grampoc

Uh oh! Back in Lockdown for Aberdeen and because the Planner and many competitors live in the City area we’ve had to cancel tonight’s event at Crathes. We may be able to rearrange it for another night later on and we’ll have to review Tollohill viability next week as the Lockdown may  not be lifted by then either.
Keep watching this space….

Results

Woohoo! We’re back in business with a near-normal event today in the southern part of Hazlehead thanks to David Esson. Looks like post-Lockdown event guineapigs, e-payment gizmo and new SI kit all held up well and you didn’t find the C-19 precautions too bothersome?

If you’re a non-member reading this looking for something different to do over the summer hols, we will be holding some Summer Series events but these will also have to club members only I’m afraid until we get the all clear to open things up to the wider public, but hopefully not too much longer to wait. You could of course get in touch about becoming a member – even though there’s less than half the year left, I’m sure we can do you a deal 😉

Why club members only at the moment? It’s to do with contact tracing and minimising numbers of folk gathered at events. We have other measures in place too – check our Covid 19 page for more info.

We have started to organise some TOCs for those of you who prefer trad O in woods to the urban variety while we wait for the go ahead to organise something more akin to an event as we know it. Please observe current distancing guidelines i.e. don’t go en masse and be your usual courteous selves to other forest users.

David E has been out and about hanging “controls” for you in Cheyne Hill and Tyrebagger – aka South Kirkhill, he’s showing his age 😉

These “controls” are strips of yellow and green electrical tape stuck to the nearest branch or vegetation so makes it a bit harder for you to spot but will help you hone those fine navigation skills (although sincere apologies to anyone who is colour blind as they may well be invisible to you.)
The Start/Finish aren’t taped as we figure you should be able to find those!

Download and print out your maps from the list below and keep checking back to see when we put out others. You can self time and send us your “results” if you want or upload to Strava if you want to “compete” with each other.

13/7/20:
Tyrebagger/Kirkhill South 3.2km FC car park (should be open now)
Cheyne Hill 2.8km Park in the small car park off the Slug Road

Maroc have done something similar and intend to hang proper controls fro 2 weeks at each location. Visit their website for information on what courses are currently out in Deeside and to download the maps. (Thanks, Maroc!)

The Gramp MapRun Factory (Rachel) has been busy over the last couple of weeks and we now have several more courses uploaded courtesy of Sarah Dunn. From Aberdeen Uni and Perwinnes Moss (4 variations Easy to Tech) down to Stonehaven via Cove.

Rachel has plans for Dunnottar Woods and Aberdeen Street Art Trail next. More ideas are being worked on by a couple of other Gramps too and we’re open to suggestions for either areas to use or courses to convert. Ping an email to webmaster@grampoc.com to get your requests/offers in for either MapRun or lowkey trad courses as we start to prepare for travel restrictions being lifted even further.

And the ‘ding’ bit? That’s how Tim Griffin described the noise his phone made at each control when test running Perwinnes Moss.

Due to the many ongoing uncertainties caused by Covid, we have decided to postpone the GMC until 2021 probably still in November again. More information to follow later in the year.

We know this will be a disappointment to many, not least our regulars from south of the border who have been looking forward to treating themselves after Lockdown, but we feel it better to wait and be able to make concrete plans and proper preparations rather than play “will it, won’t it” for the next few months.

Sarah Dunn of Scottish Orienteering is championing this mobile based version of orienteering using your phone’s GPS capabilities to track and time yourself while running one of our MapRun courses. Upload to Strava too so you can challenge your Stravamates.

Visit the MapRun page for more info, instructions and downloads for the MapRun app and pdf course files.