Solway Orienteers held their annual ‘hair of the dog’ competition at Mabie forest on January 2.
The Mabie Knollbagging event was attended by around 30 runners from the home club as well as some newcomers and neighbouring clubs Border Liners and West Cumbria. The weather was perfect for running and some excellent performances were given.
Junior runners were given a simple cross country course while the others were given a 50-minute window to ‘bag’ as many pre-marked knolls as possible challenged by last year’s winner Tom Marshall. Junior winner was Maria DeSilva from second placed Emily Colbeck and Eilidh Woods in third.
The main event was dominated by visitors and after penalty deductions, Jamie Rennie from West Cumbria recorded 2120 points with clubmate Phil Winskill gaining 193 and Karen Parker of Border completed the top three places with 190 points. Fourth place after penalties on 174 was recorded by Richard Colbeck gaining him the Solway Orienteers Knollbagging Trophy and declared club winner for 2025.
Thoughts now turn to the next monthly Saturday competition which will be on a rejuvenated map of Kilsture on January 18. In preparation for this, club coaches will host two training days on January 11 and 12 in Dalbeattie.
Full information on these will be available on the club website www.solwayorienteers.co.uk and Facebook page.