Scottish Relay Championships
There were some more great performances from Forth Valley Orienteers at the Scottish Relay Championships on Sunday 26 May at Maxwelton Estate near Moniaive, Dumfriesshire.
Unfortunately no FVO teams were victorious, but there was some exciting racing and that is what it's all about.
In particular, there was a great performance from the first team in the men's open competition, especially considering original team member Will Hensman only realised his sprained ankle was not going to be race ready on the morning of the race. Significant changes had to be made: Mark Nixon would move to last leg with young Daniel Stansfield promoted to the first team, first leg. And an excellent substitute he made too with a competitive run to 4th place, although just not quite able to keep up with the very top runners after a long, hard season.
Nevertheless, FVO were very much in the thick of things, especially when Roger Goddard characteristically stormed round to set the fastest time of lap two and send out GB international Nixon to chase down Sheffield University's Men of Steel. And chase them down he did! By the tenth control he had caught Welsh GB international Kris Jones 40 seconds and a great battle ensued. Unfortunately, Kris just had too much for Mark on this day and second for FVO was the result. Meanwhile, the second FVO men's open team were a respectable 6th, with Tom Ryan continuing to make progress on his comeback trail and Ross McLennan managing not to injure his fragile calf some more.
In the women's open race, FVO were up against the might of the Edinburgh University ladies squad, which was fielding six teams. Fiona Berrow ran a "pretty good" first leg to come back in second and was ably supported by the experienced pair of Rona Molloy and Hazel Dean for the team bronze, fending off most of the might of Edinburgh University.
In the junior categories there were some unfortunate mispunching incidents, but Jamie Goddard did amazingly well to come back in 4th after losing his shoe at the start whilst teammate Lizzie Stansfield continued her great form with the fastest time on the third leg.
In the Handicap 8+ class Fraser Purves concluded his perfect weekend with the fastest time on leg 2 and Martin Dean concluded his short-lived comeback with fastest time on leg 3 and another calf strain. Along with Ben Stansfield's excellent showing on the competitive first leg, second was their reward.
Finally, standout performance of the day went to Gary Longhurst as he stormed round his course to be the first back from all relay classes, but there was little his teammates Dave Coustick and Louise Longhurst could do against much stronger runners.
Class | Runners | Position |
---|---|---|
Men's Open | Daniel Stansfield (4th), Roger Goddard (1st), Mark Nixon (1st) | 2nd |
Men's Open | Jon Cross (5th), Tom Ryan (6th), Ross McLennan (6th) | 6th |
Women's Open | Fiona Berrow (2nd), Rona Molloy (5th), Hazel Dean (4th) | 3rd |
Age 36- | Jamie Goddard (4th), Robin Purves, Lizzie Stansfield (1st) | |
Age 44- | Grace Molloy (2nd), Peter Molloy, Benjamin Parkinson (4th) | |
Handicap 8+ | Ben Stansfield (3rd), Fraser Purves (1st), Martin Dean (1st) | 2nd |
Handicap 8+ | Rupert Parkinson (6th), Trevor Hoey (6th), Jonathan Molloy (6th) | 6th |
Handicap 17+ | Gary Longhurst (1st), Dave Coustick (3rd), Louise Longhurst (4th) | 3rd |
Handicap 20+ | Ted Finch (5th), Val Finch (8th), Peggy Purves (10th) | 8th |
Other entries categorised under: Results