Scottish Spring. Auchingarrich 29

Forth Valley Orienteers enjoyed a full weekend of racing as the Scottish Spring meeting brought success over a three race card ahead of the Jan Kjellstrom Festival, with noted success at all levels.

First up was a Middle distance race at Abbey Craig, and Kris Jones made a return to the forest for the first time since September, winning the Black race in 25.55, with Lewis Taylor 4th (28.32).

Jason Inman came through on the rails in the Brown class to take the win in 29.23 ahead of Fanni Gyurko (31.29). Anwen Darlington was 4th (32.02) and Brad Connor 3rd man (35.14).

The Green category saw Lizzie Stansfield in 3rd place (24.29), just ahead of Joey Inch (27.56) and there was further success in the junior races, with wins for James Hammond (Light Green, 18.24) and Hannah Inman (White, 9.48), and excellent performances from Rebecca Hammond (4th in Orange, 14.10) and Matthew Inman (3rd in Yellow, 13.02).

Before the dust had settled, it was off to Rosyth for a UK Elite League sprint, and James Hammond doubled up on his forest win from the morning, winning the Young Junior race in an eye-watering 5.49. Chris Smithard took the prize in the Open Mens race, in 13.51, with Kris Jones 3rd (14.08) and Peter Molloy was quickest amongst the Juniors, coming home in 12.10.

There was a 2-3-4 show from the Veteran Men, with Ben Stansfield (14.07), Paul Hammond (14.15) and Brad Connor (14.50) all in fine form. Josie Stansfield took bronze in the Veteran Womens class (16.17) and Dave Coustick was 4th in the UltraVet Men (15.10).

FVO has three athletes in the top ten of the Open Womens race, with Grace Molloy 4th (13.08) and Fanni Gyurko (9th) and Anwen Darlington (10th) also showing up well.

Lizzie Stansfield was 2nd in Junior Women (15.57), Rebecca Hammond 3rd in Young Junior Women (13,00) and Pierre Lardet 4th in Junior Men (14.03).

The action concluded with a great Scottish League round at Auchingarrich, near Crieff, and FVO athletes were once again prominent on the leaderboards.

Ben Stansfield was the only FVO course winner on the day, with a 59.11 run good enough for the victory on Short Brown, ahead of Jason Inman (60.06). Beccy Osborn (46.00) and Rona Molloy (46.37) went 2-3 on Short Blue, Rebecca Hammond was around 90 seconds off a win in Yellow, coming home in 2nd place in 14.52, and Kris Jones took his third podium finish of the weekend with 3rd spot in Black (66.20).

In terms of class results, there was maximum points for Will Hensman (M35), Fraser Purves (M40, running up one class), Jason Inman (M45), Ben Stansfield (M50), Gareth Bryan-Jones (M65, running up two classes), Rebecca Hammond (W10), Beccy Osborn (W45), and Rona Molloy (W50).

Class runners-up included Paul Hammond (M40), Grace Molloy (W18), Laura Hindle (W20) and Josie Stansfield (W45), while Matthew Inman (M10), Kris Jones (M21) and Cathy Tilbrook (W50) were all third in their respective age groups.