Nopesport

The sun shone over the small village of Twechar as the participants of the inaugral nopesport trophy filtered into the industrial estate-cum assembly arena organisers Clyde had set up. The forrest was Barr Hill, not Barr Wood which is some 20 miles up the road, and it was the definition of mixed terrain. Steep plantation, a white forest plateau, fields and two areas of highly detailed mineworks meant runners had to keep concentration high when it was required, as well as pushing hard on the long runs.

For the purposes of the nopesport trophy all men on brown and ladies on blue were eligible. Our very own Pyrat had planned some challenging courses with interesting route choices mixed up with short technical legs.

In the womens race Interlopers Janine Hensman took the title with a solid run to hold off British Junior Star Alison O'Neil of EUOC. Bronze and a lovely certificate went to Heather Hartman, also of Interlopers.

The mens race was an even closer affair. Murray Strain ran early and came into the finish satisfied with his orienteering but knowing he could have run a lot harder. When Scott Fraser and Graeme Ackland posted slower times he started to think the title could be his... However veteran runner Dave Robertson of Clyde had something to say about that, finishing with a time of 59.22: four seconds faster than Murray's 59.26, leaving Murray in second and Scott in third. Splits analysis showed that Murray was clearly running better than he thought, getting fastest splits on the two long legs, but had lost the race with hesitations in the technical areas.

So an impromptu prize giving was held, tshirts were sold, and general banter was had until the sun sank low in the sky and we all pootled off home to watch the end of the rugby, happy in the knowledge that they'd enjoyed a premier day's orienteering courtesy of Britain's premier orienteering website.

Results here
Male Winners route here
Photos in the gallery here