Preston Street had a fantastic time at the Scottish Schools’ Orienteering Festival at Hopetoun House on Friday morning.
Having participated in introductory orienteering activities in Holyrood Park in May, we decided to take a group to this event to build on the initial interest which many of our pupils had shown. Overall, 28 of our P4-7 pupils chose to attend the Festival. Some of our young people had attended this event as individual competitors in the past, but this was the first time that we had gone as an ‘official’ school trip. For the majority of the group, this was their first experience of a big orienteering event.
Trying out the maze during a break from the competition.
As well as the competition itself, there were various fun activities (similar to those at the open day) which were available for competitors and spectators to try out. The beautiful grounds of this Victorian stately home were also perfect for the various impromptu games of football which took place while competitors were waiting for their turn to run. Along with the weather, and fantastic views to the Firth of Forth and the three bridges, it all made for a real carnival atmosphere.
Lining up at the start. Note the weather – it didn’t stay this sunny!
The primary event was split into different sections: P5-6 girls, P5-6 boys, P7 boys and P7 girls. There were also various high school categories. Each section had a different route with different checkpoints throughout the expansive grounds of Hopetoun House – this avoids the chance of runners following each other! Our entrants were split across the first three of those categories. Competitors could either run as individuals or pairs.
Downloading results in the control room
Each competitor had a start time, and was given their map 2 minutes before they were due to run – so had to think quickly before setting off around the course! All timing is done electronically using hand-held devices which are scanned at each checkpoint, and runners receive their results instantly once they have downloaded their data at the finish.
Medals were awarded to the top six runners / pairs in each category. Schools which fielded three or more runners in an age group were also entered into the team competition, which is based on the aggregate time of the top three runners from each school.
Our P7 boys’ team having been presented with their winners’ medals.
We were delighted to see that our P7 boys’ team were overall winners! Huge congratulations to Laurence, William and Max M / Celian who finished with an aggregate time of 50 minutes and 10 seconds – just beating their competitors from Law PS in North Berwick who finished in 50:36.
Laurence and Will lining up alongside the rest of the P7 boys’ medallists.
We were also very pleased to have three of our pupils receiving individual medals:
Laurence – 1st place in the P7 boys’ competition
Will – 4th place in the P7 boys’ competition
Lucy – 6th place in the P5/6 girls’ competition
The P5/6 girls’ winners, including Lucy!
It is an outstanding achievement to be a national champion – and something most of us will never achieve in any field! – so we are hugely proud of all our winners.
We are also proud of all our competitors – particularly those who participated for the first time. You were all tremendous ambassadors for the school and showed fantastic behaviour and attitude throughout the day. Our P5/6 girls came 4th and our P5/6 boys came 8th – strong performances all round!
Thanks to everyone at Scottish Schools’ Orienteering Association for putting on such an enjoyable event. Thanks, also, to our parent helpers who came along on the day – Kirsty Murdoch, Evan Burris, and Claire Ward – and to Ray Ward for his help in preparing the pupils. Ray and Claire have both been able to pass on their extensive orienteering experience and knowledge to our pupils, with Ray setting up special practice sessions with our running club, and Claire providing invaluable support on the day with organising and supporting our runners. Thanks also to Justin Burrows who provided help during the practice sessions.
As a footnote – well done to Sciennes PS who were P5/6 boys’ winners, and to James Gillespie’s HS who won the S1 competition. It is great to see that orienteering is thriving across the JGHS cluster!
Full results are available at https://www.ssoa.org.uk/results/2019/res/index.html#school_results
We plan to bring in more opportunities for orienteering in session 2019/20, both within the school day and as an out of school activity, so you have not heard the last of this exciting sport!
Well done to all our school representatives:
Angus, Isla, Soren, Torrin (P4)
Dan, Lucy, Mohamed (P5)
Aliyah, Arden, Iris, Joshua, Leon, Lily W, Liona, Liya, Macyn, Miriam, Tasha, Yiannis, Zara G, Zara R (P6)
Celian, Max M, Max S, Daniel, Laurence, Patrick, Will (P7)