Forth Valley Orienteers lead the way at champs
A truly dominant performance right across the board saw Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) come away from the Scottish Orienteering Night Championships with seven titles amongst 11 medals, following racing at Balmoral.
An expansion in the number of classes meant new titles at under 14 and under 20 levels, and FVO performers were prominent from the off. Matthew Inman, on his night championship debut, won M14 in 69.33, and Eilidh Connor, who raced last year in the novice class secured the W14 title in 47.47. Meanwhile, the first name on the new M20 trophy is that of Jamie Goddard, who triumphed in 75.28 ahead of Edinburgh University’s USA international Keegan Harkavy.
Once again, the FVO vets were in imperious form, and came within 90 seconds of filling both Veteran class podiums. Will Hensman successfully defended his Men’s Vet crown in 50.32, with Steve Feltbower 2nd in 54.11, and Jason Inman got into the medal action with bronze in 54.28.
Women’s Vet was won by Janine Inman (55.12), four years after her last night race win, as she dethroned Beccy Osborn (71.06).
Rachel Kirkland was lying in third place for much of the evening, but was pushed out of the medals by the final finisher on the course.
Alison Cunningham secured her first Night title in Women’s Supervet (52.16), and Scarlett Kelly was the quickest of all competitors on the night, as she won W16 in 26.04.
Mark Holliday’s expertise in night orienteering is not in doubt, with all nine of his previous Scottish championship medals having come in that discipline, and he added a 10th this year with the bronze in Men’s Ultravet (57.45).
The following day brought a change of terrain with a North of Scotland League race on the sand dunes of Balmedie, and there was still room in the tank for three more podium finishes, as Matthew Inman made it a double with a win on the Light Green course in 32.36, while Liz Owen was 3rd on the same course (53.20).
Daniel Stansfield was back in the FVO colours this weekend, and managed his first podium in six injury-racked years, which have also seen him complete his training as a doctor, as he was third on the Brown course (47.06).