36 competitors took part part in the ESOC Long MTBO event on Saturday. Conditions in the Pentlands were at their finest and it was great to see so many happy (albeit exhausted) faces at the finish. I’d hoped for a winning time on the A of about 90-100 minutes so it was great to some of you in this range and congratulations to Alan Hartley winning in 92:48. Thanks for making the journey north Alan!

These events never take place without a lot of help so I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed to our first Pentlands MTBO:

• Rangers and Landowners – Paula Newton & Tommy Mcmanmon at the Pentland Hills Regional Park for advice on access and coordinating permissions. Alastair McClung at Swanston Farm for letting us use the assembly area by the riding school and Chris Harrigan at the MOD for helping with access to Dreghorn.
• Keith Dawson and Karena Hanley (MTBO gurus) for planning advice and test riding the long course
• Walter Clark & Keith (and probably some others) for promoting the event
• Rob Hickling & Judy Bell for helping me with MapRun
• Janet Clark, Jayne MacGregor, Anne Hoy, and Hanne & Dave Robertson for helping with kit, on the day inquiries and First Aid cover
• Margaret for patiently uploading information/ results etc onto the website
• And last but not least Walter for sharing his birthday cake, taking some great photos (this one says it all) and for his expertise with DIY map boards

I’d naively hoped that MapRun would provide a source of fun and amusement. It seems to have worked for some competitors – links to the results and routes below:

https://p.fne.com.au/rg/cgi-bin/SelectResultFileForSplitsBrowserFiltered.cgi?act=fileToSplitsBrowser&eventName=CombinedResults_Pentlands%20MTBO%20Course%20A%20Final.csv

https://p.fne.com.au/rg/cgi-bin/SelectResultFileForSplitsBrowserFiltered.cgi?act=fileToSplitsBrowser&eventName=CombinedResults_Pentlands%20MTBO%20Course%20B%20Final.csv

https://p.fne.com.au/rg/cgi-bin/SelectResultFileForSplitsBrowserFiltered.cgi?act=fileToSplitsBrowser&eventName=CombinedResults_Pentlands%20MTBO%20Course%20C%20Final.csv

However, it looks like I’m still on the MapRun learning curve so I’ve also put the courses on Routegadget where competitors can upload gpx tracks and see routes on the MTBO map:

Routegadget 2