Provisional Results from today’s event on Bowhilll are HERE.Thank you to everyone who came along to Bowhill today and encountered four seasons in a day. The hail and snow in the middle of the event was a bit of surprise and caused the non-waterproof maps on the Green course to run a bit.. We also realise there were a few problems with missing kites, which in turn meant that one control unit was placed slightly off position on the small bit of fencing in the hope that it would be more clearly visible. Eb Rooney’s Planner’s Report is now included below.

I have left the results unchanged, but everyone can see their times for all the controls.

There were a few challenges for organisers and competitors today with mislaid rucksacks (containing kites), forgotten Download boxes (delivered by the cavalry just in time for the early Downloads), lost glasses somewhere in the forest and ink running on the extra non-waterproof green maps during the snow.

Despite the weather and the technical issues, there was a lot of positive feedback at the finish and download. We hope to see you all at future Roxburgh Reivers events.

Eb Rooney says: This event was meant to happen last October, but got postponed because of forecast high winds and heavy rain.  This morning it looked like we were in for a bit of a treat, with pleasant spring sunshine and the prospect of some lovely running through the woods.   Then the snow started….

Originally I had planned three courses (Yellow, Orange and Light Green) but with the East of Scotland juniors descending on Bowhill for a training event we decided to add a Green course at the last minute.  This meant more controls than usual, and a slight problem with having enough flags to go round, which we probably could have coped with if I hadn’t left my rucsac halfway up the hill while I was setting up.  The result was that some of the controls had to be placed with no flag and were less than easy to find – particularly in the snow!  Apologies for that.  I also underestimated how many runners might want to do the Green;  I had printed some extra maps on ordinary paper just in case, and we probably would have got away with this if the snow hadn’t started just as the last waterproof map was handed out…

Fortunately for me orienteers are a hardy and forgiving lot, and everyone seemed to have enjoyed their day despite these challenges.  I certainly enjoyed the planning, and seeing so many people having a go.  The addition of the Green gave the opportunity to take runners into areas I’d not used before, and to introduce some options for route choice which generally seemed to work.

Thanks to Robin for help with the planning and course design and for acting as Controller, Duncan for handling registration and download and coping with all the various challenges of the day, Rob for setting up, Ian, James, Robin and Rob for collecting in controls, Lindsey for setting up the laptop, Paul McGreal of Durty Events for the loan of extra controls, and Buccleuch Estates for permission to run the event at Bowhill.  Thanks also to those competitors who stopped to help one of the runners who had lost his glasses at a crucial point in the course – the friendly spirit of orienteering at its best!

Results from today’s event on Selkirk Hill are HERE.

My first time planning at Selkirk Hill and a few lessons learned. Having misjudged the time to put out controls I ended up rushing and mixing up two of the controls, knowing how confused I get when I end up finding a control I’m not expecting through being in the wrong place I realise being in the correct place and seeing a wrong number would have really thrown people so apologies for that. Being here later in the winter than usual influenced how I set up the course and with the hillside being more open I tucked one or two controls away a bit however what vegetation that was left was sharp and combined with using convenient bushes to attach gripples onto this led to a few bloodied hands at the finish. The Light Green course was possibly a bit too long and all this led to some being out a bit longer than anticipated, fortunately the weather was kind for February and there was even a lack of mud which made for good running. I did use a new start area and a couple of parts of the hill I hadn’t been to before to give a different challenge for those familiar with the area. I also tried to give a bit of route choice into some of the legs which seemed successful.

It was good to see a healthy turnout with not too many maps left over and a couple of less familiar faces so hopefully they will return for future events. Ian Maxwell took the honours on the Light Green course romping round in just under 30 minutes with Paul McGreal and Sam McKinnon not far behind completing the podium. Stuart Haddon was quickest round the Orange course while Cormac Thomas put in a good time on the Yellow course.

Thanks for all the help, Lindsey beforehand and on the day, Rob on the computer and Ian, Kirsten and Eb for helping collect controls in.

Keith (Planner/Organiser)

The results of the 2019 Club Championships are below. The Full results including Yellow are HERE

The Results from today’s event at Lanton are HERE

The Christmas meal at The Caddy Man was excellent, highly recommended.