BASOC at the Scottish Champs
How did BASOC get on?
Sunday 13th June - yes the Scottish Orienteering Champs are on! After a couple of weeks of "Will it be the Scottish Champs, will it be just an orienteering event?" it was confirmed to be the Champs.
Twelve BASOC members made their way to just north of Dunkeld to the area where the first orienteering event was held in Scotland in 1963 - Craig a Barns.
This area has a bit of a reputation, it is tough underfoot in places and can be a great navigational challenge. It is a very large area and the orienteering map has evolved over time - see the images of the 1975 map and the 1990 map - compare to the one which was used at Strathearn 2019 Day 5 and for the Scottish Champs 2021.
The day was mild - it even rained a bit while I was waiting at the Start - and breezy. After the heat we had had the weather made for pleasant running, especially as the courses were a mixture of open moorland, runnable forest and some green stuff. Car parking was up a steep road to Rotmell Farm and then a bumpy filed which sported a good crop of thistles. The route to the starts was through a footbath (biosecurity issues); there were two starts to split the number of competitors up and adhere to Covid-19 regulations. No food supplies or traders in the arena area and we were encouraged to avoid socialising - so it was a quick chat to people we have not seen for ages before heading back to the cars.
So how did BASOC competitors get on? Full results can be accessed on the ESOC website. It is also worthwhile looking at RouteGadget - on my course (Short Green) it is interesting to see the different routes the competitors took.
| Yellow | M10A | 1st | Finley Hollinger |
| Light Green | M14A | 8th | Fergus Kenyon |
| Short Green | W65A | 3rd 8th | Lynne Walker Hilary Scott |
| Green | W16A | 1st
5th | Alice Kemsley Faith Kenyon |
| Short Blue | W21S M65L | 2nd 3rd 5th | Alison Campbell Rob Hickling Callum Scott |
| Blue | W35A
M60L | 3rd 9th | Gemma Karatay Duncan Francis |
| Brown | M21L | Ross White unfortunately Ross missed #21, but he was winning before this! |
Congratulations to all those who achieved podium places - 1st for Finley & Alice, 2nd for Alison and 3rd for Gemma, Rob & Lynne.
Many thanks to ESOC for organising the event and planning the courses, to Sarah Dunn for controlling. It was great to be back at an event and to wave to friends in the car park!