Two Roxburgh Reivers, James & Douglas Tullie, were part of the Scottish Senior team that was victorious in the Home Internationals held in Northern Ireland. This is only the third time that the Scottish team has prevailed over the Auld Enemy, and the first time outside Scotland! Luck was obviously with James and Douglas, as both were members of the historic Junior team which won the Junior Home International for the first time in 2002.

The individual race was held on Magilligan Strand, a very tough sand dune area which was scene of the British Champs in 2002 and had an unusual four loop format with a runner from each country starting every 2 mins. James was running up on M21 and finished the 16km (!) course in 118 mins in an excellent 6th place. Douglas, who was also running up a class, finished the 11km M20 course in 5th place in a time of 97 mins. This coupled with individual wins from Jon Musgrave (M21), Sarah Dunn (W21) and Duncan Coombs (M20) gave the Scots a 3 point lead after the individuals.

In the Relays, held in a forest nearer Belfast, James and Douglas ran together in the Scottish second team along with Graeme Ackland. The Scottish first team of Duncan Coombs, Jon Musgrave and Murray Strain were convincing winners with James just getting out sprinted on the line by Welsh runner Rhodri Buffet to finish in third. With the first English men’s team finishing fifth and the Scottish ladies teams securing 2nd and 3rd, Scotland recorded a famous victory by a sizeable margin.

Full results are available from the Northern Ireland Orienteering website.