Some of the competitors from the local event at Gleneagles

FVO got its 2024 season off to a spectacular start with a massive local event at Gleneagles. There were no fewer than 172 competitors at the start line, as we welcomed the West of Scotland juniors as well as our own Stars performers, and there were guests from six other clubs in attendance.

To put this into context, the start list represents 75% of the entire attendance at local events 10 years ago, and shatters the previous best attendance at a local event of 124, which was set late last year.

Alan McGonagle, the Outdoor Activities Manager from the Gleneagles Hotel was an interested spectator at the event, and he very kindly donated a series of prizes to some of the junior competitors. James Edward (Long) and Sean Truswell (Medium) were the lucky recipients of an Activity Day at the hotel complex later in the year, while Andrew Smith was the chosen competitor on the Short course, but missed the prizegiving. - don't worry Andrew, your prize is safe for you to collect at another time.

Jason Inman has now assumed head coach responsibilities for the West juniors, and he led a 12 strong coaching team on the day, who were keen to impart their knowledge to the youngsters. In terms of the day's results, James Hammond headed the Blue course in 32.32, but Will Hensman was close behind (33.25), having dropped 90 seconds on the opening leg, with Dave Godfree 3rd in 35.24.

Rebecca Hammond topped a large pile on Green (35.46). having gone to the front on the 2nd leg, as Mark Johnston (38.09) and Finlay Cottier (42.30) made up the podium party. The Light Green win went to Fraser Cheyne (30.51). but Hannah Inman made a transition to TD4 12 months early to get in ten seconds ahead (33.54) of Laura Hendrie for 2nd place.

The Orange and Yellow courses saw a number of athletes doing double duty, and Lachlan Carruthers topped the Orange course in 23.06, ahead of Scottish champion Carl Selmer Duguid (23.15), with Matthew Owen 3rd in 24.19, while on Yellow, Finlay Gallagher (12.01) relegated Lachlan (12.51) to 2nd place, with debutant Finlay Hadden (13.32) in 3rd spot.