Results from St Magdalene Hill Local Event, 24th July 2011

Event report (or "Pig nearly bites Man")

Organiser Dave Prentice supplements his usual review of proceedings with an account of one competitor's experience with a local resident...

Tayside Orienteers members met on St Magdalene's Hill last Sunday for the annual club BBQ and a small local event that was to provide the last opportunity to practice before next week's Scottish 6-Days Orienteering Championships next week based around Oban.

There were 4 courses ranging from 1.6 kms to 4.9 kms, the longest going onto the open hill around the masts on Callerfountain and providing lovely running and equally lovely views. All was going smoothly until Gerry Thomson, one of the competitors on the longest course, came in early looking rather red in the face to report he had been chased by a wild boar in the woodland across the motorway, and retired. The boar had a decent pair of tusks and considerable bulk and moved rather quickly. Gerry swore he had not been sampling any mushrooms and the story was verified when another competitor said he had likewise seen the boar. Finally, it was reported that a sow with three stripy piglets had been seen, but the competitor wisely let them trot past and then continued on her course. The piglets probably explained the aggression of the boar, whose tusks by this time had grown to a good foot in length.

In orienteering parlance, a course goes from one control to another and the section between controls is called a 'leg' and electronic timing means that at the finish you get a printout of the time taken for each leg and these allow a competitor to see how he/she has fared against other competitors and are called split times, or splits. If the boar had chased Gerry in the right direction, then he may well have achieved a record time for his split, but unfortunately it was in the wrong direction, and hence his decision to retire. On the other hand, if he had not been so fleet-footed, splits might have taken on a whole new meaning which does not really bear thinking about. Gerry may be somewhat accident-prone on his visits from the Borders to Perthshire as on a previous visit to Pitmedden, a collision with a tree resulted in one bloodied eye and a visit to the PRI, where fortunately all was deemed OK. In the light of his latest experience, possibly a first in British orienteering, TAY are offering free entry for the next event and await the outcome with interest and a first-aid kit at the ready.

For the record, 37 runners competed, with most staying to enjoy a lovely barbeque. In the 1.6kms, 70m climb Yellow course, Roos Eisma-Clinch and her daughter Chantelle took the honours in a time of 34 mins 47secs; in the 2.8kms, 125m climb Orange course, TAY juniors took the first three places with Laura Nicoll from Dunkeld first in 54.59 ahead of Finlay Downie and Thomas Wake; in the 3.5 kms, 140m climb Green course, Nicola Melville on holiday from England was well in the lead with a time of 46.15 though Alan Bothwell from TAY would have been close if it had not been for an early error, while on the 4.9 kms, 200m climb Blue course, Grahame Nicoll and Rhys Stanwix of TAY swapped the lead until close to the end when Grahame pulled away to win in 47.49, precisely 2 minutes ahead of Rhys who was followed by half a dozen runners from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

So, some good practice for the 6-Days. Meanwhile, one section of the club reckons that the little piglets should be left to roam free, with perhaps a warning posted; another less sentimental section seems to favour a spit roast at the next BBQ...

PDF version of results, including some split times

Yellow Course

Length: 1.6km, Climb 70m

Orange Course

Length: 2.8km, Climb 125m

Green Course

Length: 3.5km, Climb 140m

Blue Course

Length: 4.9km, Climb 200m

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