BUCS Orienteering 2023
Last weekend was BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Orienteering. Students travelled from 23 different institutions from across the UK for a weekend of student orienteering. Each year a student club takes on the responsibility of hosting the competition. This year it was Edinburgh University’s turn to host. Let’s find out how the BUCS weekend went:
Day 1 Individuals
On Saturday, the competition started with individuals at Beecraigs. The BUCS competition ran alongside the Middle Distance Championships hosted by FVO. Thankyou to FVO for enabling the BUCS competition to run alongside the Middle Distance Championships.
174 students ran in the individual competition. There was a range of courses available to suit more experienced orienteering and those who are newer to the sport. Welldone to Alex Wetherill (Edinburgh) for winning Men’s A and to Cecilie Anderson (Bath) for winning Women’s A.
At the end of day 1 Edinburgh University were leading the competition with the most podium places across womens/mens A-C courses followed by Cambridge University.
On the day we were lucky with the weather given the forecast was for rain all morning. Thanks to FVO for providing tents for when the rain did come on! The SWAT (Scottish West Area Team) bake sale was a big hit with the students.
Day 2 Relays
After the individuals there was the BUCS social consisting of an Indian meal at TukTuk followed by a night out in Edinburgh. Some of us may have woken up with sore heads on Sunday however it didn’t dampen the atmosphere at the relays!
The relays ran alongside ESOC’s SOL in the North Pentlands. Thankyou to Roger Scrutton for organising, Alison O’Neil for planning the SOL and BUCS courses and to Colin Eades (Interlopers) for controlling.
60 teams competed in the Relay competition. Welldone to Edinburgh Mens and Womens teams for coming first place in relays.
Edinburgh University Orienteering Club were crowned our BUCS champions for the seventh consecutive year. Cambridge University Orienteering Club followed in second place, with Sheffield University Orienteering and Fell Running coming in third. Well done to all that took part and in particular, the top four teams who will be able to send their teams to the European Universities Orienteering Championships in Switzerland this summer.
A big thankyou to all the volunteers at FVO and ESOC for all their hard work in organising the event and helping out on the day. Without you the weekend wouldn’t have been possible. We look forward to 2024 when Cambridge University will host BUCS. The full results can be found on the Edinburgh University Orienteering Club website.
Photo credits to EUOC and CUOC