Senior Home Internationals see a home win

On 7th/ 8th September saw an opportunity for the Scottish athletes to compete on home turf, for the Senior Home Internationals, as it was Scotland’s turn to host the event. Forth Valley Orienteers were hosting the event with the individual races taking part at Edinchip and the relays at Callandar Crags.

The 2024 Scottish Senior Home International Team
The 2024 Senior Home International Team
The Scottish base tent at Edinchip in the sun
The Scottish tent
Graham Gristwood's team chat

The sun was certainly shining on the Senior Home International Team, who were defending their title from last year. The men got the team off to a good start taking the top three places in the M21 category and the leading position in the M20 category. The women took the top three places in the W20 category but could not hold off Megan Carter Davies (running for Wales) in the W21 category so Scotland could only claim 2nd and 3rd spot.

W21 individual podium - Welsh 1, scotland 2,3
W20 podium - Scotland 1,2,3
M21 podium

Overall this meant that the Scottish team went into Saturday night’s social activities leading by four points ahead of England.

The relays at Callandar Crags saw the men’s relay teams taking a dramatic 1st place (having been 30 seconds behind an English team at the handover but turning that into a 8 second win) followed by a 3rd place for their next team. This meant that the women had to get one of their teams into the top 4 for Scotland to reclaim the title. The women duly pulled that off by taking the 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Men's relay start
Women's relay start
Men's 1st relay - winning chocolate for their efforts!
Scotland raise the overall SHI trophy

It was great to see so many athletes thinking it was worth travelling to compete in the Senior Home Internationals and team spirit abounded. Here are a few quotes from those who took part

Grace Molloy– The SHIs was a tough and fun weekend of competition. I was pleased with my race in the individual and to help the team to a Scotland lead going into the relays. My teammates set me out first on last leg and I ran a stable race to secure the relay win. It was great to be back racing for Scotland after a few years away!

Josh Dudley– “Tough from the get go, so prio was to be clean. Satisfying to see the body and technique deliver after a consistent summer of training”

Isobel Howard– “Running as part of such a strong Scotland team was pretty incredible! It was a really tough weekend, physically and mentally, thanks to some excellent courses, but very exciting to see the team come out on top. The individual was made especially tough by changing between different types of terrain, but I found that made it all the more interesting.”

Matthew Gooch– “Saturday was great. A lovely mix of 3 different types of Scottish terrain, made better by the beautiful summer’s day.Personally, Saturday was somewhat unusual due to a bit of a shoe issue. I lost one halfway through. But I ran for a further 45 min and got the fastest run-in split. Thus, one can keep going but not advised – tracks are a bit hard.
The relay was exciting. Going out 15s behind the English teams gave me a goal. It was a little concerning when they disappeared halfway through, but by the end, we were together and battling it out in the final loop. Being on the 3rd leg, I asked the organisers where precisely the finish line was before the race. A little presumptuous, but worth it when I finished in 1st with only seconds to spare.”  

Thank you to Forth Valley Orienteers and their volunteers for organising and hosting such a great event.