Ice Bears set a new record

Apr 3 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH primary schools competed in record numbers in the area orienteering championships at Strathallan School.

A total of 91 teams of three from Abernethy, Craigie, Caledonian Road, Forgandenny, Forteviot, Kirkmichael, Oakbank, Tulloch, St John's and Viewlands took part.

There were some excellent performances. The winning team, Ice Bears, from Abernethy (Jason Ebblewhite, Euan Taylor and Lewis Murdoch) set a new record time, racing round all the controls in 30 mins 18 secs, over a minute faster than the previous record set in 2005.

One member of that team, Evie Aitken, has since represented Scotland in junior orienteering.

The second team, The Terrifying Cheese (Isla Gordon, Freya Parkinson and Saren Gordon) from Forgandenny also went to all the controls in 32.33, less than a minute over the previous record and a record time for an all-girls team.

The third place was another outstanding result. The Speeding Bullets from Tulloch lived up to their name.

Missing just one control, which was probably an oversight, Shaun Scrimgeour, Eddie Skeet and Robert Young completed the course in a record 30.59.

The championships are organised by the Perth and Kinross Sports Development Team, helped by Tayside Orienteers members.

Nine teams in all gained 500 points or more and worth special mention are The Kinky Kids, from Kirkmichael, travelling by far the furthest and coming sixth on the first occasion the school has entered.

Teams from Craigie, Viewlands and Oakbank featured and along with St John's will be invited to send teams to Scone Palace for the final on May 14.

On Tuesday this week, the Northern Schools’ final was held at the PGL Dalguise Outdoor Centre, near Dunkeld, with 60 teams competing.

Again, the performances were excellent, and the winning time of 31.52 was the second fastest since the map was extended, only a couple of minutes outside the record set by Pitlochry's Road Runners who flew round in 2007 in a time of 29.44.

This time it was Breadalbane’s ‘2 Amigos and It’ who took the honours, with Kenmore’s QuickSilver 070 coming second also with 540 points in a time of 36.16.

Third was Fast and Furious from Logierait who missed one control, getting 530 points in 39.33. Crazy Monkeys, from Grandtully, came in fourth on the same number of points, just a minute behind.

Other schools with teams to be invited to Scone are Pitlochry (with six teams in the top 20) and Glen Lyon (a great performance from a small school).

Straloch did not make it this year, but with their team, CKC, being made up with younger pupils, they have the chance to run again.

This Sunday, April 5, at Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre, Tayside Orienteers are hosting the first Scottish O League event of the year.

So far a record 530 entries have been received through the on-line entry system.