Successful England trip for Moravian orienteers
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MORAVIAN orienteers enjoyed a successful Easter weekend in England – picking up two medals and two fourth place finishes at the Jan Kjellstrom (JK) 2023, writes Scarlett Britain.
A total of 17 Moravians headed to the Lake District to compete in the British orienteering competition, which attracted people from as far afield as Panama.
The competition consisted of a sprint, middle distance, long distance and a relay over the weekend.
The sprint was held at Lancaster University which provided flat terrain, although the intricate corridors through buildings gave an excellent twist on the basic urban event.
The weather was surprisingly warm and people were taking advantage of this with groups of people littering the run-in cheering competitors on.
Isobel Howard won the very competitive W18 Elite category and Moravian had two other runners place in top 10: Morag McLuckie in eighth in the W50 and Finlay McLuckie in ninth in the M16.
The middle distance on the Saturday was held in High Dam on the West side of the Finsthwaite valley.
The weather continued to be positive. The terrain was runnable yet there was a great amount of bog to battle through.
Luckily, being from Scotland, Moravians had much experience of this and it didn’t slow them down.
Eddie Harwood won the M70 long course and Isobel Howard placed second in the W18 elite category.
Again Moravian had top 10 placers with Kate McLuckie in fifth in the W16 and her brother Finlay McLuckie in sixth in the M16.
The legs a bit dead from the last two days, the long distance provided a bit of a shock to the system.
The race was held at Bigland which sums up the big hill the courses were on, filled with crags and wooded area and at the top becoming open and runnable.
The courses were so steep that the lengths had to be modified so people were not out for too long.
Isobel Howard took second in her elite category again with the McLuckie siblings reaching top seven in their respected categories. Eddie Harwood took seventh on the M70 long.
The middle and long were added together for the overall results and Moravian had a fair few at the top of the leaderboard. Most noticeably, Isobel and Eddie were second in their categories.
Overall the competition was a success, even for those not up on the podium, due to the social aspect and the lovely weather – except for Monday for the relay, where there was torrential rain.
Four Moravian teams all had good results, but two of them just missed the podium in fourth.
Michael Bishendon (16), Andrew Campbell (55+) and Finlay McLuckie (14) ran the ultra competitive Men's Short and needed three excellent runs and a superb sprint finish from Finlay to achieve fourth.
Kate McLuckie, Anna and Sophie Howard also managed fourth in Intermediate Women after Kate's brilliant opening leg coming in only seven seconds down in second place.
Moravian's next event is Saturday, April 16, in Dufftown. Anyone is welcome to come and try. Turn up at the Mortlach Memorial Hall, Albert Place, AB55 4AL, between 10am and 11am.
