FVO Juniors bring home medal haul
Forth Valley Orienteers elite juniors continued their rich vein of form, taking six medals in the prestigious North of England Championships in Yorkshire.
With races in both sprint and forest disciplines, there were opportunities to catch the eye of the national team selectors ahead of the summer’s international races, as well as boosting standings in the UK Elite League competition.
The Saturday sprint at York University brought double success for Grace and Peter Molloy, as Peter had a 27-second winning margin over JK champion Matthew Gooch in the M16 race, coming back in 15.01.
Grace was closer to the chasing pack in the combined W18/W20 race, but carved out the significant two seconds to overcome TVOC’s Fiona Bunn, with a finish of 17.56.
Lizzie Stansfield finished in fourth in the W16 event, which was won by INVOC’s Megan Keith.
The following day’s forest stage saw Grace double up with another win in the elite W18 race, in 52.45, as she was second-quickest overall on the course.
Dawn Goddard took the second gold of the day for FVO in the short-course W50 race (78.46), and there were silver medals for Lizzie Stansfield (W16A), in 53.50, and Rona Molloy (W50L), in 56.43. The final medal of the day was b Bronze for Peter Molloy in M16A, in 53.37.
Ben Stansfield was fourth in M50L (69.55) and Josie Stansfield sixth in W45L (70.20).
The first event of the FVO summer series brought more than 70 athletes to Dunblane’s Laighhills and there were some quick times.
Pierre Lardet won the long race in 32.54, holding off James Hammond (34.28) with Michael Stanwix third (34.44).
The intermediate race went to Laura Hendrie (19.46) from Paul Shaw (20.53) with Sam Hunt chasing hard for the third podium place (27.45).
James Hammond went off early in the short course race, setting a mark of 6.32 that wasn’t beaten. Newcomer Ross Hutcheon was second (10.07) with Eilidh Connor third in 13.47.