My Scottish 6 Days: by Alastair Dunlop

The first week of August saw over 30 Clyde members competing in Tay 2009, the much awaited Scottish 6 Days Orienteering event, which takes place every two years.

For me, this was essentially a family holiday enjoying some of the best scenery in Scotland, with some high quality orienteering terrain thrown in, and was the highlight of the ‘O’ calendar. An incredible amount of organisation from Scottish clubs goes into making the event successful, and this included many Clyde members on Day 2. On the other days, after competing, club members took in the atmosphere of the finishing straight and compared notes on performances at the club tent.

Day 1 took place at Dalrulzion, north of Blairgowrie, which was a rough forest underfoot, with lots of green and light green on the map. Some of this was too indistinct for me and I did exactly what I’d told myself not to do, messing up finding the first control of the week. Many others also found this forest to be the hardest of the week, with the day’s Clyde results being generally less impressive than the following days.

Day 2 at Kinnoull Hill outside Perth saw club members successfully contribute to the organisation, Dave Robertson controlling, Donald Petrie leading the parking team and a squad manning the download all day. Our prayers were answered with blue skies and dry parking fields with wonderful views across the Tay and beyond. Much more runnable woodland here and a better race for me, marred by confusing control 9 on the map for the nearby upside-down control 6. Clyde highlights of the day were a win for Kenny Milton on M40S, 2nd places for Christine Patterson (W50L) and Donald Petrie (M50L) and a 3rd for Steven Clelland, making a one-day cameo appearance on M21 Short.

Day 3 at Tullochroisk, underneath Schiehallion, saw a lot of open hillside and contour details running in driving rain, but no chance of actually seeing Schiehallion. The wild conditions and experience from the Scottish Champs previously held here seemed to suit me, coming in 6th for my best ever 6-days result. The conditions also seemed to suit Christine Patterson, Hollie Orr, Emma Wilson and Steve Wilson who all posted top-3 finishes. Just as we left the car park, the sun came out!

The ‘rest day’ between days 3 and 4 meant different things for different people. For me it involved towing my car home to Glasgow after a tree fell on it, then dashing back up to compete in a Sprint-O event at the Scone Palace and Perth Racecourse grounds. So not really a ‘rest’ at all, especially if you’re trying to keep up with Scott Fraser at sprinting. Donald made a good effort at this, leading the Clyde charge, and I beat an old rival from South West England for the first time in 24 years! The Sprint-O was followed by a pipe band and quiz, one of a series of social events organised at the Perth Racecourse event centre.

Day 4 saw the event hit the coast, at Tentsmuir near Tayport in Fife. Glorious sunshine was back, and some very runnable courses ended with some technical finishes through the undergrowth meaning you had to slow down for a clean run. Top 3 finishes again today for Kenny Milton, Donald Petrie and Emma Wilson, showing good consistency.

Day 5 moved further up the coast to the sand dunes of Barry Buddon near Carnoustie, a military training area. No shade from the sun here, and a lot of concentration needed to avoid getting muddled in amongst the gorse bushes. I made a real mess of this course, heading for a lighthouse when I should have been going inland, but much better results today for Donald Petrie with a win over arch-rivals John Tullie and Martin Dean, and Dave Robertson taking 3rd on M45L.

The final day where all the medals were decided was at Loch Ordie between Dunkeld and Pitlochry, a hilly area of open moorland. Hard going through the heather for tired legs like mine, and another disappointing mistake from me near the end, not seeing a control in the undergrowth 10 yards away, but I’d done just enough earlier in the week to fend off a strong late surge from Dave MacRitchie in our personal contest. The best 4 days out of 6 count in the scoring (apart from on M/W 21 Elite where all days count) so you can get away with a few mistakes and still try and learn from them in the future. At the top of the leader-board, Kenny Milton sealed an overall win on M40S with a dramatic last day win on Day 6, closely followed by Steve Wilson in 2nd on the day. Also finishing on a high with great results on the day were Clyde members both young and old – Drew Somerville (3rd), Emma Wilson (3rd), Thomas Wilson (4th) and Lindsay Robertson (5th).

In the overall results there were several fantastic Clyde successes, led by Kenny Milton’s win on M40 Short, with podium finishes for Hollie Orr (3rd on W21 Elite), Christine Patterson (3rd on W50L) and Donald Petrie (3rd on M50L) and Steve and Emma Wilson just missing the medals, both with 4th places.