Forth Valley success in orienteering championships

Forth Valley athletes secured 20 medals - including six golds - at the recent 2017 British Orienteering Championships in the Lake District

The standout performer from the first day was Grace Molloy, who won the elite W18 class in 59.02.

Graham Gristwood then defended his M21E title in style - the only athlete to break the 100 minute barrier for the 14.9km course, finishing in 98.45.

The most convincing winning margin of the day was posted by Euan Patton in the M14 B race, as he stomped out a margin of 15½mins to take the title in 37.40.

There was double joy in the women’s veteran classes as FVO scored another two gold medals through the efforts of Kirsty Bryan-Jones (W45) and Hazel Dean (W50). Kirsty won in 61.23 while Hazel clocked 61.01.

Other medals on day one saw silvers for Peter Molloy M16A (52.38), Ben Stansfield M45L (74.42), Lizzie Stansfield W16A (58.35) and Sarah Tullie W21L (97.12) while there were bronze medals for Will Hensman M35L (96.22), David Godfree M40L (82.32), Jason Inman M45L (71.40), Jonathan Molloy M45S (92.35), Jon Cross M50L (71.40) and Anastasia Trubkina W21E (88.26).

There was an element of controversy on day two, as no fewer that 10 teams were disqualified from the men’s premier relay race, including defending champions Forth Valley Flyers.

Problems with the SI Air technology not recording punches mean none of the first three finishers‘ efforts counted.

FVO 2 were amongst the beneficiaries however, moving up from fifth place to silver medal position. The team of Will Hensman, Jegor Kostylev and LewisTaylor.

FVO Female Flyers made a last minute line-up change with Lizzie Stansfield stepping up from the juniors for her senior club debut. She wasn’t overawed and helped the team to a bronze medal.

Peter Molloy, Trevor Hoey and Brad Connor claimed bronze for FVO4 in the short race.

Roger Goddard, David Godfree and Marcus Pinker retained their M40 title and the M40 B team of Ben Stansfield, Jason Inman and Jon Cross were third.

An injury to Hazel Dean in winning the W50 race on Saturday ruled her out of the relay, and her place was taken by W21 runner Anastasia Trubkina, which meant that the W40 B team, also containing Josie Stansfield and Beccy Osborn, was ineligible to take a medal, despite finishing in third place overall.

The W40 A team of Rona Molloy, Jen Leonard and Kirsty BryanJones was fourth.