The Cannon Trophy (1983 to 2009)

Details of the winners of the Cannon Trophy for the best overall performance in the Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) series by a member of CLYDE from 1983 to 2009.

The Cannon Trophy (1983 to 2009) by Steve Wilson

At the club AGM every year, CLYDE awards the Cannon Trophy (more accurately, the “Cannon Assurance Orienteering Trophy”), resplendent with scale model cannon, for the best overall performance in that year’s Scottish Orienteering League (SOL).

Although never lost or forgotten about, by 2006 the Trophy hadn’t been engraved for 10 years and so, being something of an anorak, I set myself the challenge of bringing it up to date by filling in the missing names. For at least as long as I can remember (and possibly forever) “best performance” has always been interpreted to mean “most points”, and so filling in the missing names involved trying to get hold of information about the overall results of the SOL series from years gone by.

The names of winners between 1983 and 1996 were already engraved on the Trophy, and so I knew that they were as follows.

1996   Peter Halling
1995   Ros Evans
1994   Ros Evans
1993   John Harvey
1992   Dave Peel
1991   Peter Halling
1990   Keith Wilkinson
1989   Keith Wilkinson
1988   David Walkinshaw
1987   Ian Renfrew
1986   Donald Petrie
1985   Ian Renfrew
1984   Ian Renfrew
1983   Ian Renfrew

2001 was also quickly dealt with because Foot and Mouth Disease wiped out the entire SOL that year and so the Trophy wasn’t awarded.

In the absence of any contemporary record of the Trophy winners that I could find, the years 1997-2000 required some detective work, and I eventually awarded the Trophy retrospectively for these years based on the facts outlined below. In the two years where more than one person got 4,000 points (1998 and 2000) I didn’t feel it was fair for me to attempt to pick a single winner at this distance in time, and hence the joint awards in these years.

After circulating an earlier version of this document I had the appropriate winners’ names engraved on the trophy in time for the 2006 AGM.

I’m pleased to say that at the time of writing (December 2009) the Trophy is still up to date with the name of the 2009 winner already inscribed upon it.

Perhaps the most striking finding of this exercise is that Dave Robertson scored a perfect 4,000 points every year the SOL competition was held between 2000 and 2007!

1997:  George Wilkinson

The results of SOL 1997, kindly provided by former SOL guru Ian Turner of SOLWAY, reveal two CLYDE winners, namely Calum Evans (M12B) and George Wilkinson (M50S). George scored 3843 points (just 7 points more than Peter Halling, who was 4th on M45L with 3836 points), while Calum scored only 1741 points from two runs, and hence George takes the Trophy retrospectively.

1998: Peter Halling and Ros Evans

Score January/February 1999 gives detailed results of SOL 1998, including six CLYDE winners, Robin Orr (M35S), Peter Halling (M45L), George Wilkinson (M50S), Drew Sommerville (M65), Sheena MacLachlan (W12B) and Ros Evans (W45L). Peter and Ros scored a perfect 4,000 points, and hence the retrospective award of the Trophy to them both jointly.

1999: Sheena MacLachlan

Score March/April 2000 lists the top three in each class in SOL 1999, including five CLYDE winners, Patrick Walder (M21E, listed as a member of GUOC), Colin Salisbury (M21S), Peter Halling (M45L), George Wilkinson (M55S) and Sheena MacLachlan (W14B). However, only Sheena scored a perfect 4,000 points and hence takes the Trophy retrospectively. (The detailed report of the 1999 AGM in Clyde-O-Scope February 2000 doesn’t mention any club award winners.) 

2000: Dave Robertson and Peter Halling

Score March/April 2001 lists three CLYDE winners, James Cunnane (M21S), Dave Robertson (M35L) and Peter Halling (M45L), but doesn’t give their final points score. Research into the (incomplete) information available on the web in January 2007 by Seamus Cunnane reveals that Dave and Peter (but not Seamus) both scored a perfect 4,000 points, and hence the retrospective award of the Trophy to them both jointly. (The detailed report of the 2000 AGM in Clyde-O-Scope February 2001 mentions all of the club award winners except for the Cannon Trophy!)

2001: No Award (Foot and Mouth Disease)

2002: Dave Robertson

Clyde-O-Scope January 2003 gives full CLYDE results for SOL 2002 including five CLYDE winners, Dave Robertson (M35L), George Wilkinson (M55S), Drew Sommerville (M65S), Hollie Orr (JW4) and Amelia Petrie (W45S).  Dave, George and Amelia all scored a perfect 4,000 points, and Dave (who ran only four events) was awarded the Trophy.

2003: Dave Robertson, Drew Sommerville and Lisa Petrie

Clyde-O-Scope January 2004 gives full CLYDE results for SOL 2003 including seven CLYDE winners, Patrick Walder (M21L), Dave Robertson (M35L), Fraser Brunton (M50L), Drew Sommerville (M70S), Lisa Petrie (JW2), Hollie Orr (JW5S) and Amelia Petrie (W45S). Dave, Drew and Lisa all scored a perfect 4,000 points, and they were awarded the Trophy jointly.

2004: Hollie Orr

Clyde-O-Scope October 2004 gives full CLYDE results for SOL 2004 including six CLYDE winners, Patrick Walder (M21L), Dave Robertson (M40L), George Wilkinson (M60S), Drew Sommerville (M70S), Hollie Orr (JW5S) and Amelia Petrie (W45S). Hollie and Dave both scored a perfect 4,000 points, and Clyde-O-Scope January 2005 reveals that Hollie was awarded the Trophy.

2005: Dave Robertson

There were five CLYDE winners, Dave Robertson (M40L), Drew Sommerville (M70S), Catriona Robertson (JW1), Hollie Orr (JW5L) and Liz Orr (W45S) in SOL 2005. However, only Dave scored a perfect 4,000 points (although Liz got very close with 3,995 points) and hence took the Trophy.

2006: Thomas Wilson and Dave Robertson

A magnificent nine CLYDE members, Thomas Wilson (JM1), Dave Robertson (M40L), Peter Halling (M55L), Drew Sommerville (M70S), Emma Wilson (JW1), Jessica Orr (JW5S), Hollie Orr (JW5L), Lynn Easton (W35S) and Liz Orr (W45S), won their classes in SOL 2006 (the best of any club that year), but only Thomas and Dave got a perfect 4,000 out of 4,000 points. In fact, both actually scored 5,000 out of a possible 5,000 points from their first five events of the year before stepping up a class (to JM2 and M21L, respectively) and hence the Trophy was awarded to them both jointly.

2007: Dave Robertson

Another excellent year for CLYDE, with no less than seven winners, namely Thomas Wilson JM2 (4,000 points), David McNeish M35S (2,517 points), Dave Robertson M40L (4,000 points), Steve Wilson M40S (4,000 points), Drew Sommerville M70S (3,000 points), Emma Wilson JW1 (4,000 points) and Christine Patterson W45L (3,872 points). Dave Robertson went even better than in 2006 by being one of only two people in the entire SOL competition to win all seven of the races in their class and hence earn a perfect 7,000 out of 7,000 available points. In the light of this outstanding performance he was awarded the Trophy outright ahead of the three members of the Wilson family who also scored 4,000 points that year.

2008: Drew Sommerville

CLYDE had four winners, namely Dave Robertson (M40L), Alastair Dunlop (M35S), Steve Wilson (M40S) and Drew Sommerville (M75S). While several people scored highly (including Dave Robertson with 3,927 points on M40L, Steve Wilson with 3,965 points on M40S, Emma Wilson with 3,892 points on JW2, and Christine Patterson with 3,943 points on W45L) the Trophy winner was Drew Sommerville with a perfect 4,000 points on M75S.

2009: Donald Petrie

The SOL scoring system was revised in 2009 so that it is now possible to score more than 1,000 points in each race, making ties with several people scoring 4,000 points highly unlikely in the future. CLYDE had four winners, namely Steve Wilson (M21S, running up), Donald Petrie (M50L), Hollie Orr (W20, with only one run), and Christine Patterson (M50L), and the Trophy went outright to Donald Petrie who achieved the 4th highest points total in the entire SOL competition with his 5,098 points on the ultra-competitive M50L class. (For the record, Dave Robertson earned 4,832 points running up on M35L.)

Posted on 05th Dec 09
by Steven Wilson

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