The first Scottish Championships to be held since the foot and mouth outbreak proved a success for farmer’s son Douglas Tullie from Teviothead.

Douglas easily won M14A over a tough course near the Falls of Rogie, Strathpeffer. Also tasting victory was Kirstin Maxwell from Jedburgh who won W10B in what was her first major event. Others acheiving pdoium places were Sarah Tullie (3rd on W10A), James Tullie (2nd on M16A), John Tullie (2nd on M45L) and Carol Boyd (3rd on W21S).

Despite Roxburgh Reivers being one of the smallest clubs in Scotland, an excellent turnout of members meant 4 relay teams at the Relay Championships held near Daviot, south of Inverness.

Pride of place went to the inform Tullie family of Douglas, John and James who destroyed the opposition to win the 15km Short Open class. Just missing out on another win was the junior team of Sarah Tullie, Andrew Tullie and Kirstin Maxwell who acheived 2nd against much more experienced competition.

The inaugural Strathspey Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships were also held at Inschriach, near Aviemore on the bank holiday Monday. The map was specially prepared to show the rideability of paths and proved an interesting test of map reading skills whilst riding a bike over rough terrain. Although not cycling very often, John Tullie was the clear winner of the Medium (17km) course. On the same course Jame Tullie was 3rd, Douglas Tullie 19th and Lindsey Knox 20th.

On the Long (25km) course Jim Knox was 13th and on the Short (10km) course Andrew Tullie was 12th.

Full results and splits for both the Scottish Championships and the mountain biking event are available from the Scottish Orienteering Association Website.

The 2002 British Orienteering Championships took place at Magilligan, Northern Ireland at the weekend (May 5 2002). Postponed from last year, following the foot and mouth outbreak that decimated the orienteering season, several Roxburgh Reivers travelled across the Irish Sea and recorded some commendable results.

Once again, the best performance came from Douglas Tullie on the M14A age class. Douglas finished in fourth place, with a time of 44:53 for the 4.8 Kilometre course and just eleven seconds away from a top three placing. Older brother James also had a great run, coming home in sixth place on the M16A age class and second Scot behind Scott Fraser of Edinburg-based Interlopers.

In the seniors, former Southern Reporter editor Douglas Henderson of Riding Mill finished in 15th place on the M50L age class  whilst Carol Boyd completed a quartet of top results for Roxburgh Reivers by coming in seventh on the W21S age class.

Full results and splits are available from the British Championships Website.

Plans are advancing for next year’s Six Day competition, to be held on the Moray Coast in North East Scotland. It is expected that the brochure and entry form will be available at the Scottish Championships at Rogie, near Inverness (June 1-2). More information is available from the event website, which is almost complete and will feature online entry via credit cards from July. This is being advertised as the preferred way for people to enter.

The Website is at http://www.moray2003.org. Information on the area and booking accommodation can be found on the Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board’s Website: http://www.castlesandwhisky.com.

Roxburgh Reivers’ Douglas Tullie continued his fantastic form this season at Sunday’s National Event, held at Bigland Hall, near Ulverston, in the Lake District. Following up his fourth place at the recent Jan Kjellstrom International event and a win at last weekend’s Scottish Orienteering League race near Aboyne, Douglas narrowly missed out on the top spot in the M14A age class in one of North West England’s best areas. Douglas, from Teviothead, finished just 22 seconds down on winner Rhodri Buffet of South Wales, with a time of 46:17 for the 4.6 kilometre course and was a clear five minutes ahead of third placed fellow Scot Andrew Rogan of Moravian.

Older brother James also had a good run, with a top ten place on the competitive M16A age class. James, who finished in ninth place, was third Scot behind the eventual winner Oleg Cheplin of Grampian OC and recorded a time of just over 70 minutes for the physical 6.6 Kilometre course.

Full results are available from the Lakeland OC Website.

Maroc Orienteering Club held the third round of the Scottish Orienteering League at Sluie Woods near Aboyne in Deeside on Sunday (April 21 2002). The event, which was combined with the annual Northern Lights Trophy competition, brought a welcome return to a favourite area which had not been used for some years at top class level and was supported by a colour-coded event at Balnagowan, also near Aboyne, on the Saturday.

Leading the results for Roxburgh Reivers was Teviothead’s Douglas Tullie, who continued his good form this season by winning the Junior Men 4 (JM4) class, over six minutes ahead of his nearest challenger. As well as gaining top points for the league, Douglas also collected the JM4 Northern Lights Trophy.

Elder brother and fellow Scottish Junior Squad member James also had a good run, coming in third on the JM5M course. James finished a couple of minutes ahead of Melrose’s Robin Sloan, third in the M55L age class, continuing the intra-club rivalry that has emerged between the two this year.

Continuing the theme, third places also went to Carol Boyd (W21S) and Jim Knox of Hawick (M50S). Other notable Reivers’ results included Lindsey Knox, who finished 5th on in the W40L age class and Bill Bruce, who was 4th on M45S, and Andrew Tullie, sixth on the JM4 class behind older brother Douglas.

Full results are available from the Maroc Website.

The second round of this year’s Scottish Orienteering League took place at The Trossachs near Aberfoyle on Sunday (April 7 2002). Hosted by Forth Valley Orienteers, this event was also a round of the elite UK Cup competition and a World Ranking event. As such, the terrain was of the highest quality, being a mixture of natural woodland and technical open.

However, the steep and complex terrain made for some long times and a physical course, even though courses were shorter than usual. Despite this, Roxburgh Reivers recorded some good results with Robin Sloan (Melrose) coming in second on M55L, two and a half minutes behind the winner Phil Smithard of KFO. The youngest Roxburgh Reiver, Sarah Tullie from Teviothead, also had a great day, winnning W10 and taking maximum points.

On Course 4, Martin Sloan (M21S), finished in fifth place. however fellow Reiver Douglas Henderson (M50L) from Riding Mill never fully recovered from a mistake on his way to the second control and was several minutes behind.

Unfortunately, Douglas Tullie was unable to match his excellent 4th place at last weekend’s two-day Jan Kjellstrom International competition but brothers Andrew (M14A) and James (M16A) had respectible runs, both finishing in the top ten.

Full results are available from the Forth Valley Orienteers Website. The next SOL is hosted by Maroc and takes place at Sluie near Aboyne in Deeside on April 21.