The Rough and the Smooth
A massive club effort saw Forth Valley Orienteers deliver a memorable Scottish Orienteering League race on a brand-new local area, their second big event in nine weeks following the British Night Championships in February.
The event was beset with problems from the outset, as the preferred area of the Trossachs was declared out of bounds at late notice due to a Site of Special Scientific Interest being discovered. However the club was able to substitute a newly mapped area at Limerigg, and managed to cram six months of pre-event organisation into six weeks,
A moorland fire in an adjoining area threatened to scupper the whole affair at the last minute, but changes to the risk assessment satisfied the landowners, and the race went ahead as planned, with more than 300 athletes at the start line,
The locals responded fantastically to the suggestion that the population of the village would increase by 150% for a day, and couldn't do enough to help. Livestock were moved, gates opened and an excellent indoor arena provided, complete with cake stall.
On the racing front there were 13 FVO athletes on podiums at the end of the day, across nine courses, including two classes where FVO placed all three podium athletes.
Chris Smithard dropped way down in colour, to Very Short Green, as he tested out a long-standing injury, and scored a massive victory, as he was more than 50 minutes, or two complete laps, ahead of the chasing pack (22.31).
Long Orange is a new SOL colour, and Vernon Gayle (48.50) topped a small field, ahead of Tracey Brindley (67.20) and Hannah Buchanan-Smith (82.11), while six of the seven Yellow course competitors were from FVO, and Catriona Downie topped the field in 35.51, 17 seconds ahead of Emma Cheyne, with Ethan Baikie 3rd (53.36). Meanwhile, Oscar Baikie was the only competitor on White, and came home in 22.38.
There was a mix of youth and experience elsewhere on the podiums, as M14s Lucas Baikie and James Edward ran up in colour, with Lucas 2nd (48.58) on Short Blue and James 3rd (57.44) on Green. Sophie Edward ran to class, and was 3rd (34.58) on Orange. Further up the age scale, Will Hensman was 2nd on Brown (72.36), as the middle man in a junior sandwich, and Roger Goddard was 3rd (69.05) on Short Brown.
The first leg of a busy weekend was the previous day, as Masterplan Adventure staged a SoSOL and elite relay at South Achray.
The women's relay was first underway, and the FVO team of Alison Q Smithard, Scarlett Kelly and Esme Kelly was well placed after two legs, with both Alison (40.10) and Scarlett (47.10) 2nd on their leg. However the team faded in the face of some top runners on the final leg and finished 4th in a composite time of 146.22.
FVO had three teams in the Open relay, and the A team of Andy Llewellyn, Graham Gristwood and Peter Molloy was 2nd (109.53), having regained four minutes after the opening leg. James Hammond anchored the winning EUOC team to victory with the quickest (34.44) time on the leg.
The Old Team (Will Hensman. Roger Goddard and Paul Hammond) was 6th (141.19) and the Young Team (Kieran Watts, Fraser Cheyne and Lucas Baikie) was 10th (160.51).
The SoSOL saw eight FVO athletes on class podiums, right across the classes. There were wins for Ben Stansfield (Blue - 43.48), Jen Leonard (Green - 49.58) and Emma Cheyne (Yellow - 31.42). Dom Edward (Brown - 46.25), Mike Godfree (Short Green - 57.59) and Sean Truswell (Light Green - 52.44) were all 2nd in their class, and there were 3rd place finishes for both Heather Fellbaum (Green - 58.31) and Maya Gristwood (White - 44.09).