FVO Flies the Flag for Scots Win
A most impressive team display,with significant contributions from eight FVO athletes, saw Scotland win the Junior Home International on local terrain, and with it, the overall International series.
The opening day at Edinchip, near Lochearnhead saw the Scots win five of the six available classes to open up a four point advantage over England, and half of the FVO contingent contributed to the scorecard, with Hannah Inman winning W14 in 35.33 for the largest victory margin of the day. Matthew Owen was the second Scotland scorer in M14, where he was 6th in 34.27, while Lachlan Carruthers made his Scotland debut in the same class and was 12th (51.18).
In M16, James Edward was 3rd (46.50) to get on the card, while Lucas Baikie, depite a 6th place finish in 49.22, didn't have to be counted, and Fraser Cheyne mispunched on the penultimate control.
Each of the home nations was represented in the M18 top four, with both Ireland and Wales having their best result of the day, and Alexander Hunt was 10th overall (77.06). The result was in the balance until the conclusion of the W18 race, which saw Scotland take the top three spots, and Scarlett Kelly made her mark in 2nd (47.53).
The relays near Aberfoyle saw the same home team dominance, with Scotland winning both races, backed up with a pair of 3rds to clinch the title. The girls race was first on the card, and although England made the first exchange, INVOC's Cora Comisso was 73 seconds back in second place.
Hannah Inman turned in another top round, as she took back more than four minutes on the middle leg, to send out ELO's Emily Atkinson in the lead, and she was back in 31.57, having extended the gap to eight minutes; such was the Scottish advantage that six teams were still in the paddock awaiting their first handover. England hung onto 2nd place, but Scarlett Kelly regained seven minutes on her final lap to bring Scotland II in two seconds ahead of their own 3rd team for a major points boost.
The boys race, and the destination of the silverware, soon followed, and Scotland needed only to finish their two scoring teams wihin one place of England. They were 7th after the first leg, through INVOC's Henrik Borrowman, but Carl Selmer Duguid (TAY) and Finlay McLuckie (MOR) both turned in the quickest time on their leg to win the race in 100.33.
England once again took the silver medal, but their second contending team was too far back to make up the ground, and the Scotland II team, which contained James Edward and Matthew Owen, was home 3rd, a minute ahead of their own 3rd team, which had Lucas Baikie on the opening leg, to secure victory in the relay stage and overall. The Scotland IV team, comprising an FVO trio of Fraser Cheyne, Lachlan Carruthers and Alexander Hunt, was 7th, but beat the best from both Ireland and Wales.
The first day was also the final round of the 2026 Scottish Orienteering League, and even without the services of the ScotJOS athletes, locals notched a dozen podium places, including wins on six courses.
Will Hensman and won on Brown off the last start, in 66.29, and there was double success on three more TD5 courses, as Fraser Purves (66.26) topped Short Brown, with Paul Hammond 3rd (70.41), Graham Gristwood destroyed the Blue course field to come home in 38,11 with a lead of nearly 20 minutes, and Sophie Howard (57.58) was 3rd. Alison Cunningham was the third athlete to strike gold, where she won the Short Blue course in 48.52, as Heather Thomson took third in 50.44).
No win on Short Green, but Liz Owen did manage 2nd place in 48.18. There were two Light Green courses, and two FVO athletes occupying 2nd place. Sean Truswell was runner-up on the points-scoring course and was done in 54.58, while Sophie Edward took on the same course as the JHI 14s, and finished in 56.66, which would have got her a mid-table place in the big race. STUOC new boy Benjamin Turner made his debut on Long Orange, and won in 55.36, and on Yellow, Callum Crookston was the sixth local winner, in 15.45.
Even on the courses with no local podium places, there were a number of good performances, as James Hammond (6th on Black), Daniel Graves (8th on Green), Liz Godfree (5th on Very Short Green_ and Maya Gristwood (4th on White) all shone. There were no finishers on Orange, where one athlete retired and the other mispunched.