Club Captain’s Report 2009

CLYDE Club Captain’s Report and Club Awards as presented the 2009 AGM on 29th November 2009.

CLYDE Club Captain’s Report and Club Awards 2009 by Steve Wilson

Club Captain’s Report

During 2009 I coordinated entries for seven different events, namely the British Relays, the Compass Sport Trophy (both qualification round and final), the JK Relays, the Scottish Relays, the 11 Person Relay and the Jamie Stevenson Trophy, and organised the club trip to the Compass Sport Trophy Final in Leicestershire in October.

While would be fair to say that it wasn’t a classic year for CLYDE, there were still a large number of excellent achievements to record.

I’ll begin with the team and club results before moving onto notable individual ones.

We had four teams of three at the British Relays at Beaulieu Estate and Heath on the 1st of March and although we didn’t make the podium the teams came a respectable 5th on Men’s Short, 9th on M40, 6th on W40, and 10th on M14 (with W10 Emma Wilson running up).

Perhaps unexpectedly, there were was a large CLYDE turnout and a whole host of excellent performances at the Scottish round of the Compass Sport Trophy organised by the club at Mugdock and Craigallian at the end of March, notably Hollie Orr’s win on Blue Women, top 6 finishes for Dave Robertson, Malcolm Patterson and Robin Orr on Blue Men, Christine Patterson’s win on Green Women (with Val Belton in 5th) and Ruairidh Nixon’s 4th on Light Green, meaning that we finished only just behind reigning champions FVO and easily qualified for the Final.

The Final was held at Fineshade Woods in Leicestershire in October, and for most of the heroes who made the long trip south this involved putting themselves in the gentle hands of Rachel and myself for an epic 674-miles-in-36-hours minibus journey from Glasgow. The forest was classic Midlands terrain (i.e. rough and not very technical) but the event had a real “big race” feel to it and, generally speaking, the best orienteers still won. In our first ever Final last year we finished 6th overall and I’d hoped we could build on this to challenge for the top spot this year, so I was obviously disappointed we eventually finished only 9th (out of 11) behind a weakened FVO (who still managed to successfully defend their title). However, on reflection we can be very pleased with our result as it was about the best we could have hoped for with our incomplete team. Even with Amelia Petrie running up on Blue Women and Robert Patterson running up on Light Green, the absence of three of our four top M45+s meant that we were always going to be one counter short (i.e. we could only count 12 rather than 13 scores). If one of the missing M45+s had run to form we’d have had another 90+ points, putting us level or just ahead of RR in 6th, and if two of the missing M45+s had run to form then we would have discarded Gemma Petrie’s 52 to give us another 130 or so points, putting us up with SOS in 4th and only just over 100 points behind FVO - on such narrow margins are titles won and lost! The full CLYDE “roll of honour”, with scorers marked with a star, is as follows:

* Christine Paterson (Green Women) 100 points
* Donald Petrie (Blue Men) 99
* Robert Patterson (Light Green) 96
* Thomas Wilson (Orange) 94
* Ed Nicholas (Brown) 91
* Steve Clelland (Brown) 89
* Patrick Walder (Brown) 88
  Kenny Milton (Brown) 84
* Val Belton (Green Women) 80
* Emma Wilson (Orange) 80
  Steve Wilson (Brown) 78
* Rachel Wilson (Blue Women) 74
  Alastair Dunlop (Brown) 70
* Amelia Petrie (Blue Women) 54
* Gemma Petrie (Light Green) 52

I’ve very grateful to everyone who made the trip (especially to Amelia and Robert for running up). With FVO winning again this year our chances of qualification for next year’s Final are improved, and I urge the club (and, in particular, my successor as Club Captain) to make sure that we get out an even stronger team that really could challenge for the title next year!

The relays at the Jan Kjellstrom Festival of Orienteering (“the JK”) 2009 held in North East England in April will be long remembered for the epic queues for the busses between the car parks and Dipton Forest, CLYDE fielded seven teams of three (one complete but non-competitive due to late withdrawal), but the undoubted highlights were a fantastic bronze medal for “CLYDE Future” consisting of Thomas Wilson, Emma Wilson and Robert Patterson on M/W40- and a good 6th place for Donald Petrie, Robin Orr and Dave Robertson on M120+.

The Scottish Relay Championships at Strathmashie were fiercely physically tough but saw victory for Steve Clelland, Dave Robertson and Robin Orr (and third place for Donald Petrie, Steve Wilson and Val Belton) in the “Handicap 6” class, and a superb second place for Thomas Wilson, Emma Wilson and Robert Patterson in the “Junior 40-“ class.  In total the club fielded seven teams of three, and special mention should go to Claire Macpherson who was very harshly disqualified on the last leg of the “Handicap 9” class after the organisers removed some of the controls too early!

The inter-club Jamie Stevenson Trophy (for juniors only) was held at Pitmedden Forest rather earlier than usual this year, and, perhaps because of this, saw a smaller CLYDE turnout than recent years. Only Thomas Wilson (5th on Orange Boys) made the top five on their course and the club finished a relatively lowly 7th out of 12 clubs, down from 4th last year, behind defending champions MAROC.

The club is to be congratulated on fielding two full (11 person) teams at the newly renamed “Scottish Inter Club Team Relay” (previously the “11 Person Relay”). The final results (9th and 12th out of 12th) are probably best glossed over, but with some teams fielding experienced M35s and M40s up against our M12s and M14s on the Orange legs, the next Captain will either have to break from my policy of picking the best “pound for pound” orienteers for the first team or lobby the SOA to introduce a proper handicap competition that encourages even the most competitive clubs to field the mixed teams that the original instigators of the competition envisaged, if we are to challenge for the top places in future. However, I can’t finish discussing this weekend without mentioning the superb CLYDE accommodation and catering masterminded by Liz Orr and her team (notably Kate Thomas for her amazing Banoffi pie) – I can’t believe that any other club beat us in this department!

Having dealt with team and club results, now I’ll turn to notably individual achievements by CLYDE members during the last year.

On the domestic stage, Thomas and Emma Wilson, Catriona and Lindsay Robertson and Robert Patterson were all chosen to represent the West Area at the Scottish Junior Inter Area Competition Weekend held in conjunction with SOL3 at Teviothead. The West Area team was expertly organised by our own Christine Patterson with some assistance from Steve Wilson.

At a National Level, Hollie and Jessica Orr (both running as W20s) were members of the victorious Scottish team at the Senior Home Internationals held in Northern Ireland. Robert Patterson and Jessica Orr ran for Scotland in the Ward Junior Home Internationals held on Newborough Forest in Anglesea. (Robert and Jessica were also part of the winning Scottish team at the Junior Inter Regional Championships held in Northern Ireland). Christine Patterson and Donald Petrie ran for Scotland in the Veteran Home Internationals at Eyam Moor in Yorkshire.

At the UK level, Hollie Orr ran in the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Italy, Jessica Orr in the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) in Serbia, and Robert Patterson was selected for the BOF Summer Tour to Lagganlia.

Inspecting the latest issues of BOF Focus reveals that six members of CLYDE achieved Championship standard in 2009, namely Robin Orr and Dave Robertson in M45, Donald Petrie in M50, Emma Wilson in W10, Jessica Orr in W18, and Christine Patterson in W50.

The premier Scottish competition is the year-long Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) and CLYDE had only four class winners this year, namely

Steve Wilson M21S (running up),
Donald Petrie M50L,
Hollie Orr W20 (with only one run),
Christine Patterson M50L,

with second place finishes for Dave Robertson (M35L, running up), Alastair Dunlop (M35S), Emma Wilson (W10) and Claire Macpherson (W21S), and a third place finish for Thomas Wilson (M12). In addition, Alice Wilson (W7) won the (non-competitive) White course overall.

In the 2008/2009 SOSOL series (completed since the last AGM) there were overall certificates for Lindsay Robertson (10th on Yellow), Emma Wilson (2nd on Orange), Alastair Dunlop (4th on Blue), Donald Petrie (4th on Brown) and Robin Orr (8th on Brown).

Although it happened last year, the 2008 Glasgow Parks Championships took place after last year’s AGM, and so it would be remiss of me not to record an outstanding CLYDE performance with Robert Patterson winning the Junior class (with Thomas Wilson 4th), Rory Matheson 4th on the Open Men’s class, Hollie Orr winning the Open Women’s class (with Jessica Orr 3rd), Dave Robertson winning the Veteran Men’s class (with Donald Petrie, Malcolm Patterson and Robin Orr completing a clean sweep of the top four places), Christine Patterson winning the Veteran Women’s class (with Rachel Wilson 3rd), and Claire Macpherson winning the Social class! Will the winners be able to defend their titles at the 2009 competition next weekend?

There were no CLYDE winners to report at the British Night Championships at Mytchett in January, but in February MAROC organised a memorable high-quality Scottish Night Championships at Birsemore Hill which saw Hollie Orr emerge at Women’s Scottish Night Champion (and in the process beat the time by Dave Robertson who was 2nd on M45). The accompanying event at Bogendreip the next day was memorable, but for the less commendable reasons of a seriously misplaced control and an overzealous start official who caused huge tailbacks at the start by insisting on a 3 minute start interval on all courses!

Liz Orr organised some excellent accommodation for the brave few who made the long trip to the New Forest for the British Championships (unusually early on 28th February and 1st March due to access issues). The top results on the championship courses were Emma Wilson’s second place on W10A (just failing to different the title she won in 2008), Robert Patterson’s 5th on M14A and Thomas Wilson’s 7th on M12A. On the non-championship courses Steve Wilson had a flying run off a late start to win M40S, Alastair Dunlop was 2nd equal on M35S, and Liz Orr was 4th on W45S.

Early April saw the British Age Class Sprint Championships held much closer to home at Stirling University using a two-round “chasing sprint” format. The day produced five CLYDE British Champions, Robert Patterson (M14), Donald Petrie (M50, remarkably his first ever individual British title!), Emma Wilson (W10), Hollie Orr (W21, running for EUOC) and Christine Patterson (W50), with second places for Thomas Wilson (M12) and Dave Robertson (M45).

As well as the relay in Dipton, the JK in April saw flat out urban sprint orienteering around Newcastle city centre and two contrasting individual days on Kyloe (mainly tough and steep woodland) and Detchant (mainly fast and open moorland). CLYDE had two gold medalists in the Sprint, Emma Wilson (W10) and Hollie Orr (W20) and several near misses (notably Donald Petrie who was less than only 34 seconds down in 5th on M50). There was even more success in the individual competition, with a fantastic gold medal for Christine Patterson on W50L, silver for Donald Petrie on M50L, and bronze for Steve Wilson on M40S, Emma Wilson on W10A and Jessica Orr on W18E.

Back on “home soil” the Scottish Championships weekend in May saw a two days of tough competition with fast running at Balavil and Dunachtonmore for the individual championships. Dave Robertson (3rd, but first Scot, on M45L) won CLYDE’s only Scottish title, but there were second places for Thomas Wilson (M12A), Robert Patterson (M14A), Jessica Orr (W18L) and third places for Donald Petrie (M50L), Emma Wilson (W10A) and Christine Patterson (W50L), and success on the non-championship courses for Alastair Dunlop (3rd on M35S) and Liz Orr (2nd on W45S).

However, for many CLYDE members (including me!) the highlight of the year was the superb Tay 2009 Scottish 6-Days Orienteering Event. Characterised by well planned courses on demanding areas, fierce competition at the “sharp end” of the classes and (except day 3) great weather, the event saw many notable performances by members of the club. Top club results were Kenny Milton’s last day demolition of the field to grab victory on M40S and third places for Hollie Orr (W21E), Christine Patterson (W50L) and Donald Petrie (M50L, as part of the only all Scottish podium) and near misses for Steve Wilson (4th on M40S) and Emma Wilson (4th on W10A).

No CLYDE Championships to report from the Scottish Sprint Championships held on a remarkably varied and tricky new urban area in the centre of Lossiemouth, but a second place for Catriona Robertson on W14 and a third place for Thomas Wilson on M12 deserve a mention.

Several CLYDE members took part in the annual Tinto Twin night/day double header at Beecraigs (the day event being the memorably tough and wet SOL 7), but the only overall winners were Robert Patterson (M18B, after picking up the wrong map at the night event), Dave Robertson (M40L, running up a class), and Christine Patterson (W50L).

We weren’t particularly successful at the Scottish Score Championships at Pitmedden last weekend, but nevertheless Val Belton, Robert Patterson and Emma Wilson emerged as Scottish Champions in W50, M14 and W10, respectively.

I’ve been Club Captain for the last four years (in addition to an earlier stint in the mid 1990s) and so I think it’s time for me to step down and let someone else take over. In general, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of getting out the best possible teams (the 11 Person Relay is a particular challenge as people rarely sign up in multiples of 11!) and pride myself that hardly ever did anyone have to run in an incomplete team (I can only recall it happening once). I think that relays (and trips to the Compass Sport Trophy Final in the last couple of years) are a vital part of the “glue” that holds a club together, and that being part of a team (no matter how competitive or uncompetitive it might be) always gives an extra “edge” to your run. The old club website made organising the teams much easier than during my previous stint as Captain in the 1990s (when we thought that the famous “tear off strips” in Clyde-O-Scope were a fairly cool idea!) and I’m sure my successor will be embracing the new website or even more up-to-date technology to make his or her job easier. My only advice to him or her is that there is no substitute for a little gentle “arm twisting” as an entry deadline approaches and that flattery does indeed work! I’d like to conclude the saying a big “thank you” to all who turned out for CLYDE in the last four years, and I look forward to seeing you all on the relay start line or change-over box next year!

Club Awards 2009

The choice of Most Improved Man was relatively straightforward, as there is really only one male member of the club who has significantly “raised his game” in the last year or so, and so it is my pleasure to present this year’s award to Robin Orr.

The winner of the award for Most Improved Woman was harder to decide, and several names were seriously considered, including juniors Ellie Thomas and Lindsay Robertson. However, in the end there was one woman who stood out as having really “stepped up a level” during the year, and so it is my pleasure to hand this year’s award to Catriona Robertson.

It is also my pleasant duty to award the Cannon Trophy to the person who scored the most points in the 2009 SOL series. Under the old scoring system there were regularly ties with several people collecting 4,000 points, but under the new scoring system this is now very unlikely, and this year the trophy goes outright to a very worthy winner who not only won his class but did so with the 4th highest points total in the entire SOL competition. I am delighted to announce that this year the Cannon Trophy goes to Donald Petrie for his 5,098 points on the ultra-competitive M50L class, a man who last won the Trophy way back in 1986!

The final award is the Croy Bowl for the most “notable performance” during the year, and, after much deliberation, the committee agreed that the award should go to Julian Thomas for his performance at SOL 4 which involved being out for a very long time after taking a map of a longer-than-intended course by mistake and locking his wife and daughter out of the car!

Posted on 05th Dec 09
by Steven Wilson

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