Orienteering news
Tue 13th May, Glenbranter
Near Strachur, full range of courses will be available. More details...
Wed 14th May, Airds Park
Near Taynuilt, full range of courses will be available. More details...
Wed 7th May, Inverawe
Results... and RouteGadget...
There were a few problems with the results data for various reasons. This caused a problem on the green course in RouteGadget. In fixing that, the control circles have moved slightly and so the early routes on blue may not quite line up.
Tue 6th May, Bishops Glen
A score type event aimed at those with little or no orienteering experience.
Results...
A sad reflection of our times is that an electronic control marker and 3 kites were stolen during the event. The controls cost £75 each and whilst we have insurance, the excess means it's not worth claiming.
We have had problems in the past at Bishops Glen with controls being removed, so this may be the last time we use the glen for an event.
Wed 30th April, Kilmun Arboretum
Coille Nathais, Wed April 23rd
The first event of our Spring Series. Results & RouteGadget...
Global Warming or is it just us?
Each Easter, Paul & I think long and hard about our plans. We never seem to get it right though!
This year I had a long weekend over Easter as it was so early. Easter Day should be on or after 21st March. That date is the Equinox, when we often have storms or, as in 2007, run out of water as the tidal range can be extreme. The JK was to be in SE England so we decided to drive down and compete over the weekend. Read the full story...
CompassSport Cup, 16th March
It was great to have an ECKO team in the CompassSport Cup this year.
We certainly didn't embarrass ourselves, finishing 7th of the 10 clubs taking part despite surely being the smallest club there.
Read more...
Fearnoch Forest, 9th March, results
EckO returned to Fearnoch for another mountain bike orienteering event after the success of last year's event in the forest.
Results RouteGadget and photos are now available.
AGM, 9th March, Minutes
Now available, AGM minutes...
2008 - So far and coming up
In this part of Scotland, the start of the year is often quiet for orienteering. Some other parts have night leagues (FVO in Stirling, the Deeside clubs) or meet regularly for training indoors and out of doors. With the geographical spread of EckO and the low population base this kind of activity is harder to achieve. The committee tries to ensure an event a month. Read more...
Oban, 3rd February
The weather wasn't as bad as forecast, it only started raining lightly when we had finished. Andy has done a good job with the map, it was a shame that only 6 of us got to use it. Results and RouteGadget.
Inverawe, 9th Dec, results
The opening of the Inverawe permanent course. This was also the club Christmas event with tinsel & baubles marking the permanent plaques. Read more & results.
Kilmory, 24th Nov, report
There was a very good turnout considering the weather (frequent heavy showers). This was the first time the club had used this new area, and found that it offered a good range of challenges for people of all abilities. It was good to see some new faces and we hope that you enjoyed it enough to come back for more. Read more & results.
Committee meeting minutes
Read what we talked about at the last committee meeting.
EckO at the National event, Perthshire
Personal views of the event from Ross Lilley & John Anderson, read them both.
Sutherland's Grove, Sat 10th Nov, results
I hope you all enjoyed the different format to usual. It seemed well-suited to Sutherland's Grove which has a varied network of tracks. I certainly enjoyed exploring there, and admit to choosing more than one control site for its view! That might not have been obvious on the rather grey day, but the rain held off and we even got a bit of sun at the end.
Read more, the results and RouteGadget here.
Ardkinglas, Sun 28th Oct
The results and RouteGadget are now available.
Spey 2007, Scottish 6 Days report
So, how did EckO members do in the overall results (4 out of 6 scores to count). Gill did very well and achieved a top 10 place (9th in W50L). For the rest of us, you will have to look a lot further down the lists! Paul achieved a bronze badge for the first time, Niall achieved a matching pair of blisters on his feet. Roanne Lilley completed white courses on her own for the first time and Julie is still recovering from the trauma of sending her daughter out into these huge strange forests! Read the full story.
Decisions!
Orienteering is sometimes known as ‘The Thought Sport’ and it is quite easy to see why; navigating to each control requires the orienteer to constantly make decisions regarding the route they will take. They are basing these decisions on the information they receive from the map, information they receive from the ground, their personal navigational skills and the way they are able to move over the ground. Read Lynne's reflections on the Dunollie event.
EckO awarded £1000 for new project
We applied for the money from the Scottish Orienteering development fund. It will be used to provide permanent orienteering courses in 5 forests; Inverawe, Bridgend (Islay), Kilmory (Lochgilphead), Bishop’s Glen (Dunoon), Ardkinglas (Cairndow) are the chosen locations. Work will now start on planning courses and ordering the markers. There will be 20 control sites at each location identified by a plate like that illustrated.
Map and instruction packs will be available to download from the website and to purchase from a local tourist/forestry office.
Club clothing 
At long last we have got a new club top - up to date styling and materials (CoolMax, made by Craft who also make the kit for the GB team and squads). Details of tops.
RouteGadget
This is a great addition to the website, it allows runners to plot their route on a map and then view an animated re-run of the course against up to 9 other runners. Looking at other peoples route choice can also be a good training aid and gives feedback to planners. I hope more clubs will offer this facility in the future. More details about RouteGadget. Updated 7th June.
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Last updated: May 9, 2008
Loch Eck Orienteers is the orienteering club for Argyll, Scotland. We have a core of very active members, including some that compete at international level. The club covers the whole of Argyll, with bases in Dunoon, which is in the south-east and Oban in the north-west. 