Sprint O Kings Buildings

Max and Colin went our Sprint Orienteering round the Kings Buildings university campus. Great location for a run. Max did very well getting round 2 loops of 1.5 km in just over 30 minutes.

Meadows Mile

Quick race round the Meadows on a regular mile event held by Sri Chimnoy running club. Finished the mile in 6 min 19 sec in 30th place of 42 runners.

Sprint-O

Excellent course around the grounds of Astlie Ainslie hospital and surrounding streets. A few bad controls led to a rather poor placing of 13 of 20.

LAMM Day 2

We were again woken by the bagpipes - this time at 5 am. After a quick sausage stew we were ready to go by 6.30. Not everyone survived the night - one competitor put a tent peg through his foot going to the loo in the night without his shoes on!

On day 2 we again navigated very well with just one hiccup at a control with a poor grid reference. Conditions were again tough with very poor visibility on the mountain peaks.

There were just 136 starters on our course on Day 2 and we came 115 of the 120 who finished. There were 16 who didn't manage to finish the second day. Overall our time was second slowest - but mission accomplished.

Fantistic experience.

Click here for the LAMM website

Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon - Day 1

Ian and I headed off on Friday morning for two days in the hills at LAMM in the Assynt region in the far north of Scotland. After a five hour journey we arrived at the basecamp at Inchnadamph near Ullapool. Our objective was to finish and not be the slowest finishers.

We pitched camp with Franks rather outdated tent looking out of place amongst the other more modern base camp tents. Excellent meal from Wilfs in the base camp tent and a few drinks at the local hotel, the only hostelry for about 20 miles, whose sole barperson was wondering why it was a bit busy that night!
Having survived Ian's snoring we were woken by the sound of the piper walking up the glen. After a quick breakfast we set of on what proved to be a long hard journey. In spite of recent training Ian wasn't well prepared for the length of the race or the terrain. Our navigation was very good and we made good progress over the first two controls. For the third Ian had decided that he didn't like hills and that he loved paths and we chosed a very long route that went a very long way round a hill and added about 7 km to the journey and probably lost us about an hour. Thereafter the going was very tough in bad weather and rougn ground. We kept going though and arrived on a mountain peak above mid camp around 7 pm. After a final rough descent we finally got to camp at around 8 pm. I shall never forget to look of admonishment that Ian gave me as we crossed t he line after almost ten very tough hours on the hills.

We quickly put up the tent and had a minestrone cup-a-soup that tasted absolutely fabulous. After that it was quickly to sleep.

On our course there was one slower team and nine that failed to complete out of 145 teams.

R&R

A fairly quiet weekend for everyone. Blanket sale at the school on Saturday afternoon although we didn't manage to sell much. Cherry went to Miniatura whilst the rest of us went on a short cycle ride.

Pentlands Long O

A return to normal form on Sunday at the Pentlands Long Orienteering event. A very long course of 22 km as the crow flies but much longer on the ground took 4 hrs 46 minutes to complete. 21 st of 26 entries. Very tough going and blisters forced me down to walking pace for much of the course.

Edinburgh Sprint Series

A fine result for Colin in this 3 race 1 day competition. Third place on the M35+ class. OK - there were only 7 competitors but still an achievement.

Click here for the results

JGPS 2 Sciennes PS 6

Hannah's team played really well but didn't manage to beat the Sciennes team.

Edinburgh City Cup No 5

5th place (out of 12). Navigation not brilliant but kept going quite well.

Harp Competition

Max came an excellent third place in his first harp competition. Well Done.

East Cairn Hill

Max and Colin went walking in the Pentlands. A long muddy route from Little Vantage to the Cauldstane Slap and up to the summit of East Cairn Hill. A total of 4 hours walk.

Kayak Trip

To celebrate Max's eleventh birthday we went on a Kayak trip from Kingussie to Loch Insh a journey of around 7 miles. It was hard work with a strong head wind the whole way. Max paddled very well for the whole 4 hour journey.

Blairgowrie and East Lomond

Stopped off on the drive back from the hills for a nice riverside walk and Blairgowrie and a walk up East Lomond.

Munro Bagging

Had my first munro bagging expedition and managed to get round 9 on a wet and windy day. Set out at 7.25 am to do Carn Aosda, Carn a Gheoidh and the Carnwell. Very heavy rain and visibility down to less than 100 m. Main focus was on careful navigation so the going was slow. The sky cleared as I approached the Cairnwell. Arrived back at the car by 10.35 and had a short break, change of gear and shoes.

Set off again at 11.15 and tackled Craig Leacach, Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise, Tom Buidhe and Tolmount in fairly good weather. Made quite fast progress on the boggy ground. The weather changed for the worse on the last peak, Carn an Tuic when the wind speed rose considerably and the rain changed to hail. Difficult descent off the last hill and then back to the car by 5.25 pm.

In pretty good shape after 10 hours out on the hills so feel confident I can manage more - maybe another 5 for a total of 14.

SOL3 - Greenock

A long drive out to Greenock for a wet day's orienteering in the hills above the Clyde Valley. Hannah came 7 out of 12. Max was slowest of the finishers on his course and Colin came second last despite a pretty good run.

Jog around (and up) Arthurs Seat

Fabulous weather on Saturday. Ran around Holyrood Park and enjoyed the views.

Edinburgh City Cup 2

Fabulous weather on a sunny Wednesday evening. Paragliders were floating in from the hilltops to land by the start. Snowboarders on the ski slopes. Hot and hilly orienteering. Colin came a sound 8 of 26.

Good bye McDougal Moose

Left McDougal in a cache near the Braid. Hannah very sad. His parents are coming across from America to find him soon.

South Morningside 6 James Gillespie 0

Hannah made her competitive football debut against a crack SM team. Despite brave efforts in the pouring rain the girls lost.

Great Edinburgh Run

Max and Hannah ran at the Great Edinburgh Mini and Junior Runs on Saturday morning. Hannah got round the 1.4 km course in just under 10 minutes and Max completed 2.4 km in just under 12 minutes.

Castlelaw

We rounded off a busy weekend with a junior hill run at Castlelaw in the Pentlands. The longest junior run ever was tough going but some great views.