Author Archives: Lindsey

Eildons 3/3/24

Full results and splits for the event are HERE

We’re pleased to report we have raised a grand total of ÂŁ180.38 from the Eildons Event for Harris Trust🎉 Many thanks to everyone who came along to enjoy some orienteering, muddy trails + traybake ! Photo shows James handing over the cheque to Jane and Dave of The Harris Trust.

Report from James Purves, Planner/Organiser:

When it comes to choosing a central Borders venue for orienteering the Eildon Hills and surrounding trails and woodlands, as well as good transport options give it a head start.

As the planner and organiser for this local winter “Come and Try Orienteering” event I was keen to try and encourage people, young and older, who had never given it a go.

Linking up with the Harris Trust who do a lot of work to encourage young people to get involved in different activities, in memory of Harris Macdonell, who at a young age sadly took his own life in 2020, we decided to make the event a small fundraiser for them.

On the day the event ( Yellow course for beginners and slightly trickier Orange course as well as much harder Green course) attracted a great number of families with young children, many who hadn’t tried orienteering before. There was plenty of “mud, mud , glorious mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the blood” and also nothing quite like it for creating lots of washing for the parents when they got home but there were plenty of happy sounds from the young participants and shouts of glee when they saw the orange and white controls!

To make the most of the Eildon Hills area and to encourage some runners and walkers who hadn’t orienteered before I decided to also have a Red course approximately 4.5 miles (Orange level but more physically challenging) which attracted some entries from Gala Harriers and Lauderdale Limpers running clubs- the small number of them said they enjoyed the experience and will hopefully give it a go at another event as well as perhaps recruiting some other club members to give it a go too. For anyone thinking about taking part in Scottish Hill races or Fell races in the Lake District and elsewhere then navigating skills are essential and possibly life saving- practice at orienteering events can develop those skills.

Roxburgh Reivers is a small orienteering club but is a great club to be a part of. As planner and organiser I was well supported throughout by both Robin Sloan, helping with map planning and setting up on the day as well as Lindsey Knox who coordinates entries and a lot of other things which make these events possible.
Also many thanks on the day to willing helpers Judith Purves, Rob Cranston, Ian and Eileen Maxwell who collected the controls and helped with advice and support for the people new to orienteering.
We are also grateful to Andy the Country Ranger from Buccleuch Estates for assistance with help and permissions for the event.

Dundock Wood, The Hirsel 3/2/24 – Results

Results with splits are HERE

Thanks to everyone who came along – over 60 of you ! Dundock Wood is tricky, fun and muddy in equal measures and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Apologies to Keith and James for the mis-management on control collecting which meant we’d taken in some controls before they got to them.

Extra thanks to Robin who came along early to help me put out controls, Eb/Ian/John/Rob who gave the cubs some instruction, Judith for helping with entries etc, James and Bridget for collecting in controls, and of course Tony Abbott for organising the Kelso cubs and their parents.

Our next event is on the Eildons on Sunday 3/3/24 which will have a variety of courses plus it’s a charity fundraiser for The Harris Trust. Entries are now open per the webpage link.

Abbotsford event 13/1/24

Provisonal results from Abbotsford are HERE. Well done to the two people who cleared the course and earned bonus bonus points, that was good going.

Thanks to everyone for the large turnout which makes Kate’s hard work on planning and organising worth the effort, and it was good to see a few new faces.

The Club Champion for 2024 is John Tullie with Colin Williams 2nd and Fiona Forrest 3rd. Kate may (or may not) share the handicap with us but I can vouch for the fact that the numbers were already in her laptop so there was no “fixing” after people finished !

Hope to see most of you at our next event which is in Dundock Wood (The Hirsel) amongst the rhododendrons. I’ve had fun planning the courses and you should have fun running there. I’ll update the webpage and add a link for pre-entries soon.

Lindsey