ORIENTEERING from Katharine Melville Tel 01294 850 379

AUTUMN SCHOOLS SCORE EVENT, BEACH PARK, IRVINE, WED 11 SEPT

Cunninghame OC's latest venture to attract more interest, particularly from the secondary schools, in the Autumn, proved a great success. Carrick and Stewarton in particular rose to the challenge with a good contingent from both schools turning out.

Club members topped the three classes, with Elaine Campbell representing

St Joseph's winning S3-6, Christina Condy from Marr winning S1-3 and home-educated Lauren Campbell winning the Primary.

But Carrick, who are organised by sixth year pupil Katie Barker, and who earned points for initiative by travelling to the event by train, were close behind. Ross Anderson was one minute down on Elaine. Katie Barker lost out by a mere 8 seconds to take third behind Ross.

The Carrick pupils, with more experience behind them, also topped Stewarton in the S1-3 class. Sam Fleming , Kieran Wilson and Sam Barker could not match Christina Condy's 14.18, but still came home creditably within 18 minutes.

The competition took the form of a score event in which all controls on each course had to be visited in any order chosen by the competitor in order to achieve the fastest time. A 5 minute penalty was added for each missing control.

Course planner Bob Cherry of Ayr pitched the standard just right for school level, and on a lovely summer's evening everyone seemed to enjoy the competition