Runaway Horse
There's no fifth Dala Horse for the FVO stable this year, as the club's youngsters were a close runner-up in the Jamie Stevenson Trophy at Stirling University, but for the first time, there are ribbons of a different colour on the trophy.
The horse trophy is one of the most iconic in the sport, and was donated by former World Champion Jamie Stevenson, for annual team competition across eight event classes, but before this year, only FVO (six times) and MAROC (16 times), both of whom compete in blue and gold uniforms, had won the competition.
Although FVO once again had the largest team on show, with a third of all those taking part being in the host team, they were hampered by the absence of several potential points scorers in the senior classes, including all of their GB squad members. Four-time runners-up INVOC looked to be strong here, and this proved to be the decisive class on the day.
Although Lucas Baikie (43.03) was 3rd in the Green boys race, the Highlanders made hay, with wins in both classes, a 2nd in the boys and a 3rd, behind a dead heat win, in the girls. A win and a 3rd for INVOC in a wide-open Orange girls race brought them 595 points, which FVO wasn't quite able to match, as they claimed 589 points from their six scoring runners, one ahead of ESOC.
Hannah Inman (26.42) was the only FVO winner on the day, in Light Green girls, but there were three more podium finishes, for Matthew Owen (Light Green boys - 33.22), Leo Lockyer (Orange Boys - 43.12) and Mirren Howell (Yellow Girls - 20.46), all of whom were 3rd in their class, and Fraser Cheyne, who was 4th in Green boys, in 45.35 was the final FVO scorer.
There was a breakout team performance from ELO, who had their best-ever result of 4th, and for the first time in the 23 year history of the competition, there was a team from STAG, although they were the only one of the 12 participants not to win a class medal. As well as INVOC's three wins, there were victories for FVO, MAROC, ELO, MOR, ESOC and TAY, while GRAMP, KFO and AYROC all had a 2nd place, and INT's best performance was a 3rd.
The trophies and medals were presented by James Hammond, who took time off from his preparations for the upcoming Junior World Championshps to mix with the next generation of upcoming talent.