Kinloss pupils are champion

KINLOSS Primary’s young sporting stars were in the limelight last week when the school’s orienteering team were presented with the 2011 Moray Primary Schools League trophy during a school assembly.

The team have taken the league by storm, winning 10 of the 12 events held during 2011, with their star performer, Duncan Hornsby, winning 8 of the races. With 13 Kinloss youngsters taking part over the course of the year, this ensured that the school were nearly always able to field their full complement of 4 runners, while two pupils, Nathan McRae and Duncan Hornsby, managed to run in all 12 competitions. Kinloss scored an unbeatable 4,380 points with their nearest challengers, Dyke, scoring 2,753 and Aberlour third on 2,380 out of the 19 schools represented.

The 2012 league got under way at Lossiemouth on Saturday where Oakenhead Forest, with its fast underfoot conditions, made for some exciting racing for the field of over 80 runners. Kinloss look to have a fight on their hands to retain their primary schools title this year, with Bishopmill emerging on the scene as strong contenders. One or two of last year’s top performers had moved up to running the senior course, opening the door for some new faces to make their mark. The strong-running Bishopmill pairing of James Carter and Timmy Miller made short work of the 2.4 Km course, posting a time of 17:18, almost 40 seconds clear of Kinloss’s Sean Douglas with George Cannard from Burghead in 3nd. Daniel Campbell, still only in P5, had a fantastic run to claim 4th spot for Bishopmill, while Kinloss’s Heather Welsh was fastest girl in overall 5th. With the best 4 runners from each school to count, Kinloss and Bishopmill tied on 381 points to share top spot in the league with 11 races still to go.

Speyside High were defending their secondary schools title, but were able to field only 3 runners, meaning that Forres Academy were able to open up a big early lead in the table. Scottish International Andrew Barr from Dyke was in a different class to everyone else, and his time of just over 30 minutes on the 4 Km long course was only beaten by one senior runner. The fast-improving Kenneth Maciver, representing Elgin Academy, took 2nd spot while Kathryn Barr, who makes her debut for the Scottish Junior Squad this year, just edged out Speyside’s Ben Angus by a few seconds for 3rd.

The event also hosted the first race of the 2012 Moravian Saturday League senior individual competition. Defending champions George Paterson and Pippa Weir both had off days, with Paterson missing one control and Weir making a major navigation error to finish well down the field. With the latter stages the course running though the lanes and alleyways of fishertown, race winner Jon Hollingdale was literally streets ahead of the opposition, with a staggering time of 23:34 putting him a full 10 minutes ahead of local runner Roo Hornby in 2nd, with Paul Furness, recently arrived in Moray from the English midlands taking 3rd spot. Oonagh Grassie, Jenny Bichan and Liz Barr took the first 3 places in the women’s race.

The next local event is on Sunday 5th February when Moravian host their annual national ranking event in Darnaway Forest. This event always attracts a large entry from all over Scotland, and is a great opportunity for local orienteers to test themselves against the best. The event, as with all orienteering competitions, also includes races suitable for complete novices. Full details, and results from last Saturday, are on www.moravianorienteering.org