Eightsome Reel in Scottish Schools
Local youngsters were the dominant force at the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival in Linlithgow, as they won six of the seven available boys' championship trophies and added two more in the girls' division, with 17 individual and seven team medals in all.
There was pre-event drama, as defending British Schools champions Dunblane HS didn't appear on the start list, due to an administrative error at the school, and it took a personal intervention from one of the parents to have them admitted as late entrants.
Fergus McIntyre (Allan's PS) joins an elite group to have won the schools title in back to back years as he topped P5/6 Boys in 7.37, and Annie Short joined him on the podium, as she claimed the P5/6 Girls silver for Newton PS (11.40).
Hugh Clark (Dollar Academy) won P7 boys in 9.21, and Dunblane PS's William Bonham was also amongst the medals, as he went off with the P7 Boys silver in 9.49. Newton PS surrendered its overall Primary champions title for the first time in five years, as it was 3rd in the class, but scooped the silver team medals in both P5/6 classes.
In the secondary division, Dunblane HS came within an ace of walking off with all the boys individual trophies. Lachlan Carruthers (9.36) is S1 Boys champion, and Matthew Owen (13.50) was 2nd in S2 Boys.
There were two individual medals for the school in S3, where Lucas Baikie (15.30) had the win, and Ruardh Nairn (18.28) was 3rd, Fraser Cheyne (15.47) won S4 boys, and Dunblane team captain Peter Owen finishes his high school career as a champion, as he topped S5/6 Boys in 25.30, with Alexander Hunt in 3rd (28.21).
On the girls side of the draw, there's a 1-2 for local athletes in S1 girls, where Sophie Edward (Dunblane HS) topped the podium in 9.52 and Rose Martin (Linlithgow Academy) was 2nd (10.15).
The S2 girls podium was identical to the last time the festival was held locally, three years ago, as Hannah Inman, in the colours of Dunblane HS, was champion (13.35) and Esme Finch (Perth HS) was 3rd (14.10). The medal haul was rounded off by Hanna Brindley (Linlithgow Academy) who was 3rd in S5/6 girls (25.20) trailing two GB squad members.
Dunblane HS also has a host of team trophies, and returns home with the silverware in S1 Boys, S3 Boys and S5/6 Boys. And the icing on the cake is their collection of the overall Secondary champions trophy, bringing to an end three years of dominance by Stewart Melville College.