URGENT

Do you look good in the forest?

Order an Interlopers O top now!

Interlopers are about to order more of our fabulous new design O tops (see photos)

The price will be circa £35 each (hopefully a small discount for juniors)

They are supplied by Trimtex and called “Interløpers - speed lzr - Normal Fit - O tops”

The tops are available as long or short sleeved; in sizes 130, 140, 150 and XS to XXXL, plus female cut XS to XXL.

Please note that the tops are a very small / tight cut, so it would be wise to try a friends top first.

To order a top, please email Ken Daly at chairman@interlopers.org.uk and specify name, sex, size and long or short sleeves.

Please submit your order to Ken within a week of publication of the newsletter.

You are encouraged to order this time around as it could be a few years until the next order and this bargain price may not be available next time around

SOUL men!

Murray Strain and Samuel Galloway won the Open and Junior men categories in the Scottish Orienteering Urban League at BASOC's Highland Wolf event.

Final Interløper selections at WOC 2015 (1-7 August)

The final GBR selection for WOC had a strong Interløpery theme to it, with Hector joining Scott and Murray on the team.  They were pitting their wits against the best/worst efforts of other Interløpers: Middle/Relay Planner (Graeme), Long Controller (Colin), moderated by Technical Coordinator (Graham).

In the Sprint at Forres on Sunday 2nd, Scott finished 13th, and Murray 18th, out of 45 competitors, 27 and 36 secs respectively behind the winner, Jonas Leandersson of Sweden.  Full results are here, and more info can be found on the WOC website.

In the Middle at Darnaway Forest on Tuesday 4th, Hector finished 10th= (out of 79), 1m45s behind the winner, Daniel Hubmann of Switzerland.  Alison was 59th in the Women's race.  Full results are at this link.

On first lap of the Relay at Darnaway on Wednesday 5th, Scott brought GB in 8th;  Graham Gristwood had a storming run to bring the team up to 2nd, but on anchor leg Ralph Street was overtaken by the Norwegian and French teams, finishing 4th, 2m49s behind Switzerland, who led from Start to Finish.  USA Women finished 20th, with Alison 23rd on the second lap.  The GB girls were 9th.  Full results are here.

In the Long race at Glen Affric on Friday 7th, Hector placed 17th out of 74 in 109m06s, 9m20s behind the winner, France's Thierry Gueorgiou.  Graham Gristwood was 18th, and Ali McLeod 26th.  Full results are at this link.

Team GB performed with distinction in the World Champs recently finished in Sweden.  The Mixed Sprint Relay Team came 4th, and the Men's Forest Relay Team, including Hector Haines on the second leg, achieved the same result.  In the Individual events, Hector was 19th in the Long race, in which Alan Cherry finished 37th.

As a result of the Relay achievements, GB qualified as one of the 13 best nations for the World Games in Poland in 2017.

Whilst many were in the Lake District, a little closer to home saw the Club’s “urban” aficionados taking on a Fife double-header on 23/24 March.

Saturday was a sprint-distance race in historic Culross, with Rachel Kirkland on good form to be first vet lady on the Long course, and good runs by assorted McIntyres amongst others.

Sunday was a longer urban race in the historic centre of Dunfermline, including Pittencrieff park.  The Park has a very steep-sided Glen in the middle, and there were lots of “around or up’n’down’” route choice legs.  Outside the Park, the longer courses visited the shopping centre’s roof.  Definitely a good addition to the Central Scotland urban map repertoire.  More of us out to play on Sunday – there were SOUL point on offer – with the best runs from Paul Caban first on Blue aka MSV+, and Rachel running up to be first on Brown aka Women’s Open.

Paul Caban

Many congratulations to Angus Ivory, who finished 4th in the M2-School Long course on Wednesday 1 May.  He followed this up by coming 8th in the same category in the Middle Distance on the Friday.

The George Heriot's team, consisting of Angus, Eunus Rehman, Amius Marshall-De'Ath, Tomas MacDonald and Tommy Thin, came 8th in each event.

Our Club Juniors have been in action at two recent events. 

On Friday, club members at local schools attended the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival at Hopetoun House, along with around 300 other juniors from around Scotland.  It was a great day out by all account, with some excellent results.  Individual podium places went to Ben Ross 1st P5/6 boys, Laurence Ward 1st P7 boys, Sam Bartlett 2nd S1 boys, Fiona Eades 1st S3 girls, Angus Ivory 2nd S3 boys.  Interloper juniors contributed to a number of winning teams for Edinburgh schools: Sciennes PS , 1st P5/6 boys; Preston St PS, 1st P7 boys; James Gillespie’s HS, 1st S1 boys; George Heriot’s 1st S3 boys.  See ssoa for full details.

Two days later, the action moved to Kingussie, for the Jamie Stevenson Trophy hosted by BASOC.  For those who don’t know, this is named after the first Scottish winner of a World Orienteering Championships Gold Medal (for sprint).  After the initial parade (Interlopers had the tallest banner – see photo), our small but perfectly formed team of seven, spanning M12 – W18, enjoyed the sun and pleasantly un-green course (unlike the Scottish Champs).  They came a very creditable 6th  (not bad given the odds were heavily in the northern clubs' favour and we needed 6 runners to count!) , a mere two points behind a larger ESOC contingent.   Mairi Eades made the podium with a 3rd on W18).  Full results here.

Orienteering on the Adventure Show (by Graeme Ackland)

The BBC Scotland "Adventure Show" will be covering the JOK Chasing Sprint this coming FRIDAY 28 June at Callendar Park, Falkirk.  The chasing sprint has a two race format, with the prologue time determining the start list for the final.  Timings are likely to be prologue from 3-6, finals from 7-9. 

It’s the time of year when our Juniors get to test themselves against their English, Welsh and Irish contemporaries.  The JIRCs (Junior Inter-Regional Championships) will be held in South Yorkshire on the 28th – 29th September, and the JHIs (Junior Home Internationals) will be held in the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland on 12th-13th October.  Congratulations to the following Interloper Club Juniors on their selections:

• JIRCs: Pippa Carcas (W16), Mairi Eades (W18), Thomas Ross (M14), Sam Bartlett (M14 reserve) More details...
• JHIs:  David Ivory (M14), Sam Bartlettt (M14 reserve), Pippa Carcas (W16), Angus Ivory (M16) More details... 

Preview of our new club banners, to be seen at an event near you soon...

A volunteer’s view of our Craigmillar Come-And-Try-It – thanks to Colin Inverarity for this report (and for his and other volunteers’ help on the day):

The increasingly less reliable BBC Weather app was not looking too optimistic for this, our first event of the year, as we rolled up to Peffermill Road at the time suggested by Organiser Daly.  Assorted Interløpers then lugged the necessary impedimenta in the general direction of where we thought the start might be in the absence of Planner (Graham) McIntyre to provide the definitive answer.  Graham soon appeared and steered us in the right direction, after which what might have been a record number of club helpers began the process of erecting the club tent.  Once up, the tent looked as if it was going to have a bit of a buffetting but Max expertly adjusted the guy-ropes so that it more or less looked the correct shape.

With all the equipment set up, everyone fell into their allotted tasks ready for the orienteers to arrive.  Graham had thoughtfully located the start at a path junction with a very convenient bench for the start officials to park themselves on which was much appreciated. 

Twenty past one and no one had arrived, which seemed unusual given the general enthusiasm for these local events, but then began a steady flow of families, beginners and seasoned orienteers keen to enjoy the delights of Craigmillar at this time of year before the nettles and brambles detract from the enjoyment of running here.  Safety warnings were given, children told to wait for the beep at the clear station, beginners reassured they were at the start triangle, extremely keen youngsters reined back to allow a minute interval between them and their siblings,  and the queue for the green course built up.

Approaching 2.30pm and the pile of green maps was diminishing quickly … in the end I had one map left as the final competitors set off.  Finished with my start duties I headed off to the Finish to take some photos of people returning, including eventual Green course winner, Max Carcas (club president), storming in to complete his run, as well as a number of members of other clubs.  Those finishing all seemed to have enjoyed Graham’s courses, and a general air of satisfaction seemed to prevail among those gathered around the tent on my return there. 

A willing band of helpers have again ensured a successful event despite the usual last minute panic behind the scenes about map updates, controls inserted in the wrong places on the map, and printers breaking down the night before the event.  Well done, all!

In a message to all members on Tuesday 17 March, Peter Hart, the Chief Executive of British Orienteering, announced that all orienteering activities in the UK must be suspended with immediate effect, as a precaution against the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

If there are any changes to this policy, an announcement will be made on this website at the time.

Congratulations to Angus Ivory who has made it to the final 3 of the SOA's Young Orienteer of the Year competition.  More details in this SOA website article ...

A big thank you to all our volunteers, without whom the club would not exist.  A special mention to Ken Daly and Paul Caban, whose efforts over the years are featured on the SOA website as part of Volunteer Week.

Well done to everyone who took part in our virtual Colinton Dell event in the first week of September.  It's an intricate area, with the courses interspersing urban and parkland terrain to keep everyone on their toes.  Results can be found via the MapRun Console website (http://p.fne.com.au/#/fne) - search for Colinton.  The club also had a post-event Zoom call with a quiz on all things (vaguely) related to Colinton Dell which was suitably challenging and was won by Graeme Ackland.  Many thanks to Chris Dibben and Philippa Ascough for planning and for masterminding the quiz!

The club's 45th AGM was held on Thursday 24th September on Zoom. Ali Masson started proceedings with an inspiring talk on his and Sasha Chepelin's attempt to run a record number of Munros in 24 hours, including many photos and details on the intricacies of planning such an event.  It was then on to regular business, with Max Carcas giving his last report as Chairman.  Then on to Committee elections, with the following changes:

• Chairman: Max Carcas stepped down; Colin Eades is appointed
  Social Secretary: Jane Carcas will job-share the role with Lorna Eades
  Newsletter Editor: Graeme Ackland stepped down; Katherine Ivory will take on a wider Comms role
  Ordinary Member: Ken Daly stepped down; Ali Masson is appointed

Secretary John Barrow announced this year's recipient of the Gullane Rock for services to Interløpers - awarded to Max Carcas for his energy and enthusiasm in driving the club forwards over his 5 years as Chairman.

Paul Caban took part in the Virtual London Marathon on Sunday 4th October, running from his house in South Edinburgh to North Berwick, in the company of a small support team of Interlopers and other friends.  His time of just under 3hours 30minutes wasn’t quite what he was hoping for: having started more quickly than his planned pace, he hit The Wall close by Archerfield, and suffered.  Badly.  The photos below show him still looking lively approaching the halfway point near Prestonpans, and then entering North Berwick (about 1 mile from the end).

Paul approaching half-way (Photo courtesy Mary Brennan)

Paul approaching Gullane (William Ivory)

Into North Berwick - the final mile.

Congratulations to Pippa Carcas on selection to Tier 1 of the GB Orienteering Talent Squad.  Full details in the BOF News article ...

Entries for our Polkemmet event on Saturday 12th June are now open - see the event details for more information. Final Details, Start List and Control descriptions now available ...

Entries for our decidedly non-urban Blackford Sprintelope have now closed.  Event details here ...

Our next event is at Kinneil Woods on Saturday 9th April. Entries open on Fabian4, and full event details here.

Entries for the first Sprintelope of 2022 at Craigmillar are now open - see event page for more details.

Entries for the third 2022 Sprintelope, in South Edinburgh, are now open -see event page for details.

Our third Sprintelope of the season takes place in Buckstone on Wednesday 6th July. Entries are open, and full details can be found on our event page. Please pre-enter (up to 4pm Tuesday) if you can, though there should be enough maps for anyone wishing to enter on the day too.

Our Braidburn Valley Park event will now be held on Saturday 1st October, with start times between 1:30 and 3pm. Please see event page for more details.

Entries close midnight Monday 26th September - enter on Fabian4.

Entries have closed for our Livingston Deans Urban race on Sunday 20th November. See the event page for more details, and final details and start list now available.

See event page for details - entries now open!