Lucy and Katie won gold at the Scottish Sprint Championships

Forth Valley Orienteers turned on the style at the Scottish Sprint Championships in Crieff, as their athletes won half the titles up for grabs on a 10-champion, 23 medal day at MacRosty Park in the town.

Ethan Baikie made his championship debut, and is a national champ at the first time of asking, lifting the M10 title in a time of 39.31 for his two runs. Lucy Finch was back in the big time, as she retained the W10 crown she won last year (41.54) consigning Emma Cheyne (43.03), who had won the opening race, to 2nd place.

There was an FVO 1-2 in W12, with Hannah Inman the champion for a 3rd straight year (18.20) and Sophie Edward getting up in the 2nd race for the silver. Lachlan Carruthers was also on the podium with bronze in his first championship race (29.14).

M14 was an FVO show, as Fraser Cheyne took his third medal of a brilliant debut season, gold in 24.10. with James Edward (31.01) and Lucas Baikie (32.14) also in podium placings. Bronze too in M16, with Alexander Hunt (24.46) just five seconds off silver, and Hanna Brindley topped W16 (26.38) for her first title in five years.

There was a Hensman double in the older girl's classes, Katie winning W18 in 33.59 for her first-ever national title, and Lucy scooping the prize in W20 (39.52) to go one better than last year. Laura Hendrie is another who gets a reward for years of persistance, the Womens Open bronze(30.34) is her first medal of any colour in a championship race.

In the Mens Vet class, Will Hensman won his fifth straight title, in 20.43, to ensure he finishes an injury-racked season with a medal, and Mark Johnston was 3rd (20.55) for his first medal since 2019.

There was an early shock in Women's Vet, as defending champion Rachel Kirkland crashed out on a mispunch, but the podium is still all FVO. Ultra-runner Helena Carey overcame the handicap of the race being much shorter than her usual fare to take a dramatic win in 24.59, with the more feted duo of Beccy Osborn (26.45) and Natasha Conway (26.56) also on the podium.

There's another FVO 1-2, this time in Womens SuperVet, with Alison Cunningham defending her title in 18.36, and Cathy Tilbrook taking her 7th medal in this event alone, silver in 20.27. The Mens UltraVet class saw Gary Longhurst with a strong 2nd race which took him into the silver medal berth (18.50) ahead of John Campbell (21.30) who took bronze, and the final medal of the day went to Liz Godfree, who is eligible for the championship at last, having returned from nearly 60 years south of the border, and she took five minutes out of the Womens HyperVet field with a time of 22.32.