First place for Douglas Tullie at Northern Lights (SOL 3)

Photo: Douglas Tullie wins at Sluie WoodsMaroc 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.

Mixed fortunes for Reivers at SOL 2

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.

Reivers go atomic at nuclear subs base

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.

Summer Series 2002

The dates for Roxburgh Reivers’ Wednesday evening Summer Series can now be confirmed. These events are ideal for newcomers to the sport as well as current orienteers wanting to enjoy a midweek run. The dates and venues are as follows:

 

Date Venue Organiser Contact details
April 24 Bowhill Esate, Selkirk Robin Sloan Email: robin_sloan@roseisle.demon.co.uk
May 8 Bowmont Estate, Kelso Judy McNeilly Tel: 01578 730209
May 22 Eildon Hills, Melrose Carol Boyd Tel: 01434 250232
June 5 Selkirk Hill, Selkirk Robert Cranston Tel: 01450372095

Start times are available from 17:00-18:30 hours and entry is only £1. Three different levels of courses are on offer: Yellow (very easy), Orange (some experience needed) and Light Green (needs some orienteering skills).

Courses are suitable for all ages and experience and newcomers are particularly welcome. You should bring oldish clothes, a pen (red is best), a watch and a clear polythene bag to protect your map. If you are planning on doing the light green course you should also bring a compass if you have one.

For more information, please contact the series co-ordinator Robin Sloan (tel: 01896 822548/email: robin_sloan@roseisle.demon.co.uk) or see the Summer Series homepage. You can also download and print out the flyer for the Summer Series, which includes full details and a map showing the locations of each event:

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ESOL 8 @ the Eildon Hills

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.

ESOL 7 @ Corstorphine Hill

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).