Richard Oxlade, Event Coordinator:

What an incredible week of orienteering! We were lucky with the weather and writing this after the event I’m glad storm Floris didn’t visit last week! But you largely make your own luck and this was down to all the people who contributed to making the event such a huge success. So thank you to everyone who came to Royal Deeside. It wouldn’t have been the same without you!

Deeside provided some wonderful settings each day – the view of Glen Fearder from the walk to the starts was stunning. Unfortunately beautiful highland scenery also has it’s downsides and heather, bracken and tussocks featured in many discussions. Hopefully the technical nature of the areas and the great courses more than compensated. A few folk commented that the areas such as Glen Fearder seemed tougher than in the past. I would agree and although I’m sure this is partially down to older legs the impact of rewilding, deer management and storm damage is an important part of the story. I don’t think this will go away.

I would like to thank the landowners, farmers and locals. They were incredibly supportive and we couldn’t have staged the week without them. In particular I would like to mention:

• Angus McNicol & Ian Hill at Invercauld Estates who allowed us stage Days 1-3 and the rest day on their land;
• Ronnie & Peter Downie, the farmers at Glen Fearder for access to most of the competition area and use of their fields. Ronnie was also present with his burger stall throughout most of the week and enjoyed having us there!
• Neil Fraser at Creag Choinnich for use of his fields;
• Braemar & Ballater Community Councils for welcoming us into their villages;
• Ballater Highland Games committee for letting us use the games parking field;
• Yvonne Lyburn & Stuart Young from Dunecht Estates, David Cochran, Birse Community Trust & Jane Winton from Birse Trading Company, and Abby Nicol from Ballogie Estate for access to Balfour forest;
• Philip McConnach and Alan McConnach for use of their fields at Balfour;
• Rachel Sedgwick at Glen Dye Estates & Jim Reilly at Fasque Forestry for access to the forest;
• Douglas & Sarah Petrie for using their fields at Glen Dye;
• Steve and Lisa Strachan at Pitdelphin for access across their land to the starts at Glen Dye;

We are also indebted to the two local clubs Mar Orienteering Club and Grampian Orienteers for allowing us to embargo and use some of their best areas. And equally importantly for helping us with access and permissions. Jon Musgrave (Deeside Orienteering & Leisure Maps) lives in the heart of Deeside and was contracted to update the maps.

On the organisation front I would like to say a big thank you to Nic Crossley who joined the team in November 2023 as Event Coordinator. She had the unenviable task of getting permissions for forests, streets and fields, sorting out traffic management, finding and managing contractors, looking after social media and worked tirelessly to keep the whole show joined up before and during the event. A daunting task for someone familiar with the 6 days and the orienteering community let alone for someone without an orienteering background.

I’d also like to thank the contractors who contributed to the smooth running of the event. We were especially lucky to have a top-notch Event Services Team from George Walker Event Management who provided the very professional infrastructure each day, and an equally professional First Aid team from Avium. Eddie Speak provided his deep expertise to support the computing teams while Amplified Sound, Holly Stodgell, Kathryn Bett and Joe Sunley provided some great commentary on Days 4 and 5 when we had the World Ranking Events.

Of course without the incredible support of our volunteers the event would never have happened. And as usual orienteers from the Scottish clubs and some of their friends from outside of Scotland pulled out all the stops. Each day had an experienced pair of day organisers from the Scottish clubs who expertly coordinated teams of up to 100 volunteers to run the car parks, arenas, starts, and downloads. In the forest the two planners and two controllers each day planned a total ca. 120 courses, placed & checked nearly 500 controls and scrutinised over 13000 maps.

In addition to the day teams there were many people behind the scenes who made a huge contribution, including:

• Nick Hale who did an outstanding job coordinating the technical side of the event;
• David Ritchie who coordinated the mapping and did all the printing (of maps, programmes and much more);
• Roger Scrutton who took on multiple tasks as day coordinator, string course coordinator and controller for the rest day;
• David Nicol who has managed entries (and handled countless queries) for nearly 20 years;
• Robin Strain our 6 Days computing guru who supported and mentored the computing teams each day;
• Margaret Dalgleish who led the equipment team and knows all there is to know about 6 days organisation;
• Sean O’Sullivan who started off managing the Event Centre and then volunteered to transport equipment all over the place with his trusty trailer;
• Genevieve Jones & Lorna Graham for being the friendly faces at Information, selling tickets, apologising for the shortage of coasters and answering numerous other questions;
• Jon Musgrave who put together a brilliant social programme;
• Vicky Thornton & Heather Fellbaum who led the merchandise team during the event and will never sit next to me on a bus again;
• Elizabeth Furness who provided valuable advice from 2023 and even more importantly designed the O-tops that proved so popular;
• Caz Dudley & Pat Graham who found a fantastic array of traders and organised them to provide a great street cafe atmosphere;
• Bruce Graham for managing signage and making sure competitors found their way to the event every day;
• Alan Macgregor for managing the bank account and all the invoicing;
• Michael Atkinson who does a fantastic job looking after the 6 Days website;
• David & Hannah Robertson who sourced a phenomenal array of prizes and organised the prize giving;
• Ted Finch who was IOF Event Advisor for the WRE days;
• The members of Deeside Camera Club who were out and about everyday and are keen to help us promote our sport;
• And last but not least Nikki Howard of Scottish Orienteering for her ever-present support in the background reminding, cajoling and advising us on how to make 2025 a success.

David Robertson has listed the prizes that closed out the event on Facebook (6 Day prizes). We tried to put something back into Deeside by purchasing 128 trees from the River Dee Trust for all the senior prize winners. They aim to plant one million trees to provide much needed shade to the river and its tributaries. And if you saw the wonderful wooden contour maps presented to the winners of the senior long courses and elite races and would like one for yourself Chris at GeogSaw has added them to his website.

Inevitably with such a larger complex event there were some minor wrinkles. We’re sorry that we ran out of coasters and didn’t have certificates at prize giving for the juniors who were 4th, 5th and 6th. We will send out an administrative email to explain how these will be delivered.

Thank you all!

David Kershaw, Chair Scottish 6 Day Event Company:

If you missed the prize giving David Kershaw rounded off the week with a tribute to Dick Carmichael, who was one of the early champions of the 6 Days and then announced the plans for 2027. Here are his closing words:

“Before I announce the venue for the next 6-days, I would like to say a few words about Dick Carmichael who passed away last month. Dick was involved in all aspects of orienteering but, in particular, he was heavily involved in the 6-day series especially in our early days. He planned, controlled and was technical coordinator on several occasions and, for 15 years, he was on the 6-Day Board or its predecessor and was Chair for 6 years. He will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

As far as this event is concerned, I would like to thank Richard Oxlade and his team for putting on another great 6-day event. Richard in particular went the extra mile to ensure this event was successful, not only coordinating but acting as treasurer, controlling one of the days and planning the mountain bike race in midweek. Thanks Richard.

Looking ahead, I am pleased to announce that the next 6-days will take place from 1st to 6th August 2027 in Perthshire based on Aberfeldy and looking even further ahead and subject to getting permissions in place, we hope to go back to SW Scotland in 2029 for the first time in over 30 years.

Finally, thank you all for coming and have a safe journey home.”