Come and Try It @ MBC Festival – Saturday 1/9/18

Gramp are hosting a come-and-try–it session at Foggieton Woods on Saturday 1^st September as part of the Milltimber, Bieldside and Cults (MBC) festival. Everybody welcome from young to old, fit to not-so-fit, individuals or groups – all you need is a bit of curiosity and a pair of trainers/trail shoes, we’ll provide the rest.

Starts from from 2-3pm so come along and find us at the Festival from about 1:30pm onwards to register and get someone to talk you through the basics before getting out there and having a go.

Templars Park Summer Series Grand Finale 15/8/18

Results   (BBQ without rain – RESULT!! )

Thanks to Tim for squeezing everything into that poor little car and squeezing some fun courses into Templars’ bijou area. Map memory definitely favours the regulars so well done to those relative newcomers brave enough to take it on.

Thanks to all our 11* organisers during the series – chocs were handed out to those of us there last night and the rest of you may be able to claim yours providing you do it soon as they went back to the Rowlands household to be “looked after”. Aye, right!

*Helen R did two and acted as Summer Series Coordinator so lots of chocs thanks to her.

Thanks to Sarah Wallace for keeping track of our results and organising Summer Series prizes (she got so carried away buying prizes she forgot to get BBQ food for herself apparently!) – many happy smiley folk went home clutching fudge, chocs or cactii. We’ll be publishing the final scores soon.

Also awarded last night were some of the Junior prizes gained over the last few months for attendance and/or performance at various events. Too numerous to remember and list here so ask Eddy Coman at the next few events if your name was on the list to claim your badges and certificates.

Thanks also to Bob, Gareth, Rob and Dave who assisted collecting controls last night and Dave Kirk for taking it all away ready for the first event of our Urban Series next week at Duthie Park.
See you all again there?

Glen Dye Summer Series 8/8/18

Results

What more can you ask than a lovely sunlit forest with some reasonable technicality? Grateful thanks to Fasque Estates for allowing us to use a different car park from the usual on a Wednesday night which gave the Short course a more pleasant run than is possible from the usual car park, and allowed everyone else the chance to run in the pleasant north east part of Glen Dye usually visited only by longer courses. Generally everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, which is the main point.

One apology – I gather the kite on Control 3 on Long Tech had fallen to the ground making the control much harder to spot. Not intended! Thanks also to those who helped collect controls – Bob, Tim, Bill and David

George

[Controllers Conundrum re kites on the ground: as a short person I frequently find that the relative angles of dangle of kite/vegetation/bumps on the ground mean I can’t see them until virtually on top of them anyway so glad to see the score evened a bit! That and the fact that I was one of the last folk through No 3 last night meant I didn’t bother to stop and rehang it to give the Planner a helping hand as I normally would.
But now I’m wondering – should I rehang or will that make it unfairly fairer for any subsequent visitors?  Rachel]

Telegenic volunteers will be required for 2022

The Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2022 has been awarded to Edinburgh. Well done to EventScotland and Edinburgh City Council for working with the BOF/SOA bid team and helping sway the decision in Edinburgh’s favour.

The proposed venue for the Event Centre is the University of Edinburgh’s Pollock Halls of Residence campus. Preferred dates are in the middle of July. The idea is to have the three televised finals in Edinburgh’s iconic locations.

IOF release here

bto SOUL 8 Danestone 15/9/18

Summer is whizzing past and it’s time to start feeding you all some details for the next bto SOUL race being staged in Aberdeen. We’re using the Danestone/Grandholm area to the northwest of the city centre and courses are full length urban style mainly on paths through the housing estates, some grassy open areas and woodland.

Assembly: Danestone Community Centre – registration/download, loos and hall to leave kit and have a blether over a cuppa from the kitchen.  Hall will be open for orienteers from 11:00 to 16:00.
Streetmap       what3words: ///cakes.last.laptop

Parking: There are parking spaces immediately adjacent to the hall plus on the roads indicated here.
Please leave gaps between groups of cars parked alongside the roads to allow other traffic to pass each other easily.

Start/Finish: Both close to the Community Centre.
Starts: Punching starts within nominated time bands Early/Middle/Late 11:30 to 13:30.
Courses close: 15:00 TBC

Courses: (provisional lengths)
1  7.70km  MO (M18-35)
2  6.20km  WO (W18-35), MV (M40+)
3  5.00km  WV (W40+), MSV (M55+)
4  3.75km  WSV (W55+), MUV (M65+), MHV (M75+)
5  3.00km  WUV (W65+), WHV (W75+)
6  4.10km  WJ (W16-), MJ (M16-)
7  1.90km  WYJ (W12-), MYJ (M12-)

There will also be an Open category for each course – same length, same course, just non-competitive. Please enter by category as this assists us to process results quickly for the SOUL League points.

Junior courses do not cross any major roads and all courses are designed to make use of underpasses as optimum route choice so there will be no marshalled crossings or timed out legs.

Map: Scale 1 : 4,000, 2.5m contours, ISSOM
For those of you who haven’t tried urban orienteering on an ISSOM map before please take a look at this guide which explains the map symbols so you don’t inadvertently cross an out of bounds area or fence or wall.

Entry fees: £10 Senior, (£12 Non-BOF member), £5 Junior (Locals CATI discounted rates TBC) includes hire of Emit brikke
Online entries: open mid-August (limited EOD depending on map numbers)

Officials: Planner – Pete Lawrence, Controller – Tim Griffin, Organiser – Rachel Scott (all GRAMP)

Sunday: And by way of a complete contrast to round out the weekend, Maroc are hosting a Level C at Pannanich near Ballater on Sunday 16th.

Notices
Safety – A risk assessment will have been carried out by the organiser, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.

Public Liability – Please be aware that British Orienteering Federation (BOF) event insurance only covers non-member participants  for public liability for 3 events in any one year (this includes helpers, parents shadowing and competitors).

Privacy – when entering our events your name may appear in the results section of this website or in newspaper reports. Grampian Orienteers data privacy policy

Photography – In line with the policies of British Orienteering, the organisers of this event request that any person wishing to take photos or video showing children should register their details with event volunteers before taking any such photos or videos. The event organisers reserve the right to ask people to refrain from taking photos or video and may, if such warnings are ignored, refer the matter to the police.

Crathes Summer Series 18/7/18

Results

Nice to see Michaela and Lucie from AUOC, a Belgian family and a few other well-kent runners and occasional visitors to our Summer Series helping to boost the numbers to a very respectable 48 given it’s peak holiday season. Although not wall-to-wall sunshine it was a fine, warm evening but amazingly no midges to bug us – seems like the continuing dry has really hit them for six this year or have I just been lucky?

Thanks to Ian H for organising including a no paths option for the Long Tech (not that that slowed the whizz kids down any.)

Next week we’ll be at Scolty.

Feedback wanted from orienteers in Scotland for tick research project

Have you spotted the SOA website article on reporting ticks for a research project?

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup rankings after Crathes

Latest (JD)2C Rankings after Crathes here.

Well done to:
Hannah and Judith Kuhnel are still joint 3rd in W8
Hannah Will has posted her first score putting her in 5th on W12
Morven Farquharson is lying in 5th place W14 with sister Kirsty not too far behind in 6th
Olivia Coman holding 2nd W16

Fraser Pain is building up an even bigger lead in M8 with Stuart Prince holding steady in 3rd and Jack Pain not far behind in 4th
Douglas Walmsley 3rd in M10
Although missing the first few events, Noah Griffin has now started to notch up some solid results and is lying in 5th place in M12 while brother Sam is also 5th M14. Duncan Will seems to be employing a similar strategy by saving himself for later in the season and has now reached 5th place too.

Remember that all you have to do is come along to any of the nominated events and you will automatically be entered into the (JD)2C.

Spoiler alert – coming along to events will also earn you Junior Participation Awards and Badges and Eddy Coman is currently tracking you all down to present you with certificates for last year.

We now have a full schedule of events confirmed to round off this year’s competition. Coming up:
Balfour  26th Aug
Pannanich  16th Sep (with our SOUL in Balgownie/Danestone the day before)
Raemoir  14th Oct
Bogendreip 4th Nov

(Message from Scott Reynolds – if you check the standings and find a mistake, especially re shadowing, please let him or Laura Farquharson know. Ta.)

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2018 full rules and points scheme and list of events for you to target (although we’ve still yet to finalise the full list. Like to keep you guessing but hopefully not much longer now.)

Tyrebagger Summer Series 11/7/18

Thanks to Bill and Paul for this week’s Tyrebagger event, and Olivia for supplying the refreshments. Who knew bracken was so drought resistant!

Results

Next week we are at Crathes Castle

World Masters Orienteering Championships 6th – 13th July 2018

We have 3 Gramps running at WMOC 2018 over in Denmark – Oonagh Grassie W60, Rob Hickling M60 and Peter Bellarby M80.
Following the opening ceremony complete with flags, steel band and Indoor Sprint event amongst other things, they got down to business on Saturday with Sprint Qualifiers followed by Sprint Finals today. Tomorrow sees the start of the Forest Qualifications for Middle and Long Finals on Wednesday and Friday respectively.

You must be 35 or over to compete and there are so many folk there that they hold qualifiers for each category with four or five groups with 50, 60 or more competitors in each. This event is massive!
You must finish within a certain percentage of the top of your group in order to qualify for the A Final, i.e. to be within shouting distance of being a Champion. Everyone else still gets to run in B/C/D Finals too, even those who mis-punch in a qualifier.

So how are our guys doing so far?
Rob came in a storming 6th place in his qualifying group so was in the A Sprint Final but unfortunately mispunched. Bad luck!
Oonagh had a couple of steady runs to finish 30th in the C Final and likewise Peter 28th in the B Final. Considering the, literally, world class opposition these are all excellent results and let’s hope they can capitalise on this in the forest events this week.
(Rob/Oonagh/Peter – a wee heads up if you’re reading this: I’ve been told that Danish white forest isn’t necessarily what you’d expect.)

Judging by the photos and videos it’s as hot over there in Copenhagen as it was running round Menzieshill at SOUL 5. You may spot some familiar faces as there are quite a few other Scottish orienteers competing in Denmark, not least Donald and Duncan Grassie, Roger and Trish Coombs, Lynne Walker, Eddie Harwood, Margaret Dearman, Guy and Beryl Seaman, Rhona Fraser and Joan Noble all from Northern clubs or area. Links to live and final results can be found on the WMOC 2018 frontpage if you fancy keeping an eye on the rest of the weeks’ happenings.

GJO news: Sam Griffin selected for Regional Squads’ summer camp

Good news for one of our junior members… Sam Griffin got an email on Friday…. ‘Congratulations on your selection for the Regional Squads’ summer coaching camp at Lagganlia’

He wasn’t on the original list but was top of the reserve list after some strong peformances over the last months and gaining a Championship time at the JK. He joins 23 other M/W14 athletes who have been selected from all regions of the country to attend the camp.

Junior Regional Squad training camps help juniors develop their orienteering skills and also aid personal and social development by making new friends, learning new skills and socialising in different ways.

Congratulations, Sam!

Summer Series 27/6/18 Balmedie + BBQ Results

OK – the weather did its other usual trick. By the time I got there (delayed in the infamous A90 roadworks enlivened by Lesley G hanging out of her car window miming “can I have a cuppa?” at me in the campervan as we trundled slowly along) the haar was rapidly developing into a real pea souper. We should maybe have armed the control collectors with flares so we could keep track of them?

Thanks to John Lang for planning and a host of control collectors/BBQ monitors.

Results

Autumn Urban Sprint Series 2018

One course of TD3 (Orange) standard about 3 – 4km long in streets and parks.

Make sure you know what Out of Bounds and uncrossable i.e. “forbidden to cross” walls/fences look like on these ISSOM maps – PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THIS GUIDE. Uncrossable means forbidden to cross as we don’t have permission for you to do so. If in doubt and the wall/fence/piece of land you’re about to cross looks private then show some respect and don’t do it!

By popular request, here’s a guide to the control descriptions courtesy of the Irish Orienteering Association. Column D shows you what you’re looking for (in urban racing, there’ll be a lot of tree, hedge, fence, steps, building, wall, manmade feature) and column G shows you where the flag is on the feature (especially useful when working out which side of an uncrossable fence you need to be for example.)

Reg/starts 18:00 – 18:30ish,  £4 Senior, £2 Junior/Student
Courses close 19:30 (that means be back at registration to hand in your brikke by 19:35 please)
Times are a bit earlier than Summer Series to catch the light but you still might want a torch for the last couple if the weather’s gloomy.

Juniors under 16 should be accompanied by an adult (to comply with BOF insurance requirements.)

Wed 22nd Aug  Duthie Park     score.tins.pizza*
Wed 29th Aug   Seaton Park     spoke.risky.darker
Wed 5th Sept    Westburn & Victoria Parks   orange.hedge.data
Wed 12th Sept  Westhill     parking/reg location TBCBalgowniel
Sat 15th Sept    SOUL Balgownie/Danestone   foil.turkey.total
Wed 19th Sept  Aberdeen Uni Kings Campus   parking/reg location TBC

Click on the area name above to link through to a map showing the parking/reg location (*what3words codes).
Some are still TBC so check nearer the time before you set out.

.

Crathes – Level C Event – Sun 24 June 2018 Results

Final results and splits
Routegadget – this is where you can see where everyone else went and where the big mistakes were made – if you haven’t played with RG before then there are guides and videos found here

Results with BOF ranking points (will be calculated overnight Tues and incorporated into overall rankings Thursday)

Many thanks to Crathes Castle and Estate for permission and Neil McLean for making the long trip down several times to plan. David Esson provided computing backup to Neil and also covered entries/timing on the day (apologies for not having a results display during the day itself) and Jon Musgrave was our Controller.

Thanks also to the Farquharson Three, Lindsey and George Esson, Jonathan Smith, Jeremy Huthwaite, Lesley and Sam Gomersall, Griffins en masse, Helen Anderson, Pete Lawrence and Bob Daly for assisting with set up, registration, starts, road crossing, control collecting, looking for late finishers and dismantling which made my job very easy and pleasant today with plenty of time to sup coffee and catch up with some old faces. (Also Dennis McDonald, Paul Puley and Ros Evans who also volunteered but weren’t required in the end.)

Jonathan also spotted and reported some smouldering vegetation near one of the controls at the western end and guided the Crathes Rangers to the exact spot so they could extinguish it before it developed too far.

Rachel

GMC 2018: Braemar 10th/11th November update – ONLINE ENTRIES OPEN

Grampian Mountain Challenge  –  Scotland’s Friendly Sociable Winter Mountain Marathon

NEWS: We have the potential to provide Fri night accommodation (sleeping bag on the floor) in Castleton Hall if we get 10 or more takers – email dkirk006@btinternet.com if this is of interest – and there will be Portaloos at the overnight camp.

GMC18 – Information, Rules and Kit List (updated 14 June)
GMC18 – Flyer

*****Online entries via SiEntries now open – click here*****

28 entries so far and Course C Parent/Offspring by far the most popular
Remeber, there are only 100 places available.   HAVE YOU ENTERED YET?

HAVE YOU TOLD ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT?
Feel free to download the flyer and send it to friends or display at work or whatever it takes to help spread the word and fill the 100 places available.

Summer Series Perwinnes Moss 20/6/18 Results

Results

Thanks to those who braved the weather and came along tonight – lots of comments about the undergrowth but that’s Perwinnes Moss for you. It’s hard to plan ‘interesting’ courses without having to take you into ‘interesting’ places so my philosophy was to embrace the nettles and gorse and jump in with both feet. If it’s any consolation I had to go to those ‘interesting’ places to to set out the controls and my knees are also stinging still.

Thanks also to Bob Daly, David Esson and Neil McLean who helped me collect everything in again.

Did anyone else see that doe and fawn I told you about?

Rachel

Easy 1.9km
Medium 2.8km
Short Tech 2.6km
Long Tech 4.5km

JST event summary

Congratulations to all the Gramp junior competitors at the Jamie Stevenson Trophy event at Braemar on Sunday. Amidst strong competition, especially from Maroc and Moravian, Gramp juniors made a great effort, gaining four top-ten places including a podium place for Sam Griffin on the boy’s Light Green course.
Many thanks to everyone, especially Zoe, Tim and Laura for helping me (in my first JST experience) and as event helpers.

Eddy

Jamie Stevenson Trophy 2018

Big congratulations all round to the Gramp Team who ran at the JS Trophy today at Morrone Birkwood, Braemar: Mia and Olivia Coman, Morven and Kirsty Farqhuarson, Noah and Sam Griffin, Oli Robertson, Reuben Cole and Connor Whitelaw. Between them they scored 558 points coming 6th overall which is a great result for such a relatively inexperienced team.

Report and photos to follow asap so check back here later.

Congratulations also to the JST hosts, MAROC, who won beating MOR by just one point in the end.

Summer Series Dunnottar Woods 13/6/18 Results

Results

Despite the slightly inclement weather, it was an enjoyable event at Dunnottar, which was improved significantly by the availability of delicious cake and homemade lemonade from Ailsa who is fundraising for a trip to Nepal with Operation Raleigh.
Hopefully more to come in the following weeks!

After such a dry spell, it was a bit unfortunate that the wild garlic* on the hill got a soaking before the event, but no-one seemed to mind too much about the mud and aroma!

Thanks to Phil for helping out and to Phil, Olivia, Rachel and Pete for controls collection.

Eddy

(*The up side to this is that we can rule out vampires in the Risk Assessment.)

Great Schools Orienteering Festival success for Gramps (aka Aberdeen Grammar)

Three junior Gramp members (two ‘old’ hands and one very recent one) competed in the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival at Pollock Park representing Aberdeen Grammar recently and came away with a first and team Silver in S2 Boys…. can we get more next year?! Read the P&J report here.
Congratulations guys!!

GRAMP Junior Participation awards

Congratulations to our Gramp Juniors on their achievements in the SOA/Gramp Participation and Colour awards. Awards are granted as follows for the period 01 Jan 2017 to 30 Apr 2018:

• Ailsa Anderson (5, Green)
• Paul Caffyn (Green)
• Olivia Coman (10, Orange)
• Josie Gomersall (Green)
• Noah Griffin (5, Yellow)
• Sam Griffin (5, Orange, Light Green)
• Patrick Lang (10)
• Connor Whitelaw (5, Yellow)

Participation awards recognise any run at any Gramp event.
Colour awards are granted for three top-half finishes on courses of a given colour.
For more information see ‘“Courses completed” badges’ and ‘Colour coded badges’ sections of this SOA document:

https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/documents/natcen/incentive_awards.pdf

I will be distributing the above and any newly-earned awards at Gramp events over the summer, primarily at the Summer Series evenings.

Eddy Coman

Scottish Championships 2018

We have more champions in our midst – and some double champions too! Building on last weekend’s successes Ros Evans, Oonagh Grassie and Kevin Reynard all won this weekend and some excellent personal results all round so congrats to all and as with the BOC I’ve listed all results as a measure of how we did overall:

Individual at Achagour
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M14A 7th Sam Griffin
M14B 2nd Connor Whitelaw
M21E 14th Jack Gomersall
M40L 2nd and Scottish Champ Ali Robertson
M50L 6th Tim Griffin, 21st Gareth Yardley
M50S 1st and Scottish Champion Kevin Reynard
M55L 7th Ian Hamilton, 8th Sam Gomersall, 13th Pete Lawrence, 14th Iaiin McLeod
M60L 9th Bob Daly, 10th Paul Duley, 12th Rob Hickling
M65L 14th Dave Armitage
M70S 2nd and Scottish Champion Michael Forsyth
M75L 3rd Neil McLean

W14A 10th Morven Farquharson, 12th Kirsty Farquharson
W18L 2nd Josie Gomersall
W50L 12th Carolyn McLeod, 14th Laura Farquharson, 16th Helen Rowlands, 17th Rachel Scott
W55L 14th Lesley Gomersall
W60L 18th Anne Hickling
W60S 1st and Scottish Champion Oonagh Grassie, 4th Anne Hoy, 5th Jayne MacGregor
W65L 1st and Scottish Champion Ros Evans

Yellow 1st Oli Robertson

Relays at Roseisle
11+
5th GRAMP 1: Tim Griffin/Ali Robertson/Bob Daly
6th GRAMP 2: Sam Gomersall/Gareth Yardley/Robert Hickling

17+
2nd GRAMP 3: Pete Lawrence/Ros Evans/Kevin Reynard
12th GRAMP 5: Sam Griffin/Neil McLean/Rachel Scott
13th GRAMP 6: Lesley Gomersall/Oonagh Grassie/Helen Rowlands (5 secs behind-ooh!)

20+
30th GRAMPy Auld Wifies: Anne Hoy/Jayne MacGregor/Anne Hickling

Many thanks to GRAMP’s own Christian Horner (aka David Esson) who not only got his head around the team age categories but also successfully managed us all up into teams and came back up from Aberdeen to cheer us all out and in on Sunday despite not running himself. All photos were taken by him with his iPhone while standing in the pits trying to keep track of us all.

(JD)2C rankings after Glen Dye

Latest (JD)2C Rankings after Glen Dye here.  (Sorry for the delay.)

Well done to:
Hannah and Judith Kuhnel joint 3rd in W8
Olivia Coman now 2nd W16
Fraser Pain is leading M8 with Stuart Prince in 3rd and Jack Pain not far behind in 4th
Douglas Walmsley now 3rd M10

Remember that all you have to do is come along to any of the nominated events and you will automatically be entered into the (JD)2C.

Spoiler alert – coming along to events will also earn you Junior Participation Awards and Badges and Eddy Coman is currently tracking you all down to present you with certificates for last year.

Next (JD)2C event will be Crathes on 24th June. Details coming soon.

(Message from Scott Reynolds – if you check the standings and find a mistake, especially re shadowing, please let him or Laura Farquharson know. Ta.)

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2018 full rules and points scheme and list of events for you to target (although we’ve still yet to finalise the full list. Like to keep you guessing but hopefully not much longer now.)

Summer Series Hazlehead Wed 23/5/18 Results

Thak you to Jonathan Smith for planning/organising the Summer Series kick off in his ‘back garden’ (and also for agreeing to take over looking after the club kit very soon I’m told.)  As predicted, the Long Tech “got what they deserved” by dint of the bracken starting to really spring up in the last week or so in the wooded areas to the south, obscuring the knolls and depressions quite nicely and so forcing us to get the compass out or risk a long run round the perimeter trying to work out how to attack them.

Results

Short: 1.1km, Medium: 2.5km, Short Tech: 3.7km, Long Tech: 4.7km

Many of you may have spotted Eddy Coman going about the car park with fistfuls of certificates for the Junior Participation Awards – by Friday I hope to be able to post more information on this but for now a big thank you to him as well for playing catch up with over a year’s worth of results to trawl through.

British Orienteering Championships 18th/19th May 2018

Well done to everyone who came, ran, won or just had fun and helped out over the weekend.
Photo links for many of us caught in action (or mid-lick of an icecream) can be found on the SOA website post dedicated to BOC 2018.

It was a mighty big ask of Gramp to be lead club for both Relays and Trail O on the same day and it got pretty squeaky with both Organisers vying for members with the right skills, abilities or personalities to cover the diverse jobs required for each event. We managed but not without the help of you all mucking in and agreeing to jobs you wouldn’t normally choose and quietly getting on with them as well as spotting gaps in our cunning plans and quietly filling those too.
I’m sure I speak for Anne Hickling too when I say a humungous thank you to all our helpers.

In a break from tradition, as it’s not very often we have this many Gramps attending the British Championships with a chance to compete against the best of Britain, I’ve listed all our results:

Individuals at Balmoral
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M14B 4th Connor Whitelaw
M21E 35th Jack Gomersall
M40L 14th Ali Robertson, 21st Gordon Urquhart
M50L 9th Tim Griffin, 51st Dave Kirk
M50S 1st Kevin Reynard
M55L 21st Evgueni Cheplin, 22nd Sam Gomersall, 23rd Iain McLeod
M55S 2nd Ian Searle, 8th Pete Lawrence
M60L 8th Rob Hickling, 25th Paul Duley
M60S 1st Richard Oxlade
M70S 1st Michael Forsyth
M75L 9th Neil McLean

W16B 2nd Olivia Coman
W18L 1st Josie Gomersall
W21E 17th Katrina McLeod
W21S 6th Heather Hale
W50L 16th Laura Farquharson, 18th Rachel Scott, 23rd Carolyn McLeod
W50S 2nd Roz Nicholson
W55L 5th Lesley Gomersall, 29th Sonia Armitage
W60L 27th Anne Hickling
W60S 2nd Oonagh Grassie, 5th Anne Hoy, 8th Jane MacGregor
W65L 13th Ros Evans

Light Green 7th Morven Farquharson, 15th Kirsty Farquharson
Yellow 3rd Oli Robertson

Iain Hamilton was Assistant Planner and Dave Armitage Assistant Controller

Relays at Torphantrick
M50 8th GRAMP 1 Tim Griffin, Dennis McDonald, Bob Daly
Mixed Adhoc
9th GRAMP 4 Ali Robertson, Carolyn McLeod, Oonagh Grassie
14th GRAMP 3 Rosslyn Nicholson, Iain McLeod, Kevin Reynard
21st GRAMP 2 Richard Oxlade, Ros Evans, Hugh Nicholson

Trail O at Crathes
Standard course:  Joint 1st Alan MacGregor, 3rd David Kirk, Joint 6th Angus Aitken
Elite Course 10th (and Unofficial Scottish Trail-O Champion)  Helen Rowlands

Anne Hickling was Planner/Organiser and Rob Hickling was Controller

Rachel and Ian H (almost) on the podium. We were subsequently asked to move off to the side but I think Sheila Strain and friend were doing a much better job of photobombing than us?

Glen Dye – Level C Event – 6th May 2018 Results

Final results and splits
RouteGadget – uses previous version of the map for expediency but not a lot has changed
BOF Ranking Points (will be added to Rankings on Thursday)

Looks like several people didn’t start their brikkes properly, hence the problems with control 1 not registering.
You need to watch for the LED flashing at Start and all controls but not so easy to spot in the sunshine.

Wow! What a lovely day for an outing round Glen Dye – almost too hot for some and I for one welcomed the chance to paddle across a couple of streams and grab a quick swig of water. Thanks to our officials and their helpers for putting on a great event and to all of you for coming along to enjoy the sun and a chance to get in some last minute practice prior to the upcoming British and Scottish Champs.

Officials
Planner: Gareth Yardley
Organiser: Laura Farquharson
Controller: Andy Oliver MAROC

PS Don’t forget to check yourselves for ticks – looks like the sunshine woke them all up too. Sooner you spot and remove them the better (not a good look for the office or school.)

Forest Sprint @ Scolty 25/4/16

Great turn out at Scolty … here are the results. Many thanks to Matt for taking on the planning. Well done!

Results

Relay Teams for British and Scottish Relay Championships

British Relay Championships @ Torphantrick 20th May
The British Relay Championships are being held on the 20th May up at Torphantrick up in Royal Deeside. It is probably one of the most runnable areas in Deeside, and should be a cracking venue for the Relays. If any Gramp member wishes to run at the relays, please let David Esson know asap. Closing date for entries is 4th May but he’ll do the team entries so all you need to do is email him asap with your name, age class, whether you prefer a long or short leg and TD5 or lower.
Doesn’t matter if you are competitive or not, if you fancy it, put your name down for it!

The various Relay courses are the following:

Men’s Premier (20-35)
Women’s Premier (20-35)
M14, W14, M18, W18
M40, W40, M50, W50, M60, W60, M/W70

Mixed Adhoc, Junior Adhoc, Mini Relay

So you can see there is a wide range of courses to suit everyone and if we don’t have enough takers for an age class team then we’ll mix and match you into an adhoc as competitive or fun as you want. Best bit is that the Club pays, so really you get a free run in an awesome area, if you fancy it!

Scottish Relay Championships @Roseisle 27th May

Having had a practice run at Torphantrick, the Scottish Relays are the next week up at Roseisle beside Burghead. Think Balmedie/Forvie but with trees so if Torphantrick is going to be fun, then Roseisle is going to be phenomenal! More details on the relay categories to follow and closing date for this is 13th May.

Let David know if you are interested in running here too! david.esson

(All Gramp members should have already received an email with this info – if you didn’t then it’s time to check we have your email address up to date so please email webmaster to confirm.)

New club kit running tights

In a bid to move away from the red and the castle, which some folk have said they don’t like that much, we’ve been mulling over alternative themes still connected to the Aberdeen coat of arms or other symbols and can now proudly unveil the new club running tights:

• made from ultra industrial rip-stop lycra blended with typhoon proof kevlar for maximum protection
• impregnated with a proven anti-tick chemical based on leopard poo
• guaranteed to incapacitate your rivals with incredulous laughter

We’re looking for volunteers to give these a whirl at the upcoming British and Scottish Champs. Interested?
Email fashionvictim@grampoc.com with your size and we’ll do the rest.

Wot’s WOD?

We’re on the WOD map!

Hazlehead 23rd May is now officially registered as a WOD 2018 event.

Come and be part of the biggest mass participation orienteering event ever.

WOD 2017 saw an amazing 288,007 participants. OK, time to fess up – not all at Hazlehead but at 2,265 locations in 79 countries which is still mindbogglingly large numbers. Come and help us beat that in 2018 and bring some friends.

https://www.facebook.com/Worldorienteeringday/
http://worldorienteeringday.com/

World Sprint Orienteering Championships 2022

Exciting news on the SOA website yesterday confirming that The Scottish Orienteering 6-Day Event Company, along with the bid partners of the Scottish Orienteering Association, EventScotland and the City of Edinburgh Council are submitting a bid on behalf of British Orienteering to stage the World Sprint Orienteering Championships 2022.
Along with the announcement is a map showing 5 embargoed urban sprint areas in and around Edinburgh.

Let’s hope they get it as although it will mean a lot of hard work the buzz from being involved in something as big as this is tremendous and the spin off publicity is great for attracting newcomers – STV and The Adventure Show are bound to film it if nothing else.

2017 AGM roundup and Roll of Honour

Quick summary of you for those of you who didn’t go to the AGM – and it’s very quick as it was a long time ago and I can’t remember much now. Sorry – should have posted much sooner.

Busy year: Forest Sprints, Summer Series, Level C events, Urban etc.
Scottish 6 Days – another successful day planned and co-ordinated by Gramp
Some discussion on map updates and changes required due to IOF introduction of new mapping symbols and control descriptions plus can we put on some Mountain Bike O in 2018?
Emit kit – new controls, whether to invest in more new brikkes soon
Events: are we taking on too much with such a packed calendar now that membership has waned somewhat? what do the members think we should concentrate on in 2018 or happy to carry on at same level?

Subject of training/coaching came up again as not much progress on the good intentions mooted in 2016 AGM.
Would still like to organise more coaching- but need someone to plan it and liaise with coaches – either the few remaining qualified coaches in Gramp or outsourced. If you’re interested in either becoming a coach or doing the coordination thing please get in touch with the committee. You don’t have to be a medal-winning orienteer just enthusiastic and we can get you some training/mentoring.

Confirmation of entry fees for 2018 to stay the same:
Level D (summer series, urban sprint etc) £4 and £2
Level C £6 and £3

Adrian Will thanked all for effort and time over the year
Chairman’s Awards
Musgrave Trophies:  Helen Anderson and John Lang
Chairman’s Quaich: David Esson – planning S6D, organising Forvie SOL and just generally always being first to offer help

Committee update:
Adrian Will           Chairman (really is his last year due to work commitments)
John Lang             Secretary
Ian Hamilton        Treasurer
Stuart Anderson   Mapping
Helen Rowlands   Fixtures Coordinator and Officials
Helen Anderson   Membership

Liz Sloan is no longer Social Secretary due to job down south so any takers to step in?
David Esson has joined the committee as man without portfolio as Sam used to say
Sarah Wallace has taken over Publicity/Social Media from Alex McLachlan (again job commitments abroad)
David Kirk has taken over from Gordon Urquhart gaining permissions to use areas for events
Anyone fancy playing with their smartphone to set up some Permanent Courses and take over from Stuart as POC mannie/wifie?

Club Championships Overall Trophy Winners

Class 1st  (Trophy)
Junior Women  Josie Gomersall
Junior Men        Paul Caffyn
Senior Women  Sarah Wallace
Senior Men        Jack Gomersall
Veteran Women    Rachel Scott (who is still reeling from that bombshell!)
Veteran Men          Gareth Yardley
Super- Veteran Women (>55)   Lesley Gomersall
Super-Veteran Men (age over 55)  Bob Daly

John Duncan Cup Medal Winners:

Class
M8        Gold          Oli Robertson
M14      Silver         Sam Griffin
M10      Bronze      Robert Prince
W16      Silver         Josie Gomersall
W8        Bronze      Emily Robertson
W12      Bronze       Kirsty Farquharson

Grampian Orienteers Roll of Honour for 2016  

Scottish Elite Development Squad:    Tim Gomersall, Sasha Chepelin

Scottish Championships:
1st
W60S Individual:  Jayne Macgregor
3rd
M55S Richard Oxlade

SOL winners:
M50S 1st Pete Lawrence
M70L 2nd Neil McLean
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M55S 3rd Richard Oxlade
M60L 3rd Robert Daly
W40L 3rd Carolyn McLeod

SOUL winners:
WSV 2nd Lesley Gomersall
WYJ 3rd Morven Farquharson

Scottish Night Championships:
W 45L 1st Helen Rowlands
W50L 1st Carolyn McLeod
W55L 1st Lesley Gomersall
M70 2nd Neil McLean
M55L 3rd Richard Oxlade
M/W open 1st Keith Yardley

GRAMP Champs 2017

2017 GRAMP Champs by age class.pdf
2017 GRAMP Champs by category (for trophies).pdf

Congratulations to all our trophy winners!

Juniors: Josie Gomersall & Paul Caffyn*
Seniors: Sarah Wallace & Jack Gomersall
Veterans: Rachel Scott & Gareth Yardley*
Super Veterans: Lesley Gomersall & Bob Daley

*these folk retained their 2016 titles – Lesley retained her winning streak but moved up a category this year

The trophies were presented at the AGM. If you weren’t there and think nobody else might have collected on your behalf then contact John Lang asap.

In case you’re wondering how the points are calculated, these are the Gramp Champs rules:

• You have to be a member of Gramp to qualify.
• The Champs are run over 10 nominated events with the best 5 scores counting for each runner.
• Within each event, the Gramp member who is highest placed for each course scores the maximum course points:
  White 200, Yellow 400, Orange 800, Red 1200, Light Green 1600, Green 2000, Blue 2800, Brown 4000.
• Points for subsequent runners are calculated using this formula: score = [(winner’s time)/(runner’s time)]*(maximum course points)
• Men and Women’s Junior, Senior and Veteran divisions are used to decide Championship positions and individual totals are modified to try and make competition within these divisions as fair as possible:
  M/W10 +100% of total, M/W12 +50%, M/W14 +32%, M/W16 +24%, M/W18 +16%, M/W20 +8%, M/W21to M/W40 +0%, M/W45 +5%, M/W50 +15%, M/W55 +25%, M/W60 +40%, M/W65 +60%, M/W70 +80%, M/W75 and over +100%
• Any questions – contact Iain McLeod

2017 events were: Glen O’Dee, Potarch, Crathes, Tyrebagger, Sluie, Coull, Cambus O’May, Forvie, Scolty.

2018 events have already started happening but full list will be announced soon pending permissions so watch this space…..

Would you like to see the Gramp Champs results published at intervals throughout the year? Would this encourage you to attend more events? If you want the results in Excel format so you can do a bit more analysis and figure out which 2018 events to target for maximum points then contact webmaster@grampoc.com.

Scottish Sprint Championships 2018

Sprint is one of the many different flavours of orienteering that seems to be getting more and more popular. It can be done in forest* or urban settings but in either case involves very short courses with lots of controls and twists and turns to keep your brain, lungs and legs at max capacity for 12 – 15 minutes if you’re at the top of the field or at max fun for much longer if you’re not so speedy but enjoy the opportunity to use your navigation and decision making skills every inch of the way.

Route choice is paramount – which way to go round a large building or lake when at first glance it looks 50:50? which side of an uncrossable hedge is the control? – but don’t spend too long overthinking it as you’ll waste vital seconds. Quite often for big events there will be a prologue race and then the final with combined times counting towards your final position as was the case at this year’s Sprint Champs held at Stirling University 10/3/18. If you want to see what sort of course to expect if you decide to have a go next time then take a look at FVO’s Routegadget.

Well done to our speediest Gramps:
Sam Griffin 4th Junior Men 16- (just 19 seconds off the podium)
Tim Griffin 6th Veteran Men 40+

*And here comes the shameless plug – keep your eye on our website for info on the local GRAMP/MAROC Forest Sprint Series starting 11th April.

CompassSport Cup Qualifier 2018

Thanks to Tim Griffin, Oonagh Grassie and Anne Hickling for flying the Gramp flag at this year’s CSC qualifier at Beecraigs 11/3/18. Between them they scored 280 points – just enough to keep us off the bottom of the table for the small clubs’ CompassSport Trophy.

I know there were several others who entered, or were going to, but couldn’t make it on the day for various reasons.
Even so it looks like Gramps generally aren’t interested in this competition or travelling further afield than Aberdeenshire to compete.  Am I right?

What can the club do to get a few more of you interested?
Training?
A club captain’s call to arms?
More social events to build up the team spirit?

Let the committee members know next time you bump into them (although maybe halfway round a course in the middle of Glen Dye is not the best time or place but you know what I mean.)

Rachel

Summer Series 2018 – Weds 23rd May to 15th Aug

Summer Series Events

Fun, friendly events with something for everyone on Wednesday evenings. All events will have 4 courses making them suitable for beginners and experienced alike:

• easy (all on paths – white/yellow standard – upto 2km)
• medium (partly on paths – orange standard – upto 3km)
• two as-hard-as-we-can-make-it courses of different lengths (generally referred to as short and long tech with as-the-crow-flies distances between 2.5 and 5km).

Starts  6-7pm, courses close 8pm (unless changed for a particular event, please check website for any changes)
Seniors £4, students/juniors £2

If you need to know more please or have any questions, please contact the summer series coordinator using this form.

Junior attendance awards up for grabs again. (That means CHOCOLATE!!)

Links to maps showing the car parking/registration locations will be added nearer the time.

… then Wednesday entertainment will continue with a series of Urban events in Aberdeen (and Westhill), including a multi-course event on Sat 15th Sept in and around Danestone (details coming soon).

Continue reading →

Forest Sprint Series 2018 – Weds 11th April to 16th May

Sprint O is great fun – lots of controls in quick succession in a relatively short distance and fast running alone is no use in this discipline if it’s of the headless chicken variety! You really have to look closely at the map, make snap decisions about route choice, execute them quickly and cleanly while all the time trying to read a jiggling map and watch where your feet are going. Give it a go.

Links to all parking locations will be confirmed soon so check back here nearer the time or on each clubs’ website.

April 11th    Foggieton    GRAMP  Results
April 18th   Tillyfourie   MAROC  Results
April 25th   Scolty           GRAMP  Results
May 2nd      Tilquhillie   MAROC  Results
May 9th       Mulloch       GRAMP  Results
May 16th     Bellwood      MAROC  Results

Overall series results coming soon (Ian H has been very busy as Assistant Planner for the British Orienteering Champs hence the slight delay)

One course TD3 or Orange standard i.e. medium difficulty, about 3km, with lots of controls and route choice in a relatively small area so full on concentration required just as much as fleet feet. Great for developing Juniors too if accompanied by a TD3 standard runner. Best 4 scores out of 6 will count towards the FSS league results.

Registration: 18:00 to 18:50
Starts: 18:30 to 19:15
Fees: £4 Senior, £2.50 Junior/Student

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Introduction to Orienteering Hazlehead – 3 sessions 14th & 28th April and 12th May

Click here for more details and registration form.

Mountain bike centre at Durris

Bit quiet on the orienteering front until the Forest Sprints start (more details on those to follow very soon) so in the meantime here’s something that might interest those energetic crossover athletes amongst you.

The North East Trail Centre Organisation have unveiled plans for a new centre for mountain biking in Durris (Cairn Mon Earn at the summit of the Slug Road)  with a chairlift, ski slope, cafe etc etc and also ideas for nordic skiing trails and other activities like “orienteering”. Mountain bike orienteering maybe? as mooted at our AGM?

Take a moment to tell them your thoughts and ideas by completing their survey – open until March 15th.  Click here.  (It’s a bit of a monster link so might not work – if so go visit the NETCO Facebook where you’ll find the original link and see what they’re all about.)

Bennachie under threat?

Some of you will be aware of ongoing discussions/plans for the dualling of the A96 from Aberdeen to Elgin and that some of the alternative routes under consideration would encroach upon Bennachie and its surroundings. From a purely selfish orienteering point of view, or from a wider ranging appreciation of the other benefits that Bennachie offers, you might like to take a look at the Save Bennachie Campaign website. Although lately the area around the Bennachie Centre has been thinned and felled quite a bit so we’re not really able to use it at the moment it’s still worth hanging onto for the long term as it’s a good bridge between us and MORland to the north and a great place to attract newcomers to the sport.

SOA wants to tap into your thoughts about orienteering in Scotland

The SOA are reviewing if they’re really focusing on the right things to achieve their aims, and if/what they should be doing differently.
Richard Oxlade and Anne Hickling are leading on this as the ‘strategic’ team. There is an online survey with a deadline of 28th February so please take a look and respond to help direct the SOA over the next few years. The survey is short and sweet and is really designed to get you all thinking and talking about how GRAMP and SOA can work together to develop membership, performance, club activities. As the old adage goes: if you don’t ask, you don’t get, so wax lyrical and help Richard and Anne on their mission to help us.

Richard will feed back the results at a workshop in April in order to generate actions, to which you are also invited. More details here.

Next (JD)2C counting event – Shooting Greens 18/2/18

Not long to wait now for the next episode of the great (JD)2C challenge.
Registration & Start Times 10:30 – 12:30
Check the MAROC website for more details.

PS Open to anyone not just Juniors…

And now for something completely different…

Here’s the map from EUOC’s Big Weekend Indoor O laid on by Prof Graeme Ackland of INT in “his” offices (JCMB Building in Uni Kings Campus).

Indoor O map – EUOC Big Weekend 2018

The staircases are all given letters so you can spot where they come out on successive floors, green lines across corridors are fire doors you can open and go through, black lines are locked doors or walls. What’s not mapped is a handful of earnest scientists who were working late on a Friday evening for some reason trying to dodge flying orienteers and ignore the thundering feet outside their offices.
Nor is the treacherous ice on the roof on level 9 mapped but at least there were handrails along the parapet to hang onto. (Risk assessment? Yep – risky but let’s go for it!)

If you’re intrigued by this, try Googling the Stockholm Indoor Cup – a much grander affair across sprawling school complexes including darkened cinemas with video loops, mini maze sections made out of desks, disco lights and music and a chicken run past spectators while trying to get your head around the latest up, down, there, back… takes Indoor O to a whole new level (geddit?)

10/2/18 Event Safety Workshop

MOR and INVOC are jointly offering a Event Safety Workshop:

>     Sat 10 February, Nairn Community Centre, 3-6 pm

Interested members can register with Ali Wiseman at secretary@moravianorienteering.org

If you’re organising a Level C event or above you’re supposed to have done one of these workshops although we realise that it’s not always possible to time it right so can sign things on your behalf while mentoring new organisers. Topics covered include risk assessments, first aid cover, rescue plans, planning out your event layout to avoid traffic-pedestrian clashes,  planning your volunteer rota to avoid personality clashes leading to need for First Aid…..
As well as the serious stuff there will be a chance for a blether with our neighbours from the north.

Back of Bennachie Results – Sun 4th Feb 2018

It turned into a beautiful winter’s day at Back O’ Bennachie (after a cold wet start) – blue skies, no wind, and a tough hilly forest and moor to test you all.

Here are provisional results and split times.
Routegadget has been loaded here, please add your routes!
You can also analyse your splits on Splitsbrowser.
Splits are also loaded up to Winsplits Online.

Taken a wee while (sorry – holidays and handovers) but results now uploaded to BOF site and ranking points will be calculated overnight 20/2/18.

Course details were as follows:

White 1.8k 40m
Yellow 2.1k 40m
Orange 2.3k 45m
Lt Green 3.0k 80m
Green 3.6k 140m
Blue 4.6k 210m
Brown 5.6k 225m

A (JD)2C event.

Our very grateful thanks to:

Organiser;   Lesley Gomersall
Planner :      Sam Gomersall
Controller:   Drew Tivendale (MAROC)

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2018

Woohoo! Here we go again and battle commences for those much loved (JD)2C trophies.
Rankings following Glen Dye.

Here is the provisional list of events so far and rules. We’re still in the process of getting permissions finalised for the rest and there will be 10 nominated events eventually.
If you enter any of these events you will automatically be included in the (JD)2C rankings so all you need do is get out there. Good luck everyone!

• The (JD)2C competition will be run over 10 events with the best 5 scores counting for each runner.
• There will be 5 classes for girls and boys, using the ‘standard’ age classes, i.e.M8, M10, M12, M14, M16, W8, W10, W12, W14, W16
• Within each event, the Gramp/Maroc Junior who is highest placed for each course scores the  maximum course points: White 200, Yellow 300, Orange 400, Light Green 500, Green 600, Blue 700, Brown 800
• Points for subsequent runners are calculated using this formula:
  score = [(winner’s time)/(runner’s time)]*(maximum course points)
• Every effort will be made to provide a White course at each event. However, if this is not possible, the JDC organisers will review how many events will qualify for the M8 and W8 classes.
• If you are being shadowed or running in a pair, please declare this when you register. You will score half points for your run.
• The competition aims to provide competition in each age class. Juniors may choose the course
  appropriate to their ability. More difficult courses earn higher points.

IOF review of control description and mapping symbols (2017)

During 2017, the IOF carried out a big review of control descriptions and mapping symbols. We won’t be able to update all our maps to comply straight away but we will be doing so as and when logical to do so over the coming months.

Control descriptions: no major changes you need to know about that I can see apart from the addition of a new symbol for out of bounds areas like flowerbeds in parks and urban areas which looks like a flower head in a box (right).
There a couple of others but not that will affect our areas or those of neighbouring clubs but if you want to take a look at the full details then look at the International Specifications for Control Descriptions 2018.

Spoiler alert! That document is not as grim as it sounds and actually worth having a look to teach or refresh yourself if you’re a bit sketchy on these as it has some great illustrations from page 18 onwards of what the feature described in the control description looks like both on a map and on the ground, some examples below (click each to enlarge):

(We used to have some small foldout guides to hand to beginners explaining control descriptions. Maybe an idea to cobble some more of these illustrations together to print on the back of maps for beginners to refer to for Summer Series events?)

Map symbols: most of the changes are tweaks to colours and line thickness to try and enhance legibility of maps for everyone but especially for the older age groups or those with colour blindness or other visual impairment.
The International Specification for Orienteering Maps 2017 will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about these specifications (and some!) so to save blowing your minds I’ve had a quick flick through looking for major changes or additions that I think we might come across.

Addition of a coloured outline to the ride symbol showing runnability.
E.g. rides in open woodland often have thicker vegetation due to more sunlight getting through to ground level so are actually harder to run along compared to surrounding terrain. You could figure that out quite quickly when you get there and not a problem in open woodland but worth knowing in advance if the ride goes through light or dark green – look for a white or yellow band surrounding it as shown here otherwise don’t bother.

(Think this is a new one.) Variation on the rough open land (shown here) and open land (yellow background) with trees –  now shows green spots for bushes/thickets and white spots for trees.

Gigantic boulder so high and steep it’s impossible* to climb. We don’t have many of these but Maroc’s Dinnet  map may be featuring some soon. (*Sounds like that’s just going to act as a distracting challenge to the likes of Gareth and Ian H to me!)

Vineyard or similar cultivated land containing dense rows of plants offering good or normal runnability in the direction of planting.  One for RR to use when they they next update the biomass plantations on the Carmichael Estate map.

Gramp website stats

I know how some of you nerdy folk out there just love graphs and stats so here’s a quick selection from the GRAMP website back end stats facility that illustrate one or two interesting things:

The 2012 spike was due to Scottish Relay Champs traffic for that year as we organised it at Craig Coinnich. Otherwise it does look like traffic is falling off slightly – could be due to more folk checking our Facebook page in preference? Or maybe we’re slacking in spreading the word about our wonderful sport? Sarah Wallace has taken over as publicity/social media guru so have a chat with her if you think you can help in that regard.

Most popular posts for 2017 include some obvious ones like Summer / Forest / Autumn Sprint Series and the Forvie SOL pages but look what’s at number 4…. Permanent Orienteering Courses.

Can you help Stuart Anderson with setting up/maintaining a POC local to you? How about getting out that flashy new smart phone you got for Christmas and setting up some Mobo courses?
And once that’s all set up and running, leave some intriguing QR codes dotted about to lure folk to take a look?

Finally, here’s a world map showing where someone or something looking at our website supposedly comes from. Bear in mind that a lot of these “views” will be bots rather than actual people in Laos or Bangladesh or other unlikely areas wanting to find out about our next event but it looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it? We can always dream.

Have you renewed your membership yet?

From 1st November this year, the SOA introduced an additional membership option, to give existing and new members the option of joining their local club and the SOA only.
There are therefore two options for membership renewal:

1. British membership (joining your local club, the SOA and British Orienteering)

• The primary option for members who participate competitively and hence enter Scottish/UK events, and who wish to take on official and coaching roles
• You can renew your membership as normal by logging on to the British Orienteering website.

2. Scottish membership (joining your local club and the SOA)

• Additional option, for people who primarily orienteer locally and who don’t take part in competitions across Scotland or the UK. There are some limitations on event entry and taking on official and coaching roles but we can mentor you which will cover the paperwork aspect and still allow you to get involved helping put on the local events you enjoy so much.
• You can join as a Scottish member online.

For more information and to understand the differences between British and Scottish membership, click here. To explain why SOA introduced the option, read more here.

Whichever option you choose Gramp look forward to seeing you all plus friends and families again next year starting with the Hogmany Hangover Handicap at Tyrebagger on 2nd January.

Sasha’s in the GBR Senior Squad for 2018

British Orienteering has announced the GBR Senior Squad for 2018, and there are a good number of Scottish and Scotland-based athletes included in the squad not least ex-Gramp Sasha Chepelin. Congratulations!
(And next year I promise to try and keep better tabs on his international apearances and results as this year it was all al bit under the radar. Any Gramps out there who spot things like this or any other Gramps’ achievements that deserve to be trumpeted then don’t be afraid to send me an email reminder. Rachel)