SOL’s 5 and 6, Coull and Forvie

A double-header in contrasting terrain meant a very interesting weekend.  There was glory for some, frustration for others !

SOL5 was held at Coull, a woodland area just north of Aboyne which hadn’t been used for some time. Parking was in the grounds of Aboyne Castle and there were cakes and soup for sale.  So far so good !

Aboyne Castle with Coull in the background

Aboyne Castle with Coull in the background

Out in the forest there were complicated bits for the unwary, long legs uphill and downhill through sticks and rocks, and other long runs across lovely runnable short grass.  RR had 3 winners – John, Robin and Lindsey.  Fiona was a close 2nd, and Kirstin and Jim were both 3rd. Other results:  Eileen and Karen 6th,  Sarah 7th, Ian 11th.

SOL6 moved to the Sands of Forvie north of Aberdeen.  The enormous area of sandunes looked very tricky but only after we started did we truly appreciate how physical the terrain was – heather, marram grass, boggy bits, long normal grass, rabbit holes…. etc.

Sands of Forvie with the heather in bloom

Sands of Forvie with the heather in bloom

John, as usual, found the terrain to his liking and stuffed his nearest rival by 5 minutes.  Jim also won his class, he’s not sure how, but a lack of major cock-ups probably helped.  Lindsey and Robin managed 2nd places, Ian and Fiona both finished 3rd.  Other results: Kirstin and Karen 4th, Sarah 5th, Eileen 8th.

Hopefully the SOA statistics guru will do some number-crunching soon and we can find out the state of play before the final round at Beecraigs in November.