A big group of adventurous youngsters burned off some spare energy at Culbin last Saturday when local Orienteering club Moravian Orienteers held the first of their autumn series of junior orienteering competitions. Despite the attraction of the opening of the bike trails at Sanquhar, about 40 children turned up with their families to have a go at running the navigation trails set up by the club out in the forest.

Around 220 children from across Moray have been learning to orienteer in recent schools competitions organised by the club. Such has been the demand to do more that Moravian was encouraged to put on these ‘junior only’ competitions. The Culbin event was the first of these with more to follow later in the year. Event organiser Mike Rodgers explained that the concept of these events was to provide a very simple starter course but also offer a more challenging trail that would test the more capable children. “Orienteering is a tremendous way of learning map skills while enjoying some great surroundings and getting some quite serious exercise. Local schools have found that the sport benefits children in all sorts of ways, both physically and mentally, and the best thing of all is that the kids really seem to enjoy it.”

Apart from the obvious challenge of map reading, orienteering competitors have to get round a course as fast as possible. As a result, even quite simple courses can become tricky as it can be easy to miss your way by going too fast. It’s the runners who can match their running speed to their brain speed who do best. It was Dyke youngster Andrew Barr who once again came top of the class in all departments after he covered the 2.9 Km A course in just over 23 minutes. Andrew, who is only 11, is starting to gain quite a reputation for himself, having already competed in the British Championships this year, winning a silver medal in the team relay.

At the Culbin event, a few of the parents waiting in the car park decided that they were going to give it a go. Having seen their children coming back hot, sweaty and very pleased with themselves, 3 mums and 3 dads decided to give it a go, and Nick Barr (Andrew’s dad) made it a clean sweep for the Barr household, but only just. Only 2 seconds separated Nick from Ian Welsh in a time of just under 20 minutes, and the excuses for where those 2 seconds were lost were flowing thick and fast afterwards. “This is what makes orienteering such a great family sport” concluded Nick after his run. “You help your kids learn to navigate and before you know it you’re having to pull out all the stops to beat them in a race.” Many of the other parents had decided to go round with their sons and daughters to help them with their map reading, and there were pink faces all round by the end of the morning.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, Moravian Orienteers are putting down the welcome mat at Roseisle on 1^st November where you can turn up any time between 1015 and 1100 for their next junior competition. Family challenges will again be highly encouraged! This is followed by a full-scale event on 16^th November based at Forres Academy that takes runners up into the Community Woodlands of Sanquhar and, for those on the longer courses, all sorts of places beyond! Full details are on their website www.moravianorienteering.org.