We are delighted to announce that we are hosting a training day at Crathes Castle catering for all levels of experience. Please fill in the google form in link below if you are interested in coming.
https://forms.gle/93Tp1fQKfMcyZb7U6
Cost £4 adults/ £2 Juniors/Students
Can you find the speediest route to a series of checkpoints in the city, using the map provided & maybe some local knowledge?
Hosted by Out & Back in association with Grampian Orienteers the Aberdeen Checkpoint Challenge will take place on Sunday 8th March 10am.
We’ll give you an electronic timing device called a ‘dibber’ to record your time which you’ll need to punch every checkpoint with. At the end you’ll get a print out of your time splits so you can compare your times and route choices with other runners.
No previous map reading experience is necessary, although it might be helpful!
Short course~6km Long course~10km but course lengths will vary according to the route you choose.
Meet at 10am at the Out & Back Store, 45 The Green to register, pay £3 & collect your map & dibber.
Mass Start at 10.15.
Please return to the start/finish by 11.45 even if you haven’t found all the controls.
Join us for a blether/coffee afterwards at Contour cafe next door.
Please complete this sign up form if you wish to participate and bring £3 with you on the day.
Can you help us spread the word? Download the flyer and pass it on to friends and colleagues, especially those who’ve never tried orienteering before, and challenge them to give it a go.
Congratulations to the winners of this season’s DNC Cup and Mini Cup:
Long Course
1st Male Matthew Gooch MAROC
2nd Luke Graham MAROC
3rd Drew Tivendale MAROC
1st Female Eilidh Campbell MAROC
2nd Ruth Gooch MAROC
3rd Sam McDonald GRAMP
Short Course
1st Male Jon Musgrave MAROC
2nd Paul Chapman MAROC
3rd Julian Robinson GRAMP
1st Female Joy Cameron MAROC
2nd Lesley Gomersall GRAMP
3rd Rosslyn Nicholson GRAMP
Full results a few events were cancelled due to big snow making travel difficult so it was agreed that best 7 of 13 events should count to final score
As voted for by everyone who went along to the supper/prize giving:
Course of the Year: Balmedie – Julian Robinson
Toughest of the Tough: Birsemore – Alan Bennett
And unofficially:
The Biggest Glutton for Punishment (ran in all 13 events): David Esson
The following is a quick read summary of the AGM held in January:
– Executive Committee (formed following the EGM) have all agreed to continue in post this year and were unanimously voted in but we are on the look out for a couple of people to take on Safeguarding and Fixtures Co-ordinator next year so speak to either Claire or Paul if you’re interested
– funds received from SOA for mapping projects and plans for things like a new Stonehaven urban map are in the pipeline
– Claire was thanked for all her hard work in helping ensure Gramp complies with the new government and SOA guidelines on safeguarding
– where are the Musgrave Trophies? couldn’t be awarded this year as we don’t know where they are. Are you a past winner and still have one somewhere?
– some discussion on making the Urban League more competitive again and reinstating the Lego trophies – what do you think?
– new jackets were very popular and Ros is happy to order some more if we can get sufficient interest as minimum order is 10 jackets
– SI controls are aging and will need new batteries in the next couple of years but other than that no big kit expenditure planned so what are we going to do with the funds sitting in our new higher interest savings account – do you have any ideas for projects to boost membership for example?
Congratulations to those who won club champs trophies:
| Junior Men | Junior Women |
| Fergus Gallagher | Samantha McDonald |
| Senior Men | Senior Women |
| Ian Morrison | |
| Veteran Men | Veteran Women |
| Julian Robinson | Fiona McDonald |
| Super Veteran Men | Super Veteran Women |
| Ian Hamilton | Laura Farquharson |
The Chairman’s Quaich was presented to Dave Kirk for doing a such a brilliant job in organizing the really successful Grampian Mountain Challenge in 2025.
Chairman’s AGM Report 2026
At last year’s AGM, we changed out the three main committee posts and I’d like to thank those who took on new posts and those members who continued in their current roles. In June we held an EGM in order to update our constitution and define an Executive committee for PVG and safeguarding purposes. So we now have an Executive committee of Chairman, Secretary (Fiona), Treasurer (Adrian), Mapping & POCs (Ros), Safeguarding /Child Protection (Claire Gallagher) and Coach (David). In addition we have a Membership Secretary (Sam and Lesley), Fixtures & Permissions coordinator (Paul), Event Registration (Mark), Website /IT (Rachel) and Equipment (Jonathan). I’d like to thank them all for their efforts this year in enabling us to run as a club and put on so many events – this year Gramp organised 28 events (versus 34 in 2024 and 29 in 2023).
Events: The biggest event of the year was another 6 Day in Deeside which many of the club took advantage of to compete in. Our day to help was on Glen Dye – thanks to everyone who turned out to help. As a local club, we had been asked to supply members of the central organising committee but were unable to find anyone. Many of these roles were filled by members of other clubs but the 6 day committee is facing a challenge in finding enough volunteers to run future 6 day events and is seeking feedback from clubs. The choice seems to be more professional help (and higher entry fees) or simplification and fewer helpers (and maybe lower standards). If you have an opinion (or even have time to serve on the 6 day board), let me know.
The highlight of the year as a club was another very successful GMC, held in splendid weather in October. Having declared that 2023 was his last, I’d like to thank Dave Kirk for stepping up again and making the GMC happen, along with Ian Hamilton who planned the courses. It remains very popular and is filling a need as the only Mountain Marathon currently in Scotland (except when the OMM comes). The GMC is also the most profitable event the club organises by far and underwrites a lot of our activity (and mapping projects) so thanks to everyone who helped make it a success again. How’s the plans for 2027 Dave?
Besides these 2 big events, we also organised a DNC night O series and a forest sprint series (with Maroc), a summer series and 3 Sunday events. One of these included an inaugural Scout competition which we hope to repeat and attract more scouts in the future.
Membership: At the end of 2025 we have 103 members (including 10 juniors), up from 95 in 2024 of which 14 are new members. It is encouraging that we are growing in numbers and we need to focus on events that both attract new members and keep those we have in the sport and provide opportunities to improve.
At the end of 2024 the committee conducted a survey about what events the club should provide and we have tried to honour the survey results in setting fixtures and areas. We are looking for opportunities to run more training events, either standalone with Maroc or in conjunction with a weekend event. Please support these if you see them advertised.
Mapping: Our map stock has required an upgrade since the storms of 2021 and Ros has been making steady progress in updating old areas and adding new. In 2025 we have completed maps of Hazelhead (with approximately 50% funding help from SOA), Glen Dye (sponsored by the 6 days) and Crathes will be remapped in the spring (with about 50% help from SOA). In 2026 we are looking to map part of Stonehaven (at our expense) for use in urban events and possibly a SOUL. As you can hear, the committee has been busy applying for grants and squeezing money from various sources, including £1500 towards the cost of the 2022 Glen Dye update for the Scottish champs that year. We have also had support from SOA in running a beginners session in Hazlehead and a 1 day coaching course.
Ros has also been busy upgrading our POCs and planning a new one. We are working with Duthie Park rangers on upgrading the POC there (with hopefully 50% funding from the Friends of Duthie Park) and planning a new course at Hazlehead (with the help of a £300 grant obtained from the Aberdeen Health Improvement fund by the SOA on our behalf). We have also helped the scouts renew the Templars course.
Club Successes this year :
Despite being one of the smaller clubs in the UK, Gramp is currently ranked no 13 based on the performances of our members in major events. In the season long SOL series, David, Adrian and Neil won their classes. It was great to see so many members including new members at the Scottish champs on Barry Buddon where Adrian won his class and 6 others won medals. We had 5 teams competing in the Scottish relays again including some new members experiencing relays for the first time (and showing us old timers how its done). We had 2 teams at the British champs in the Lakes but our biggest success of the year was in the schools championships where Fergus was 1st in P7 boys, Hazlehead won the S2 Girls trophy (Joanna 2nd, Willow 3rd and Rowan 6th); Samantha came 3rd in S4 in the Scottish Schools. The British schools were in Scotland this year and Samantha won G12, Fergus was 7th in year 8 boys and the Hazlehead team of Joanna, Willow and Rowan won the G9 trophy. British champions! This success was due to the hard work Fiona & Zoe have put in at Hazlehead Academy where 7 pupils took part in the afterschool club and 14 came to the ‘Wellbeing Day’ session. As a result of their results, Joanna and Samantha are both in Scotjos and Samantha has been selected for the British Talent Squad.
What is there to look forward to in 2026?
The Scottish Nights is in Deeside followed by a Gramp regional event on Potarch in mid February. The Scottish middles and CSC heats are also in February on the Trossachs if anyone is looking for a challenge. This year the JK 4 day event comes to Scotland at Easter for the first time since 2012 which, like the 6 days, is a great opportunity to run in a big event. Our day to help is Friday at the Perth sprint so please come and help. Gramp are hosting a SOL event for the first time in a few years on Glen Dye on May 3rd. Paul is organising and Bob planning and would welcome help on the day.
I’d like to end by thanking everyone, in whatever capacity, who helped put on the wide range of events the club organised this year – it is only with this willingness to step forward that we get to run the events we do.
Thankyou.
Tim Griffin
Some of our 2025 Successes showing what a broad range of orienteering disciplines our members enjoy competing in:
Scottish O Champs
1st M50S Adrian Will
2nd M12A Fergus Gallagher, M70L Paul Duley
3rd M80 Neil McLean, W14A Jo McDonald, W45L Fiona McDonald, W55S Ros Nicholson
Scottish Relay Champs
Junior Total BOF Age 44-: 4th Maroc Stars incl Fergus Gallacher
17+ points class: 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
Scottish Orienteering League
1st M45S David Esson, M50S Adrian Will, M80 Neil McLean
2nd M50S Julian Robinson
Scottish Urban Orienteering League
6th Womens Supervet Laura Farquharson
Scottish Middle Champs
3rd M12 Fergus Gallacher
5th W Vet Fiona McDonald
6th W16 Sam McDonald, M Supervet Tim Griffin
8th W Ultravet Oonagh Grassie
British Night Champs
2nd M45S David Esson
Scottish Night Champs
1st Open 4 David Esson
Full colour-coded event in conjunction with the Scottish Night Orienteering Championships held the evening before by our neighbours Mar Orienteering Club.
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2026/Potarch
RouteGadget
Many thanks to Ian (Planner) and Alan (Controller) for putting on a great standard of courses today. Heard many very favourable comments at Download.
Many thanks go to our Neighbours Mar Orienteering Club for graciously loaning us their area to allow us to put on the event.
Officials
Planner: Ian Hamilton
Organiser: David Esson
Controller: Alan Bennett
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2026/HHH2026
Final results with bonuses added into the mix
RouteGadget remember that some folk had a golf style handicap applied which meant they didn’t have to visit as many controls to figure out the answer
Many thanks to Sam & Fiona for planning a great themed event and to Matthew/Gavin/Bob/Dennis & Tim for collecting the controls afterwards
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!
We’re excited to let you know that the second instalment of SOA’s Adult Beginner Workshop will be going ahead on 29th March at Hazlehead, led by local orienteer Katja Neumann.
Date: 29th March
Location: Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen
Duration: 10:00 to 16:00
Age: 16+
Cost: £30 – book & pay via Eventbrite by scanning QR code below or searching “Orienteering for Adult Beginners” in the Eventbrite app.
For more info, scan the QR code below or contact louise@scottish-orienteering.org
GRAMPS – please help us spread the word by forwarding a link for this post to friends/family/colleagues/clubs or downloading the flyer to display somewhere.
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2026/DNCElrick/
https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#343
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.
Insurance – Participants who are not members of either British Orienteering or Scottish Orienteering are not covered by their respective public liability insurance. By entering this event, you acknowledge that you are taking part at your own risk. For example, if you were to accidentally injure a member of the public or damage property during the event, you would not be covered.
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2026/DNCHaddo
https://www.gramp.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#340
Many thanks to Rachel for planning great courses, and to Pete/Ros/Hugh/Dennis& Samantha for helping collect controls
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. (There was a ‘Road Closed’ sign at this junction 16th Jan and if still there follow diversion signs via 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. Ditto icy patches. 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.
Insurance – Participants who are not members of either British Orienteering or Scottish Orienteering are not covered by their respective public liability insurance. By entering this event, you acknowledge that you are taking part at your own risk. For example, if you were to accidentally injure a member of the public or damage property during the event, you would not be covered.
Due to the ongoing adverse weather and the ground conditions, we are having to cancel Wednesday’s event at Dunnottar. Apologies to all
Parking: Southern car park just off the A92.
Post code / grid reference:
AB39 3XX, NO863843
W3W: delusions.symphony.reported
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.
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.
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.
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:
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 –
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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:
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!
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.
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 |
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Many thanks to Sam P for planning and to Bob, David and the McDonalds for helping collect controls.
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!)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Results
RouteGadget to follow soon hopefully
Many thanks to Dennis for planning and to Hugh/Ros/Bob/Fiona & Samantha for helping collect controls.
Results. https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2025/FSDunnottar/
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.
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.
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.
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 Men | Junior Women |
| 1st Fergus Gallagher | 1st Samantha McDonald |
| 2nd Cato Stockton | 2nd Joanna McDonald |
| 3rd Hannah Will | |
| Senior Men | Senior Women |
| 1st Ian Morrison | |
| 2nd Matthew Thompson | |
| 3rd Matthew Humphries | |
| Veteran Men | Veteran Women |
| 1st Julian Robinson | 1st Fiona McDonald |
| 2nd Adrian Will | 2nd Claire Gallagher |
| 3rd David Esson | 3rd Sarah Wallace |
| Super Veteran Men | Super Veteran Women |
| 1st Ian Hamilton | 1st Oonagh Grassie |
| 2nd Neil McLean | 2nd Laura Farquharson |
| 3rd Bob Daly | 3rd 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
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.
Many thanks to Ian for planning and to Jakub, Tim & David for helping Ian collect in the controls.
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.)
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.
GRAMPIAN ORIENTEERS