Top junior stories
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It has been a wee while since I updated this part of the web site - not because Solway juniors have been inactive I have just failed to get myself organised enough to post on here. So here is a recap of some of the highlights starting with the most recent.
2018
The Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival
1 June - The Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival in Pollock Country Park was an enjoyable and memorable day with our juniors posting some fantastic results. In the S5/6 category our runners finished in 3rd, 4th and 7th places and these results were good enough for to win the team trophy. In S3 our juniors finished in 4th and 6th. Our S2 runner was placed 15th in a particularly competitive field. Well done everyone.
Luckily the event and prize giving were over and everyone journeying home before the thunder storm hit and brought with it a deluge of rain.
Coaching
At our May series of coaching sessions we had a fantastic turn out of junior members. Click on the photo below to see more.
The Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships
The Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships was held on 18 March 2018 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.
2017
Junior take over
Junior members of Solway were in charge of the November Saturday morning event. Here you can see them planning courses in a local cafe before heading out to the forest to check that the control sites are suitable. On the day of the event they took on the running of the event and did a fantastic job of running the registration, processing finishers and ensuring that the results string was kept up to date.
Scottish Junior Inter Regional Weekend
On 28 October it was the Scottish Junior Inter Regional Weekend. Due to a variety of circumstances only one of our juniors was able to take part on the Saturday in the relay event at Deans in Livingston. The West team won the relay event. North team won over all.
The Scottish 6 Days
Summer 2017 and a number of Solway juniors took part in the week long Scottish 6 Days. This event is held every second year and is a fantastic holiday for all the family. You can find out more on www.scottish6days.com
The Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival
Drumpellier Park was the location for the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival on Friday 2nd June. Three of our juniors made the trip up despite the fact that in Dumfries and Galloway it was an inservice day for teachers and a holiday for pupils.
Scottish Orienteering Championships
This weekend long event was held in East Lothian so not too far from Solway turf. A select group of our juniors took part and posted some great results in the individual competition with our runners finishing in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 15th places on some tricky dune terrain.
Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships
Barhill Plantation was the venue of this event and we had a whopping 160 pupils take part. While the weather was a bit cold and damp there was still lots of enthusiasm and energy on show.
2016
Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival
When you are an orienteer you get to go to some rather nice places. In this case it was Dalkeith Country Park. In amongst all the sterling results one of our juniors finished in a fantastic 3rd place. Way to go! What a great day out!
Dumfries and Galloway Schools Orienteering Championships
18th March 2016 This year the event was at Cream o' Galloway. There were about 125 youngsters from 11 different schools - from P5 right through to S6. As you can see from the photos the sun shone and the runners found it very warm out on the course. The ice cream was very popular at the end!
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Junior Inter Area Championships 2015
By Hannah M.
Hannah & Zoe in the mass start for the relay event. Photo from INVOC
Me and Zoe went to the junior inter-regional orienteering in Aviemore. A battle between teams from the North, West
(us) and East of Scotland. The event was a three person team relay and an individual course. In the relay I ran
Orange, the starting leg, it was a mass start and was really good. I was followed by our yellow runner Emily and
then Grace our light green runner. As a team we came 4th.
Overnight we stayed in a dorm with Lindsay, Lucy, Megan,
and Jura. They were so nice and we played a capture the flag game with cards with the 100 other orienteers. We
watched the movie Up which was great and ate cake with our leader and 15 girls under our blankets until 11.30 when
bed was at 10.
The midges were really bad the next day at Lagganlia. We travelled to the course with a lady who knew one of our
friends from Dumfries. I ran an orange course, it was okay and went round a complex path network. I think I came
third in the girls. The competition was tough and unfortunately North won by a few points. They did have a much big
ger team. Me and Zoe had a fabulous time and made lots of friends and are hoping we will see them again.
Solway Junior Squad at the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival
5 June 2015
We had a fantastic turn out of juniors, the best we have had for years and to make the day even better we had some great runs from our team.
The event was held at Deans and Dechmont Law in Livingston so it was an early start to make sure we got there in time. Even then finding our way to the school, which was
the event center for the day, was difficult but we all made it.
You can see the full results on this link www.ssoa.org.uk/results/2015/
You can see the courses and the map at www.soa.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#49
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Friday
27 March 2015
Dumfries and Galloway School Championships Barhill Plantation, Dalbeattie.
Did you take part in this event? If you did we hope you had a great time and enjoyed the courses. Here are some photos taken on the day. I hope they convey the fact that this was an enjoyable and successful event.
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Junior Squad Club Tops.
Here are some of our juniors wearing the new Junior Squad club tops.
Here are some of our juniors wearing the new Junior Squad club tops. Unfortunately not everyone could make it to the Heathhall event but we will get them handed out to you soon.
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Solway has two Scottish Sprint Champions.
Two of our juniors took part in the Erskine Sprint Championships on the 14 Feb. No thoughts of Valentines Day intruded to distract these two hardy runners from
dashing round their courses and securing the titles in their age categories. Well done girls.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes they are wearing the new Solway Junior Squad club tops for the photo.
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Top junior stories from 2014
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SOA Participation Badges
I am delighted to announce that two of our juniors have earned their final badges. This is no mean feat and took just under two years to achieve this goal. They successfully completed their 100th courses at the Canada Championships.
Here are a few photos from Whistler, including a close up shot of the set of badges proudly displayed on their kit bags. I wonder who will be next to get a participation badge?
Could it be you?
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Junior Inter Regional Orienteering Competition
The Junior Inter Regional Competition was held on the weekend of 13 / 14 Sept. The competition started on Saturday at the Falkirk Wheel with the relays: this area
had an interesting mix of open and wooded areas. The open areas made good use of the ditches and mounds around the Antonine Wall, which were sufficiently complex to
pose some competitors a few problems both in interpretation and in the physical aspect of climbing up the steep slopes. One junior was heard to comment of the tours
put on for visitors, that that was the only time they had encountered someone in full Roman soldier gear while out orienteering! Extra challenges were posed by the
gaffled courses, this led to some competitors punching the wrong control in their haste and thus making them and their teams’ efforts all for nothing.
After a good night’s sleep the competition moved to Craig a’ Barns where the junior individual event was held. The shorter courses were held at the base of the hill
where there is a network of paths. The longer and more technical courses had a 45 min walk to the top of the hill where they were let loose in the complex terrain of
crags, re-entrants and boulders. This area is known to be a significant physical challenge and those on the higher level courses certainly found this to be the case.
The plateau is complex wooded terrain and there are steep cliffs around most of the area. Some people were out for a long time.
After two days of strong competition how had the West Team fared? Well they had finished in a very creditable second place behind the North Team.
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Scottish Schools Festival.
6 June 2014
A small group of Solway Juniors made the trip up to Drumpellier Country Park to take part in the Scottish Schools Festival.
Well done for persevering and
finishing the courses in difficult circumstances.
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Scottish Relay Championships
26 May 2013
For some of the Solway Juniors this was the first time they had had the opportunity to compete in an orienteering relay. It was a great experience
and hopefuly one which they will want to do again.
The Junior Inter Regional Championships.
This event was 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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