ESOC Sprint O - Dalmeny Estate

The ESOC Sprint O comprises two legs - a first race followed by a chasing sprint. This years venue was Dalmeny Estate - a mixtute of small woods, fields and parkland near South Queensferry on the south side of the Forth Estuary. I was running the long course, which had a first leg of 4.6k with 140m of climb and 11 controls. I took 29 minutes and finished 5th - was a bit scrappy into 1 and 2, and leaving 3; but was otherwise reasonably satisfied.

Leg 1 results.
Leg 1 splits.
RouteGadget.

Leg 1 map with my course.



Leg 1 map with my route.



Steve Nicholson who won the first leg did not start the second, so I started in 4th place. The course was 3.2k with 60m of climb and 9 controls. I dropped to 7th before the first crossing ca 100m north east of the start (- one runner who started 36 seconds behind had passed me by the crossing!) and was pleased to fight back to finish third overall.

Leg 2 results.
Leg 2 splits.
Overall results.
RouteGadget.

Leg 2 map with my course.



Leg 2 map with my route.



After the event we went to a lovely tea room in South Queensferry with other members of FVO and then went over the Forth Road Bridge to North Queensferry to look for the killer whales that have been in the estuary for the past few days. Got a distant view of one as it surfaced to the east of the Rail Bridge.

Killer whale in Forth Estuary.

FVO Night Event - Laigh Hills & Barbush, Dunblane

I ran the Long course which was 5.1k with 17 controls and great fun! It took me 36 minutes, 1 minute down on Will Hensman. I was pleased with my run, only losing time at the last control where I stopped short.

Results.

Map with my course.



Map with my route.

MOR Colour Coded Event - Darnaway Forest North

Darnaway was first used for orienteering when it hosted the World Orienteering Championships individual race in 1976. The forest still provides excellent technical orienteering. The Brown course was 7.8k with 17 controls and took me 55 minutes - some minutes behind winner James Tullie. My race was okay, but I did lose time through poor concentration at some of the middle controls.

Me near the finish.



Andy Hyslop, WAROC, in open beech forest.



Results.
Splits.
RouteGadget.

Map with my course.



Map with my route.

FVO "Old Boys" Ski Trip - French Alps

Saturday, January 20, 2007 - Tignes and Val d'Isere





FVO "old boys" comprised myself, Steve Nicholson (- whose parents have a chalet in Villaroger - our base for the trip!), Fraser Purves and Dave Coustick. Our first day saw us ski the Espace Killy which covers Tignes and Val d'Isere. The weather was perfect - clear, sunny and warm; which allowed an outside lunch at a mountain restaurant above Val d'Isere. A big day was had, with lots of miles covered and lots of feet (metres?) descended!

Part of the Espace Killy piste map.





Sunday, January 21, 2007 - La Plagne





Steve went teleing at Sainte Foye, whilst Fraser, Dave and myself checked-out La Plagne, a part of the Paradiski area - me on teles, the others on alpine skis. We started from Montchavin, had lunch above Champagny and found some great snow on the Bellecote glacier in the afternoon. The day was rounded-off nicely in a tea room which served amazing apricot tart - tough luck Steve!

Part of the La Plagne piste map.





Monday and Tuesday, January 22 and 23, 2007 - Les Arcs





The last 2 days were spent at Les Arcs - the other part of the Paradiski area. Unfortunately lack of snow prevented us taking the lifts out of Villaroger, which necessitated a drive down to Bourg St Maurice each morning. Monday afternoon was spent on blades (- great fun!) with Steve and myself on teles for the rest of the time, and Fraser and Dave sticking with their alpine skis. The highlight was on Tuesday afternoon - a ski back to Villaroger down a "closed" run of partially ice covered meadow, followed by a short walk out. That night, much needed snow fell and was only to be enjoyed by Dave, who was moving on to Chamonix for some "steep and deep" skiing!

Part of the Les Arcs piste map.

FVO Night Event - Polmaise Wood

Polmaise Wood is on the western outskirts of Stirling, has a lot of indistinct paths and areas of rhododendron.

Approximately 25 runners set-off on a mass start for the tricky 4.0k course with 17 controls. Lots of route choice separated the runners reasonably early on, although I did have a good tussle with Ali Bryan-Jones (- who lives on the northern edge of the map!) around the latter part of the course. I took 46 minutes - some 12 minutes behind winner Steve Nicholson. Despite my slow time, I was not unhappy with my performance given a recent cold!

Results.

Map with course.


Map with my route.

Slides from a training run near Comrie

WAROC Training Event - Black Fell

Bilbo planned an excellent 5.5k course with 13 controls at Black Fell, near Skelwith Bridge - a new area for me! The map scale was 1:7500 - a large enough scale to make the deteiled areas legible, without being so large as to produce an unwieldy map! The course was all on open fell and was surprisingly tricky - catching me out on several occasions. Felt very tired from recent hard training.

Map with course.

Night Training - Abbey Craig

I reran a course I did at Abbey Craig (the wood around the Wallace Monument) almost 7 years ago. The course was 4.0k with 16 controls and took ca 40 minutes. I didn't make any significant errors, but found some inaccuracies with the map; notably in respect of mapped fences no longer being there.

Map with course.

FVO Night Event - Hermitage Woods

Hermitage Woods from Airthrey Loch.




I planned one course which was 6.2k, with 18 controls (with a short alternative by going from 3-7 and 12-15, which was 4.4k with 13 controls) with pre-marked maps on waterproof paper (- no map case needed!) and a mass start. Controls were reflective tape - no punching! 17 people ran. Fraser Purves won the long and Steve Barrett just held-off son, Jack, to take the short.

Results.

Map with course.

Ben Ledi

The rain has stopped at last and the sun is shining! Given there were no orienteering events on, I decided to take a run up Ben Ledi, 879m, to the west of Callander.


Managed to run all of the ascent (ca 750m of climb with snow above ca 600m) in 40 minutes. Attempted to take a photo using my mobile phone, but found out when I got home that I had taken some video footage instead!

Video I took from the summit.