Great weekend in the west – 2023 Scottish Individual and Relay Championships

Well what a weekend! Some great terrain, fabulous courses and amazing team spirit on show this weekend at both the Scottish Orienteering Individual and Relay Championships.

2023 was the turn of the west area clubs to host the event and the west clubs – Ayrshire Orienteering Club (AYROC), Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE), Forth Valley Orienteering Club (FVO), Loch Eck Orienteering Club (ECKO), Solway Orienteering Club (SOLWAY), St Andrew’s Orienteering Club Glasgow (STAG) and Tinto Orienteering Club (TINTO). ECKO allowed their maps of Creag Mhic and Inverawe Country Park to be used, obtained landowner permissions whilst members of all the west area clubs acted as officials and volunteers to ensure everything went off smoothly and we all had a great event.

Saturday 27th May saw the Scottish Individual Championships in an areas which has not been used for a large event like this since the 2011 Scottish 6 Days and the British Championships in 1993. The mixture of runnable oak and birch woodland with rough open was described as dreamy by one member of our community and certainly provided an enjoyable day. With a great view of the run in the arena certainly provided plenty of opportunity for everyone to catch up with other clubs, discuss route choice while eating tasty SCOTJOS cake and somehow the west area clubs managed to organise the midges to remain in the car park!

Presentations for the event took place on the Sunday but here are the podiums as captured – apologies to the M/W80 class who sprinted off the podium too quickly to be captured for prosperity.

Sunday 28th May saw the Scottish Relay Championships and yet again the west area clubs did us proud – the sun shone, the midges retreated, and all those running enjoyed a delightful mix of broadland woodland, contoured tussocky moorland with a few too many contours and a rather long dash to the finish for those with tired legs from Saturday. There was lots of club spirit on display with representatives of all ages entering into the spirit and Inverawe House provided an amazing backdrop.

Lots of smiley faces appeared on the podium later..

Thank you to all those who volunteered to make such a great event happen and in particular to the officials on Saturday – the organiser Brian Bullen (FVO), the planners Stephen Wilson and Klass Wynne (CLYDE) and the controllers Ewart Scott (ESOC) and Fran Loots (TAY) and the officials on Sunday – the organiser and planner Terry O’Brien BEM (STAG), controller Ross Lilley (ECKO).