Eleventh heaven for star Nicholson
Multi-title champ shows his class with another win
Steve Nicholson claimed his 11th Forth Valley Orienteers club championship title at Duncraggan, Brig o’Turk last weekend by a narrow 16-second margin from Jason Inman.
The multi-title winner dominated the Open Men’s championship in the early days of the competition but this was his first championship since 2008 having had a lengthy spell out of the sport and moving to the Veteran class.
A finish time of 31.45 was good for the win with Jason chasing hard in 32.01 and Fraser Purves third in 32.24.
Having organised the 2016 championship, Graham Gristwood and Fanni Gyurko were ineligible to defend their 2015 titles but normal service was resumed as they reclaimed their Open titles, Graham coming home in 31.11, ahead of Chris Smithard (35.32) and Jegor Kostylev (38.35) and Fanni going quick (32.37) to hold off a valiant challenge from Angela Mudge (37.06) with Anastasia Trubkina (39.43).
Janine Inman had her first race after a long injury layoff but proved she still has the required quality to dominate in the forest with a 90-second winning margin (30.32) in her first-ever run as a veteran ahead of Beccy Osborn (31.57) and Cathy Tilbrook (33.17) to claim the Veteran Women’s championship while Lindsey Hensman made it three titles in a row in SuperVet Women (39.03).
Having made an age-group transition this year, Martin Dean represents a major threat as a SuperVet and won the class by a 13-minute margin (25.02) from Robert Neil (38.32) and Dave Coustick, seeking his fourth SuperVet championship, third in 38.59.
With two-time champion Peter Molloy not lining up in the Boys Championship, Ben Parkinson had a free run at the title he last won in 2013, turning home in 29.50. There were no competitors in the Girls Championship for the third successive year, but Lizzie Stansfield, who was the only eligible entrant, was awarded the title for finishing a creditable fifth in the Women’s Open.
Among the juniors, there were three new club champions, as the next generation of FVO talent continued to show up. Rory Spenceley took the boys title in 20.50 from Ru Flint (24.55) and James Hammond (25.46); the Young Junior Boys trophy went to Leonard Herbst (17.38) ahead of Alexander Hunt (28.34) and the Young Junior Girls champion for 2017 is Rebecca Hammond, with a finish of 13.50, ahead of Hannah Inman (15.47) with Isla Spenceley third in 18.08.
The final title of the weekend went to Lucy Hensman , who successfully defended her Junior Girls title, in a time of 35.27, ahead of Kirsty Flint (45.44), and newcomer Heidi Eik-Maxwell in 56.50.