Ten national titles for Forth Valley at Scottish Sprint Championships

Will Hensman in action (Photo: Submitted)

Forth Valley Orienteers claimed ten national titles, including a near-total dominance of the junior classes, as they made hay at the Scottish Sprint Championships, writes Steven Scott.

Will Hensman extended his unbeaten run in Men's Vet to eight years, winning in 12.12, and James Hammond nabbed his fourth gold at the event, sealing M20 in 11.51.

There was an FVO 1-2 in Women's SuperVet, with Alison Cunningham taking the victory in 12.09, and Heather Fellbaum in silver (13.30). and a 2-3 in W18, through Rebecca Hammond (14.03) and Scarlett Kelly (14.59). Rachel Kirkland secured silver in Women's Vet (14.10) Rupert Parkinson in Men's SuperVet (13.40) and Fiona Hendrie in Women’s UltraVet (14.36) grabbed bronzes.

The junior classes were a display of FVO's power, as the youngsters picked up seven of the eight titles on offer, missing out only in W16, where Hanna Brindley was third (14.00). The M16 champ is Fraser Cheyne (12.44), while M14 saw James Edward (13.23) take the crown ahead of Lucas Baikie (13.31) who was second. Esme Finch secured the first individual gold of her career as she won W14 in 18.45.

Girls on top in the Young Juniors classes, as Sophie Edward won W12 in 11.42, from Sean Truswell (12.01) who is the M12 champ, and Emma Cheyne (19.19) held off Ethan Baikie (22.36) as both won the under-10 titles, and defending champion Lucy Finch (25.45) had the W10 silver.

The afternoon saw a sprint-spec Urban race. The entire Young Junior field was from FVO. Sean Truswell scoped out a time of 11.39 for a big win. Lucy Finch (23.16) was top girl, ahead of Emma Cheyne (31.21) and Oscar Baikie was second boy (25.35).

Second and third on junior girls went to FVO athletes, in the shape of Hanna Brindley (13.54) and Esme Finch (15.54) while on the junior boys course, Fraser Cheyne (12.04) took the win from Lucas Baikie (12.21).

There was an FVO 1-2 in the Vet Men, with Will Hensman (11.53) in ahead of Roger Goddard (12.28) while Rachel Kirkland (15.42) won in the Veteran Women’s class. The second 1-2 of the day came for FVO in Women's SuperVet, with Alison Cunningham (12.09) and Heather Fellbaum (12.17) at the front, and bronzes for Liz Godfree in Women’s HyperVet (15.30) and James Hammond in Men's Open (12.09) completed a good day.