Dan Stansfield

Scotland won a dramatic single point victory in the 2016 Senior Home International, with significant input from FVO athletes. Clyde's Alasdair MacLeod shrugged off the injury that had forced him out of the individual event the previous day to hold off Jonathan Crickmore in the last leg of the relay and claim the decisive point.

Perhaps uniquely for the Home International series, FVO had an interest in all four races, and representation in all four national teams. Graham Gristwood (England), Kris Jones (Wales) and Marcus Pinker and Peter Meehan (Ireland) joined Fanni Gyurko, Mark Nixon, Jamie Stevenson, Clare Stansfield and Dan Stansfield, who were included in a Scotland team seeking a sixth successive victory in the match, and looking to deny England a clean sweep of the 2016 Home International series.

The M21 individual race emerged as a duel between Graham Gristwood and Kris Jones; Britain's top two orienteers had faced off five times already this season, and with a 2-2 record (and one double retiral) the added allure of national pride spiced the affair. Gristwood displayed his best form in his preferred forest discipline to defeat Jones by three minutes and take maximum points. Mark Nixon was 5th (and 2nd Scot home), Marcus Pinker picked up valuable points for Ireland, while Jamie Stevenson's 12th place finish was only denied points by the overall excellence of the other Scottish athletes.

Fanni Gyurko was 12th in W21, but scored points for the Scotland cause, Peter Meehan was the third Irishman home in M20, while Clare and Dan Stansfield were both 6th in their respective classes.

Saturday Results

• M21 - Graham Gristwood - 1st - 87.51
• M21 - Kris Jones - 2nd - 90.46
• M21 - Mark Nixon - 5th - 97.19
• M21 - Jamie Stevenson - 12th - 110.12

• M21 - Marcus Pinker - 14th - 110.38

• W21 - Fanni Gyurko - 12th - 108.21

• M20 - Dan Stansfield - 6th - 89.32
• M20 - Peter Meehan - 10th - 128.33
• W20 - Clare Stansfield - 6th - 91.05

Scotland took a five point lead into the Sunday relays, and England knew that only a superlative performance would turn the tables. Their hopes were dampened when Wales went to the turn first in both mens and womens races, as Kris Jones led out the Welsh team. Excellent second and third legs turned the tide back in England's favour before Alistair MacLeod's valiant effort off the back of a fast second leg from Jamie Stevenson secured the decisive point, nearly two minutes up on a fast-gaining Jonathan Crickmore in England colours.

The relays saw the very best of the FVO contingent, as Kris Jones, Jamie Stevenson and Graham Gristwood each posted the fastest time on their individual leg. If the FVO athletes had run as a team, they would have won the relay by nearly ten minutes!

Perhaps the single outstanding performance of the whole match came from Fanni Gyurko, who was faced with a 13 minute deficit behind England, but ran like a true Scot to post the fastest leg of the entire womens' relay.

Sunday Results

• Graham Gristwood - 43.11
• Kris Jones - 44.47
• Dan Stansfield - 49.53
• Jamie Stevenson - 50.16
• Marcus Pinker - 53.55
• Mark Nixon - 54.19

• Peter Meehan - 90.17

• Fanni Gyurko - 47.09

• Clare Stansfield - 63.10