Scotland's inter-club team competition for juniors
The Jamie Stevenson Trophy is an annual inter-club team competition for juniors at Scottish clubs. Team INVOC have been regular participants for a number of years - a good competition and a fun day out.
The scoring system takes the best 6 places gained by each club team across 8 courses - boys and girls yellow, orange, light green and green. First place is worth 100 points, 2nd place 99, and so on. There are restrictions on who can be competitive on the easier courses, and a limit on the number of counters on each course/class for the team score.
INVOC O Songs
Over the years a number of INVOC JST O Songs have been penned. A full list is here. But here is one.
THE FAST LEG
To the tune of : loch lomond
WE’LL TAKE THE FAST LEG
AND YOU’LL TAKE THE SLOW LEG
AND WE’LL GET TO FIN-ISH
BE-FORE YOU
WHEN IN-VOC ARE COM-ING
YOU’D BET-TER WA-TCH OUT
AS OUR TEAM-ARE NAT-U-RAL
WIN-NERS.
2023
2020 The JST Alternative
Due to Covid-19 the JST was cancelled in 2020. Instead ‘Alternative Jamie Stevenson Challenge’ set the interesting challenge of devising and running a course in the shape of a horse (one of the JST trophies). The juniors proved themselves to be both fast thinking and creative with some stunning results carefully crafted in their local woodland and parks. It was great to see the spread of local venues selected; from Ord Hill (definitely the most difficult terrain for fine artwork) to Inshes (where the Cload family made imaginative use of the streets and parkland near their house). We had several prize winners at the SOA Zoom Presentation on Sunday night: Angus Laird, 1st M14 for his “Horse with 2 foals”; Iona Scott 3rd M/W12, Erica Cload, 3rd M/W12 and special prize for Hazel Cload for her “Snail Trail”, W10, Henrik Borrowman 3rd in M/W10, and Charlotte Burton W14 for her mapmaking
The junior team effort has been outstanding and the following have been awarded additional “INVOC” prizes for exceptional effort.
- Charlotte Burton who went the extra mile of mapping her own local woods at Milton – meticulous work and creative with her horse!
- Oscar Shepherd. It may have looked like a cat but it inspired the younger juniors to get out there and give it a try. Many Thanks!
- Henrik and Lucie Borrowman for their handsome Craig Phadrig stallion
Well done to all. Pictures of all the INVOC entries can be viewed here.
Scottish Orienteering write up with lots of mentions of INVOC can be viewed here.
2019
 |
What must be a record 29 juniors went to the Kinguissie last weekend 9th June, to compete in the JST. Most went down on the bus which added to the excitement. Many had travelled down to the Scottish Schools Orienteering festival 2 days prior. We were lucky that the weather was mostly dry as we’ve had such wet, cold weather recently. Once again we had INVOC face painting. Much more advanced this year as the kids took over! Pablo was team captain and lead the procession.
We are delighted to welcome new members to the club- great additions to the team. We had a complete mixture of runs, from medals to some more disappointed in their run as happens to us all. Angus had the very first start and Iona the very last start of the day - always more challenging for those individual runners. The kids behaved impeccably and had a lot of fun together! A good roll down the hill at the end was the perfect finish to the day! |
We came 3rd overall out of 10 teams, with a score of 588, one of our best performances. There were plenty top 10 finishes and the following were medal winners:-
Yellow Girls; Sky Simpson 1st, Hazel Cload 3rd, Charlotte Burton 4th,
Yellow Boys; Evan Sime 2nd
Orange Boys; Ben Webster 3rd
For all results see https://www.basoc.org.uk/results-archive/2019/2019-06-09-jamie-stevenson-trophy-gynack/index.html
Thanks to Catherine for organising it all again!
2018
17th June at Morrone Birk Wood, Braemar
On 17th June 2018 16 INVOC juniors with 7 parent helpers travelled to Braemar in minibus and cars to compete in this year's JST. We arrived in good time to trial our new INVOC Eagle face painting stencil and then proudly joined the parade led by team captains Megan and Alasdair. We also decorated the tent with our INVOC Eagle and bunting to take part in the best decorated tent competition (we didn't win!).
All the juniors put a huge effort into their run as proud members of INVOC. As always some were delighted, others disappointed. As a club we are proud of them all.
11 teams competed this year.
We finished in an impressive 3rd place! :) with our highest ever score of 589.
Our counters were Megan Keith 100 (1st Green), Charley Wright 99 (2nd orange), Eilidh Simpson 99 (=2nd Orange), Sky Simpson 97 (4th yellow), Connie Nicolson 97 (4th orange), Finlay Raynor 97 (4th LG).
Other winners:-
- Connie Nicolson won a medal for the fastest run in time for orange girls
- Angus Laird won the control description competition.
A Hugh thanks to Catherine Todd for organising and coordinating everything.
For all the other fantastic results see:-
https://www.marocscotland.org.uk/documents/results/180617_Jamie_Stevenson_Trophy_Simple_Results.pdf
2017
25th June at Kinnoull Hill, Perth
With a large team of 18 we placed 5th place with 567 points. Our counters were: Megan Keith Green Girls 97pts (4th); Finlay Raynor Light Green Boys 96pts (5th); Aidann McCann Light Green Boys 95pts (6th); Lexie Nicholson Yellow Girls 94pts (7th); Oscar Shepherd Light Green Boys 93pts (8th); Esme Syme Yellow Girls 92pts (9th).
2016
19th June at Balkello, Tayside.
Jamie Stevenson Orienteering Competition 2016 – Report
On Sunday 19th June 2016 INVOC members travelled by mini-coach to Balkello, near Dundee, to take part in the 14th Jamie Stevenson competition.
Unfortunately the mini-coach didn’t seem to go very fast down the A9 so we missed the Parade at 11am but, thanks to an extremely efficient toilet stop at Broxden, everyone made their allocated start time. There are some nice photos of the Parade on the Active North website if anyone is keen to see what they missed.
The team comprised 20 Juniors (2 less than planned due to illness) and we also had 10 adult helpers on the bus and 1 Junior non-competitor. It was great to have so many adult helpers – it meant it was a relaxed and sociable day. The car park was right next to the assembly area which was really handy.
There are always highs and lows at these events so of course some Juniors came back very happy with their run, and some very unhappy – with many stories of getting lost / not finding the control / unmapped or confusing paths and similar. But – most importantly - everyone reached the finish and INVOC ended up being 3rd out of 14 teams which is a very respectable position.
You can see the results by clicking here. The final leg was a short run-in of around 20-30 seconds but through nettles so very well done to the early, smaller finishers who trampled the nettles flat for everyone else. There were some wonderful sprint finishes (all detailed in the results link above) – well done everyone.
Special thanks to Susan and Ian Blackwood for their most impressive and efficient tent management skills – if anyone ever needs a tent put up or taken down in a hurry they are the ones to ask!
Trevor Ricketts (MAROC) has done some interesting analysis of his JST spreadsheet and he observes (his emoticons):
Some things of note in 2016:
- Highest number of clubs taking part ever - 14 (and 5 more than low point in 2011) :)
- First time for teams from Solway and KFO :)
- First time BASOC represented since 2007 :)
- Strongest showing from INVOC since 2011 :)
- 9th win in a row for MAROC and 12th win from 14 events.
- Smallest number of individual participants since 2010 :(
- No team from RR for only 3rd time :(
Hopefully BASOC, Solway and KFO will keep taking part and will strengthen further in the next few years, and if RR can come back next year, we'll have a new record of 15 clubs taking part!
Alison Matheson
2015
14th June at Kinnoull Hill, Perth
some of the 2015 INVOC team
Report:
150 juniors from 12 clubs took part in the 2015 Jamie Stevenson Trophy at Kinnoull Hill in Perth. It was a nice site this year with the start and finish very near the club tent area and the car park. The weather was warm when the sun was out and cold when it wasn’t.
15 INVOC Juniors went along to test their skills in this lowland forest; some came back happy with their run and some were a little disappointed with how the course went for them. However each junior did their very best and all should be proud for representing the club so well.
The INVOC participants were: Finlay Todd, Rowan White, Pablo Alvarez , Ronan Blackwood, Jenny Blackwood, Alasdair Raynor, Sorley Todd, Eric Todd, Edie Mathewson, Finlay Raynor, Lawrence Robins-Bird, George Shread, David Hall, Aiden McCann and Emily Shread.
The winners were MAROC who seem to win every year. Well done them. INVOC were 7th out of 12 teams. A good result seeing as we had to get up so early and tire ourselves out with the excellent Moravian quiz on the bus – whatever did happen to the Ruthven Barracks question...
A few other memories of the day:
- Pine cone wars – did INVOC win that? (I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention).
- One orienteer in our house decided to put his control description in a very strange place (I‘m not allowed to say where but it fell out at bath time), as he had no arm holder (maybe I need to get him an arm holder).
- The missing INVOC banner that we found eventually – a fine temporary replacement was made from a long stick and an INVOC top.
- Control Number 5 on the Orange Course – was it in the wrong place as someone in our house claimed? Is it too late to protest once one is in the bath on the evening after the competition?
- The heat at the back of the bus on the way home – phew it was hot.
Well done to everyone, be proud and Inverness Orienteering Club looks forward to your participation in the next events.
Counting runners: Sorley placed 5th on Orange, Finlay T 6th on Green and Jenny 7th on Light Green. Our other scorers were Edie (11th on Orange), Eric (11th on Orange), and Finlay R (12th on Orange).
2014
15th June at Deuchny Wood and Murrayshall, Perth
A slightly depleted Team INVOC made the trip to the wood to the east of Kinnoull Hill on a damp day. 568 points put us in 7th place as MAROC took the title yet again. Most of the team shared the MOR bus from Aviemore. We were missing a few regulars with illness and had some bad luck on the day but a good day out was had once again.
Results: Megan placed 2nd on Orange, and we had 5th places for Ronan on Orange and Sorley on Yellow. Our other scorers were Finlay T, Finlay R and Alasdair, with Heather completing the list of INVOC finishers.
2013
16th June at Muirward Wood, Perth
5th place for Team INVOC again - with 576 points, behind winners MAROC (again) with 593, FVO (591), ECKO (582) and MOR (578). 19 INVOC runners this year, another good day out on the Team INVOC bus to Perth. Well done again to all the INVOC juniors who made the trip.
Results: Rowan won Light Green, with Finlay 2nd; another 2nd place for Jenny on Orange, with Megan 6th. Our other scorers were Callum, 7th on Green and Heather, 12th on Light Green.
2012
17th June at Kinnoul Hill, Perth
5th place for Team INVOC this year in a very competitive JST - our score was 574 points, level with INT, but behind winners MAROC (again) with 594, ECKO (590), FVO (590) and GRAMP (583). We had 21 INVOC runners this year, mostly taking the Team INVOC bus to Perth. Well done once more to all the INVOC juniors who made the trip.
Results: Megan placed 2nd on Yellow, Callum 3rd on Green, and Rachel 4th on Orange, with Finlay (7th on Light Green), Solomon (8th on Orange) and Jenny (8th on Orange) our other scorers.
2011
19th June at Tentsmuir, Fife
Another successful JST for Team INVOC, repeating last year's great 2nd place! 14 INVOC juniors made the trip this year, mostly joining the MOR team on their bus for the journey south. Competition was close again, MAROC retaining the trophy with 595 points and INVOC just 9 points behind (586) - and just a single point ahead of third-placed FVO (585).
Results: Rowan was 1st on Orange, and Callum (Light Green), Finlay (Orange) and Megan (Yellow) added 3rd places. Isobel came 4th on Light Green and Molly was 6th on Orange - INVOCs best JST score yet!
2010
20th June at Deuchney Wood, Perth
Another good day out on the Team INVOC bus for the JST, and a great 2nd place! It took a bit of re-counting scores as five clubs were within 3 points for the podium places behind runaway winners MAROC. INVOC picked up 572 points to squeeze out INT (571), ESOC (571), GRAMP (569) and ECKO (569) - though MAROC showed their strength across the board with 6 winners and 600 points.
Results: Callum was 4th on Light Green, Alex was 5th on Yellow, and we had three 6th places: Finlay on Orange, Rebecca on Yellow, and Ross on Yellow. Our 6th counter was a 7th place, either Megan (Yellow) or Keiran (Yellow).
2009
21st June at Pitmedden Forest, Perth
A great turnout of club juniors took the Team INVOC bus south for the JST and returned with 3rd place, scoring 584 points, just behind MAROC (596) and FVO (589).
Results: Jo was 2nd on Green, Callum 2nd on Orange, Molly 3rd on Yellow, and we had four 5th-placers: Roz on Green, Scott on Light Green, Siobhan on Yellow and Rowan on Yellow.
2008
14th September at Saint Magdalene Hill, Perth
A magnificent team of 25 INVOC juniors headed for Perth - plus a lot of family supporters! This year we finished in 7th place out of 12 teams but the results were very close.
Results: Joanna placed 3rd on Green, with Rosalind 4th on Light Green and Euan 6th on Yellow. The other INVOC scorers were Callum (8th, Orange), Finlay (8th, Yellow) and either Molly (10th, Yellow) or Sam (10th, Orange).
2007
2nd September at Faskally, Pitlochry
A team of 14 INVOC juniors headed for Pitlochry and improved to finish 5th from 13 clubs taking part - only 1 point behind 4th place.
Results: Rosalind placed 1st on Light Green, and we added 5th places for Joanna (Green), Scott (Orange) and Andrew (Light Green). INVOC's other scorers were Ailsa (6th, Yellow) and either Jessamy (7th, Yellow) or Rory (7th, Light Green).
2006
3rd September at Kinnoul Hill, Perth
A great turn out with 15 Team INVOC juniors looking extra smart in their new club suits and caps! The area was tricky with many confusing paths and our relatively inexperienced team did well to finish 7th out of 12 clubs taking part. The pre-race parade and after-run barbecue added to the fun at the event.
Results: Joanna was a close 3rd on Light Green in a group of Scotland's top W14s, and Alasdair placed 3rd on the Green behind the Tullie brothers, established internationals at M18/20. INVOC's other scorers were Rosalind (5th, Light Green), Sam (11th, Orange), Niall (15th, Yellow) and Heather (17th, Yellow).
2005
The 2005 INVOC JST team