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).

Forth Valley Orienteers proved that local (and perhaps insider) knowledge is the key success when they got the result they were looking for and won this year’s 11 person relay at Beecraigs Country Park, Linlithgow. Despite organising this year’s event, FVO still managed to put together a winning team which, perhaps controversially, included amongst others the event organiser and beat second placed Interlopers by almost ten minutes.

Roxburgh Reivers preparations for this event were hampered by several key squad members being on International duty and it was a depleted squad that made the journey to West Lothian. In addition to this, a shortage of female runners led to the RR team incurring a rather unfair twenty minute handicap and meant that some teams were already sending out their leg 2 runners before RR had even started.

However, despite the writing seemingly being on the wall, a solid start from club secretary Robert Cranston on the first leg saw Reivers pass ELO and come within striking distance of several other clubs.

In an event of two halves, a possible tactical error led to Orange 4th leg runner Alison McNeilly come in before Reivers remaining 3rd leg runners, John Tullie and Martin Sloan, had even started their legs. However, John (2nd place) and Robin Sloan (4th) managed to pull out top-drawer performances and Reivers continued to rise up the rankings.

Despite final leg runner Jim Knox starting in the mini-mass start at 14:30, Reivers finished a respectable 8th and at the end of the day the scalps of Tayside Orienteers and ESOC’s second team were the cherries on the cake. The full results and splits are available on the FVO Web site.

After the event, Roxburgh Reivers head-honcho Judy McNeilly refused to comment on speculation in the News of the World that, in an attempt increase the number of female first team runners, Roxburgh Reivers were close to the sensational signing of former British squad member and World Champion Yvette Baker on a Bosman transfer. In addition, rumours that club Technical Director John Tullie’s coat was on a ‘shoogly peg’ were hotly denied by club supremos, who rejected suggestions that they were poised to lure South Yorkshire Orienteers’ highly successful coach to the Borders.

Roxburgh Reivers Team (1-3-3-3-1): Cranston, A Tullie, Hall, L Knox, J McNeilly, Maxwell, R Sloan, A McNeilly, M Sloan, J Tullie, J Knox. Subs (unused): J McNeilly, S Tullie.