East pull out all the stops for 2025 Scottish Orienteering Championships

When someone within EAST area suggested Barry Buddon as a possibility for the location of the Scottish Championship perhaps the collective memory had forgotten the administrative burden of dealing with the Ministry of Defence/ getting access to a live firing range as it had been 10 year since it had last been used. EAST area were delighted to have arranged for the red “danger” flags to be down on Saturday and Sunday so everyone could safely enjoy a rare outing on an extensive dune range.  

For all those involved they would all agree that Barry Buddon is a difficult place to access and they were particularly grateful to Allan Downie (TAY) for re-opening the dialogue with the MOD and they are hoping it won’t be that long until we are back again (but don’t hold your breath)!

Once permission had been agreed initially the challenge for everyone planning and controlling was the first challenge was finding a date with no live firing. In mid December 2024 a clear day opened, and a tour around by Brian Bullen (one of the controllers) planned based on a course he had run back in 1991 lead to the discovery of that there appeared to be some discrepancy between the map and the ground.

Examination of GPS tracks and google satellite images from various years highlighted that a depth of nearly 100m on the S tip of the area had been eroded since Brian had previously controlled an event as part of the Scottish 6 Days event in 2009. This erosion extended to roughly a 1200m front. The MOD had erosion defence blocks on the East beach protecting their ranges, but not the S or W beaches. Any initial prototype long courses by the planners needed some adjustment to resite controls that no longer existed or would involve swimming!

With focus given to mapping after initial visits, it was decided that as expected the contour detail was good enough (albeit could be improved if lidar data was available), but the gorse bushes were more rampant, and particularly by the lighthouse there was many many changes regarding paths and tracks. There were new barbed wire topped stock fences and some fences in poor state. Given the difficulties of access (finding a day where live firing was not happening), the mapping costs had to be borne by this event, and not as an investment to be recouped over future events, so avoiding an big surcharge on the entry fees the remapping was limited to essentials.

It takes a lot of hard work to make these events happen without adding in the bureaucracy of the Ministry of Defence and their various departments which added to the challenge. That said the team said that thanks to the Ministry of Defence and Landmarc staff were very welcoming, accommodating and guided them around the issues with using a live firing training range. The local farmer who grazes Highland cattle on the range even worked late on Friday evening moving cattle from the area to adjacent paddocks, ( from which a few escaped back – apologies to any competitor who felt worried as to their presence).

After listening to the Juniors pleas for more social interaction it was also lovely to see a full on game of Capture the Flag being overseen by some of our enthusiastic young leaders. The game was albiet brief as the organisers managed to bring the prize giving forward but after much fun was had we will ensure such social opportunities are organised in the future.

The team have issued their thanks to everyone who came to Barry Buddon this weekend and congratulations to competitors on getting around some tough courses. As ever credit to the orienteering community that that the team struggled to fill any bin bags with inadvertent litter and as the Coordinator indicated that it was a great relief to leave on Sunday with very little evidence that we had ever been there in the first place.

These things need large teams and we are very, very grateful for the willing help and outstanding support of many volunteers who made it happen. Those worth highlighting were the event officials for the weekend the Weekend Coordinator Michael Atkinson ( East Lothian Orienteers), the planners – Colin Eades (Interlopers), Thomas Laraia (Interlopers and EUOC), David Kershaw (ESOC) – the controllers – Brian Bullen (Forth Valley Orienteers), Ted Finch (Forth Valley Orienteers) supported by Colin Eades and Thomas Laraia – and the organisers Lorna Eades (Interlopers) and Jayne MacGregor ( ESOC) without whom and their many helpers the weekend would not have gone so smoothly.

Lastly there were apologies from the Organiser to the both these junior teams –  INVisible Skills (INVOC 14+) , who actually won the junior Championship trophy and No MOR Mr nice guys (MOR 11+ ) who were mistakenly awarded the trophy at the prizegiving and who graciously handed it over to the winning team.