Nopesport

Day 2 of the 2005 Scottish 6 Days competition took place at Scolty, a little to the west of the Event Centre at Crathes Castle. The area promised fast woodland with easy navigation in the form of path networks and line features. For the longer courses, there was also steep open hillside with tricky contours and rock features.

Peter Bray of Southern Navigators retained the lead after the slightly longer day 2 M12A course. Jack Barrett of Forth Valley did well to go from 18th yesterday to 2nd on today’s course, albeit 6 minutes behind the winner. Cillin Corbett of CORKO retained 3rd spot, nearly 2 minutes behind Barrett. Today on the M12B course, the winner and runner up swapped, so that George Hurford of BOK won today’s course, and runner up was Laurenz Elstner from Austria. Yesterdays fourth placed Duncan Taylor of DEVON came third, 3 minutes behind Hurford.

It was all change at the top of the M14A leaderboard as the leaders from yesterday slipped down somewhat and new runners took their place. Stuart Thomson of Forth Valley won the 3.7km course, with George Stevens of AIRE just over half a minute behind. In third place was Nottinghamshire’s Tim Martin. Yesterday’s winner, Huw Stradling of BOK, slipped down to 10th today, four and a half minutes behind Thomson. On the M14B course, new leader Alex Whitehead of Derwent Valley won it convincingly after yesterday’s leader mispunched. He was 7 minutes ahead of yesterday’s runner up, Markus Dresel of Germany, and third place went to his brother, Patrick Dresel.

It was a similar picture on the M16A course as the lead changed slightly. Jack Wood of AIRE won the 5.7km course after coming 15th yesterday. Emil Joensson of Sweden improved slightly on yesterday to come second, and Christopher Smithard of DEE dropped from first yesterday to third today, despite being less than 30 seconds behind Wood. The lead changed again on the M16B course, after being placed seventh and over 20 minutes behind the leader yesterday, Teige Malley of Derwent Valley won the 3.7km course today, nearly 8 minutes ahead of yesterday’s victor, Ben Scarf of EPOC. In third place was Donald Slater of INVOC.

There was another big lead change on the M18A course, as 3 of yesterday’s top 4 all mispunched today. In the end however the new leader was Rosgren Rickard of OK NJUDUNG, who ran 7 mins/km over the 7km course. Welsh number 1 and ninth yesterday, Rhodri Buffett of South Wales was runner up, under three minutes behind Rickard. The chaos with yesterday’s leaders allowed David Schorah of DEE to go from fifth to third place today, 4 minutes behind Rickard.

On the W12A course, Delyth Darlington of ERYRI retained the lead. She was a minute ahead of Florence Haines of AIRE who was in third place overnight. Third place today went to Suvi Harju from Finland, who was nearly three and a half minutes behind Darlington. The leadership on the W12B course was hotly contested today, with seconds between the top 3 places and the course being won and lost on the first few controls. Third place from yesterday, Natalie Smith of Guildford won today. 2 seconds behind her, improving from yesterdays tenth place was Aimee Astbury of Forth Valley. A further two seconds behind her was Katherine Nicholls, also of Guildford, who came eighth yesterday.

On the W14A course yesterday’s leader, Joanna Shepherd of INVOC slipped from first to eighth. This meant that yesterday’s runner up, Julia Blomquist of BAOC took the victory on day 2. Second place this time went to Camille Rauturier from France. Mairead Rocke of Leicestershire came third today, having come tenth yesterday. On the W14B course it was another win for Norwegian Linn Kristine Gjesdal, 3 minutes ahead of Russian Ekaterina Chernyshova. Lizzie Clemence from South Wales managed to retain third place, only 15 seconds behind the Russian.

Catherine Taylor of CLOK retained her lead on the W16A course after day 2, this time 3 minutes ahead of Alice Butt from SARUM. Yesterday’s runner up, Hazel Wright of MAROC came third today, 2 minutes behind Butt. On the W16B course Finnish athlete Emma Liljeroth widened the gap on the lead by winning by a further 5 and a half minutes over the 3.2km course. Susan Ford of HOC improved by two places to become runner up, while Jennifer Williams of BASOC slipped from second to finish in third place today, some ten minutes behind the winner.

It was all change on the W18A course as many of the overnight forerunners slipped and allowed other athletes to take their place. Over the 5.9km course, Nottinghamshire’s Rose Hodkinson ran 9 minute kilometres to win, having been eighth overnight. Fifth place from yesterday, Rebecca Roberts of SROC finished over one and a half minutes behind the winner. Third place went to yesterday’s leader, Swede Karin Persson who was still three minutes behind Hodkinson.

PeterB

Today's results can be found in full here.