SCOTTISH 6 DAYS OF ORIENTEERING

Another successful 6 day biannual competition drew to a close last weekend with 3000 competitors from 33 countries taking part running through beautiful countryside close to the River Dee, in the southerly part of the Cairngorms in Scotland. From Braemar to Aboyne with Ballater as the event centre, courses crossed open moorland, forests, marshes, heather, rocks and rivers to give all some great running and navigational challenges.

Nearly 50 club members participated and several gained some prestigious top 10 placings at this international and world ranking event. Juniors, competing in their first Scottish 6 day event, found the courses fairly tough, but had some great runs over the week. Oliver Lunn M16 made 10th place on Days 1, 2 and 6. Tabitha Lunn W14 was placed 6th on Day 3, 7th on Day 4, 3rd on Day 5 and 2nd on Day 6 to give her an overall position of 5th on the W14 Short course (calculated from 4 best scores out of 6).

Three OD club members competed on the longest Elite M21 courses. William Gardner had a great series of runs, 4th, 19th, 11th, 4th, 5th, and 8th, and his total time after completing all 6 was 372.17mins putting him into 5th overall position. Matthew Elkington was 11th overall and finished Day 1 in a great 6th place and Harrison McCartney was 14th overall with a 5th place on Day 4. Nathan Lawson was 9th overall on the M20 Long courses with a 4th, 6th, 10th and 11th place. Stephen Elkington was 3rd overall in the M20 Short class with a great 1st place on Day 3 adding to a 3rd and two 4th places.

Alistair Landels was 2nd overall on the M45L courses. He achieved a fantastic 1st place on Day 3 to add to his two 2nd and a 3rd place. John Bowman was 4th overall on the M75 short course with a 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th places.

Julie Emmerson was overall 6th on the longest W21 Elite female course, taking a total of 401.05mins after running on all 6 courses and Kirsten Strain was 9th in 415.15mins. Rachel Emmerson was 9th overall on the W21 Long Courses recording a 4th, 7th, 8th and 16th position. Juliette Soulard was 9th overall on the W45 Long Courses with an 8th, two 9th and a 10th place. Lesley Ross was 7th overall on the W50 Long courses achieving two 4th places and a 7th and 8th. Sheila Carey was 4th overall on the W70 Long courses with a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place. Hilary Simpson was 8th overall on the W75 Long courses with three 6th places and a 7th.

Individual day results in the top 10 included Barry Elkington 8th on Day 6 at Glen Feardar Mykyta Chubynski M40 was placed 9th on the short course on day 3 at Birsemore Hill. Sian Gardner was 10th on Day 4 on the W55 short course.

Alongside the 6 Day event there was a sprint event at Ballater and William Gardner was 4th on the Open Mens course in 16.29mins, just 49 seconds behind the winner. Sheila Carey was 4th on the Ultravet Womens course.

8th Aug 2017