Ettrick Marshes permanent orienteering course launched

The official launch of the Ettrick Marshes permanent orienteering course takes place at Ettrick Marshes on 28 April 2006 with the help of three local primary schools. The map and courses were developed for the Borders Forest Trust by Roxburgh Reiver, Lindsey Knox.

Leaflets are available from the Borders Forest Trust on 01835 830750, or locally at the nearby caravan sites and from dispensers at the two car parks at either end of the forest. The leaflet, which includes a quiz sheet on which to complete answers, suggests four different courses, ranging from a short flat course, to longer, more hilly, courses.

For more information, and the answers to the quiz sheet see Roxburgh Reivers’ Permanent orienteering courses page, which contains details of the new courses at Ettrick Marshes together with other permanent orienteering courses in the Scottish Borders.

SOL2 Mill of Fortune

Photo: Lindsey Knox on her way to victory at SOL2 On a drizzly, but not cold, day there were two wins for Reivers at SOL 2 held at Mill of Fortune near Comrie on Sunday. The forest was wet and grotty in places with lots of windblow, although the longer courses visited the nicer semi open areas at each end of the map. Andrew Tullie won JM5L finishing less than a minute behind Dad John running the same course. John finished 2^nd on M45L despite leading Martin Dean in the early part of the race. Ian Maxwell was 10^th on M45L with the slow terrain probably not his favourite.

Lindsey Knox won a very physical W45L making it two in a row but the split times show how close it could have been with everyone making mistakes. With Karen Maxwell sending in a sick note we only had two junior girls competing with Kirstin Maxwell finishing 3^rd on JW4 and Sarah Tullie in 8^th place on the same course. Bill Bruce and Douglas Henderson were both 4th on their respective classes, and Fiona Forrest, up from down south, was 2^nd on W21L.

Robin Sloan controlled the event and was spotted lurking behind a tree taking photos so hopefully hes got a few worth publishing on the Reivers website.

Results here

Borders Area Hash House Harriers

The Borders are set to get their own ‘chapter’ of the Hash House Harriers, an international running and social group. The ‘Hash’ was started by a group of ex-pats in Malaysia in the 1930’s and has spread like wildfire across the world in the years since then. There are now thought to be over 1700 groups in 172 countries, including several in Scotland. However, until now, the ‘Hash’ hasn’t reached the Borders, but that’s all about to change.

The Hash House Harriers is unusual in that it’s a running club, but is not in the least bit competitive, and is specifically designed to make sure that it’s suitable for all abilities, from walkers to racing snakes. More important though is the drink or two, banter and social bit afterwards – the run is really an excuse to work up a thirst for this. The emphasis is on fun, and it’s as good a workout as you want it to be.

The mechanics are pretty simple – a ‘hare’ goes out in advance of the pack and lays a trail using sawdust or flour (as they’re instantly biodegradable and disappear when it rains). The trail includes false trails and loops to make sure the fast runners cover more distance, and that everyone finishes at the same time. The trail is usually run cross-country, that can mean mud, streams, hills, forests and darkness, but does at least tend to stick to paths. The run, whether you walk or run should take less than an hour, and really is for all abilities. After the run is finished, the pack decamp to the nearest pub for daft stories about the members and a drink or two.

The new Borders Area Hash House Harriers (BAHHH) will run on the first Thursday of every month. The location will move around the Borders each month. The Inaugural event will take place on Thursday 6th April at 7pm from the Market Square in Selkirk. All welcome, bring a change of clothes (you might get wet!), and a torch.

Contact RR member Paul McGreal on 01750 725576 for more details of visit the Hash House Harriers website.

SOL1 Dalbeattie

After what seems like a very short winter break the 2006 Scottish Orienteering League kicked off at Dalbeattie Forest last Sunday and Roxburgh Reivers resumed where they left off in 2005 in winning style.

Robin Sloan had a clean run to comfortably win M55L although he finished with extra red marks down the front of his new o-top, Andrew Tullie was 2^nd on JM5L but took the points for 1^st Scot, Carol Boyd recorded her first win for a while on W35L and Lindsey Knox fresh from her win the previous weekend in Spain had a comprehensive win on W45L.

There were 2^nd places for Douglas Tullie running up two age classes on M21 and Kirstin Maxwell, who was beaten by only a few seconds on JW4. Other results: John Tullie 4^th M45L, Ian Maxwell 7^th M45L, Andrew Armstrong 11^th M45L, Douglas Henderson 4^th M55L, Karen Maxwell 4^th JW3, Sarah Tullie 5^th JW4, Eileen Maxwell 4^th W40S.

Full results

Report on 2006 Club Champs and AGM

Photo: Club champion 2006, Andrew Tullie On a warm almost spring-like afternoon Planner Douglas Tullie found a welcome sun-trap for the Start/Finish area just off the vista from Bowhill House and 20 members were soon sweating their way round the forest. Each competitor had an individual handicap to collect a set number of controls before they could return and it was Andrew Tullie, targetted to find 16 of the 18 controls, who flew across the finish line in 26.10mins closely followed by newcomer Colin Ross in 26.47 mins. First lady was Karen Maxwell in 28.46 mins.

Photo: Club members getting instructions from planner Douglas Tullie The Planner had obviously done his job well as there were tall tales of wrong route choices, missed controls and lots of if only

Having collected the controls in the action moved to the Education Centre in the courtyard where the ladies presided over a couple of microwaves to produce haggis, neeps and tatties for everyone. Douglas Henderson brought a home-made cake complete with Reivers logo Masterchef beware !

Photo: Martin Sloan finishing Judy called the AGM to order and gave us an overview of the positive state of the Club. The committee were re-elected en masse, Douglas Tullie was awarded the Junior Trophy for the year and Lindsey Knox accepted the Club Achievement award. Andrew Tullie collected the Club Championship trophy plus the dubious honour of bringing it back next year dressed in the correct colour of o-top.