Check out the EVENTS DIARY page to see what's coming up.
Our next Saturday event is on the 27th April in Dumfries. Pre entries will be open until 23.00 on 22nd April. To find out more go to the EVENTS DIARY
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SOUL Thanks to all the Solway Orienteers members, both past and present who helped out with the preparation and running of this event. We are very grateful for all your help and support.
Thank you also to all the competitors who took part over the two days. We hope you enjoyed the orienteering. The results from the the SOUL event are now on the club website.
Go to the RESULTS page to find the link.
The Results from the Scottish Night Championships are now not the web. Go to the RESULTS page to find the link.
Crossmichael night O practice.
A massive thanks to Tom for planning the night O practice at Crossmichael. It was a cold blustery night but the rain and snow stayed away and once out in the woods the navigational challenges posed swamped any thoughts about the weather. All who took part agreed that it was great fun. Thanks also to the local community for allowing us to use this area.
Heathhall 20 January 2024
Mabie Knoll Bagging
Pits n Bumps
Cally Woods 25 Nov 2023
Membership renewals
It's time to renew memberships.
If you have been considering taking our membership now is a great time of year to to do this as your membership will last until the end of 2024. For those that are rejoining you need to check out the new membership categories which have been created. You can find out more on the HOW TO JOIN page
Crichton night event 8 Nov.
We had a fantastic return to night orienteering. Richard had planned some enjoyable courses, the weather was kind and everyone finished having had a good time.
Thanks also to everyone who helped out tonight.
The results are now on the web and you can find the link on the
RESULTS page.
Our next Saturday morning event will be on 25 Nov in Cally Woods near Gatehouse of Fleet. More details to follow soon.
Silvercraig and Barhill Wood 30 Sept 2023
Drumlanrig 9 Sept 2023
Mabie Forest and BBQ
Dalbeattie Town Wood
It was another lovely evening out in the wood. It was good to have a few visitors from other clubs along to join in the fun. Thanks to everyone who helped out Emily C. for planning a super Medium course, Tim for planning the other two courses Thomas for helping put out controls and everyone who helped collect in at the end.
The results are now on the web on the RESULTS page
Corncockle and Spedlin's Flow
Thanks to John R for tonight's event at Corncockle. It was another lovely warm sunny evening. John had planned some enjoyable and challenging courses. The results from the event are now on the web on the RESULTS page.
Our Summer Series got off to a flying start in Castledykes Park. Tim's numbers based challenge courses proved to be great fun and created a few headaches for people.
Thanks to everyone who came along and to everyone who helped out with running the event ad collecting in controls at the end.
The results are now on the web. Results
Scottish Orienteering Championships
Mabie Knoll Bagging
The results are now on the web. Go to the RESULTS page to find the link.
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Heathall on the 11th March
Thank you to Ian and Alastair for the event today. It was most enjoyable, the mix of forest and urban sections on the Long course added to the interest. All those little pathways through between different streets and green areas can be easy to miss so you have to keep your wits about you.
Thank you also to everyone who helped out today including our youngest ever helper .... you know who you are!
The results are now on the web on this link Results
8 Feb Silvercraig Wood night event
The results are in. You will find them on the RESULTS page
Pits n Bumps
The 4th Feb. saw the return of our popular Pits n Bumps event. This was the first event we have been able to hold in Barhill Plantation after the devastation caused by Storm Arwen 14 months ago. There are still areas of windblown trees but today proved that with careful planning it is possible to hold local events there. The results from this event are now on the RESULTS page.
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Unfortunately we have had to postpone our next local orienteering opportunity on Saturday on 21 Jan. in Heathhall Wood, Dumfries. Currently the wood is flooded.
Club Minutes
Minutes from the most recent Committee meetings and AGM can now be found on the CLUB POLICIES page.
Silvercraig Wood 22 Oct 2022
The technical wrinkles have been resolved and the full results are now available. The over all placings are largely the same but two family members will find that their places have switched! Click here to see the full results
Another successful event at Silvercraig Wood. There have been a number of challenges along the way with this event the main one being when the maps arrived through the post somehow communication lines had got a bit crossed and we didn't have any maps for the long course! Yikes!! Luckily the company that we use got onto the problem straight away and sent us the missing ones and despite postal strikes they arrived on time. Whew.
It was even an international event as we had a Norwegian orienteer turn up to take part. He mentioned that he had orienteered in Dalbeattie in 1967.
Thanks to Ally for planning all the courses today. People obviously enjoyed the courses and the challenges that he posed and it was good to see people relaxing afterwards and comparing route choices.
Thanks also to everyone who helped out today with the event and with collecting in the controls.
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A quick update regarding reporting of behavioural and or safeguarding issues associated with the activities of Solway Orienteers. Following the recent report of racism in sport we have we expanded the scope of the form and added an additional route of reporting.
You can find the links to the form on the following pages
CLUB POLICIES
CONTACT US
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Crichton Grounds 3rd Sept Thanks to everyone who came along to the event today and to everyone who helped out with the running of the event. We hope you all had as much fun as we did. You can check the Results on this link
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Mabie Forest
Well that's our summer series over, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have. Tonight's event was a fitting end to the series with a good turnout on lovely sunny evening. Thanks to Alastair for planning the courses and for running proceedings tonight. Thanks also to Ian and Naomi for a lovely BBQ.
The results are now on the web on the following link. Results
Corncockle Plantation and Spedlin's Flow . What a fun evening! Thanks to Stuart for tonights courses. Once again the weather was kind and it was lovely to see all the happy orienteers enjoying the orienteering and the opportunity to catch up with friends after the event. Thanks also to everyone who helped out putting out and brining in controls.
Our next event is next Wednesday, 29th June but if you want to take part you will need to get your entry in quickly as the closing date is 9am on 23rd June. Go to the EVENTS DIARY page to find out more.
The HillsThanks to Alison and Drew for the event at The Hills. The RESULTS are now on the web.
Routegadget is now available for this event. Please fill in your route.
Winsplits is also available.
Well done to the two juniors who planned two of the courses at Cream O' Galloway.
There was a fantastic turn out to enjoy their efforts ..... though not many people were brave enough to try the Norwegian option! It was a cold and breezy day but that didn't stop lots of people from sampling the ice cream. The results are now on the web though unfortunately one person picked up the wrong dibber at the start and we have been unable to workout who it was. The results for that dibber are there but listed as Unknown person.
Click on this text to go to the results
Routegadget is now online
Thanks to first time planners, the Willacy family for planning our Street O session on Wednesday 9th Feb. Dock Park and Troqueer was a whole new challenge in the dark and our planners had come up with courses which had options around route choice. There was lots of discussion at the end and lots of happy orienteers.
Heathhall
Wasn't today fun! Who knew that Heathhall had so many little paths and open green areas? It was certainly quite a revelation for me. Thanks to Ian M. and his team for organising everything and we hope you all enjoyed your courses.
Crichton night O activity
Wasn't it a beautiful moonlit night for our night O. practice session. Thank you to the Crooks family for taking on the challenge of planning. Use of a different starting point, a good mix of short and long runs between flags and using control locations which haven't been used before all combined for a most enjoyable evening.
We hope those of you who were taking part enjoyed your run round the Crichton. There were certainly lots of happy faces as people came back and that is always a good sign.
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Night O. event at Crossmichael
Well that's the last of Solway Orienteers events for 2021 and wasn't it good fun! Crossmichael Community Wood may be small but it's also very dark! A couple of those controls were particularly tricky to find. Well done to everyone who got them all. Particular thanks go to Tom for planning the event and ensuring that we finished this year's orienteering in such a positive way. The RESULTS are now on the web.
Silvercraig Score event
Crichton night event
Thanks to Joyce for planning and organising this event. The Crichton is always fun to run round and navigating at night adds an extra layer of challenge. The weather was perfect, there was a super turn out and lots of happy orienteers at the end. It was also good to see a few new faces out enjoying the courses.
The results are now on the web Results
Georgetown Street O.
Castledykes Park What a fun start back to orienteering! Thanks to Briony for planning the courses and for coming up with a novel challenge for the more experienced
orienteers. There was an excellent turn out of members and even a couple of non members there as well. You can check out your results on this link Results
Dock Park and Troqueer street orienteering
Thanks to everyone who came along tonight to enjoy a spot of retro street orienteering. Lots of fun was had hunting down numbers on lamp posts, dates on memorials, house numbers and such like. You can check out the results on the
results page.
Corncockle Wood and Spedlins Flow
The Results are now on the web.
We have had a few technical issues with Routegadget for this event but I am happy to say that you can now input your route for the Corncockle event.
Enter your route on Routegadget. and check out your split times on Winsplits
The Crichton Grounds
It's always fun orienteering at the Crichton and Joyce's courses ticked all the right boxes. Being based in a different car park kept everyone on their toes at the start and as a few folk found out it's easy to get confused with all the similar looking buildings. Thanks to Joyce and Fiona for a most enjoyable event.
The Results are now on the web.
Heathhall Wood
Thank you to Ian M. and his team of helpers for today's event at Heathhall. Wasn't it fun! Heathhall with the vegetation high is a much tougher proposition that our usual winter visits. So well done to everyone. The results are now on the web.
Solway Orienteers Ethics, code of behaviour and Safeguarding of people policy has been revised and is on the web. There are no significant changes, just updating information which can be found on other web sites. You can read it here. You might need to press refresh to see the new version which is dated June 2021.
Silvercraig Wood This is a challenging wee area particularly when the vegetation is high as it was today. Tim had done a great job of planning the courses and testing our navigational skills. Thanks to everyone who helped with control collecting at the end, your help is greatly appreciated.
The Results are now on the web along with
Routegadget and
WinSplits
Dalbeattie Town Wood
Another excellent day orienteering. Well done to everyone for getting round. As you all discovered Dalbeattie is quite a tricky wood, particularly at this time of the year when the vegetation is very lush.
Special thanks go to Tara for planning the Medium course and to everyone who helped out on the day. Tim was delighted to have so many offers of help on the day.
The Results are on the web along with
Routegadget and Split times, WinSplits Online
Cally Woods 15 May 2021
Thanks to Stuart for a super day. Enjoyable courses made even more memorable as Cally was looking particularly lovely with a beautiful carpet of bluebells.
Thank you also to everyone who helped on the day
The Results are now on the web site.
Please take the time to fill in your route on
Routegadget. and you can check
out your split times on Winsplits
Our next events and activities
Check out our provisional plan for events and coaching. Emails have been sent out to club members with the full list so if you haven't seen it yet check your in box and if it's not there your junk and spam folders. We have a busy programme in the making but this will only be possible if we share the work load more widely and to facilitate that the Google entry form has been amended to include a section about volunteering. Don't worry, no one will be asked to do a job they don't have the skills for.
EVENTS DIARY
Mabie Knoll Bagging 17 April
A super day at Mabie today. Orienteering in glorious weather, what could be better! Tom and Dave McQ had planned some testing but enjoyable courses and it was good to see so many club members of all ages out enjoying themselves. Over the pandemic we have picked up quite a few new members and it was especially good to see so many of them at Mabie.
A massive thank you goes to all our volunteers who made today possible ‐ you know who you are.
The results are now on the web.
And don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget
Congratulations to John Robson who won the Mabie Knoll Bagging trophy.
Cream o' Galloway
What a fantastic day we had for our first Saturday event coming out of Lockdown. The sun was shining, there were glorious views and it was lovely to see everyone out enjoying the orienteering. Thank you to Cream o' Galloway for letting us use their nature trail area. The results are now on the web and you can view them on the following link. Results
Don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget and check out your split times on
Winsplits
Night O practice at the Crichton
Whoo hoo, what fun! Thanks to Stuart for our first activity back after lockdown. It was great fun and pleasingly we had a good turnout, this despite the rather damp and blustery start to the evening. Stuart obviously has the right connections though as the rain stopped just as the night O. practice started. What timing!
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5 Dec Pits n Bumps
What a super morning for orienteering. Thank you to everyone who came along and to everyone who wore something Christmasy. There was a fine selection of hats, jumpers, socks, tinsel and even some festive hair braiding on show. The results are on this link Results
Saturday 7 November Mark Hill
What a glorious day and what better way to spend it than orienteering.
This event was planned and organised by Stuart and Tom. They made good use of the terrain to provide enjoyable and challenging courses which were enjoyed by all who took part. It should be noted that this was Tom's first time being in the planning seat and it hopefully won't be his last. The results are now on the web Results
along with
Winsplits and
Routegadget
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Event participation and Covid 19
The Club committee currently considers the local Covid situation for each event roughly 2 weeks before the event and decides on whether to make the event open to all or restrict entries to club members. Factors taken into account are current restrictions and guidance from government/SportScotland/SOA, current trends in infections in Dumfries & Galloway and neighbouring areas, and local perceptions about having visitors attending the event.We are aware of the reduced number of events currently being run and wishes from some members of other clubs to orienteer more and we will open up our events as soon as we feel comfortable doing so.
However, with rising infections in the area and the Scottish Government mentioning that they are monitoring the situation specifically in Dumfries & Galloway, we have decided that the Mark Hill event will be restricted to club members.
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Thank you to Stuart for giving us all the opportunity to practice our night orienteering skills on Wed 21 Oct. There were 26 people taking part and it was fantastic to see so many club members out enjoying the challenge of running around the grounds of the Crichton.
Silvercraig Woods 10 Oct 2020.
Supper weather, enjoyable courses and happy orienteers were the order of the day and it is all thanks to some of our older juniors. After a few technical issues the results are now on the web on the following link. Results
Don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget
..... and you can check your split times on Winsplits
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The events page has been updated and now has the proposed dates for our forthcoming events. These may be subject to change depending on permissions and Covid 19 restrictions.
5 Sept Barhill Plantation, Dalbeattie. Excellent turn out for our second post lockdown event and our first one in a forest. Tim had planned some interesting and challenging courses to blow away the cobwebs and there were lots of happy smiling faces as people finished. The weather was kind for most of the event though the late starters did get a bit wet. The results
And don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget
The Crichton 22 August 2020
Our first event back after lockdown was held in these popular grounds. It was pleasing to see that so many of our members came along to join in and even more lovely to see everyone enjoying returning to orienteering. You can see the Results on this link.
British Orienteering Participant Code of Conduct
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MapRunF
If, like me, you have been missing getting out for a spot of orienteering I have some good news for you. Solway Orienteers have set up 5 smart phone orienteering courses using MaprunF and we hope there will be more on the way. To misquote Spock from StarTrek, it's orienteering, .... but not as we know it.
These courses do not have physical controls in place - instead you download the MapRunF app on your smart phone plus the course. The GPS part of the phone gets the phone to beep when you are at each of the correct locations.
As these courses are available to you online you can choose to complete them when it suits you. Please remember that you are responsible for your own safety and juniors tackling the options with road crossings need to be accompanied by an adult.
These courses are suitable for local exercise and you are reminded to follow the latest Scottish Government's guidelines on Coronavirus.
You can download MapRunF from Google play or the Apple app store.
If you would like to read more about how to use the MapRunF app check out this article on the Scottish Orienteering web site.
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17 March 2020 All orienteering events and activities have been postponed until further notice. For further information check out the announcement on the British Orienteering web site. Later today there will also be one on the Scottish Orienteering web site.
Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships
We are sorry to have to tell you that the Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships which was to have taken place on Friday 20 March has been postponed. This morning we were informed that the council has banned all events where pupils from different schools will be attending and potentially mixing. With the current uncertainties it is not possible to predict if or when this event can be scheduled.
Thanks to everyone who was involved in putting on the Cally Woods event.
It was cold out there but the rain stayed away which made a nice change from recent weather. The results are now available and you can see them on the following link. Results
Don't forget to check out Winsplits and fill in your route on
Routegadget.
The second session of night orienteering was held on the 5 Feb and was another great hit with everyone who came along. Once again the weather was kind .....I think we need to put Stuart in charge more often as he seems to have great weather calming skills!
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The second in our Come and Try Orienteering series was in Castledykes Park
Well done to Alastair today for providing some good courses in this small and interesting area, and for getting everything organised. There were lots of smiling faces and people dashing in various directions in pursuit of controls, and plenty of people had the enthusiasm and energy to progress through the various activities offered. Many of the people there were back following having enjoyed themselves at Heathhall two weeks ago.
Heathhall Wood What a wonderful day for orienteering. It was lovely to see everyone enjoying being out enjoying the courses. Check out the results on this link
Winsplits are also online
Routegadget is on this link.
The Crichton night event was a big success and weather was good. There was a good turn out and everyone loved the challenges of night O and came back really buzzing. Thanks to Stuart and his team for taking on the challenge of delivering this event and who knows maybe we will see another night event at some point in the future.
The updated results are now on the web.
Mabie Knoll Bagging 2 Jan 2020
Thank you to everyone who came along today braving the damp conditions. It sounds like everyone enjoyed the event despite the weather. Thank you also to Jonathan and his team of helpers for doing all the hard work necessary to make this event happen.
The results are now on line.
Routgadget is now available.
Pits n' Bumps 15 Dec Thank you to everyone who came along to this event, it was great to see everyone enjoying the orienteering in the winter sunshine. There were lots of different routes being followed. Some of you will know that we had a few technical issues but these have now been resolved and you can check the results on the results page.
Mark Hill 30 Nov 2019
What a wonderful event it was today at Mark Hill with a very good turnout - even better considering there were slippy roads between Dumfries and Dalbeattie. Challenging courses and great weather - many thanks to John and Florence Smith for the event and to Dave and Jane and Ian T for assisting them. You can check out the Results on this link and don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget.
Winsplits is also available.
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What a fantastic day, Silvercraig was looking lovely in the autumn sunshine and our juniors did a wonderful job of planning the event and running registration and down load. Thank you to everyone who came along and for all the appreciative comments and feedback and we hope to see you at
our next event which will be on the 30 Nov. in Mark Hill Forest near Rockcliffe..
You can see the Results from Silvercraig on this link.
And don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget.
Thanks to Ian T. and his band of helpers for the event at Shambellie. Great courses and lovely weather all followed by great company, yummy food and Cake. Who can ask for more. There has been a bit of a delay getting the results to you because of a few technical issues but they are sorted now and the Results are now on the web. Routegadget is also available for this event so please take a wee bit of time to fill in your route.
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Mabie BBQ The last event of the summer series was a great success with a good number of runners there to enjoy Dave's BBQ themed courses. Zoe and Maya did a fantastic job putting out controls and dealing with registration while Ian did a splendid job on BBQ duty. The strawberries and cakes went down particularly well with everyone.
Thank you also to everyone who helped collect in controls at the end.
You can check out the results Results
on this link. And Winsplits are on this link.
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Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships on Friday 22 March
Well what an enjoyable day we had! Thank you to all everyone who made this event possible, teachers, parents and our volunteers. We hope you all enjoyed it is much as we did. The Results are now on the web.
CompassSport inter club competition
19 Solway folk took part in this most enjoyable event which was hosted by Border Liners Orienteering Club on Bampton Common. This is a new area to the sport and the first time competitors had run there. The highlights of the day were the well planned courses which required accurate navigation all the way to every control location, the crisp bright weather and BL's efficient organisation on the day. Solway came a creditable 6th in the Trophy category.
Mabie Forest
What a fantastic day we had at Mabie, once again the sun shone and there was a fantastic turn out. Thanks to John R. for all the hard graft pulling the courses together, putting out controls and all those other tasks that go on behind the scenes. Thanks also go to Jean and her band of helpers on registration and download. And not forgetting Derek for collecting in controls after his run.
You can view the Results on this link.
Winsplits and
Routegadget are now on the web
General Data Protection Regulation
With the General Data Protection Regulations just around the corner this is a heads up to those folk who are on our Mailchimp e-mails list who are not members of Solway Orienteers. We have sent you an e-mail with a link which allows you to update your details. We hope that you will do this so that we can continue to send you information about our events.
For anyone who isn't already on our list and would like to be kept informed about our events and orienteering related news you can sign up on this link
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Solway Orienteers May block of coaching sessions
Our popular block of 4 coaching evenings started on the 3rd May in Barhill Plantation. It was a busy evening and while the weather was a tad wet this didn't dampen the enthusiasm for learning.
The second session was in Dalbeattie Town Wood using an area which is less familiar to orienteers. Rounall Wood is the third venue and we will return to Barhill Plantation for the last session.
Dalbeattie Town Wood event
Thanks to John R & Jean for today's event. The weather was fantastic, the courses enjoyable and the turn out of participants beyond our expectations. It was great to see you all and we hope you enjoyed your orienteering.
Routegadget and
Winsplits are now available. Please take the time to fill in your route on Routegadget as this provides very useful feedback for our planners as well as being a useful learning and review process for you the orienteer.
The Results are now on the web along with some photos - click on the picture below to go to Flickr.
The Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships
This event was held at Cream o' Galloway - a very popular venue ..... and the ice cream is good too! It was an excellent turn out of pupils - about 170 in total - and they provided a wonderful display of enthusiasm while navigating round the courses. Plus our usual team of helpers which was augmented by the local Active Schools Team performed at their usual superb standard. So lots of tired and happy pupils returned to their schools, probably to sneak in a surreptitious snooze in the afternoon periods.
The results are now on the web.
And there are lots of photos on this link.
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Mabie Forest
What a glorious day we had at Mabie Forest. The weather was perfect, the courses enjoyable and there was a great turn out - there was a nice mix of members, visitors from over the border and a good sprinkling of folk who are new to the club. It was good to see everyone out enjoying the sunshine and having fun navigating round the courses. Thanks to Dave and Jane and their team of helpers for today's event.
The results are now on the web along with Winsplits and
Routegadget
There are also a nice collection of photos which you can see if you click on the one below.
What a successful and enjoyable start to our 2018 Saturday morning series of events. Thanks to Carol for all her hard work planning a fantastic set of courses. The weather may have been a bit rainy to start with but that didn't dampen everyones enjoyment.
The results are on the web along with Winsplits and
Routegadget
And if you click on the photo below you can see a few more pictures.
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The Cally Wood event
What a fantastic turn out we had for our Cally event - 42 individuals / groups went round and judging by peoples reactions you all enjoyed your jaunt round the wood. Some of you had to contend with a very wintery shower. One or two brave souls on the longer courses even had a wee paddle across the stream .....brrr! Hope you have all warmed up by now.
And, we mustn't forget to thank the youngsters who did all the hard work to make today possible. They did a great job starting with the planning continuing on through all those organiser jobs that have to be done. Well done a successful event!
You can see results on this link and
photos on this link.
Routegadget has now been added to the web along with
Winsplits.
Below you can see the group of juniors who organised this event hard at work in their planning session.
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Wave Goodbye to Beat the Street - Dock Park, Dumfries.
Well, what can I say, the weather all day before this event was less than promising but just as we were setting off the rain stopped and the skies cleared. The waterproofs which we had packed weren't needed and we had a busy and enjoyable evening meeting everyone and introducing them to the fun of maze orienteering. Click on the logo below to go to see a few photos.
Mark Hill
What a busy morning we had at Mark Hill with lots of people sampling Ian M's fine selection of courses. There was a pleasing turn out of members, people new to the sport / club and a healthy number of orienteers from neighbouring clubs and this all despite the weather not being quite as forecasted - who could miss the deluge of water that fell from the sky at one point - but this didn't dampen the enjoyment. Roll on our next event when we look forward seeing you all again.
The Results are now on the web
along with
Winsplits
and don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget.
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Come and try it event at the Crichton
We had a whopping 68 runners at our introductory orienteering event at the Crichton. It was good to see everyone having fun hunting down the control locations. Click on the photo below to see more pics. It's not too long to wait until our next event and we look forward to seeing you all there.
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The Scottish 6 Days - Royal Deeside 2017
17 club members recently made the journey up to Royal Deeside and enjoyed a great event and week. Our early starts on Day 1 at Glen Tanar meant that we were making rather than following tracks which sharpened up the challenges posed by this interesting area (and the interesting courses were controlled by our own Ian Turner). Solway were involved in running day 2 and some members set up and ran the string course while others helped on starts. Most also fitted in a run on a subtly contoured hill - while the walk up to the starts was lengthy it did mean that the courses where generally downhill. Birsemore Hill on Day 3 used the same finish area as Day 2 but the terrain was different with the challenging area for the longer courses being on a plateau around the hill summit. The finish was through our string course area from the previous day.
After a well earned rest day, we headed out to Braemar for day 4. Competitors on the longer courses went high and had to cope with climbs through heather and long steepish descents, while those on shorter courses had complex contours and did not escape the heather. Days 5 and 6 were in the same area and with the same finish: mainly to the east on day 5 and in the west on day 6. Early starts on day 5 again proved to be heavy going in places on terrain types which varied significantly as the courses progressed, but we were rewarded with late starts on the last day and the lucky ones found a few tracks that headed in the correct directions.
So there was significant variety in the orienteering challenges between the different days on well planned courses and in weather where the worst of the rain stayed away from us. All in all it was an excellent week: overall results are shown below. click on the image below to see more photos from this week.
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Name
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Class
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Place |
S6D Badge
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Jonathan
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M20L
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20/32 |
Bronze
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Stuart
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M45L
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59/83 |
Bronze
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Derek
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M50S
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27/70 |
Silver
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Ian M
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M55L
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81/109 |
Bronze
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Steve
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M60S
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Place |
53/59
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Tim
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M65S
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15/49 |
Silver
2 top ten finishes.
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Dave
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M70L
|
15/83 |
Gold
2 top ten finishes
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Ian T
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M70L
|
22/83 |
Gold
1 top ten finish
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Isla
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W14A
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27/37 |
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Hannah
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W16A
|
32/42 |
Bronze
|
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Zoe
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W18L
|
non-comp |
N/A
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Ailsa
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W20S
|
6/6 |
5 top ten finishes
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Victoria
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W20L
|
11/13 |
2 top ten finishes
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Helen
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W55S
|
31/45 |
Bronze
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Carol
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Green
|
41/80 |
N/A
|
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Jim
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Green
|
57/80 |
N/A
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Jane
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Orange
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45/90 |
N/A
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Kate
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Orange
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The Scottish Championships 2017
This event was held in East Lothian and I am delighted to be able to tell you that four of our club members won podium places and other members also achieved good finishes. Well done everyone.
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British Orienteering Club of the Year Award
We are delighted to announce that
Solway Orienteers has won club of the year!
Pictured here are Tim, our current club chairman with Ian T., our previous club chairman and Judith Holt the Chair of British Orienteering.
And, the award for the University club of the year went to CUOC. Why, I hear you ask, is this relevant to Solway? Well Jonathan, who is their club Captain, started his orienteering adventures with Solway.
Click on this link to download Solway's submission - in word document format.
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What a glorious day we had at Mabie Forest. Thanks to Ian M for planning some interesting and
challenging courses. The results from the event are on the web, click on this link to
see them.
and on this link to see a few photos from the event
Winsplits is on this link
and don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget - it's on this link.
The Dumfries and Galloway Schools Championships
What a fantastic turn out we had for this event - 172 runners from 13 schools braved the cold damp weather and enjoyed going round the courses.
Thanks to our willing band of volunteers who helped out today. Tasks ranged from keeping everyone safe on the road crossing, being on car park duty, making sure the right dibbers got to the right pupils, processing everyone through the start, patrolled the forest to make sure everyone was safe, taking photos, marshalling at the finish, processing results ..... the list goes on. suffice to say your help and hard work was much appreciated.
Results are on this link.
Photos are on this link
We have had some lovely comments in the wake of the schools championships and I
thought it was only right that our fantastic volunteers should get to hear them. After all without volunteers none of our events
would be possible. Below are a few of the comments which came to us via e-mail.
"It was the first time I'd been to the regionals and I was amazed at the organisation that was required. I have immense
respect and appreciation for all involved."
"Thanks for your superb organisation and running of the event on Friday.
Please pass on my thanks to the rest of your team."
"Just a quick note to say a big thanks for today we really enjoyed it."
"The kids had a fantastic time today - they really have the
orienteering bug now!"
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CompassSport Trophy Inter Club Competition
On the 12th March 2017 fifteen Solway members South Lakes to compete at Simpson Ground near Newby Bridge.
It is a challenging area of forest and open complex fell. Our members put in a sterling effort and finished 4th just 6 points behind PFO.
Well done everyone.
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Dalbeattie Town Wood was the opening venue in our action packed week. The weather was excellent, the courses were challenging and everyone had a great time on courses that avoided most of the thicker summer vegetation.
Click here to see the results from Dalbeattie Town Wood
Dalbeattie Winsplits
and don't forget to fill in your route on Routegadget
Day two was in the lovely setting of Drumlanrig Woods. The morning was spent navigating round a line course where the emphasis was on accurate navigation rather than speed across the ground. A relaxed lunch in the sunshine was followed by a score event for the adults and a normal course for the juniors. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated but the rain didn't dampen the enjoyment or people's competitive spirit - indeed some of our Austrian visitors seemed to like experiencing Scottish rain.
Click here to see the results
and here for Winsplits
Routegadget for the Score event is now on line and waiting to be filled in.
Day three and it was off to the coast and an enjoyable afternoon at Markhill. This day will be remembered for some thought provoking training courses which had sections of the map removed! The afternoon finished with some enjoyable and challenging courses. This day was also memorable as the day when we all found out what it felt like to have a film crew around. Sandy McCracken, a reporter for Border Life (ITV) was there with a camera man and spent a large portion of the day interviewing and filming us. The pressure of being filmed did affect a number of people who set off along the wrong path from the finish and then did not dare retrace their steps with the camera rolling. Click on the links below to see the results, Winsplits and Routegadget.
Results
Winsplits
Routegadget
Day 4 arrived all too quickly and we all found ourselves at Corncockle near Lochmaben playing relay Suduko O - an orienteering version of the popular Japanese puzzle. This proved to be a fun and challenging finish to an action packed and satisfying week.
Suduku O results
Routegadget
You can now view a few photos from the week on Solway Orienteers Flicker account.
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CompassSport Trophy Inter Club Competition
This event was held at Dumyat near Stirling on 13 March 2016. 17 Solway members made the long trip north to take part. The competition area was adjacent to Stirling University and this made a convenient base. Orienteers were treated to an interesting mix of woodland and open hill side - the shorter courses stayed in the wood which had a confusing network of paths. The longer courses looped out onto the open hillside and for those who took the time to notice there were fantastic views over the surrounding countryside.
Our over all position in the small clubs category was 6th out of 11 clubs, just 23 points short of getting through to the finals. A fantastic result for our wee club!
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We are saddened to have to report the death of Ian Robertson, an active and highly valued member of Solway Orienteers since the early eighties. In December 2014 Ian had a fall at home which had left him paralysed from the chest down. Despite the less than encouraging prognosis Ian maintained his usual high spirits and never lost his famous sense of humour and zest for living to the end.
With a background of hill walking, Ian's first big orienteering event was Galloway 81 where he finished 28th in M43B, nine places behind Drew Sommerville of CLYDE with whom he was to have a lifelong and friendly rivalry. Both teachers by profession, it was always a joy to be in earshot of their post-race banter.
Within a very short time after joining the club Ian was on the Solway committee. With Seonaid he was soon involved in organising and planning and over the years gave huge support to the club through committee work, including membership and schools liaison. Ian planned the courses for the Scottish Championships at Mabie in 1986 but his greatest contribution was the introduction in November 1988 of monthly Saturday morning fun/training events. Ian was devoted to grass roots orienteering and nothing gave him more pleasure that seeing youngsters progress through the colour coded courses as a result of his instruction and encouragement. Ian and Seonaid ran these sessions themselves for many years until other members and electronic punching took over. The Saturday morning series is Ian's greatest legacy to the club. It is still running to this day and he may also be credited with some responsibility for his grand-daughter's Scottish Junior Squad selection. To describe Ian as a stalwart of the club would be to understate his enormous contribution over the years.
Ian's outdoor activities were not limited to orienteering. He led a local group, his 'geriatric hill walkers', for many years following his retirement. He also climbed most of the Munros. Only most of them because, ever practical, he did not think that climbing the more remote or boring ones was worth the effort.
Our thoughts and sincere sympathies are extended to his family.
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Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival
8 Solway juniors made the trip north to Livingston to take part in the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival - the highest number of runners we have entered for a long long time.
There were around 370 pupils entered in all, with pupils travelling from all parts of Scotland. No doubt they and their parents would have "enjoyed" the early starts necessary to get there in time!
Our results were as follows
Will came 11th out of 66 in the P5/6 boys category.
Isla ran in the P7 girls and was 8th out of 26.
The S2 age group had the largest number of our juniors.
Zoe came 3rd
Hannah 8th
Alex 9th
Laura 10th
Victoria came 3rd on the S5/6 girls course
Jonathan was 2nd on the S5/6 boys course.
Great results and comments were made by members of other clubs that it was good to see Solway members taking part and doing well.
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CompassPoint Scottish O League 3.
Thank you to everyone who helped put on today's event: you were all fantastic. Parking, entries, results,
running the starts, manning the string course, control collecting and dismantling and tidying up - all these jobs
were carried out with good humour and cheerfulness despite the rain and cold wind. And the deserved output was
an event that ran smoothly in adverse conditions. I trust that everyone is relaxing this evening in the knowledge
of jobs well done.
The results, Winsplits, photos etc are now on the web. Go to the results page to see them.
Here are a few comments from competitors who took the time to send Dave emails after the event.
Thanks for a great event.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The planning was excellent, I loved the terrain (ok, so it's not to everyone's tastes) the
catering and assembly made it nice and social, and the sun came out - eventually!
Thanks to the team for their hard work - I hope they have thawed out now.
Thanks to you and your team in some challenging conditions today.
A challenging forest, well done to all of you for putting it on. I enjoyed it thank you.
Many thanks for yesterday's event. We were fortunate to have late starts and be able to enjoy the sunshine and an
ice cream on Rockcliffe beach afterwards! What a lovely wee spot.
I really enjoyed the challenge of a rough low visibility forest on the Blue, but made too many errors.
Many thanks for all your work at yesterday's event. I found it challenging not only because of the
weather. Our thanks also to all those that contributed to the day; the orienteers, the locals and the
agencies (I had a nice chat with the NTS staff).
Thanks for a great event. I had never been in that area before but it is certainly a beautiful location.
Thanks it was a nice event and I liked this new area, even though I
was leaking time right from the word go.
And on Nopesport
It was -2 as we approached the event. The snow was "falling" sideways at great speed. Enthusiasm in the car was
low. Many thanks to SOLWAY for going ahead with SOL3 at an astonishingly good new area at Mark Hill today.
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SOA Participation Badges.
The Heathhall event was busy for our juniors, not only did they get their junior tops but one young man was presented with his first SOA badge.
He is pictured here with Tim the club chairman.
We are looking
forward to presenting a few more in the very near future as some of our juniors are very close to reaching their next target.
If you would like to start earning badges then have a look at the Junior Page where you will find details of
what to do
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The Solway junior squad club tops have arrived.
Have a look at the JUNIOR PAGE to see the latest junior news.
Here are some of our juniors wearing the new Junior Squad club tops. Unfortunately not everyone could make to the event at Heathhall but we will get the
remaining tops handed out to you soon.
Thank you to Dalbeattie Sports Hub who sponsored us and made it possible.
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Success for Solway at the Scottish Score Championships.
Four Solway members made the long trek north to compete in the Scottish Score Championships which were organised by Badenoch & Strathspey Orienteering Club in
Achlean Forest. All of our runners had great results. Jane fought off the opposition to finish in second place, Ian and Dave both came fourth in their categories and
Diana secured sixth place.
In the inter club competition Solway was in the small clubs category and came second.
Well done to all four of our runners.
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Scottish Schools Festival.
Well done to the Solway Juniors who made the trip up to Drumpellier Country Park to take part in the Scottish Schools Festival.
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Photos from the last club night are on Flickr.
Please remember that this was a training excercise and not a race.
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Solway Orienteers at the Scottish Championships.
A few members of Solway Orienteers made the journey north to take part in the two day Scottish Championships. Congratulations to Dave who came second in his age
class on the individaual day and Jane who came fifth in hers. Day two was the relay championships, above is a photo of the Solway Sprites. There are more photos on
the club's Flikr gallery.
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The Junior Inter Regional Championships were held on the 5 and 6 Oct 2013 near Banchory. The Saturday saw the teams assembling for the relay event which was held in
Scolty. On Sunday the team then ran in the individual competition which was held in Easter Clune Wood. After two days of challenging racing the team were in good spirits
as you can see from the photo.
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