Scottish Orienteering League event finishes up year's action
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THE final Scottish Orienteering League event of the year took place in Devilla Forest, Kincardine, at the end of October.
The Junior Inter Trophy weekend also took place, which consists of a relay and individual day which is incorporated into the league race.
The relay took place on a beautiful day, although the forest was extremely wet underfoot. Julia Ross had a great outing running second leg for her team and helping them into a bronze medal position.
Anna Howard had a fantastic run on the first leg, storming into the changeover with a very healthy lead. This set her team up for another storming finish, apparently in first place. However sadly the final runner visited a wrong control thus disqualifying the team.
Kate McLuckie’s team was also disqualified, this time on the first leg, so she knew before setting off for her run that it had no meaning.
The weather forecast for Sunday was dire with weather warnings for rain and wind. It was probably not as bad as anticipated, but was nonetheless very wet both from the heavens and on the ground.
The three most junior courses were greatly shortened to avoid crossing a ditch of unknown depth which had become a raging torrent.
Devilla is a tough forest at the best of times so it was physically very demanding but it is also technically interesting because thousands of self-seeded small trees greatly reduce visibility making it a bit like night orienteering.
There were some superb Moravian results: Finlay McLuckie won the blue course and Men 16- by almost four minutes.
Kate McLuckie won the green course and Women 16- convincingly, and Harriet Ross won the white course for the youngest competitors.
Anna Howard cemented her brilliant weekend by winning Women 14-. Neil MacLean won Men 80+ coming third on short green.
