Nopesport

Sunday saw the ESOC Sprint O Held at Penicuik Estate, just south of Edinburgh. The area's main intricacies are getting up and down the steep slippery slopes without damaging yourself in the process and avoiding getting stuck in the middle of rhododendron bushes. On offer were 2 courses, the short race consisted of 2 legs of around 3.3km while the long course had 2 legs of around 4.5km. Sadly due to the weather, very cold and very windy, it wasn't the best opportunity for spectating but with a very visible start and finish area it could have been quite a good spectacle had the weather been kinder.

On the long course the first leg saw Donald Petrie of Clyde take a vital 3 minute lead over Ed Nicholas into the 2nd Leg. Just 41 seconds behind Ed was John Tullie of Roxburgh Reivers with Duncan Grassie a further 75 seconds adrift. Having just beaten John in the Carnethy 5 hill race the previous day the question was whether Ed would be able to do it once again and whether he had the strength to close the 3 minute lead held by Donald.

On the short race Andrew Brown cruised round comfortably in 28:01 to take a 5 minute lead over Roger Garnett of ESOC. Andrew Tullie of RR was a further 2 minutes down with a few misses spoiling a good run. The women's leader also created a strong lead over the short course, Margaret Dalgleish of ESOC just under 4 minutes clear of clubmate Marieke Dwarshuis with Rachel Wilson of Clyde a further 90 seconds down. So going into the second leg of the race the leaders all had a comfortable position but would they be comfortable enough?

In the end both Donald Petrie & Margaret Dalgliesh both held on for victory, their leads too much to be overturned but both missed out on taking their second leg victory of the day. John Tullie was closely behind Ed Nicholas for a few controls before passing him and opening up a gap but couldn't find enough to make much of a dent in the 3 minute lead the Donald held. So slight reward for John in winning leg 2, by only 4 seconds, leapfrogging Ed into 2nd place but it was Donald who went home with the trophy. Duncan Grassie again took 4th spot on the leg and overall.

In the women's race it was a similar story, Karin & Robert pipping Margaret by just 2 seconds to take the Leg victory with Marieke a further 17 seconds behind. This meant no change to the top 3 with Margaret taking the title ahead of Marieke with Karin & Robert of ESOC in 3rd spot, just 5 seconds ahead of Kirstin Maxwell of RR who they'd been head to head with for much of the course. Andrew Brown again took victory on the short course in a time of 29:40 despite a couple of poor routes. Andrew Tullie overtook Roger Garnett on the final leg to take 2nd place overall with Roger finishing in 3rd.

So congratulations to Donald & Margaret, as well as thanks to everyone who helped stop ESOC's tent blowing away!

Full Results & Splits can be found here

Penicuik Estate (Short Race, Leg 2, 3.4km)