Our last event of the year was in Livingston; a sprint-style urban race which formed the last race of the SOUL (Scottish Orienteering Urban League) calendar. Results as follow:

• Simple Results
• Routegadget (not geo-referenced)
• Winsplits

Final SOUL league standings can be found here.

After a last minute panic when Deans Community High School became unavailable, we were fortunate to find the Carmondean Community Centre available, and just around the corner. Only very minor tweaks to start and finish were needed. The venue was perfect - warm, dry and a perfect size, and even had a kitchen (which one club member who is having a new kitchen fitted made excellent use of for his washing up!) - and I'm sure we will be back. Despite a dusting of snow, the courses were safely negotiated by all with no mishaps (unlike the controls, of which more below).

Thanks to pre-event organiser Mairi Eades, on-the-day organisers Lucy and Claire Ward, planner Pat Bartlett, controller Crawford Lindsay, and to everyone else who helped out either before or on the day.

Planner's Comments

Thanks to everyone for coming and hope you enjoyed visiting some areas of Livingston not used for many years, and on courses 1 to 3 not used before.  There was a lot more snow in Livingston when we arrived at 8.30am than in Edinburgh, but this meant it was at least not icy! Everyone seemed to cope fine with no major slips reported.

Unfortunately 3 SI units were stolen by a group of kids.  We hope this didn’t detract from people’s enjoyment of the courses.

The community centre was a great venue for the prize giving.  Well done to all the SOUL prize winners!

Controller's Comments

A few words from our controller, Crawford Lindsay:

It was a pleasure to control this event in Livingston. I have been wanting SOULs that are more Sprint-like with many controls and changes of direction for all ages, rather than just for the elites. Scotland is hosting a Sprint WOC in 2024 and those of us in older age categories seem to have been largely ignored when planning has been taking place. This, the final SOUL of 2023, was an exception as Pat Bartlett provided excellent courses for everyone that needed concentration at all times. The organisation was very good before, during and after the event and I would like to thank Mairi Eades, the main organiser, Claire Ward the day organiser, Colin and Lorna Eades for control hanging and William Ivory for all their efforts. The weather largely behaved as there was no snow until Friday night and conditions were reasonable underfoot. Sadly 3 controls were removed by people with wire cutters. We took the decision to assume people had visited the controls rather than voiding the affected legs. Finally thanks to everyone who came and ran in this area of prime urban terrain.

Forthcoming Events

Buckstane Sprintelope # 5 - Wednesday 8th May 2024

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