Correct choice of footwear was all-important at the Roxburgh Reivers Club Championship meeting last Sunday, as recent snow had melted, then frozen hard, making the tracks and paths of Bowhill Estate into a skating rink.

The going was good under the forest canopy, and Douglas Tullie from Teviothead, caught just the right balance of hill and track, in choosing his route over the demanding terrain. Handicapper Rob Cranston had devised a classic competition, where careful choice of controls and route was more important than overall speed. John Tullie, with the lowest handicap – none were off scratch – was closest to son Douglas, but still a few minutes adrift. This was a good start to the season for the young Hawick High School pupil – Douglas is already a member of the Scottish Junior O Squad – and augers well for the 2003 Orienteering season about to get under way.

Runners packed in behind the Teviothead duo, with not much separating Darnick’s Robin Sloan, Dick Warren from Morebattle, Jim Knox of Hawick and Chris Hall from Eshiels. First lady back was Kirstin Maxwell from Jedburgh just ahead of Hawick’s Lindsey Knox.

Full results will be posted on the Results page in the next couple of days

As already advertised the new Roxburgh Reivers Club Championships will take place at Bowhill on Sunday 12 January 2003. There will be a massed start for all competitors at 11:30am and a handicapping system will be used to ensure that all club members can compete.

As Rob will need to calculate the handicapping system, please let him know if you intend to compete by emailing him at r.a.cranston@btinternet.com or telephoning on 01450 372095. Assembly is at the top car park behind Bowhill House and after the event there will be a debriefing and prize giving (maybe) at Selkirk Glass. See the Fixtures Page for more information.

Roxburgh Reivers have just announced a late summer Come and Try It event to be held at Wilton Park on Wednesday September 4. Starts will be from 17:00 to 18:30 and newcomers are particularly welcome, with entry only £1. For more details see The%20Fixture%20Page%20or%20contact%20the%20organiser%20John%20Tullie%20(tel%2001450%20850217/email%20john@bowanhill.demon.co.uk.

Last night (April 24) saw the first of Roxburgh Reivers’ Wednesday evening Summer Series events and around forty people turned up at Bowhill Estate near Selkirk, including several newcomers to the sport. Results are available on the Results Page.

The next event in the series takes place next Wednesday (8 May) at Bowmont Forest near Kelso. Parking is at the sawmill on the minor road off the B6436 Kelso to Morebattle Road, 3km south of Kelso (OS Grid reference NT 729288 on the Landranger sheet 74). As with all the events, start times are available from 17:00 to 18:30 and entry is only £1, with a choice of three different courses.

Again, newcomers are particularly welcome to come along and try out a new sport. More information is available from the Summer Series homepage.

Roxburgh Reivers hosted the final round of this year’s ESOL series at the Eildon Hills near Melrose on Sunday. Despite variable weather in the run up to the event and difficulties in determining where scree slopes (or should that be ski slopes) stopped due to the snow causing problems when putting controls out around 120 people competed.

Results can now be downloaded in a variety of formats and officials’ comments will be published as soon as possible. To access the results, go to the Results Page. Final standings for this year’s ESOL series will be available from the ESOA Website.

The latest round of the East of Scotland Orienteering League took place at a very windy Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh last weekend (10/02/02). Although several Reivers were away with the Scottish Junior Squad weekend in England, a few club members persevered through attrocious weather (from Glasgow anyway) to compete in a very muddy and slippy area. Best result of the day was probably the win for young Reiver Kirstin Maxwell (W10) on the Yellow course.

Full results can be downloaded from the ESOA Website.

The next ESOL and final round of the 2001/2002 competition is Roxburgh Reivers’ event at the Eildon Hills, Melrose, on March 3 2002 (see below for more information).