Border Liners Orienteering Club held their first event of the year on Saturday 3rd January at Whittas Park near Bassenthwaite. As always this was independently organised by Raymond Wren with all entry fees going to charity. This year’s beneficiary was “Terminalhilless”, Ian Teasdale’s fundraising campaign in aid of Maggie’s cancer care. The weather was bright and sunny but very cold, with the hard frozen ground making for fast going, even if it was somewhat uncomfortable on the feet. The event used (mostly) a “score” format where points are gained for visiting controls, but no defined order specified. However the twist this year was that 3 controls had to be taken in a fixed order to gain maximum points which caused some head scratching at map issue.
Two courses were on offer – Long and Short. On the Long course 27 out of 32 runners achieved maximum points within the time limit of 45 minutes. It was won by West Cumberland runner James Birkinshaw in a time of 27:32, 2 minutes ahead of Jamie Rennie (also of West Cumberland). In 3rd place and top Border Liner was James Chapman 30 seconds further back. First lady was Daisy Rennie running for Sheffield University in a time of 34:26. On the short course 14 out of 60 runners achieved maximum points within the time limit. Winner was Isaac Hunter (West Cumberland) who raced round in 22:25, winning by over 10 minutes from Thomas Corlett (Edinburgh club Interlopers). Third and top Border Liner was Mark Peploe with Helen Rennie (West Cumberland) coming home as first lady.
Dan Parker (06/01/26)
Border Liners Orienteering Club 