Glenalmond College was again the wonderful venue for the Western schools orienteering championships. Teams from Aberuthven, Blackford, Crieff, Dunning, Greenloaning, Madderty, Muthill and St Dominic’s competed – fifty teams in all, each with three pupils. Teamwork is a key factor in getting a good result, along with skilled navigation, fitness, good planning and strategy. Early in the morning when the controls were being put out, it appeared that the ability to stay on one’s feet would also be critical as paths were really icy and snow was lying on the ground, but fortunately, by the time the event started the sun was out, it was a glorious day and the ice at least had gone.
The challenge is to go to as many of 27 control features on the map as possible in the 45 minutes allowed, with a late return being penalised with the loss of points. There was very close competition, seven teams scoring 500 or more points out of the maximum 540 points, with especially close rivalry between St Dominics and Dunning. Initially it appeared that St Dominics had again achieved the top places with first and third, but once a problem with the electronic timing had been analysed and corrected, it was Dunning who had first and third places with St Dominics in second and fourth. The winning team was The News Team with 540 points in the excellent time of 39 minutes 39 seconds, one of the fastest times achieved in the last six years. Second was Speedy Spiders on 535 points, 45mins 35; third was The Houndz, 530 points in the very fast time of 38.23, fourth was Top Gear, 520 points, 46.28.
The number of teams going to the final at Scone Palace depends on the entries for the next four area finals, but certainly the top 15 teams will be invited to Scone and that includes teams from Blackford, Crieff, Muthill and Madderty. Greenloaning and Aberuthven teams are very close to qualifying, but will have to wait until the area finals are completed.
2009 is a big year for orienteering in Perthshire with a Scottish League event with courses for all to be held on April 5th based at the Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre using a newly-commissioned map. Then, at the start of August around 3,500 orienteers from all over the world will be competing in the Scottish 6-Days Orienteering Festival with Perth Racecourse being the event centre.
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