Day 5 Report - Glen Feardar
Before moving unto the Day 5 report a quick note on yesterday’s results. Control 133 was vandalised by “pesky kids” so some competitors were re-instated and others will have seen their times improve.
We are lucky to have such an iconic flower of Scotland, the purple thistle. Unfortunately this same plant chose to grow in profusion in the assembly area and due to a problem with some agriculture machinery the farmer was unable to top the field. Thanks go to Stephen Wiseman for his efforts with a strimmer to clear some space.
Peter Downie and his extended family were very much in evidence as an extra trader, with Sheridans moving down the glen to set-up for Saturday’s Aboyne Highland Games. The big draw was the 4x4 full of dogs. Oh how cute!
Today’s race was held over an extended Glen Feardar East. Courses extended out to Creag Nordie, at 488 m just over half Munro height. There were fantastic views down to Balmoral Castle, where Her Majesty was enjoying tea on the lawn. The terrain roughness index was down a bit today, with around 30 injuries reported to the Red Cross. Birsemore with 62 injuries is substantially in the lead so please try not to exceed this. Early finishing would be appreciated. Day 5 is always interesting when overall positions can change as bad runs are discarded. Maybe all to play for tomorrow for some…
Work was progressing on a setting up for tomorrow to enable arena production – this should include live action from the forest, GPS tracking of the Elite race – to be viewed on the big screen and hopefully available across the world through a live broadcast on the web.
Colin Matheson
Assistant Coordinator
Events Manager Scottish Orienteering Association
