Teviothead orienteer Douglas Tullie has just returned from an exhausting but very successful trip to Australia. The nineteen year old Edinburgh University Architecture student was one of six men and four women competing for the British team at the Junior World Orienteering Championships. The event, which took place in and around the picturesque tourist town of Dubbo (situated 400km west of Sydney), attracted the 130 best male and 90 best female orienteers from over 30 countries.

Following a traditional opening ceremony and march past of teams the intensive programme of 5 races in six days got under way with the fast and furious sprint discipline. This took place in the extensive grounds of the renowned Western Plains Zoo and proved to be a unique challenge for the competitors. Straying into one of many out of bounds areas could have proved fatal! Douglas covered the 3.3km course in 16 minutes to finish in 59th place. Best British result was the 22nd place achieved by Banchory’s Duncan Coombs.

The following day the action moved to the hills around Dubbo for the Long distance race. The granite strewn, bush terrain was a new experience for many of the teams and proved to be very technically and physically challenging. Douglas finished in 47th place after completing the 11.1 km course in 87 minutes. However an uncharacteristic 3.5 minute mistake at a spectator control robbed him of a potential top 30 place. This disappointment only helped to spur Douglas on to do better in the Middle distance race. This discipline involved a qualifying system of three heats with only the top 20 from each heat going through to the final. Despite a couple of small mistakes Douglas qualified comfortably in 11th place from his heat. The following days final saw him produce his best run of the week, flying round the 4.5km course in 26 minutes to finish in an excellent 16th place. This proved to be the best British result of the week and one of the best British junior results for several years.

The week concluded with the relay competition where Douglas produced a storming run on second leg for the British A team to pull them up 7 places. Despite briefly challenging for a top 6 podium position on last leg they eventually dropped back to finish in 13th.

Although pleased with his 16th place in the middle final Douglas still felt there was room for improvement. This has made him more determined than ever to do better next time, in his last year as a junior, when the World Championships return to Europe and the challenging Swedish terrain around Gothenburg.

Oops, forgot to mention that James Tullie was one third of the winning Mens Open Relay team, running for EUOC.  A few photos added click here

The 2007 Scottish Orienteering Championships were held last weekend near Loch Doon, Ayrshire.  Roxburgh Reivers fielded a smaller than usual team and late starts on Saturday afternoon coincided with a torrential downpour which left runners drenched on the open moorland. With maps threatening to disintegrate and underfoot conditions turning nasty runners were glad to cross the finish line.

Despite the poor conditions Reivers managed several podium places with the best positions being John and Sarah Tullie who both finished 2^nd on their courses.  Three other runners were in the frame with 3^rd places: Jim Knox, Karen Maxwell and Lindsey Knox.  Other results: Andrew Tullie 5^th, Robert Cranston 5^th, Kirstin Maxwell 8^th, Ian Maxwell 10^th.

With relief Sunday provided warm and dry conditions for the Scottish Relays although the midge population also came out to take in the atmosphere!  We had the highlight of the weekend with a second consecutive win in the open handicap race.   Andrew Tullie led off on first leg and returned 6 seconds ahead of the field, John Tullie returned the fasted time on leg 2 to give the team a 3 minute lead, with Ian Maxwell on the pressure anchor leg providing some excitement amongst his teamates as he sprinted from the final control to win by 9 seconds.  In the junior relay class the team of Sarah Tullie, Karen Maxwell and Kirstin Maxwell finished in 7^th place and in the senior handicap race Lindsey Knox, Jim Knox and Robert Cranston finished 3^rd.

Results are here