DNC Haddo Country Park Wed 28/1/26

Parking/registration: in Haddo CP visitor car park – please pay for parking at machines
w3w: logic.flopping.hedgehog
NJ 867344
Follow B999 from Pitmedden north towards Tarves and watch out for brown tourist sign to Haddo House on turning to right 500m before Tarves. Once through the main gates of the estate obey the speed limit or suffer consequences of surprisingly stiff little speed bumps on the approach road.

Starts/Reg 17:30 – 19:00 (Rachel says reg prob be open ~17:00)
Courses close (i.e. be back at Registration) 20:00
Seniors £7, Students/Juniors £3 contactless payment or cash

Fast and runnable parkland and woods in the main, the Long course will visit the far eastern section of the map which is rougher pasture. If there has been prolonged rain then likely to encounter areas of standing water and/or muddy stretches churned up by public footfall so spikes/dobs advised. The open areas have loads of young saplings planted over the last couple of years but only the larger, more mature trees are marked on the map with single tree symbols or, if several of them clustered, as white runnable forest.

Courses:
Medium 3.5 km 40m 21 controls
Long  5.2 km 75m 20 controls
Both courses will be on two-sided maps, 1:4000, using the new(ish) IOF control description symbol for map flip.

There is a now a need to carry the following mandatory equipment:
·     Spare (head) torch – fully charged.  A spare battery is not acceptable;
·     Whistle;
·     Mobile phone, with plenty of charge; and
·     Water/windproof jacket or spare layer – this can be worn if preferred.  This is to negate competitors only wearing an O-top and/or thermal top.

N.B. We endeavour to make both courses as TD5/Green (i.e. technically hard) as possible depending on the area. For this reason runners must be confident of doing a Green standard course or ask someone who is that standard to run with them.

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

DNC Dunnottar Woods Wed 14/1/26

Parking: TBC but will be close to/in Dunnottar Woods in Stonehaven
Registration and Starts: 18:00 to 19:00
Courses close: 20:00
Fees: Seniors £7, Students/Juniors £3

Courses: Long 5k(ish) Short 3k(ish)

There is a now a need to carry the following mandatory equipment:
·     Spare (head) torch – fully charged.  A spare battery is not acceptable;
·     Whistle;
·     Mobile phone, with plenty of charge; and
·     Water/windproof jacket or spare layer – this can be worn if preferred.  This is to negate competitors only wearing an O-top and/or thermal top.

N.B. We endeavour to make both courses as TD5/Green (i.e. technically hard) as possible depending on the area. For this reason runners must be confident of doing a Green standard course or ask someone who is that standard to run with them.

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

Hogmanay Handicap Hazlehead – Friday 2nd January 2026

Hogmanay Handicap – Friday 2nd January 2026
Organisers 

Samantha & Fiona McDonald

Timing and Location 

Registration at the Hazlehead Park Cafe car park (merit.firmly.words) at 10.30-10:40am. 

Briefing at 10.45.

Mass Clued’O Game start at 11am.

Objective

Your mission is to deduce 

  • who murdered the Club Secretary?
  • where the crime took place?
  • and what weapon was used?

To do this, you must visit various ‘Game Card’ locations across Hazlehead Park. 

Each ‘room’ will eliminate one suspect, one location, and one murder weapon (3 controls in each room).

Game Play

  • Participants can play individually or in pairs, if preferred.
  • Time limit: you have 45 minutes to visit as many ‘Game Card’ locations as possible. 
  • Game Cards: at each control, you will find a clue that eliminates one possibility from your list of suspects, locations, and weapons.
  • Everyone starts at the same time and may choose to visit any of the ‘rooms’ on the map. Once you have finished finding the clues in that ‘room’ you must return to the start/finish where you will ‘roll the dice’ by punching the ‘dice control’ (#204) marked on the map.
  • Secret Passages: there are also 2 secret passages marked on the map (control #192 and #198) which allow you to move from one ‘room’ to another ‘room’ without needing to visit the dice control. The secret passages are non-scoring and can only be visited once each.
  • Scoring:
    • 10 points for each Game Card visited
    • 30 bonus points for correctly solving the mystery
    • 10 points will be deducted for every minute not back after 45mins

The winner is the first person back to correctly solve the mystery.

  • Handicap: some of the players will inherit work completed by the local police force, so will not need to visit all rooms to achieve maximum points. 

Estimated distance if all controls visited is approx 5km but handicapping will reduce distance to approx 2.5km or approx 1.5km.

Good luck Investigators! 

Senior £6 Junior/Student £3 (Cash or card)

All welcome!

GMC 2025 Clachnaben

Congratulations to everyone who survived the heather.

Thanks to all the helpers and especially to the Organiser Dave Kirk and Planner Ian Hamilton for all their time and considerable effort in putting on another excellent GMC.  It is a unique event and is one of the few Mountain Marathon opportunities in Scotland.

Thanks also to all the competitors especially those who travelled far and the ‘repeat offenders’ who continue to support the event.  We took the decision this time to remove the solo class which we know has been popular in the past.  This was done as pairs are safer than solos especially with the lack of phone signal at the midway camp and over a lot of the area.  Thankyou for finding partners and continuing to support the event and we hope you made new friends (or are still talking to old ones.)

Tim Griffin, Controller

Organiser’s report and acknowledgements from Dave Kirk

Results from Day 1, Day 2 and Combined https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/GMC25

RouteGadget
RG doesn’t like the data in Ian Hamilton’s planning file for some reason so I’ve had to simplify it by creating 4 separate ‘events’:
Day 1 Hill map
Day 2 Hill map
Day 1 Forest map
Day 2 Forest map

The hill maps show the entire courses but due to the change in scale at the transition all the forest section controls had to be crammed into that corner of the map roughly in the right places.

The forest section maps show the forest controls in the correct position on the more detailed map but because RG demands the full set of controls and splits to function properly, the forest section controls still have to be there but are randomly scattered ‘off map’ due to time/brainpower constraints trying to get something up asap!
Your route trace for the hill section will look really weird but just ignore that and hopefully the forest section will work properly.

Congratulations to all the GMC 2025 Clachnaben winners and hats off to everyone for persevering with the heather yet still finding time to smile and chat or simply say “thank you” as they passed me at control 190 today. It was lovely to meet you all.

GMC 2025 Team glad to be back

Heather?
Heather?!!!!
Don’t talk to me about the bloody heather!!!

Follow these links for more photos taken by various members of the Gramp GMC organising team:
Mid-camp and car park socialising
Day 1 Finish
Day 2 control 190 and Finish*

Links above are to Google Drive stashes. Double click to open a file and you can then use the arrows on left and right sides of the screen to flick thru’ in slideshow mode.
*Slideshow seems to freeze about 1/3 way thru’ so try starting from the bottom photo.

If anyone has any snaps they’d like to share please email them or a link to webmaster@grampoc.com or add them in a comment on one of our GMC 2025 Facebook posts.

Mini slide show from GMC 2025

Several folk asked us about the people-hours and logistics required to make the GMC magic happen so FYI GMC 2025 Clachnaben was brought to you by the following team:
Dave Kirk (Organiser), Ian Hamilton (Planner) & Tim Griffin (Controller), David Esson (entries, timing ,results), Rachel Scott (download assist, RouteGadget, photo wrangler, control collection), Jonathon Smith (signage, mid-camp set up, taxi, emergency contact liaison) and Lenny (dog), Sean O’Sullivan (kit transport, hill marshal), Graeme Lornie (kit transport, hill marshal), Donnie Mann (parking, hill marshal), Mike Winn (parking, hill marshal), Pete Lawrence (transition list ticker, hill marshal, control collection), Sam & Lesley Gomersall (starts, transition marshals, control placing/collection and water fetchers), Helen Rowlands (mid-camp facilitator, taxi, emergency contact liaison, random tape and rubbish collector), Liz Kirk (meet and greet, relentless kettle boiler and biscuit unwrapper), Marianne Lang (sports massage), Duncan Grassie (emergency contact in that there London would you believe!), Tim Nash (control checker, test runner) and everyone pitched in with anything else that needed doing from unlocking loos to erecting tents to taping trashed fell shoes back together.

Tim G says “It took c 3.5 person days to visit each site once and that is an area with lots of cyclable tracks. Each site was visited 5 times including collecting the kites.
Two people suggested using a drone. This is probably out the question for tagging and placing controls but maybe the controller could bike to a nearby track and check the tag or control with  a drone……
Thanks for all the help checking, placing and collecting – all contributions to the 3.5 days much appreciated.”

Many thanks too to the following people, organisations and businesses:

  • Eddie, James and Scottish Woodlands for allowing us to use Glen Dye Moor and being so encouraging about the event.
  • Rachel and Glen Dye Estate for allowing us to, yet again, use the beautiful Glen Dye woods.
  • Sheridan’s for a fantastic dinner again.
  • Dan and the team from Esslemont Marquees.
  • Nixons for our lovely loos.
  • Ordnance Survey for the hill maps.
  • Most importantly, to all competitors – for the enthusiasm, the smiles, and the many Thank Yous. That makes the whole thing totally worth it.



DNC Foggieton Wed 17/12/25 Results

Results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/DNCFoggieton2

Routegadget – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#339

Link to League results after Potarch –

DNC Results 2025-26 week 7Download

There is a now a need to carry the following mandatory equipment:

·     Spare (head) torch – fully charged.  A spare battery is not acceptable;

·     Whistle;

·     Mobile phone, with plenty of charge; and

·     Water/windproof jacket or spare layer – this can be worn if preferred.  This is to negate competitors only wearing an O-top and/or thermal top.

N.B. We endeavour to make both courses as TD5/Green (i.e. technically hard) as possible depending on the area. For this reason runners must be confident of doing a Green standard course or ask someone who is that standard to run with them.

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

DNC Balmedie Wed 3/12/25 – Results

Results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/DNCBalmedie2

Routegadget – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#338

N.B. We endeavour to make both courses as TD5/Green (i.e. technically hard) as possible depending on the area. For this reason runners must be confident of doing a Green standard course or ask someone who is that standard to run with them.

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

DNC Tollohill Wed 19/11/25 Cancelled

This event is cancelled/postponed due to the wintry conditions. The car park is on a steep slope and the Planner was unable to access the car park due to snow/ice. Apologies to all who were looking forward to a run round Tollohill.

Parking/registration: small car park at top end of wood – take South Deeside road from Bridge of Dee and 4th left (if you pass Prosource IT you’ve just missed the turning)
w3w: soda.crust.roof
NJ923022

Starts/Reg 17:30 – 19:00
Courses close (i.e. be back at Registration) 20:00
Seniors £6, Students/Juniors £3 contactless payment or cash

Results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/DNCTollohill2

Courses:
Medium 3 km
Long  4.3 km

DNC Results 2025-26 week 3Download

There is a now a need to carry the following mandatory equipment:

·     Spare (head) torch – fully charged.  A spare battery is not acceptable;

·     Whistle;

·     Mobile phone, with plenty of charge; and

·     Water/windproof jacket or spare layer – this can be worn if preferred.  This is to negate competitors only wearing an O-top and/or thermal top.

N.B. We endeavour to make both courses as TD5/Green (i.e. technically hard) as possible depending on the area. For this reason runners must be confident of doing a Green standard course or ask someone who is that standard to run with them.

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

16/11/25 Crathes Results

Results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/Crathes

Routegadget – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#337

Many thanks to Adrian (Organiser) David K (Planner) and the Gramp team for putting on the event

DNC Hazlehead Wed 5/11/25 Results

Link to results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/DNCHazlehead

Routegadget – Using an older map so controls don’t quite line up correctly – apologies – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#336

TAY events “good for newcomers”

Our neighbours to the south, Tayside Orienteers, have been in touch about a couple of events they’re putting on in parks in Dundee that they think would be ideal for newcomers or novices to practice their skills:
Balgay Hill Sat 27th Sept
Camperdown Park Sun 16th Nov

Both areas are well-bounded with a mixture of woodland and open areas with scattered trees.  Good for newcomers or novices to advance their skills with map (and compass on Orange and above).  

Green course at Balgay will involve some urban in neighbouring streets.
Longer courses (tbc) at Camperdown will combine fast running and a need for accurate navigation to hit the controls economically.

At both events there will be TAY club members on hand to help anyone get started.
Check for details on their website and make a day of it at the V&A or DCA.

Aberdeen Uni Urban Sprint 10/9/25- Results

Link to results – https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/ASAbzUni

Routegadget – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/

In O terms, “sprint” means short distances between controls, plenty of route choice and changes of direction or even loops to keep you on your toes. Whether you actually sprint or jog or walk is up to you so if you’ve been put off by the “sprint” bit in the past, why not give it a go this year and join us?

Parking/registration: at Car Park next to the Edward Wright Annexe, Aberdeen University AB24 3RT, off Old Machar Drive (A978)
w3w: stand.milk.grain

Starts/Reg 18:00 – 18:50 for 19:00 last start
Courses close (i.e. be back at Registration) 19:30
Seniors £6, Students/Juniors £3 contactless payment or cash
Under-16s should be accompanied by an adult for BOF insurance purposes

Courses:
Long Sprint 2.9km TD3 or Orange standard
Short Sprint 1.1km
The short sprint will suit juniors and beginners although please note that it’s not quite as easy as a yellow course as there are more decisions to make.  Juniors will need accompanied by an adult as there are roads to cross.

N.B. urban distances are measured as-the-crow-flies, optimal routes on the ground can be anything up to 1.5 times as long.

Urban maps have some special symbols so make sure you know what’s what, especially the Out of Bounds areas or fences and walls that must not be crossed as it’s private property. Click here for an annotated map snippet showing you what to look for.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

Westhill Urban Sprint 3/9/25 Results

Results
Routegadget the keen eyed amongst you will spot that I had to use the old 1:3000 map to get the controls to place properly on RG. Should still work OK for the purposes of RG so get drawing/uploading please.

Many thanks to Adrian for planning and to Fiona, Jonathan and Matthew for helping collect the controls afterwards.

Westburn & Victoria Parks Urban Sprint 27/8/25 Results

Results
RouteGadget Who went in-abouts and who went out-abouts between 3 and 4?

Big thank you to David Esson for stepping in at such short notice to plan and organise tonight. Thanks also to Sam P who helped put out the controls with David, and to the McDonald family and Adrian for helping collect the controls afterwards.

Apologies for the confusion with the controls on Sprint course around 5-8. Turned out the control codes were in the correct place just not immediately obvious which was which on the map due to the haste to get something planned and printed in time. It caught a few of you out, though by looking at the control descriptions it should have been obvious which controls were the correct ones.

Duthie Park/Ferryhill 20/8/25 Results

Results

Long Sprint Routegadget

Park Sprint Routegadget

Thanks to all who attended tonight’s event at Duthie & Ferryhill. Many thanks to Ros for planning courses with route choice, and to Jonathan (Maroc), Hugh and David for helping collect controls.

Thank you S6D Gramps!

A massive thank you to all those Gramps who helped make the 6 Days happen this week in particular David Esson, Tim Griffin and Ian Hamilton who took on Controller or Planner roles and everyone who helped send out over 2,200 runners to enjoy Glen Dye today – especially those on the Green/Blue/White Start which saw a very greedy lion’s share.

Lots of complimentary remarks about the area were to be heard back in the assembly arena which was lovely and just goes to show that our best area can still work its magic despite the storm damage and felling.

Well done to everyone who managed top ten finishes:
Fergus M12A 6th
Adrian M50S 9th
Gary Morrison and Hugh M55S 9th and 10th respectively
Kevin M60S 6th
Paul M71L 4th
Neil M80 10th
Samantha W16A 10th
Ros W55S 5th

Some of the classes are enormous so some of our clubmates, although not managing top ten, still finished high up in a very experienced and competitive field. So we can add a load more folk to that roll of honour:
Tim N, Bob and Laura – top 25%
Duncan, Dennis, Ian H, Eric, Joanna and Becky – top 50%

Congratulations also to Ruth Gooch from our friendly rivals and neighbours, Maroc, on reaching the top of the podium for W18L.

It’s started!!

Scottish 6 Days that is. David Esson was Controller for today’s racing at Glen Feardar East where numerous Gramps joined in some classic Deeside racing.

Fergus looks to be having a blast in M12A, as is Paul at the other end of the competitor spectrum, M70L. Gramp traditionally do well on Short courses and today’s tradition bearers are Adrian, Hugh, Gary and Kevin.

Results for all Gramps are here.  Best 3 scores from 5 count towards the final S6D positions.

Good luck for the rest of the week!

Last call for new tops and jackets – order by 23rd June please

Yippee! We have enough interest in the new design GRAMP jackets to place an order so if you want one too email Ros via mapping@grampoc.com asap and by June 23rd at the latest.
Tell her what you want (it’s not too late to bang in an order for a top too) and what size and she’ll give you the Gramp account details for a bank transfer.
Tops: £34 Jackets £61 Designs and link to sizing chart below:

Click on the image above to enlarge it.
N.B. this is a low res image to avoid clogging up your device with umpteen MB!
The contours are much sharper on the finished articles so watch out for folk
following you closely at Glen Dye trying to use them to navigate.

Gramp Tops

The tops are made by Scimitar from performance fabric, with short sleeves, a zipped collar and the striking design features two lots of contours, taken from Robin Sloan’s original 1972 Blackhall map and the updated 2022 Glen Dye map, plus our birthday strapline “50 years of running on the wild side”. Cost is £34 each including VAT and shipping – adult sizes only.
(We have some older style children’s tops free to a good home.)

Size chart here:  https://www.scimitarsports.com/size-chart.  If in doubt, our experience suggests that it’s best to order a size up. 

New Design GRAMP Jackets

These lightweight jackets don’t have a hood but do feature zipped back pocket and long sleeves with elasticated cuffs, similar to those other club jackets that you often see swaggering around assembly areas. The design is the Blackhall/Glen Dye combo same as the tops. 
£61 (again, including VAT and shipping) per jacket, adult sizes only.

Please contact Ros Nicholson by June 23rd either via mapping@grampoc.com or at the Seaton Park Summer Series event on 18th to order jackets/tops.

Gwan and treat yourselves!

Tick-lish subject

Hope you’re all enjoying our Summer Series events and the chance to get out and about in our woods? Unfortunately our local tick population also enjoy your visits and will hop on board and hitch a ride home with you given the slightest opportunity.

Don’t forget to check your body for the wee critters as soon as possible after your run and for a couple of days after as they are masters at hiding out in crevices, hairlines, clothing, shoes, bedding and even cars and can appear on you for days afterwards.

If they’re still roaming on your then it’s easy to brush or pick them off. Remove attached ticks with either a dedicated tick removing tool, fine tweezers or your fingernails with a firm upwards pulling motion. If you squash them make sure to wash your hands afterwards. Keep an eye on bite sites and if you see signs of a rash that doesn’t disappear fairly quickly, especially if it looks like a target aka the classic tick bite bullseye, then contact your doctor and request a prophylactic course of antibiotics against the risk of contracting Lyme Disease.

This video explains more about what to look for and how to remove them.

29/6/25 Balmedie Results

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/Balmedie

https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#326

Thank you to all who came to a very sunny Balmedie today. Dennis did a great job planning the courses, and Sam & Lesley a fantastic job organising. Many thanks to them all!

Yellow TD2 2.6km 12 controls
Orange TD3 3.1km 15 controls
Green TD5 4.3km 20 controls
Training session – Theme Using Contours as Line Features – meet at car park at 1015, for a small exercise course approx 3-500metres where you can learn how to use contours as line features – The map for this exercise will be contour only and at a scale of 1:2500
TD1/2 = easy, TD3 = medium, TD4 = medium to hard, TD5 = hard For more info on Technical Difficulty click here

British Champs 2025

Bit of a dark green epic by all accounts so double congrats to those Gramps who fought their way around at Grizedale for the British Champs.

Notable individual results included:
Bob Daly 6th M60L
Paul Duly 8th M70L
Samantha McDonald 9th W16A

And Mike+Sam+Lesley had a great relay run coming 6th in the Mixed Adhoc and David+Bob+Jordon came 18th in the Men’s Short category.

Looking to freshen up your O kit? Check out our club tops and jackets…

Click on the image above to enlarge it.
N.B. this is a low res image to avoid clogging up your device with umpteen MB!
The contours are much sharper on the finished articles so watch out for folk
following you closely at Glen Dye trying to use them to navigate.

Gramp Tops

Want to really look the professional at the 6 Days? Here’s your chance to grab a new O top as we already have several people looking for new club kit so it’s time to put an order in again.
If you haven’t already done so, please contact Ros Nicholson by June 15th either via mapping@grampoc.com or at the next few Summer Series events to let her know what size and how many you want. She’ll acknowledge your order and give you details on how to pay. We need a minimum collated order of 10

The tops are made by Scimitar from performance fabric, with short sleeves, a zipped collar and the striking design features two lots of contours, taken from Robin Sloan’s original 1972 Blackhall map and the updated 2022 Glen Dye map, plus our birthday strapline “50 years of running on the wild side”. Cost is £34 each including VAT and shipping – adult sizes only.
(We have some older style children’s tops free to a good home.)

Size chart here:  https://www.scimitarsports.com/size-chart.  If in doubt, our experience suggests that it’s best to order a size up. 

New Design GRAMP Jackets

If there is enough interest, we will also order “winter lightweight running jackets”. 
These don’t have a hood but do feature zipped front pockets and elasticated cuffs, similar to those other club jackets that you often see swaggering around assembly areas. 
The image below is to give you an idea of the jacket itself. Obviously the design would be Grampified similar to the current O tops and jackets, i.e. mostly red, map contours and red sleeves.  The price will be about £61 (again, including VAT and shipping) per jacket.

This gives you an idea of the jacket style and fit. For the actual design imagine red sleeves, red background
to the body with lots of contours plus GRAMPIAN ORIENTEERS splashed across the back in white.

Again, please contact Ros Nicholson by June 15th either via mapping@grampoc.com or at the next few Summer Series events to express an interest in a jacket and if we have enough people to reach the minimum order quantity of 10 you’ll then be asked to place your order and given details of how to pay.

Gwan and treat yourselves!

Templars Park & BBQ 25/6/25 Summer Series – Results

Many thanks to Tim for planning tonights event and to all who collected controls afterwards. Hope everyone enjoyed the BBQ.

Routegadget – https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#325

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/SSTemplars

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

Seaton Park 18/6/25 Summer Series Results

Results
Routegadget (Long course you’ll have to pretend you went to 6, 7 and 8 as shown on the map as we didn’t adjust the results or course data for what really happened)

Many thanks to Julian for planning and to Bob, David and Tim for helping collect controls.

It was very odd running round a deserted Hillhead – no conversations or music drifting out the windows, no veggie curry or washing powder smells.

Calling all Gramps – don’t forget we have an EGM on 25th June at Templars Park next week so please check your emails for details and a voting form if you can’t make it in person to chew over the changes while chewing your burger as it’s also the end of series BBQ to which everyone is invited, Gramp member or not.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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 11/6/25 Summer Series Results

Results Routegadget

Many thanks to Sam for planning and to Bob, David, Dennis and Sam for collecting controls.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

Tollohill 4/6/25 Summer Series Results


Results RouteGadget

Many thanks to Sam P for planning and to Bob, David and the McDonalds for helping collect controls.

Foggieton 28/5/25 Summer Series Results

Results RouteGadget

Many thanks go to Gary for planning tonight’s episode of our Summer Series and Bob, David and Sam for control collecting afterwards.

Tune in next week for Tollohill… (and don’t forget that the car park is small so please car share or cycle or take a bus if you can. Ta!)

Aden Country Park 25/5/25 Results

Results
RouteGadget all courses (but use Score only RG for Score course)
RouteGadget Score only
Check out our Facebook page for some photos

Many thanks to Laura for her usual great organizing, David for planning/computing and to all the Gramp members for helping out. Congrats to the winners of the Grampian Region Scout Orienteering Champs organised by Sean O’Sullivan from MAROC.

And that rounds up a very busy World Orienteering Week. Hope everyone who tried orienteering for the first time enjoyed it and maybe see you at some of our Summer Series events over the next month or so. Our next SS event is at Foggieton, parking at Cults Primary School, starts from 18:00.

Taster event at Hazlehead Park 22/5/25

Scottish Orienteering and Grampian Orienteers are hosting an orienteering taster session that’s open to all but especially aimed at those who enjoy getting outside to run or walk and fancy trying something a bit different!

Orienteering is an outdoor adventure sport using a map and compass and is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. Participants of this session will be introduced to the basics of orienteering by British Orienteering licensed coaches, before being given the chance to head out into the park to complete an orienteering course which can be done by yourself or in groups. Any under 16s should be accompanied by an adult.

Venue: Hazlehead Park (car park nearest the cafe)
Date/Time: Thursday 22nd May / 1830-2000
Who: ALL WELCOME (under 16s should have adult supervision)
Cost: FREE

If you want to come please sign up by clicking here for a link to a google form to give us an idea of how many maps we’ll need to print.

Could you help us spread the word about this event? Download this flyer and send it to friends and family or print it out and display it at your work/school/local park. Ta muchly!

Hazlehead 21/5/25 Summer Series Results

Results RouteGadget for Scores/Long/Short courses

Great fun was had at our first Summer Series event at Hazlehead tonight. Many thanks to Fiona & Zoe for putting on the event including 4 separate Maze courses!!

Many thanks to Bob/Samantha/Joanna/Dennis/Hugh for all helping collect controls afterwards👍👏 Maze courses.

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/SSHazlehead

Many thanks to Bob/Samantha/Joanna/Dennis/Hugh for all helping collect controls afterwards👍👏
Parking: the car park nearest the cafe
w3w: starts.mole.usage

Registration/Start/Finish: in front of the cafe – look for our GRAMP banner

Starts/Reg 18:00 – 19:00
Courses close (i.e. be back at Registration) 20:00
Seniors £6, Students/Juniors £3 contactless payment or cash

Courses:
Easy White/Yellow standard ~2km
Technical as-hard-as-we-can-make-it 3-5km TBC

Maze – try and beat the times set by Hazlehead Academy earlier in the afternoon!

Score Course – try and find as many orienteering controls in the park as you can

This is a World Orienteering Week Come And Try It event. Come and be part of something really big worldwide! We can provide a bit of on the spot training before waving you off into the park to try your hand at this great sport (and we’ll wait for you to come back bursting to talk about the experience as we know you’ll enjoy it.)

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

Scottish Champs 2025

Some great results for Gramp at the Scottish Champs held at Barry Buddon over the weekend – a very tricky area jam-packed full of detailed contours which demands full on concentration all the way round and provided a trip down memory lane for several of the more experienced members of the club as we planned/organised a day there for Tay 2009 Scottish 6 Days. (If anyone wants to join them reminiscing then here are some photos on Flickr.)

Individual:
M12A 2nd Fergus Gallacher
M45S 4th David Esson
M50S 1st Adrian Will
M55L 8th Tim Griffin
M55S 5th Hugh Nicholson
M60L 7th Pete Lawrence, 14th Dennis McDonald just pipping 15th Sam Gomersall
M65L 7th Bob Daly, 9th Ian Hamilton, 15th Iain McLeod
M70L 2nd Paul Duley
M80 3rd Neil McLean

W14A 3rd= Joanna McDonald
W16A 6th Samantha McDonald
W45L 3rd Fiona McDonald
W55S 3rd Ros Nicholson
W60L 8th Lesley Gomersall

Relay:
All the Gramp teams ended up competing against each other in the 17+ points class which made for some very sociable rivalry.
4th Gramp3 Ian Morrison, Adrian Will, Gavin Morrison
5th Gramp2 Pete Lawrence, Fiona McDonald, Dennis McDonald
6th Gramp1 Tim Griffin, Samantha McDonald, Bob Daly
8th Gramp4 Matthew Humphreys, Lesley Gomersall, Sam Gomersall
(and rather worryingly the results also show “dnf Gramp Heart Attack!” so for the benefit of anyone not in the know that’s just David having a wee joke on himself when registering the teams!)

Hats off too to ex-Gramp Jayne MacGregor for pulling it all together as Organiser.

GMC entries now open!

Click here for SIEntries page for the Clachnaben GMC 11th/12th October.

Teams of 2 or 3 on A, B and C courses for either the full 2 day GMC experience or the Saturday only ‘taster’ version. Full rules/details can be found on the GMC page or on the SIEntries page.

JK 2025

Well done to the Gramps who went down to Sheffield for this year’s JK. (For those not in the know, the Jan Kjellstrom orienteering festival is an Easter bonanza of orienteering similar in size to the 6 Days with Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay races.)

Great results from Gramps, especially at the Sprint and Long!
Sprint: Samantha McDonald 7th W16, Fiona 14th W45 and Dennis 76th
Middle: Paul Duley M70 came 22nd, Dennis 109th M60, Samantha 33rd and Fiona 25th
Long: Paul Duley 5th M70L, Samantha 22nd W16A and Fiona 19th W45L

Photo credit: Wendy Carlyle

GRAMP ‘takeover’ Hazlehead Parkrun Sat 17th May

As we’ve previously mentioned in the GRAMP Gossip emails* we are planning to have a GRAMP presence at the Hazlehead Parkrun on Saturday 17th May (aka in Parkrun parlance as a takeover.)
This is so we can advertise the club to parkrunners/walkers and their families and promote our summer series events. Plus we hope that SOA will be hosting a taster session for runners on Thursday 22nd May at Hazlehead which we’ll also promote.

We would be delighted to see as many GRAMP members as possible signing up as volunteers for this Parkrun, then coming along in your GRAMP kit (if you have some) and hopefully spreading the word to other runners/walkers about how much fun orienteering is!

If you’ve not volunteered at Parkrun before, it’s very easy to do and you’ll get instructions on the day.

Below is a link to the roster of vacant positions – it would be good if there were a few GRAMP members at the finish area so we can point people in the direction of our flyers and QR codes – so maybe ask to be a barcode scanner. But feel free to choose another role if you wish.
(Bar code scanners and timers will need to download the parkrun app before the event.)

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/hazlehead/futureroster/

You will need to send an email to hazlehead@parkrun.com and tell them which position you’d like to do and include your Parkrun number. If you don’t already have a parkrun number you will need to register.

The roster can sometimes fill up fairly quickly so please sign up as soon as you can.

Any questions please get in touch.

*If you’re not receiving GRAMP gossip emails every month please let Fiona know and confirm your current email address as we don’t want you missing out on the news and gossip. Send her an email via secretary@grampoc.com

Tyrebagger/Elrick 7/5/25 Forest Sprint Results

Results
RouteGadget

What a super evening to get reaquainted with Tyrebagger after such a long wait for the felling to finish. It’s certainly suffered in the northern section but at least you now get a great view across to Bennachie from the car park on a day like today!!
The northern bit is still passable despite the debris, especially if you spot and exploit the extraction tracks and re-entrant floors although it does make it a bit of a zig-zaggy route, and lots of folk decided to try “going straight” in that section using the contours rather than simply pegging it round the paths.

Thanks to Ros for planning, MacDonalds for control collecting and David manning the keyboard.

The final Forest Sprint is next week up at Cambus O’May, details on Maroc’s website.

If you enjoyed the Sprints and want more chances to get out and about on a Wednesday evening then check our Events list for the Summer Series which starts at Hazlehead Park on 21st May. Details for each event will be posted separately in due course and linked to the Events list. Oh, and there’s a bonus taster event organised by SOA also at Hazlehead on Thurs 22nd so invite some friends and introduce them to our great sport.

Templars Park 23/4/25 Forest Sprint

Results
RouteGadget to follow soon hopefully

Many thanks to Dennis for planning and to Hugh/Ros/Bob/Fiona & Samantha for helping collect controls.

Dunnottar Woods 9/4/25 Forest Sprint Results

Results. https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/FSDunnottar/

RouteGadget

Many thanks to Ian Hamilton for kicking off Gramp’s side of this year’s Forest Sprints. Next week it’s Bellwood courtesy of Maroc.

Good turn out for the Forest Sprint at Dunnottar.   39 people including a group of scouts.
Thanks to Dennis, Fiona and Sam for collecting controls  and to David for helping with registration and mentoring beginners.

GMC 2025 location revealed…

This year we’re going to be sending you all off for a spin around Clachnaben and surrounding areas for the Grampian Mountain Challenge on 11th and 12th October.

Check back here for a link to entries which will open on May 1st and then get your entry in asap as numbers will be capped. In the meantime you can check out the info/rules/kit list.

Please note that the solo class has been removed from all courses this year for safety reasons but you can run in pairs or teams of 3 and even informally link up with other teams while out on the hill if it helps you all get round and back to base safe and sound in time for the hot food and craic which is a huge part of the GMC experience on Scotland’s Friendly Sociable Mountain Marathon.

There will also be an opportunity for teams to run a one-day only linear course, including both orienteering and hill sections, on the Saturday if you fancy a taster of the GMC without the camping bit.

DNC 2024/5 Results

Well done to all those Gramps who braved the good, the bad and the downright ugly (weather in case you were wondering what I’m referring to) during this season’s DNC, not least those who definitely deserve their 50 points for stepping up to plan Gramp’s side of the series.

Samantha McDonald was the leading Gramp on the Long course steadily racking up her total to finish 3rd female and 7th overall, narrowly beating Ian Hamilton by just 2 points.

On the Short course, David Esson was 3rd male, 4th overall and delighted to regain his title as Mr Consistent by finishing 16/16 events while Ros Nicholson finished 2nd female and 7th overall, again pipping fellow Gramp, Adrian Will, by just a few points.

GRAMP Champs 2024 and AGM 2025

The following is a quick read summary of the AGM held in January. A copy of the full AGM minutes was attached to Zoe’s last Gramp Gossip this month before handing over the secretarial reins to Fiona.
Many thanks for all your hard work over the years collating and circulating info and organising the club’s 50th anniversary dinner amongst other things, Zoe.

Congratulations to those who won club champs trophies this year. Those that didn’t receive their trophies/prizes at the AGM should contact David Esson.

Junior MenJunior Women
1st Fergus Gallagher1st Samantha McDonald
2nd Cato Stockton2nd Joanna McDonald
3rd Hannah Will
Senior MenSenior Women
1st Ian Morrison
2nd Matthew Thompson
3rd Matthew Humphries
Veteran MenVeteran Women
1st Julian Robinson1st Fiona McDonald
2nd Adrian Will2nd Claire Gallagher
3rd David Esson3rd Sarah Wallace
Super Veteran MenSuper Veteran Women
1st Ian Hamilton1st Oonagh Grassie
2nd Neil McLean2nd Laura Farquharson
3rd Bob Daly3rd Lesley Gomersall

The Chairman’s Quaich was awarded to Ian Hamilton for his outstanding service to the club, being a main official on committee for circa 15 years and ever the professional who gets on with the job with no fuss. Many, many thanks for everything you have done for the club, Ian. 

And many thanks to David Esson too for carrying out both Chairman’s and SI/computing duties over the last few years with equal (laid-back) professionalism, coping with the Covid years and personal health issues but still ploughing on determinedly to get both club and himself back up and running.

Chairman’s AGM Report 2024

34 events – up from 29 in 2023. We are a healthy club, even though we have significant challenges in particular the lack of areas due to the Storms. At the moment we only have 3 areas which are big enough for a full colour coded and Glen Dye is currently embargoed for the Scottish 6 Days. Open day at newly remapped Aden Country Park, quite a few members made the journey and enjoyed themselves between the wintry showers.  

During the year we produced a club survey which many members filled in. Thank you to all. Very useful information for the new committee to work on but generally people love having the Wednesday events throughout the year, but also would love more Sunday events. So we’re thinking of doing some local Sunday events at areas like Aden and Haddo and make it very much a social day out too. Look out for these this year.

Throughout the year, we did emphasise that the 3 main committee members were standing down at the end of this year. May I first of all say thank you to the people who have put their names forward. It is very much appreciated. The reason why I started asking so far in advance was I was concerned that if no one would come forward, it might have spelt a bad ending for the club, which would have been a great shame as we are a strong club in many other aspects. But if the proposed changes come to fruition, the committee and club will grow in numbers and therefore strength. 

Other than the usual elections and Treasurer’s report, a couple of things were discussed at the AGM regarding identifying suitable areas to map to replace the areas we’ve lost and getting funding to cover professional mappers’ fees as these do not qualify for community grants.

2024 Successes 
Scottish O Champs – 1st Kevin Reynard M55S, Neil McLean M80,
Claire Gallagher W45S, Joanna McDonald Yellow
2nd Paul Duley M70L 

Scottish Orienteering League – 1st Joanna McDonald W14B, Samantha McDonald W16S, Ros Nicholson W45S, Neil McLean M80
2nd Carolyn McLeod W21N, Oonagh GrassieW65S 

Scottish Relay Champs
17+ category
5th Tim Griffin, Claire Gallagher, Sam Gomersall 
8th Malcolm Fisher, Lesley Gomersall, Kevin Reynard
20+ category
20th David Esson, Adrian Will, Bob Daly 

Scottish Urban Orienteering League
No podium finishers from GRAMP although Laura Farquharson was 6th Supervet after attending nearly all the SOULs and several others managed a few races each over the year with good results which, if combined, may have resulted in a podium place 😉
We’re hoping to get funds to map an urban area and be able to offer to host a SOUL in 2025/6. Watch this space….

British Relay Champs
Mixed – 3rd Lesley Gomersall, Sam Gomersall, Mike Greenwood 

Looking ahead 

  • Forest Sprint/Summer Series/Local Sunday events/ 6 Days on Deeside
  • GMC in October to look forward to  

New Year – New Committee

On behalf of the club a massive “Thank you!” to David, Zoe and Ian who bowed out at the AGM after many years of service between them on the committee. Zoe did tot it all up a while back and I’ve forgotten the exact figure but it would have earned at least a gold clock presented by the MD if it were years of service in a company! So definitely time for a change…

Tim Griffin – Chairman
Fiona McDonald – Secretary
Adrian Will – Treasurer
Fixtures – Paul Duley

If you want to see a full list of committee members/roles and who else does what for the club then check out the ‘Committee and contacts’ page. It goes without saying that offers of assistance and ideas are more than welcome from anyone at any time.

DNC Balmedie 12/2/25 Results

Results RouteGadget

Many thanks to Ian for planning and to Jakub, Tim & David for helping Ian collect in the controls.

GMC 2025 dates announced

Dates for next year’s GMC have been announced: 11th & 12th October
As always the venue is a closely guarded secret for now so check back here in the summer for details, entries links, kit lists etc etc.

In the meantime, GMC organiser Dave Kirk has been in touch with WIM and WSX orienteers who have set up the Purbeck Hill Challenge, a one day trail/orienteering race closely based on the GMC idea of mixing up scales and terrain to give that interesting navigational twist.
This will be held 15/2/25 near Swanage so if you’re likely to be down south in that area around that time then they’d love to see you. Entries open now at Early Bird rates, due to increase slightly 1st Jan, with a cap of 100 entries.

(BTW, one of the main people involved with the PHC is one Rob Mills who used to be a GRAMP member many moons ago.)

Tollohill DNC 29/1/25 Results

Results
RouteGadget
Many thanks to Tim for planning and to Ian for collecting

Night O Safety
With orienteering at night comes some added enjoyment (for most) but also some additional hazards, we all need to be aware of and mitigate against as best we can.  What if our headtorch fails?  What happens if we injure ourself? What if, what if?

Hopefully, we’re not teaching anyone to suck eggs here but it is worth reminding ourselves that if something does happen and we are not prepared, then others may be inconvenienced or worse, because of this.  So, a few items that we should all seriously consider carrying with us on our run – some should not really be for discussion!

– Primary headtorch (obvious!)
– Compass (obvious!)
– Spare headtorch or equivalent light source (essential)*
– Whistle (essential)
– Mobile phone – the organiser/planner’s number is on the map for a reason!

* NOTE: Spare battery for your main headtorch, is not a replacement for a separate spare torch, as it could be more than your battery that has runout/failed.

It is colder at night, so consider what you wear.  What if you did injury yourself or maybe just weren’t up to feeling running at your usual speed – you will become cold very quickly if you are not running or going at your usual speed.  We do night O through the winter, so keep that in mind and maybe take a bumbag with extra clothing.

If you are new to night orienteering be aware it may take you longer than ‘normal’ – much longer for some.  Also, if you are not at TD5 level, you really should be doing this in the daylight before taking on night orienteering as the Deeside Night Cup (long) and the mini-cup (short) is planned with NO dispensation for it being dark.  Maybe you are at TD5 level but never night O’d before – speak to someone about a shadowed run. Use the club member email to put a message round that you’d appreciate some mentoring and which DNC events you plan to attend and someone will respond.

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. We’ll be sharing parks/streets/woods with others so be courteous to other users and watch out for bikes/dogs/horseriders.

Health – Full leg and torso cover is required in wooded areas due to ticks.

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.

DNC Foggieton 15/1/25 Results

Oops! If you were looking for info on Tollohill on 29th then click here.


Results
RouteGadget (this uses the amended splits – see below)

Due to member of public moving a control we have removed control 234 and the legs on either side from the results. Many thanks to Paul for planning, and to Tim for helping collect controls.

 

HHH @Hazlehead Thursday 2nd January 2025 Results

Results
RouteGadget

To celebrate the start of a new year we had a fun event setup at Hazlehead Park, with a Social party afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the snowy courses, David for organising and Gomersalls for being soup monitors.

DNC Elrick 11/12/24 Results

Results
RouteGadget

Many thanks to Ros for planning and Hugh and David for control collecting/controlling.
No 4 on the long was inspected last night and found to be in the correct place so the legs 3-4-5 have been reinstated in the results and used for RG.

Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup 2024

Congratulations to all our Gramp Juniors who competed in this year’s Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup and especially to our 2 trophy winners, Fergus Gallagher M12 and Samantha McDonald W16.

You can see how everyone got on in the 2024 Jon Duncan Junior Deeside Cup Final Results.

The organisers decided to declare the results as final following the Bogendreip event as the tenth event at Cambus O’May was too close to Maroc’s AGM for getting trophies engraved.

DNC Dunnottar Woods 27/11/24 Results

Results
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Lovely frosty night for orienteering at Dunnottar Woods tonight. Well done to first time planner Sam Pickett and to Ros, Hugh and David E for helping collect controls afterwards👍

Open Day at Aden Country Park Sat 16th November

Come this Saturday and enjoy the brand new Permanent Orienteering Courses on a brand new map at Aden Country Park. The Gramp coaches will be there to offer advice/help for any who wish.

There are two recommended permanent orienteering courses in Aden, a short course which is approximately 1.8km in length, and a long course which is approximately 2.9km in length. You can also create your own courses, by visiting the controls in a different order, or only visiting a selection of the controls. From 10am to 2pm and last start is 1pm.

DNC Balmedie 13/11/24 Results

Results
RouteGadget

Many thanks to Dave K for planning and to Sam P & David E for helping collect controls afterwards. Lovely dry, still, partially moonlit night tonight – perfect for enjoying the devilishly detailed dunes.

Thanks also to Beachside Bakes for staying open late providing great coffee and cakes for hungry orienteers. If you missed out but are likely to be in the Balmedie area again soon then keep an eye on their Facebook page for opening hours as they said they’ll be open most Saturdays and Sundays if it’s dry for Christmassy bakes and gifts. Mmmmmm!