PICTURES: More than 450 take part as Inverness hosts 2024 Scottish Orienteering Championships
Hundreds of competitors descended on Inverness on Saturday as the local orienteering club hosted the 2024 Scottish Orienteering Championships.
The annual competition took part in mixed forests on steep and complex terrain over Creag Leach and Craig Dunain, with an event hub at Ness Farm just off the A82.
Competitors aged from eight to 80-plus were involved in the competition, which has been run since 1963, across a range of age groups.
Inverness Orienteering Club – better known as INVOC – last hosted the championships in 2018.
More than 450 people from across Scotland and beyond attended the weekend event and enjoyed hot and sunny conditions despite some wet underfoot conditions.
There were 12 courses, ranging from elite level with a distance of 12.8km and 485m of ascent, to an introductory ‘white’ course at 2.5km with 15m of ascent.
The event finished with a prize-giving ceremony with medals for the top three finishers in the A, L (Long) and E (Elite) classes, as well as individual trophies for qualifying Scots winners on the courses of age classes M10 to M80 and W10 to W75, with the exception of Elite M/W21, for which there are separate trophies for overall winner, first native Scot and fastest member of a Scottish club.
Carolyn Cload, who organised the event on behalf of INVOC, said: “Thanks to the Inverness Common Good Fund for sponsoring the event, and Dochfour Estate and Ness Farm for providing access.
“It was a beautiful day and great to see several Scottish champions from Inverness.”
INVOC was also awarded with its Bronze level in the Scottish Orienteering Club Accreditation scheme, which helps clubs to gain recognition of professional standards for official bodies, funders, landowners and other partners.
The national championships continued on Sunday with a relay event which took place at Roseisle Forest, Burghead, hosted by Moravian Orienteers.
Selected results, INVOC members:
M10B – 1 Sebastian Islei, 30:16
M12A – 4 Jolyon Picton, 63:40
M12B – 1 Harris Green, 29:31, 2 Gideon Wilson, 42:26
M14A – 1 Henrik Borrowman, 50:23, 3 Ewan Thompson, 79:00
M14B – 1 Harry Milton, 76:40, 2 Iain MacLeod, 120:43
M16A – 3 Douglas McDonald, 54:05, 7 Evan Sime, 72:35, 10 Toby Burton, 80:55, 12 Archie Webster, 102:27
M18E – 8 Rory Black, 90:53, 10 Angus Laird, 105:14
M18L – 1 James Luke, 88:57
M20E – 5 Finlay Raynor, 86:22
M21E – 7 Iain Harding, 92:33, 9 Philip Vokes, 95:52, 18 Finlay Todd, 113:40
M45L – 2 Laurence Cload, 71:58, 8 Stuart Thompson, 110:22, 11 John Davidson, 121:41
M50L – 13 Iain Sime, 102:03, 15 Steven Scott, 119:02
M50S – 1 Nick Carter, 62:28, 3 Kenneth McDonald, 74:25
M55L – 4 James Laird, 77:41
M55S – 6 James Finlayson, 95:08
M65L – 15 John Malley, 110:07
M75L – 9 Guy Seaman, 79:13
M80 – 2 George Reynolds, 67:30, 4 Tim Sowood, 79:41, 5 Ken Naismith, 92:19
W10A – 1 Freya Carter, 37:09, 2 Iona Harvey, 48:26, 6 Elsie Naismith, 59:18
W10B – 1 Ella Milton, 24:22
W12B – 1 Katy Ash, 29:37
W14A – 2 Hazel Cload, 42:59, 5 Lily Carter, 48:58
W14B – 1 Cora Comisso, 77:19, 3 Clara Davidson, 155:15
W16A – 3 Iona Scott, 49:40, 10 Rona Laird, 78:25, 13 Erica Cload, 156:48
W16B – 3 Ellen Ash, 94:40
W18E – 2 Charlotte Burton, 80:00
W21S – 1 Zoe Harding, 64:38
W40S – 3 Amy Carter, 138:28
W45L – 7 Dagmar Borrowman, 92:55
W50L – 11 Jacquie Laird, 94:05
W55L – 1 Susan Blackwood, 67:12, 12 Marianne Macleod, 149:49
W60L – 7 Janet Walton, 134:59, 8 Veronica Vargas, 141:10
W75 – 4 Joan Noble, 68:10
W80 – 2 Adrienne Sowood, 128:32
• Full results at https://www.invoc.org.uk/results/2024/SOC/index.html or see https://www.invoc.org.uk/index.php/invoc-events/results
