EckO plays on a beautiful Spring Weekend

Andy and Rona

Come on Dad, it's not that bad surely - it was only a short brown
Credit: BK

Posted: Tue 2 Apr 2019

The weekend of 30/31st March saw several Ecko members and families venturing further afield!

The Scottish Middle Distance Championships were held on Saturday at Birnam Wood near Dunkeld after the Hill Race. Congratulations must go to Louis and Jura who competed in both the hill race and the orienteering but the star of the show must be Iris who was a prizewinner and won the W14 - great preparation for the World Schools. Oh to be young and fit!

The competition ensured that everyone was suitably warmed up after a long walk in to the start with a steep climb but what's not to like on a beautiful sunny day with fabulous views, listening to the birds singing and imagining MacBeth and Birnam Wood moving to Dunsinane. (I don't know about the wood moving but I swear one of my controls was trying to join in with the march! It wasn't down to losing concentration and map contact - honest.) The area provided some challenging navigation and some tricky terrain underfoot but I certainly enjoyed it, learnt a lot and got my money's worth into the bargain.

Sunday saw the EckO army marching from Argyll to the sunny slopes of Dumyat just above Stirling for the SOL2. After another long walk and steep climb to the start, the courses took the competitors up onto the hill providing a lovely runnable area, interesting route choices and spectacular views. The courses were planned to finish down in the woodland providing short sharp, snappy legs and for those of us with aging eye sight, difficulty in making out the finer detail. However a great day out was had by all - the photos say it all.

Results:

Louis Macmillan (Brown, 4th), Andy Dale (Short Brown, 10th), Jura Macmillan (Blue, 21st), Susannah Macmillan (Blue, 32nd), John Coons ( Short Blue, 32nd), Gill Berrow (Green, 18th), Carol Burnapp (Green, 31st), Alan Partridge (Green, 34th), Diane Mailer (Green, 38th), Jan Kersel (Green, 43rd), Iris Macmillan (Light Green, 12th)

Congratulations to all our athletes. Hopefully, this will inspire many more EckO members to come to the first of our Spring series at Coille Nathais, near Taynuilt (an area that we haven't used for a while) and also venture to other areas. The SOL3 is on Sunday 14th April at the Falkland Estate near Glenrothes and the Scottish Champs and Relays are the weekend of 25/26 May near Dumfries. Susannah has offered to coordinate the relays on the Sunday. If you are looking for a bit of fast and furious fun then the relays are a must.

For further information about future events look at www.ecko.org.uk or www.scottish-orienteering.org