oldglutton6

JK 2019 Podium Success

Gramp has already had podium success at Day 1 of the JK 2019.

Sam Griffin came 2nd in the M16 Sprint. His father also got a top ten placing in M50.

Today is Middle Distance day, and we have three more Gramps competing, having kept their powder dry yesterday!😂

Good luck to Bob Daly, Paul Duley, David Esson and Tim and Sam Griffin👍

Picture is Middle Distance finish. Are there prizes for being first to the event😎

David

Forest Sprint 3 @ Hazlehead 24/4/19

Parking/reg: car park “with the bus stop”
(next to the recycling centre)
What3Words map ///usual.caked.loops

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

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.

Forest Sprint 1 @ Tollohill 10/4/19

Results  Splits

RouteGadget (sorry, can’t quite get all controls correctly centred on features but close enough)

Many thanks to David Esson for planning at relatively short notice and hope you all enjoyed your scamper around Tollohill. It’s easy to get confused with all those paths criss-crossing as well as the loopy nature of the course and several old hands got caught out.
(And oddly when I fired up Firefox tonight there was a very apt quote at the bottom of the screen: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” Douglas Adams.)

Apologies for the lack of splits printouts initially. A certain old hand caught himself out while trying to set things up in a rush last night. Thanks to Bob Daly for helping collect controls.

See you all next week at Glen O’Dee.

By the way, Tollohill area is subject to various Local Development Plan Bids which would eventually surround the wood with housing. Take a look at this website and follow the links for more information on bids KN069 to 72. Although not impinging into the wood itself much it looks like we’d lose the north end of the area (but gain some urban territory to mix and match?) but more importantly wildlife would lose significant corridors in and out of the woods.

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2019 – rankings after 2 events

Rankings after 2 events here – don’t forget that the event at Glen Dye this Sunday counts towards both (JD)2C and Gramp Champs.
Good luck everyone!

 
24/3/19   GRAMP   Glen Dye
28/4/19   MAROC   Sluie
30/6/19   MAROC   Potarch
7/7/19     GRAMP   Balmedie
28/8/19   MAROC   Glen Fearder
6/10/19   GRAMP   Forvie
10/11/19 MAROC   Cambus O’May

• The (JD)2C competition will be run over 9 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.

Rules and events list pdf     Age class/course table

Junior Sprint Selection – Go for it Sam!

GJO Sprint Maestro Sam Griffin is going down to Lancaster University this weekend for the BOF Junior Sprint Selection Race where M/W 16 – 20s from all over the UK will be competing.
It’s a fantastic location to test aspiring squad members, with multiple complex route choices on a very busy map so full on mental concentration required as well as fleet feet all the way to the finish.

Have a good one, Sam!

Cat [gjo]

Think Fast | Run Hard | Go Orienteering – coaching videos

Even if you can’t manage the Run Hard bit it’s definitely worth taking a look at this suite of 8 coaching videos funded by Sport England and produced by SLOW Orienteers along with GB Team members explaining and demonstrating various techniques to help you plan your routes between controls and nail them more accurately thus saving time and energy and making you feel chuffed with yourself as it all goes to plan. (Plus you get to put faces to the Elite names you might have read about.)

1. Setting the map – so that what you see on the map matches what you see in front of you and you don’t have to think “upside down”
2. Using the compass
3. Attack points – getting as close to the control as possible first by using bombproof features so you know exactly where you are
4. Aiming off – deliberately aiming to one side of your target when running towards a linear feature so that when you get there you know exactly how far along it you are and don’t have to guess between turning left or right to home in on the control
5. Large contour features – making those brown lines leap out at you from the map as being hills or valleys
6. Route choice – could go round it, could go through it but which is best in terms of length vs height gain vs undergrowth?
7. Intricate contours – making the really squiggly brown lines make sense – how to spot a re-entrant or a depression as opposed to a ridge or small hill
8. Simplification – forming a route plan based on the bigger picture so you can “put the map away” and don’t slow yourself down checking off every last boulder

(Personally, I just need another video now to help me remember to do all these things while I’m out there rather than tune out and drift off into a dwam as I sometimes do!)

Forest Sprint Series 2019 – Weds in Apr/May dates TBC

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.

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

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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SRUC tick research project has recommenced for 2019

The idea is to build up a database to help estimate the risk of exposure of humans to ticks and tick bites in Scotland and many of you helped this citizen science project by Scotland’s Rural College last year by reporting the presence, or absence, of ticks after you’d been orienteering or doing other outdoor activities in Scotland.

Preliminary results have been released by SRUC. Orienteers are an obvious group to target and you can see evidence of the 2018 campaign where SRUC folk attended some of the larger events in Speyside, Moray and Deeside to raise awareness and gather data.

(Guess who submitted the purple walking report in the middle of The Minch? Who do you know with a mischevious side to their personalities and that knows an orienteer with a boat?)

There’s a lot more analysis to do yet and the project will be looking for comparative data from this year between 1/3/19 and 31/10/19 so follow the links above and register or dig out your username and password from last year and get reporting.
And if you think March is too early for ticks, it’s not! Rachel had one after the British Night Champs at Dinnet tail end of Feb.

On a more serious note, Ewen Rennie sent a link to a petition to improve The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) upcoming guidance on Lyme Disease that orienteers might be interested in.

Glen Dye 24/3/19 Regional results

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Final Results and Splits
RouteGadget (including Splitsbrowser lite)
BOF ranking points   (will be calculated overnight 26/27th March)

Very close 1-2-3 on the Brown course: all within 40 seconds of each other!
Hope you all enjoyed the sprint style section in the complex morraine area at the north end of the map – good to revisit that bit in the daylight for a change.

The day went very smoothly, a number of new people came and gave it a try and there was lots of positive feedback from the runners. Despite the forecast, the sun shone for most of the day with only a few light showers. The new club tent looked very smart as well!

Officials
Planner: George Esson
Organiser: Laura Farquharson
Controller: Jon Musgrave MAROC

And thanks to all our volunteers too: Erik, Paul, Alasdair, Oonagh, Lesley, Morven, Kirsty, Kate, Sam, Lindsey, David, Murray, Sarah, Donald (MOR), Helen R, Gareth, Ian & George.

Another news flash! Sprint Training @ Westhill Wed 27th

Maroc are borrowing Westhill for some sprint training on Wednesday and Gramps are welcome to go along too. David Esson has made up a short course of 3.6km and will supply a map for you if you want to stretch your legs after last weekend’s excesses. No controls so GPS yourself if you want some timing.
Email him on chairman “at” grampoc.com for the pdf of the map to print out.

Meet on Wed evening in the Ashdale Drive car park next to the shopping centre ready to run at 6pm. Don’t forget to bring a headtorch as some of the back alleys might be quite dark. Not sure what rules apply re under 16s and activities like this but we can work something out.

Alternatively, if you can’t make Wed you can still get a map from David and go round whenever suits. Or if you fancy something urban but longer than sprint take a look at the Street O maps we used a few years back.

British Night Champs 2019

Well done to assorted Gramps for braving a looooooooong walk in and out as well as the technicalities of Dinnet to contest the British Night Champs over the weekend.  Congratulations to the medal winners and commiserations to those who ran out of steam/brainpower especially after helping at the SOUL at Cove earlier in the day.

W21L Katrina McLeod 5th
W50L Helen Rowlands 4th
W50S Rachel Scott 1st
W55L Lesley Gomersall Bronze

M40L Gordon Urquhart Bronze
M40S David Esson 1st
M55L Sam Gomersall 4th, Ian Hamilton 7th
M75L Neil McLean Silver

(Only L courses get medals.)

Lovely clear, calm moonlit night with geese honking out on the loch and territorial tawny owls making their presence known no doubt upset at the hundreds of bobbing lights going about. All courses started with a bit of a track run to lull you into a false sense of security before spitting you out into the complex woodland over by Burn O’Vat and beyond for some tricky diagonal legs before blasting back along the south side of the loch on fast open grassy muir if you had the legs and breath left for it.
Hats off to Big Jon and Maroc for pulling this off after a long time in the planning and preparation and especially Scott Reynolds who probably never wants to see another brikke or computer for at least 6 months!

River Dee RadioRiver Dee Radio feature on night O and BNC

SAT 23/2/19 BTO SOUL 3 @ Cove, Aberdeen

Results  To show splits, go into your class page and look for the orange “Show Splits” button at the top or bottom of the page

RouteGadget show us your wiggles
Apologies to those trying to draw routes manually as it’s not letting you save at the moment – working on it but not getting very far very fast at present 😦

Photos taken by Steve Rush

BOF results page for ranking points
SOUL rankings

Huge thank yous go to:
– Phill and Lorraine Batts and Emit UK for providing the Touch Free punching system, timing and results. (Fun to see you all playing “chicken” with the test control to see just how far away you dared get and still get a flash.)

– Altens Hotel for allowing us to use their car park

– Blair Gordon of the Altens Community Centre and Michele McPartlin of the Cove Community Council and others for helping us spread the word

– residents of Cove who agreed to host a control for us

– our willing band of volunteers, some of who just refused to stop! – David, Sam, Lesley, Josie, Helen A, Stuart, George, Laura, Kirsty, Morven, Helen R, Bob, Evgueni, Dennis, Ian, Dave, Lachlan and Chris Huthwaite and Richard Barret pp Jeremy.

– sponsors bto Solicitors

Planner: Pete Lawrence
Organiser: Rachel Scott  Contact the Organiser
Controller: Tim Griffin

Have you seen the new look SOA website?

SOA have launched the long awaited new look website (new behind the scenes too for the geeks amongst you) and looking very inviting with plenty of action pics and intuitive top level menu.

Go explore and see what you think.

2019 Scottish Night and Sprint Champs

We can’t claim any champions this year but we can claim some near misses.
Pete, Rachel, David and Katrina ran at the Night Champs held at the John Muir Country Park just outside Dunbar 2/2/19 – very flat and fast compared to most DNC fare but good fun and an amazingly clear and starry night to enjoy a quick blast through some pines and mini dunes.

Rachel might have managed 1st or 2nd W50 had she not lost her dibber early on (aye right?!), Katrina came 4th in W21, David 5th M40 and Pete 5th M55.

Pete and Rachel then camped out in the van nearby  before driving over to Broxburn/Uphall to say hello to the Hicklings, Jayne McG, Richard and Ann trying out their new ESOC personas organising and helping out at the Sprint Champs 3/2/19. The Farquharson 3 and Sam Griffin joined them for 2 races: the first for the Sprint Champ titles and combined times with that and a second race for SOUL 2 results.

Sam came joint 2nd M16 only 8 seconds behind the winner following a bit of operator error with his SIAC dibber at the finish – bit of a dibber theme developing here? – bad luck Sam, I feel your pain!  Morven and Kirsty came 4th and 5th W14, Katrina 7th W21, Laura 5th and Rachel 7th W50, Pete 5th M55.

Photos all courtesy of Steve Rush BOK who pops up at urban races all over the world taking photos while his wife and daughter are out racing and  who will be doing the honours at GRAMP’s next event, SOUL 3 at Cove. Speaking of which… entry fees go up by £1 tonight and last online entry is 18th Feb if you’re still swithering and haven’t entered yet. Entry via Fabian 4.

Steve’s Flickr account

DNC Glen Dye 6/2/19

Results  Splits   RG (sorry – georef’d version of the map isn’t playing tonight so you’ll have to adjust your GPS tracks manually)

Thanks to Sam for planning and the family for assisting on reg and anyone else who helped collect the controls as that was the final Gramp offering for this year’s DNC.
Only 2 more to go, where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday we were getting all excited at the prospect of darkness by 4 in the afternoon and wondering whether to upgrade our headtorches this season.

Short course 3.3 10 controls
Long course 4.9 12 controls

DNC Scolty 23/1/2019

Results  Splits   RG

Was a great night, even with the computer freezing in the cold. David Esson spent a productive hour later on and reuploaded all the brikkes into the computer in the warmth of the house and it all worked perfectly of course.
(Need to add a hot water bottle to the Planner’s kit list?)

Thanks to Dave K for the fun courses, and to Helen R, Dave K and David E for collecting the controls.

NEWS FLASH! Gramp Training Event Sunday 26th January

NEWS FLASH! Gramp Training Event Sunday 20th January

DNC Crathes 9/1/2019

Results and Splits
RouteGadget

Good to see some different faces there tonight – trying to get in some more practice before the upcoming Scottish Night Champs no doubt.

Thanks to Paul Duley for planning, David Esson for computing and David Kirk who helped the other two collect controls afterwards.

Two courses (long 5.3km, short 3.1km)
Note map scale is 1:7500

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2019

It’s started already at Glen O’Dee but if you didn’t manage to make it to that event then don’t worry, plenty more over the year.
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!

6/1/19     MAROC  Glen O’Dee
24/2/19   GRAMP/MAROC   SOL1 Birsemore
24/3/19   GRAMP   Glen Dye
28/4/19   MAROC   Sluie
30/6/19   MAROC   Potarch
7/7/19     GRAMP   Balmedie
28/8/19   MAROC   Glen Fearder
6/10/19   GRAMP   Forvie
10/11/19 MAROC   Cambus O’May

• The (JD)2C competition will be run over 9 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.

Rules and events list pdf     Age class/course table

HHH Hazlehead 2019 Results

Lovely crisp morning, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves out on the courses, and they certainly enjoyed warming up afterwards with the homemade soup back at the Esson’s house.

HHH Hazlehead 2019 Splits.pdf
HHH Hazlehead 2019 Results.pdf

2018 AGM roundup and Roll of Honour

The Minutes of the 2018 AGM have been circulated around the club members by email so for those that missed out or have lost that email, here’s a quick summary of issues discussed, prizes awarded and the 2018 Roll of Honour. Continue reading →

GRAMP Champs 2018

2018 GRAMP Champs by category (for trophies).pdf

Congratulations to all our trophy winners!

Juniors: Morven Farquharson & Sam Griffin
Seniors: Katrina McLeod & Mark Stockton
Veterans: Rachel Scott* & Tim Griffin
Super Veterans: Lesley Gomersall* & Bob Daley*

*these folk retained their 2017 titles

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

2018 events were: Glen O’Dee, Back of Bennachie, Shooting greens, Corsedarder, Glen Dye, Crathes, Balfour, Pannanich, Scolty, Bogendriep.

If you want the results in Excel format so you can do a bit more analysis and figure out which 2019 events to target for maximum points then contact webmaster@grampoc.com.

Hazlehead Hogmany Hangover Handicap 2/1/19

Another fiendish brain bending scheme has been hatched for the HHH by George Esson so better start reading the details and inwardly digesting now…

Norwegian Master Maps – with a twist

On a Norwegian Master Map course, at the Start and at each subsequent control, the competitor finds a small segment of the map showing his next leg, which he/she then completes from map memory.

The twist? At some controls there will be a multiple choice question with three possible answers, and a map segment corresponding to each answer. If your answer is correct, at the next control you will find a kite, an emit unit to punch, and a map segment(s) for the next leg. If your answer is wrong you will find a kite and a unit (which you may punch if you wish to know how expensive your error has been) but no map segment. You will then either have to go back to the last control and pick another answer, or remember all three control site options and go from one to the next. If you get all the answers right first time the course is 3.0 km.

For this course the rule regarding proximity of controls has been disregarded.

Blank maps will be available for those lacking confidence in their memory.
Map Scale is 1:4000

A 1.2km Yellow course will also be available

Assembly is at the car park adjacent to the gates to the cafe, on the way to the golf club.
what3words  party.flag.backed

Entries and Starts 11 a.m. to 12 Noon.
Cost – £4 Seniors, £2 Juniors.

Party afterwards

will be at the Essons, 215 Springfield Road, Aberdeen AB15 8JN (just round the corner – well two or three corners). All welcome.

Bring your own left-overs and drinks; soup and tea/coffee will be provided.

DNC Forvie 12/12/18

Well Murray certainly made us all think all the way round with a couple of exceptionally difficult courses. Chapeau to those who whizzed round in ridiculously quick times and commiserations to those who really struggled on those fiendish long legs.

Results  Splits   RouteGadget

Gramp Post AGM Christmas Score 2nd Dec

Many thanks to Family Griffin for providing the post-AGM orienteering activity to run off all the delicious food from the night before. They even managed to persuade Father Christmas to take time out from seasonal preparations to lend a hand as roving bonus control 129 worth 30 points and a chocolate from his sock.
Slightly more elusive was a decorated Christmas tree (96) not marked on the map but also worth 30 points if you spotted it on your way round.

Thanks to all for coming along and supporting Sam’s fundraising and well done to the Short Score Maestro Patrick Lang who visited all the controls within the 30 minute time limit.

Scores on the doors
And in detail so you can see what controls everyone else bagged and in what order

And thanks to David Esson (new Chairman) and Sarah Wallace (new Secretary) for assisting with computing and control collecting today but more importantly stepping up to take on those roles on the committee. Further AGM news to follow…

DNC Balmedie 28/11/18

Results
Splits
RouteGadget

Well done to Matt for persevering through wind, rain, sandstorms and 2 waterproofs to get the controls out there for us tonight and the 22 nutters who braved it all – points well earned all round.
I’m told there’s video evidence on Maroc’s Facebook page.

Scottish Score Champs 2018

Four GRAMPs made the trip down south to Roxburgh Reiver’s event at Elibank in the Borders (to get in a bit of Score practice priot to the post-AGM event next weekend?) and did very well!
Congratulations to Pete Lawrence and Neil McLean who are this year’s champions for M55 and M75 respectively. Bob Daly came 2nd M60 and Rachel Scott 3rd in the W50 class.

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2018

Bogendriep saw the final event in this year’s competition and here are the final rankings. and trophy/medal winners.

Congratulations!
Fraser Pain M8 1st Trophy and Gold Medal
Olivia Coman W16  3rd Bronze medal

And well done to the Maroc winners and everyone else who took part of course!

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2018 full rules and points scheme and list of events. For individual event results check the Gramp/Maroc websites.

GMC Braemar 2018 photos

If you spotted Struan Kirk out and about with his camera then there’s a fair chance he spotted you and you’re in the GMC Braemar 2018 gallery.

If you want a high res copy (anywhere between 3 to 8MB) of any of these then email webmaster@grampoc.com with the photo number(s).

More photos here too from Ian Hamilton

23rd and 24th Feb 2019 British Night Champs Weekend

A wee heads up that an exciting weekend of orienteering is coming your way in Feb:

Sat 23rd afternoon – Urban Sprint SOUL @ Cove, Aberdeen
BREAKING NEWS – Emit Touch Free Punching will be used courtesy of Emit UK
Prepare for fast and furious Sprint action around the housing estates on a brand new map created for us by Graham Gristwood and Chris Smithard*. Pete’s planning courses right now – details will be released soon – and Rachel’s organising so will be after offers of help as we anticipate a good turnout of folk wanting to warm up and while away the hours waiting for the main attraction…

Sat 23rd night – British Night Orienteering Championships @ Muir of Dinnet
Maroc are busy organising this one. Planner Drew Tivendale says he’s very pleased with his courses (IHHO) and Richard Oxlade is doing his best as Controller to keep Drew’s enthusiasm in check. Should be a fantastic night and a chance for you to compete in a Major event within spitting distance of Aberdeen.

Sun 24th – SOL 1 @ Birsemore
Another chance to take on the challenge of Deeside but in daylight this time at the first SOL of 2019.

Online entries for all three events are now open on Fabian 4.

First closing date is 4/2/19 after which fees go up by £1.
Final closing date is 18/2/19 midnight.

You can enter 1, 2 or all 3 events in one hit by clicking on the Fabian 4 Enter button above.
Get the dates in your diaries and enter now!

*Pete and Rachel’s latest claim to orienteering fame is to have provided B&B, including a fish supper from The Bay, for these GBR athletes. Not every day you get to share tartare sauce with WOC and British Gold medal winners!

GMC Braemar 2018 photos

Continue reading →

Tyrebagger 14/11/18

Results   Splits   RouteGadget

Woohoo! Results posted from Tyrebagger car park courtesy of David’s mobile Wifi signal – in’t technology wonderful?

Many thanks to Matt Parkes, Dennis McDonald and David Esson for doing the legwork to collect while I sat and posted.

Long 4.9km, Short 3.1km

31/10/18 Hazlehead (DNC) Results

Results  Splits

Ta muchly to Dennis and his mate at 243 for a spooky spin round the fairways and greens tonight.

Woooooooooooooooooooooo!

Autumn Urban Sprint Series 2018

Apologies for the delay (folk working abroad or otherwise engaged) final rankings now calculated:
Rankings incl 5 Wed eve events + SOUL     

Big thanks to all our organisers and everyone who came and ran too. Need both to make a series!
Many folk commented on the friendly nature of our series, despite the intense competition between old rivals again this year, and the addition of cakes and a few more juniors taking part all helped to add to the atmosphere. Hope you enjoyed it and will be back for more on Feb 22nd (spoiler alert – we’re putting on an event in Cove prior to the British Night Champs at Dinnet.)

CONGRATULATIONS TO CATEGORY CHAMPS FOR 2018:

Sam Griffin and Samantha McDonald    JU16 (Under 16 and shadowed)
Josie Gomersall and Lachlan Kirk           J  (16 – 20)
Mark Stockton and Jenny Ricketts        Open
Marianne Lang and Willy Nicolson        V  (40 – 50)
Evgueni Chepelin and Lesley Gomersall SV (55 – 60)
George Esson                                       UV (65+)
Carol Jackson and Rory Halliday            Best Newcomers

Wed 22nd Aug  Duthie Park  Results
Wed 29th Aug Seaton Park  Results
Wed 5th Sept Westburn & Victoria Parks Results
Wed 12th Sept Westhill Results
Sat 15th Sept SOUL Balgownie/Danestone  Results
Wed 19th Sept Aberdeen Uni Kings Campus  Results

Deeside Night Cup 18/19

A wee heads up to test your torches and dust off your night O tactics over the next few weeks as battle recommences on Halloween – come out if you dare!

Every Wed evening from 31/10 to mid-Feb in a wide variety of areas up and down Deeside and a bit beyond (Forvie’s back in the mix this year – yippee!) with two courses of 5km and 3km both TD5 or Green standard.

If you’re a newcomer to night O or only just working up to that standard but fancy having a bash then give us a shout (flump@care4free.net) and we’ll try to find a TD5 standard runner to shadow you for your first couple of goes. Gramp also has a couple of headtorches for hire if you want to try before you buy your own.

Check out the DNC blog for a provisional list of dates and venues: https://dncchat.wordpress.com/

Urban Sprints trophies

Anybody in contact with the following folk? Can you remind them to return their Urban Sprint Trophies please? Get them to eEmail flump@care4free.net to arrange collection at local event or posting.

Petra Hampton, Rachel Salway (MAROC), Claire Tunaley (MAROC), Lachlan Kirk (GRAMP)

bto SOUL 8 Danestone 15/9/18 Results

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Results by Class
Results by Course            Splits by Course
RouteGadget
bto SOUL points
BOF Ranking Points (will be calculated overnight 17th/18th))

Lovely day to belt round Danestone and we didn’t really need the hall although it made a great spongey football pitch at the end. Good to see all our SOULmates from down south and up north – hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did hosting.

Many thanks to all our helpers: Helen and Stuart Anderson, Rob Hickling, the Gomersall 3, Gordon Urquhart, Alex Maclachlan, Marianne and Patrick Lang, the Farquharson 3, Evgueni Chepelin, the Griffin 3, Jeremy Huthwaite and first and last the Danestone Community Centre jannie.

Planner: Pete Lawrence, Controller: Tim Griffin, Organiser: Rachel Scott

Urban Series Abz University 19/9/18

Great sprinty course from Sam which kept everyone concentrating right to the end and a fitting finale to this year’s series. Perhaps only to be expected from one of our juniors who is proving to be rather nifty at Urban Sprint races recently coming 2nd at the British Sprint Championships in Bath.

Sam says “Thank you to all those who turned up and braved the weather! Hope everyone enjoyed the course and a big thank you to those who bought cakes and hot drinks. I appreciated the positive feedback and I hope you all agree that it was a good end to another great urban series!”

Hope you all got home safely (was an interesting journey back to Stoney wrestling the hi-top campervan in a straight-ish line.)

Results
Splits

Ranking after 5 Wed events  Ranking after the 5 Wed eve events. SOUL results yet to be added … coming soon hopefully!

GJO success @ World School Orienteering Championships 2018

Three Gramp juniors had an enjoyable day at the Scottish Schools selection races for the World Schools Orienteering Championships which were held on Sunday at Faskally, near Pitlochry. Patrick Lang, Rory Halliday and Sam Griffin were representing Aberdeen Grammar and came a close second to George Watsons School in the team competition placing 9th, 8th and 3rd respectively. Sam’s result ensured him selection into the Scottish Schools select team who will travel to the World Schools Orienteering Championships in Estonia next April. Well done Sam!

Several MAROC juniors have also qualified and Sam is teaming up with them to joint fundraise for their trip. The first fund raising event will be on Sunday at MAROC’s event on Pannanich where they will be selling the usual hot drinks, soup, cakes…. and if there is a big enough entry, chilli (meat and veggie). So if you haven’t got your entry in yet please do so, and bring your pennies, or preferably pounds, on the day.

Urban Series Westhill 12/9/18

Results   Splits

The old 3-controls-in-a-straight-line caught one or two folk out tonight or was it just getting too dark to see the map? Must be autumn – had to put the headlights on to get home.

So how do they orienteer?

According to Space Weather News for Sept. 6, 2018

JUPITER HAS AN EXTRA MAGNETIC POLE: NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered something extraordinary about Jupiter. There is an extra magnetic pole near the giant planet’s equator, dubbed “The Great Blue Spot” by researchers who identified it. Jupiter’s unexpected magnetic morphology is a sign that strange things may be happening deep beneath the cloudtops. Visit today’s edition of Spaceweather.com for the full story.

Strange things, eh? Jupitans going about with triangular compasses?

Urban Series Westburn and Victoria Parks 5/9/18 Results

In’t technology brilliant?!
Helps us to “void” leg 10 – 11 or in other words, subtract the time it took you to cross the road but throws a real spanner in the works when it decides to die on us mid-event. I’ve guesstimated a split time for all of us affected by 248 keeling over – very arbitrary but at least we now all have times.
Apologies about the printer also deciding to die as otherwise we could at least have sent you away with a provisional printout to look at pending my tweaking. Hope it’s feeling better again by next week.

Results    Splits

I’ve also guesstimated age classes for some of you. Jeremy needs to know this so he can put you into the right urban category as he’ll be producing rankings soon now we have 3 events under our belts. If I’ve got it wrong then please accept my apologies and let me know via webmaster@grampoc.com and I’ll correct them.

Did anyone other than Lyndsey try the Friends of Victoria and Westburn Parks tree trail map ? She said spotting small metal plaques is a lot harder than spotting kites.

Urban Series Seaton Park 29/8/18 Results

Results

Everything went well apart from the control on the Tower going for a bit of a walkabout. Do you get tungsten tie wraps?
And as the sun was setting on Seaton Park the feedback was….Urban hmmm…… hills, mud and nettles!Thanks to all who turned up and special thanks to Ian McLeod for collecting controls.
Dennis

Thanks go to Dennis McDonald for organising and also to the two passersby who rescued and looked after number 13 for us – the one by Wallace’s Tower. If you’re reading this it was much appreciated not only because it gave me a chance to get my breath back and it was nice to meet you and chat for a wee while.

GRAMPs on telly!

If you haven’t already caught the buzz going about and watched The Adventure Show last Sunday then you’ve got a month left to watch it on BBC iPlayer. Why? Big coverage of the British Champs at Balmoral earlier this year with lots of Gramps either cameoing in the background crowd scenes else caught in full action out in the forest and Ian Hamilton has a speaking part.
Some key Gramp members are missing from this episode but will feature in a follow up episode covering the Trail O Champs.

So far I’ve spotted Pete, Carolyn, Janne, Dave Kirk (?), Eddy Coman (?), Oli, Rachel, Neil, Donald, Iain, Ian – anyone else want to claim a bit of fame?

Urban Series kicks off Duthie Park 22/8/18

Many thank to Dave for a great start to this year’s Urban Series …

Results

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