Graham Gristwood, Scottish Six Days 6, Glen Feardar West (c) Wendy Carlyle

The Edinburgh Big Weekend saw several local orienteers establish excellent early season results, as the new season opened in an icy capital.

Ross McLennan and Peter Molloy were 1st Veteran and 1st Junior at the Fight With the Night Sprint, as Ross's time of 25.56 was good enough for 6th place overall, with Peter one place further back in 7th spot (26.15)

Saturday's City Race was to have been the opening round of the British League, but organisers elected to void the courses for scoring purposes, due to extensive black ice on the roads. With no league points on offer, Peter Molloy opted to skip his entry in the Junior category, and ran instead against the Veteran Men and Elite Women, coming home in 1st spot, in 62.51 for his first win at this level.

James Hammond won the Young Junior race (20.14) and Lizzie Stansfield was 1st woman, and 5th overall in the Junior event, in 24.54. Off the podium, there were fine performances from a number of other local athletes, incuding Mark Holliday, 5th in UltraVet Men in 65.20, and Douglas Lee, 10th in Elite Men (85.39) on his debut in club colours.

The final day of racing was on the slopes of Arthur's Seat, and British #1 Graham Gristwood opened his account for 2018 with an early assault on the Brown course which stood the test of the pack, as he won the event with a time of 58.31. Peter Molloy continued his rich vein of form on the weekend with 6th place overall on Brown (75.24), in the worst of the weather.

Grace Molloy was 3rd in the womens race, in 65.24, and it was a good day for the Hammond family, James claiming 3rd place on Light Green (45.42) and Rebecca scoring 5th spot on Yellow (24.07)