M Ultravet (13) – Kevin Harding 4th, Crawford Lindsay 6th, Martin Caldwell 7th
- W Ultravet (13) – Alison Harding 1st, Sally Lindsay 3rd, Janice Nisbet 6th
- M Hypervet (10) – Ewart Scott 2nd
Race A was the 5th event in the 2025 Scottish Orienteering Urban League. See the SOUL page of the Scottish Orienteering Association website for further details and a link to the current league tables.
Full results and other details about the weekend’s events are on the Sprint Scotland website.
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