Wimborne Orienteers

Scottish Six Days 2017

Personal views of the 6 Days by John Warren and Kevin Pickering plus photographs and maps from

Glen Tanar Balfour Forest Birsemore Hill Creag Choinnich Glen Feardar

An honourable mention of those WIMs who spent the week of 30 July-5 August at the Scottish 6 Days on Deeside! Top ten results were achieved by:

Kevin Pickering - 7th in M60S including 3rd place on Day 3
Keith Henderson - 4th in M75L including 3rd place on Days 2, 3 and 5
Grace French - 3rd in W10A including 2nd place on Days 5 and 6
Hilary Pickering - 3rd in W60S including 2nd place on Day 2, 3rd on Day 3 and 1st on Day 5
Gillian Cross - 8th in W70S including 2nd place on Days 1 and 2
Nikki Crawford - 6th in W75S including 2nd place on Day 1 and 1st on Day 5

Well done also to Andrew & Karen French, Martin Cross, John Warren, Debs Mays, Sue Hands and Jo Stanley.

Scottish Six Days website

Background photograph taken by Wendy Carlyle at Braemar
View Wendy's photo albums on Flickr

We are also grateful to Kevin Pickering, Andrew French, Steve Rush and Andy Johnson for use of their photos

Royal Deeside 2017 – A Personal view of the Scottish 6 days

Its big, it lasts a whole week and you have the opportunity of sharing competition with 2500 orienteers not only from the UK but from Scandinavia, all over Europe and from many other parts of the world. Its exciting to be a part of an event of this size and some of us have been hooked by it for many years!. It doesn’t seem daunting, because start times are spread over 4 hours and once in the forest its no more busy than any other event except that if you have a late start there are a lot of ‘elephant tracks’ to either follow or lead you astray! It is only in the final run in past a kaleidoscope of club tents and banners that the adrenaline gets to work and you have the motivation for that extra effort to impress your friends!

The anticipation of the event first started on a sunny Saturday afternoon with arrival at Ballater, a large village in Deeside and the location of the well equipped event camp site. The event centre was in the suitably named Victoria Hall in the centre of the village where you collected an envelope with your race bib, programme, final details and memento. Here the atmosphere really ‘buzzed’ as people greeted friends, exchanged stories of the long journey to the event and did some relaxed equipment shopping with the regular O traders, who for once were located indoors (Ian of Ultra-Sport was very impressed to be in a room with a deep fitted carpet!!). The village had a wide range of local shops, eating places, an outstanding bakery and was the starting point for the daily bus service to each event for those who didn’t wish to use cars.

All events were within 15 miles of Ballater along the sides of the Dee valley with upstream being much more mountainous than downstream. And the valley road was superb, almost traffic free, and took us past the entrance to Balmoral Castle on several occasions.

The 6 days of competition were in predominantly coniferous forests breaking out into rough heather mountain sides on the longer courses. Relatively few tracks and as a bonus very few brambles and bracken so you could set compass bearings and follow straight lines. Underfoot grass covered rocks tested balance and on the long courses there were some seriously steep slopes and crags to deal with. Walks to the start could be sociable or testing. Some were short but others up to 3k with a lot of climb which meant that it was a good idea to allow plenty of time to recover before your start time was called. The fact that we had a week of good weather totally transformed the experience and to come home with dry O shoes was almost unique!

The competition was in the form of a league. You scored points on each day and your best 4 runs counted, so up to two disasters could be regarded as an ‘educational’ experience! WIM achieved podium places for Grace French who had a brilliant week on W10A with several 2nd places, and Hilary Pickering W60S. Grace looks to be one of WIMs future stars and her sister Alice seems to have also been bitten with the O bug!

From the photos you’ll see a kaleidoscope of tents and banners round the finish run in. WIM shared our tent with WSX and the two club banners flew together throughout the week. The tent really comes into its own at multi-day events as a base for kit and a place to sit, relax and chat about what is to come or what was your experience out on the course.

Club tents on Day 6

Each event had highly efficient car parking arrangements and the assembly area looked like a mini ‘shopping mall’ with food and equipment traders doing a steady trade throughout the day. ‘Tom’ our local ‘O’caterer was there, but it was good to see local traders benefiting, particularly on the last two days when the local farmer and his family did a roaring trade in home made beef burgers assisted by their very well behaved sheep dogs!

After 3 days of competition there was the traditional ‘Rest Day’ which for many was an opportunity to be even more energetic. For those who wanted yet more orienteering there was a ‘sprint race’ round the streets of Ballater, but for many this was the day to go further afield. On previous ‘Rest Days’ I have climbed Ben Lawers, and Barbara and I climbed Lochnager together at a previous 6 days. This time I went up Glen Muick and climbed high to get a great view of the Cairngorms. Alternatives included the National Trust ‘Castles of Mar’,the jewel being Crathes, further east down Deeside with wonderful gardens, the event site of a previous 6 Day Event Centre.

Each day you received a ‘News-sheet' giving updates on competition information, evening social events and personal messages such as birthdays and anniversaries. The social programme was largely based in Ballater and varied from talks on the local area, to folk quiz ,music,whisky tasting and of course a Ceilidh.

The final 3 days were close to Braemar where some courses were seriously steep and the Air Ambulance had to be called in. Finally 2 days in Glen Feardar where terrain was not so severe and if you had time you could even glimpse the Royal Standard flying over Balmoral Castle.

The Warrens have taken part in the Scottish 6 Days every 2 years since 1979 as evidenced by the collection of trophies that Barbara won over the years, and although I was sadly alone this time Royal Deeside 2017 came up to expectations. It is always a wonderful holiday in a country with utterly sublime scenery and to be able to share this with friends has been a privilege. If I was to pick out one memorable 6 Days it must be Oban 2011 where a very large WIM contingent not only took part on stunning terrain, but also spent a memorable day managing car parking!

The 6 Days is a great orienteering experience, if you haven’t been yet look out for 2019!

John Warren

Scottish 6 days Royal Deeside 28th July – 3rd August 2017
A personal perspective by Kevin Pickering

Firstly a few facts!

33 countries, 3000 athletes, 40 years after the 1st 6 day and some competitors who have been to every one. Quality terrain, great atmosphere, commentary, giant television screens to watch some of the action and a good selection of food. Tiny queues for the loos, good weather for Scotland, dry runs and quick results. Hot showers at the campsite, parking close to assemblies, very few nasty insects, good friendship, 4 out of 6 runs to count which all adds up to quality orienteering.

What more could you want on a holiday?

Day 1 Glen Tanar course 21 M60S 3.8km 105m

The route to most competitors first control was along a small ditch with dark green forest on either side so you had to get your feet wet and muddy straight away. I remember thinking how bad it would be for later starters as we had the early start on the first day and what a mud bath it would turn into but it didn’t matter as the heather we encountered later on wiped all the mud away! I was very pleased with my run as I had a plan for each leg before I left the control and everything appeared as it should and controls popped up in front of me. On checking splits on the long leg from control 6 to I seem to be the only one who took the slightly longer route but less climb and it cost me about 4 mins but I still managed a respectable 6th place out of 56 competitors.

Day 2 Balfour Forest 3.8 90m

I made my biggest time mistake of all week today and on a 2 min leg I took 8 min 4 t0 5. It was in a complex area and I worked out later that I had run to the previous control very fast, punched the control and just run on the rough elephant track that left this control in the right direction without any plan. The elephant track then split several ways. I took the wrong way still running hard to a flag that I thought was mine and of course it wasn’t. I tried to place this control on the map but couldn’t locate it. I ran around to other controls for a couple of minutes until my head came together and I located myself off a wall and ran to the correct control. The adrenalin must have been pumping as I ran hard for the next 2 controls and was 2nd and 4th best on those legs. Then Boom! blow up again, 7 to 8, 8 to 9 and I made 2 and 3 min errors. Must learn to slow a little and keep the head thinking. Still relatively fast on tough physical terrain and others must have made bigger mistakes as 8/56.

Day 3 Birsemore Hill 3.9 140m

A really good run today, nicely warmed up at the start, already sweating and heart rate up which it needed to be as the first control was only 250 m away but 50 m climb over rough terrain. For some reason I took a compass bearing from 2 to 4 and started to run towards it but stopped and remembered number 3 comes before 4! Only a little time loss. One of the long legs was 600m and a height drop of 110m but there was a mountain bike track down close to the control and I was told later that I was bombing down the path but I was more worried about could the knees take this pounding? I stopped about half way and thought what was my plan as I didn’t want to run further down the hill past the control but noticed the path had the only up section on it just before the control so I ran/ bounced hard downhill and could see the control from where I stopped. Perfect plan, well executed 5th fastest. Now don’t make mistakes on the last 4 controls but still go fast. 9 and 10 were in, or through, dark green forest where I often make mistakes thinking I can get through but no mistakes today. No 11 was on the end of a spur in high ferns so I just used elephant tracks to the control. Penultimate control was a 600m flat open leg. I sprinted along a track once out of the ferns which I did in 3.22. The finish control was then marked as 75m away but with the bend and run in we measured it at 150m, so a lot of people had about 750m flattish sprint to the finish. Best result of the week 3rd!

Day 4 Creag Choinnich 3.1 110m

Sloppy run today. Little mistakes in a nice marshy area on several controls and unfortunately the 2 controls I did best on were discounted later as one of the controls was moved by locals ( no 12 control ). When I left the field, I was 6th out of 40, discounted controls meant I moved into 19th position. My worst result and I should have done much better as it was the least technical of the week and a type of area that is nice to run in. One to drop.

Day 5 Glen Feardar East 3.8 130m

Upset on the first control. Description was at the top of a re-entrant, the control circle cut over the start triangle. We were advised on the start line the start triangle was 150m away. Beeps go, I picked up the map and ran hard to what I thought was the start flag. A little bit confused as looking at the re-entrant, which was very small in bracken in front of start flag but no routes to the top of the re-entrant and as I had a late start there should be elephant tracks to the control. I thrashed through bracken but no control. Thrash around the bracken and then go back to the start flag to take another bearing. I find the start flag has a number on it, 131 and it is my first control but it’s not the top of a re-entrant. 4 minutes to run 150m down a track plays on my mind and I make another mistake further on the course. I was so upset I ran back to the starts after finishing my course and paced to the control flag which was hiding on the corner of a ruined building just over a ruined wall approx 115 m away from the start. The first control was in the middle of a re-entrant on a path at 150m away from the start. Rule 22.3 states controls should not be within 30m of each other, this was about 35m away and clearly visible where the start flag was not. In complaining to the planners they admitted it could have been in the wrong place as they didn’t want to put it in the bracken, but therefore it should not have been marked as the top of a re-entrant. Also I feel they should have made the start flag clearer than the first control but it seems from the splits there were only 3 or 4 confused by this control so it wasn’t worth taking the complaint further. Another day to drop 14/48.

Day 6 Glen Feardar West 3.6 155m

No pressure! 3 good days, 2 to drop therefore I needed a good one today. I worked out a possible route to no 1 in the start lane, picked up the map and it was exactly where I thought - 2nd fastest split. 2 was an easy flat run/walk 500m away. The next control you could see 100m away just before a high stile into the forest. The person who had the fastest time of the day, plus 2 others, did not punch here and got disqualified which was very unfortunate as it was the easiest control of the week. Then high concentration around the forest and open heather area where I made a mistake yesterday and into farm fields for the last 700m home. I ran as best as I could and won 2nd to last control with a split time of 21sec. Finally into the finish funnel. Really happy, as I was most days of the week, no major injuries and my knee only swelling a little. Time for ice cream and cake! Today I finished 6th out of 45 competitors.