The first round of this years’ Scottish Orienteering League (formerly the ScotlandsGallopen series) took place at Garelochhead near Helensborough on Sunday (March 24 2002). Overlooking the Faslane Naval Base, the terrain was mainly open hillside and heavy rain in the days leading up to the event meant that the going was very heavy under foot and the low cloud and rain on the day made visibility less than ideal.

Despite this, Roxburgh Reivers recorded several good results, giving the ideal start to the season. In the JM5M class, James Tullie of Teviothead finished first with a time of 47:32. The family success was followed up by father John (M45L) and brother Douglas (JM4), both finishing in second place in their respective classes. Douglas Henderson also had an excellent run, finishing third on the M50L class. Several other Reivers’ produced good performances, with Melrose’s Robin Sloan on the competitive M55L class, son Martin on M21S and Lindsey Knox (W40L) giving Roxburgh Reivers four third places in total.

Full results are available from the Clyde Website. The next round of the Scottish Orienteering League takes place at North Achray, near Aberfoyle, on April 7.

Carmichael Estate in Lanarkshire once again played host to the Tinto Twin and Scottish Night Championships last weekend (Nov 3-4 2001). Reivers’ best results were recorded during the day event and for the second week running John Tullie (M40L) came home in first place, with less than a minute separating the top three.

Other good results were recorded by Andrew Tullie, who was second on M14A, whilst older brothers James and Douglas came second and third respectively on M16A.

Full results from each day can be found at the Tinto results page.

The 2001 East of Scotland Orienteering Championships took place at Archerfield Estate, East Lothian, last weekend (Oct 28 2001) in conjunction with ESOL 3. Although only a few Reivers were competing, the standard was high and as per usual the Tullie family managed to produce 4 podium finishes out of a possible four.

Andrew (M12), Douglas (M14) and dad John (M40) all won their respective classes and proved that a weekend in Wales (see below) was the best possible training. And James Tullie, running up a class in preparation for next year, finished off a good day for the Reivers by coming third on M18.

In addition to the championship results, other Reivers results included Malcolm Cattermole and Bill Bruce (38th and 45th respectively on the Blue course) and Jenny Cattermole, who was 39th on the Green course.

Full results for both the Championships and the ESOL are available on the Interlopers Web site. For the latest ESOL standing see the ESOA Web site.

The next ESOL takes place at Coillhallen Wood, Callander on November 11.

Two of Roxburgh Reivers’ brightest stars, James and Douglas Tullie were selected for the Scottish Junior Squad in the recent home international at Pembury in Wales at the weekend (Oct 7 2001) and helped Scotland finish in second place behind England (once again).

In the individual, Douglas finished an excellent fourth behind fellow Scot Duncan Coombs and ensured high points for Scotland on M14A. And on M16A James was also second Scot, finishing in seventh place behind winner Oleg Chepelin.

In the relays, Douglas’s team (Andrew Brunton, Douglas Tullie, Alex MacLachlan) finished in seventh place and James’ (James Tullie, Kyle Heron, Duncan Grassie) in eighth. However, the best result of the day went to the girls who finished in first place, giving Scotland three victories over the course of the weekend.

This year’s British Orienteering Championships finally took place at Newbourgh Forest on Angelsey last weekend (Oct 21 2001). The event was held under the auspices of the rescheduled Welsh Championships and National Event that was postponed from earlier this year.

Attracted by some first class terrain, several Reivers decamped to North Wales for the weekend and were rewarded with spectacular views of the sun setting over Angelsey from Caernarfon on the Saturday night whilst the rest of the country was drowned in terrential rain.

The area lived up to its name and provided some highly technical orienteering in a generally flat and fast area, where mistakes were easily punished. By far and away the best Reivers performance came from John Tullie, who came second on M40L, just three seconds behind the winner charles Bromley of EPOC, in a time of 63:59.

Continuing the family theme, sons Douglas (M14A) and James Tullie (M16A), both travelling with the Scottish Junior Squad came home in tenth and eleventh places respectively and Robin Sloan finished 35th on the biggest class, M50L, beating son Martin (who was finished 33rd in the M21S class) by nearly 20 minutes on the same course.

The first event of the 2001/2002 East of Scotland Orienteering League (ESOL) took place at Drumbuie Wood, Dunkeld, on Sunday (Sept 30). Despite the terrential rain, a small band of Reivers made the trip north and recorded some excellent results.

James Tullie from Teviothead came an exellent second on the Blue course, trailing winner Heather Hartman (Interlopers) by less than a minute.

Roxburgh Reivers’ domination of the placings on the Blue course continued with fellow Reiver Robin Sloan finishing just over four minutes down to take third place and William Bruce finishing 17th. Finally, John Tullie continued a Tullie theme by taking second place on the long Brown course.

Full results are available from the TAY Web site. The next ESOL takes place at Devilla Forest near Kincardine this Sunday (Oct 7).