North Area Retain The Inter-Area Trophy with a strong relay performance but West Area win The Individual Inter-Area
The weekend saw the return of the Junior Inter-Area competition. Juniors from East, North and West gathered in Pitlochry for a weekend stay which allowed juniors from 12 clubs to compete as teams for their region in relay and individual races. The overnight stay allowed them all to mix and meet other juniors outwith their club/ region.
All juniors gathered at Black Spout on the edge of Pitlochry to start the weekend with the relay races. North won the relay by 28 points claiming 1st and 2nd in the open category and 1st and 3rd place in the junior girl category. West claimed the other podium places but East can claim credit for fielding juniors from each of their member clubs!
After the relay, and a quick stop to meet their roommates, the juniors ran off any excess energy with an inventive team game of tig in the local park before their evening meal. Having refuelled them, the SOA development team used the opportunity to get some feedback from the juniors over how we could encourage them to remain in the sport/ improve events from their perspective ( Another further feedback welcomed using this link Junior Feedback forms). The evening was finished with a quiz before they retreated to their accommodation for some home bakes and hot chocolate to finish the evening.
Despite the heavy rain on Sunday morning everyone was full of enthusiasm for the individual race at Grandtully and every person counted. Initial reports from the computer team suggested that North had claimed the individual competition but after some recounting it has been discovered that West had pipped North to the individual competition by 8 points. West juniors won six of the ten courses. Well done West juniors. Replacement chocolates for West juniors will have to be found!
Despite West’s valiant efforts, in the individual competition, North retained the overall junior inter-area title.
Many thanks go to the West area orienteers for organising the weekend and special mention goes to Roger and Dawn Goddard who organised/oversaw the whole weekend and to the planners/ controllers – Dave Godfree, Alistair Duguid, Jason Inman and Ross MacLennan.
Many thanks are due from the juniors and adults who attended the weekend to STAG and TAY for the use of their areas for the Inter-area activities.
Car parking fees at Grandtully allowed the local farmer, Simon Garbutt, to raise over £80 for the charity CRY which works to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research and supporting affected families.