Young Moray orienteers lead the way

A NUMBER of junior runners from Moravian Orienteering Club made their debut in the annual Scottish Inter-Club Junior Championships at Tentsmuir Forest, near Tayport, Fife, competing for the Jamie Stevenson Trophy.

Despite the blow of losing Andrew Barr through injury, the team put in a superb effort, coming sixth – only seven points off second place in one of the most closely fought contests in the competition’s history.

The performance of the day came from Tegan Gregory. Despite this being only her 10th competitive race, the Applegrove pupil beat off all the opposition to win the junior girls’ class, with Aubrina MacPherson-Stewart gaining the silver medal to get Moravian off to a flying start.

With each club’s best six results out of the eight classes to count, hopes were high when Duncan Hornsby finished fourth in the junior boys’ race and Mairi Weir came sixth in the junior girls. However, the extremely high calibre of the opposition began to tell in the senior classes, with some international class runners making their presence felt.

Mar Orienteering Club, the top junior outfit in Scotland, boasted a European schools’ champion and several female GB runners in its squad, and they stamped their authority on the longer races.

confidence

Nevertheless, Kathryn Barr did well to come ninth in the intermediate girls’ race, while a tremendous run from Johnstone MacPherson-Stewart in the senior boys made him Moravian’s final counting runner thanks to his fifth place.

But the competition was about more than the star athletes, it gave the club’s younger runners the chance to experience a national-standard competition and learn from their club mates. With pairs being allowed in the most junior races, this enabled three of Moravian’s youngest members to take part.

At the age of seven, Rob Bichan and Scott Perry, were able to team up with older runners and successfully completed their course. Eight-year-old Peter Cannard from Burghead was able to pair up with older brother, George, to finish a very respectable 10th amongst the junior boys. Nine-year-old Shauna Perry from Conicavel had a fantastic confidence boost when she finished 20th without a navigational error.

Youngsters will be able to find out what an exciting sport orienteering can be this weekend, when Moravian team up with Inverness Orienteers to stage the Moray and Highland Junior Championships. This event will be based at Roseisle picnic site on Sunday.

The competition is aimed at novice juniors, and everyone is welcome to come and take part. There are separate classes for boys and girls at under-11, under-13, under-15 and under-17, with a special ‘elite’ course for the experts. Registration is at 10.30am and start times are anytime between 11 am and 1 pm. Entry costs £3 and you can find out everything about the event by going to www.invoc.org.uk