Duthie Park & Ferryhill Results 3-9-14 Autumn Urban Sprint

A big thank you to the Essons’ combined efforts to successfully kick start the 2014 Autumn Urban Series at DP&F last Wednesday.

Comments from George:
David Kirk had a failed brikke, Norman Liley & Naomi Lang estimated time for first leg as Start control did not register, and our David did it on his bike.
Evgueni ran before Start & Finish controls arrived (thanks to him for phoning Rob to bring them down) and timed at approx 25 mins – he will be awarded points based on that even though his name doesn’t appear on the attached results.
Aileen Ong, a beginner, did the park section only correctly – unlike, it appears, her other half Alex!”

Next up is Westburn and Victoria Parks with some cunning planning from Pete to pack 3km into that tiny area. You won’t know which way is up or down, never mind east or west by the time you’ve finished, but a whole lot of fun is definitely guaranteed!!

Duthie Park and Ferryhill Autumn Urban Sprint Results 3-9-14.pdf
Duthie Park and Ferryhill Autumn Urban Sprint Splits 3-9-14.pdf

 

ScotJos triumphant in the Ward Junior Home Internationals 2014!!

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/scotjos/ward-junior-home-internationals-2014

imageI like the description of Sasha’s contribution in the relays …

“Sasha then showed just why he is British no. 1 by coming home in the lead a full 15 minutes clear of his nearest rival.”

Helen R

Glen Dye – 31st August 2014 – Results

I hope you enjoyed a lovely warm sunny day in Deeside at Glen Dye.  The temperature was 19deg by the time courses closed, and even the midges had gone away to have a siesta.

Here are results and splits:

Final Results

Final Splits

Winsplits

Routegadget

Balgownie SOUL7 – 30th Aug 2014 – Results

Here are the final class results and course split times for SOUL7, sponsored by bto.

Results

Splits

Winsplits

Routegadget

SOUL Series 2014 Results

We would very much like to thank bto Solicitors for their continued sponsorship of the Scottish Orienteering Urban League in 2014.

We hope you enjoyed your run today, and also the technological enhancements on show – the live screen results display!  We were also trialling a new wi-fi live results system for those with smartphones and tabets.  This worked well for Android devices, but less well for iPhones or Windows Mobiles – for which we apologise.  We’ll continue to develop our wi-fi results system and hope to use it at future local events.

Templars Park – Wed 27th – Results

photo 4Results

We can’t claim sole credit for the idea – I remember a similar version (without the Linear part) being put on by our Pres some years ago.

With any new format, it’s tricky to know how people will pick up the idea. Unfortunately some people thought that the Invisible Score controls could be picked up along the way, whilst doing the Linear part. As long as people completed the Linear part, no one is marked as DNF, but extra controls they got during the Linear Part were not counted. We enjoyed putting it on. I’m going to do a very normal Sprint Course for my Hillhead & Seaton event! Dave
There are some photos taken at Templars over on our Flickr site – last 5 come courtesy of David Esson’s phone and this is one of them. (My camera has a dial on the side for different modes and I nudged it onto something that made them all very dark. Managed to salvage enough to make it worth publishing but some of them have had a bit of artistic licence applied.)

Want to know where all 28 controls where?
Read ’em and weep…. All Controls Map

Junior Attendance Awards were duly awarded although it was difficult to get some of the “Juniors” to stop toasting marshmallows long enough to accept their chocs and certs.

As we haven’t been counting points at all this year, we decided to give out prizes for various more lighthearted categories.

Most amazing thing found/heard/seen while out on your course:
Bil Caffyn found a legible map in the heather at Cheyne Hill for last year’s course
Most easily distracted: Helen Rowlands for playing on the aerial runway at Haddo
Earliest Bird Award: Phil Campbell – always first to arrive and run
Muddiest: Joel Gooch at Scolty
Most dedicated and determined (aka Value For Money): Sheena Farqhar
Best dressed picnic table: Lynsey and George Esson
Most improved: Paul Caffyn
Most SS 2014 events attended: David Esson

(If your name’s on the list and you weren’t there to collect then ask at the next event you go to and we’ll make arrangements to get it to you.)

Don’t forget that next Wednesday sees the start of the Autumn Urban Sprints

Bennachie SS 20/08/14 Results

Despite the midges and light rain coming and going ,I have rarely seen so many smiling faces at the end of a tough orienteering event. It makes the job of planning so much more pleasant. Thanks to Helen A for her condes skills and to David Kirk, Lachlan and Paul ,and Helen R and Keith for help in taking in the controls. I ran out of Short Tech maps and David K ran a curtailed Long in a good time. Thanks for coming.

Results

Neil McLean

Perwinnes SS 13/8/14 Results

Many thanks to Ian H for stepping in to run the Perwinnes Moss event, especially on such a soggy day. Well done to all those that made it.

Results

Two more Summer Series events – Bennachie and Templars (with BBQ) – last chances for juniors to upgrade their attendance award and for everyone to get some training in before the big weekend of Balgownie Urban SOUL7 and Glen Dye colour coded on 30 and 31 August. Get you entries in and please consider if you can offer the organisers/planners any support running the events, just an hour or so manning a post before or after you run makes a huge difference to the overall work load. No previous experience necessary. All sort of jobs going: helping set up (signs, tents etc), registration, meet and greet, download, road marshalls, parking marshalls, packing up, collecting controls … and more!

Other Gramp events coming up soon (that also require volunteers!):
Autumn Urban League 3 September – 1st October
Tyrebagger level C on Sunday 21 September
Street O round 2 – 8th October to 12 November
‘Race the sand castles’ at Forvie on Sunday 19th October
… and onto the Deeside Night Cup with Maroc
Don’t forget the AGM on Saturday 6th Dec and Xmas Novelty event on the Sunday.

Phew!

Autumn Urban Sprint Series 2014

Wed 3rd Sept   –  Duthie Park and Ferryhill  Results   Splits
Wed 10th Sept –  Westburn Park   Results   Splits
Wed 17th Sept –  Balgownie  Results   Splits
Wed 24th Sept –  Seaton Park and Hillhead  Results Splits
Wed 1st Oct     –   Aberdeen Uni Kings Campus   Results  Splits

Bbest 3 scores out of the series of 5 count for your total. Organisers do especially well as recognition of their efforts BTW so volunteer for next year now!!

Overall points 2014 (best 3 of 5 to count)
Overall points 2014 by category

Congratulations to the category winners:
WU16  Naomi Lang  MU16  Lachlan Kirk
WJ  Jennifer Ricketts MAROC   MJ  Jack Gomersall and Angel Iliev AUOC
WS  Shona Thompson and Hazel Wright MAROC  MS Mark Stockton
WV  Rachel Scott   MV  Pete Lawrence (fix! fix! I hear you cry!)
WSV  Fiona, June, Fiona  MSV Stefan Stasiuk (unless Rob claims a better enough time?)
WUV Sheena Farquhar
MUV  George Esson (to show that organising pays dividends – hint, hint for 2015)
Bike  David Esson
Best Newcomers (to the O scene not just Aberdeen) Melanie Costes AUOC and Jeremy Huthwaite

Prizes will be presented at the AGM or got to you somehow, somewhen, somewhere.

 

Scolty SS 30/7/14 Results

Better late than never…  Results

(I enjoyed my run round Scolty but couldn’t help feeling there was something missing from Paul’s courses…..? Something to cool the feet and keep the midges off if applied liberally….? Boggy bits, that’s it, boggy bits!)

Summer Series Junior Attendance Awards
The more events you attend, the higher the award you’ll get. 3 for Bronze, 6 for Silver, 10 for Gold.
The scores on the doors so far after Mulloch…

Bronze
Helena Coman, Jack Gomersall, Alex Lang, Madeleine Oxley, Jennifer Ricketts, Duncan Will, Joseph Wright

Silver
Ailsa Anderson, Isobel Anderson, Olivia Coman, Josie Gomersall, Patrick Lang, Abigail Mason, Calum McLeod, Keith Yardley

Gold
Paul Caffyn, Lachlan Kirk, Naomi Lang, Katrina McLeod

Mulloch SS 6/8/14 Results

Thanks to Helen R and Adrian for plugging the gap in the organisers’ rota for Mulloch between them. Shame a few more folk didn’t make it across to Deeside as despite the weather forecasts it wasn’t such a wet evening in the end (and when it did rain it was warm rain.)
Results

In case you’re wondering, I still haven’t had any results for Scolty from Paul Duley yet but I do know that he was down to the Lakes 5 Days immediately after the event to do battle with Rob Hickling in M60 so maybe he’s still recovering from that. Rob came 6th and Paul 8th overall in a large and very competitive field so they must be quite pleased with themselves.

Several other club members made the trek including a fleeting appearance from the Guys on Day 1 plus Keith Y M14A 25th, Gareth Y M45L 20th, Iain McL M50S 14th, Bob Daly M55L 4th, Helen R W45L 19th, Carolyn McL W50L 6th, Anne Hickling and Anne Hoy W55S 3rd and 10th, Richard Oxlade M55S 35th.

 

Successful debut for Sasha representing GBR at JWOC 2014

Yes, this is a bit late after the event but we’d hoped that maybe ScotJOS had been secretly engaging in some media training and if we hung on we might have heard all about it from Sasha himself.
He’s obviously still recovering though judging by the lack of a willowy figure flitting round Scolty last night unfeasibly fast (although Joe Wright is fast filling that slot – watch out behind you Sasha!)

So the bare facts will have to do and they are rather impressive:
65th of 161 in the Sprint
45th of 163 in the Long*
17th of 60 in the Middle
16th 0f 54 in the Relay A team

*I think one of the Nopesport pundits was talking about Sasha when they said:”Just had a chance to catchup… some fantastic results today, serious strength in depth from the girls, bodes well for the two girls relay teams, and possibly the best ever GB performance from a first year 18?”

The BOF website echoes this sentiment too so it only remains for GRAMPs to add their congratulations. Make sure you shake his hand next time you see him at a Summer Series – it could be your claim to fame in a few years time!!

PS As if the above weren’t proof enough of his talent, according to the latest issue of CompassSport Sasha is now 7th overall and 1st Junior in the BOF Rankings (and beating Oleg!)

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Tollohill SS 23/7/14 Results

George tells me it was a pleasant evening, without the oppressive heat some people had suffered. Sunshine would have been nice but you can’t have everything!

Results attached with an explanation of the Score-like twist. Did it focus the mind and make folk run a bit faster than normal I wonder?

Congrats to those whippets who managed all of their course within the time allowed.

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TOLLOHILL SS 23-07-14 RESULTS.pdf

A real sockwringer @ Haddo House 16/7/14 – Results

CIMG1689rThanks to the 20 brave souls who raced around the grounds of Haddo Country Park during an electrical storm.  Calum McLeod was so quick he didn’t get wet, everyone else was drookit.  George was pleased that a well-timed lightning flash illuminated his map in gloomy conditions!
Typically it was bright sun by the time we were collecting the controls.
Helen A     Results

Are you a cup half empty or cup half full sort of orienteer when it rains?
This bunch couldn’t make their minds up. Click to enlarge.

CIMG1685rCIMG1687r

 

PS Don’t forget BBC2 Adventure Show featuring an intro to O in the context of WOC2015 is available on iPlayer until Tues 22nd.

Two Gramp Juniors get their first taste of a mountain marathon

Lachlan Kirk and Keith Yardley spent their weekend having a go at a mountain marathon, generally the preserve of adults. The Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon has a class called ‘Bedafell’ specifically  for parent and child, where the child is aged 14-18. Lachlan did it with his dad and got a fantastic third place. Keith and his mum came 17th (28 in class).

For those who know the Lakes, the event was in the Helvellyn area. A tough Day 1 course took them up Deepdale, over a 700m col, all the way back down Grisedale almost to Ullswater before going across Glenridding, up and over Raise to Helvellyn and then descending to Thirlmere. Day 2 started with steep ascent up Fairfield, over Hart Crag, into Deepdale, back up the first col, along St Sunday Crag before descending back into Deepdale for a very well deserved Cumberland Sausage dinner.

Well done guys!

The course was the same as a ‘normal class’ called Wansfell, where Lachlan and dad would have beaten the winners and Keith and mum would have come 28th (ish) of about 100 entries. Really well done guys!

At the other end of the courses, Gareth Yardley and Dave Thompson entered the elite solo class called ‘Klets’ and came 4th and 14th respectively (or 2nd and 6th Vets if you prefer). Great work all round.

Glen Dye SS 9/7/14 Results

Results from last night hot off the press for you.

If you weren’t there you missed a beautiful evening, scampering up and down blaeberry studded slopes and paddling through crystal clear burns, trying to spot the next control silhouetted in the shafts of sunlight streaming between the pines. It really was idyllic – just wish we could bottle it somehow and hand out samples to all those treadmill junkies back in Aberdeen to lure them outside with us.

Thanks to Alex and his assistant, Aileen, for doing the honours with Condes/controls/clipboard and not least putting up with the flies in the car park which were the only downside to the evening.

Glendye SS 9-7-14 results.pdf

I’ve uploaded more photos to the Flickr site as well. I must have run through a wormhole in the space-time continuum at one point as my camera suddenly went retro and produced antique looking photos all fuzzy and scratched and even with 35mm sprocket holes in some cases. Very weird!

Street O

street oDue to very low turnout at the previous set of Street O events we’ve decided that maybe it’s just not what the average GRAMP member is after and so we haven’t organised anything this autumn.

If you want to have a go at something yourself then some of the maps from the first and second series are still available for you to print off and run when convenient. Street O maps.
Or you could try making your own route to spice up your training runs by having a play around on http://oomap.co.uk/, all the brainchild of Oli O’Brien of SLOW.

First aiders practising their TLC

Five club members have just completed a first aid for sport course. Here’s an action shot from the training day just begging for a caption competition – leave us a comment if you have any ideas! But seriously, thanks to Laura, Helen, Carolyn, Ewen and Adrian for putting themselves forward for this important but unsung role in running events. Here’s hoping you don’t have to put your training into practice too often.
(Just in case you’re wondering, the 6th person is John Mason from Maroc.)

Balmedie Summer Series and Grampian Adventure Challenge results

BALMEDIE  Results

At last the sun was shining on a Wednesday evening! Some highlights and apologies from Balmedie!

– Apologies to those who turned away when they saw all the cars. The beavers, cubs and their parents had turned up for a beach party, but fortunately did not want the BBQ!

– Opening the padlocked BBQ so we didn’t have to wait for dinner, though thanks to Helen who tracked down the number to the lock.

– Apologies to all on the Easy and Medium courses who were confused by some wrong control numbers; but well done for working out the controller had got it wrong and not yourselves.

– The teams in the Grampian Adventure Challenge who were completing the final in the series.

– Apologies to the runner who thought he was doing a Short Tech only to discover at the finish he had run a Long Tech!

Here are some photos – hope I didn’t put too many of you off lurking in the dunes camera at the ready but it’s high time for some fresh material on our Flickr site. If anyone feels like having an entertaining and very sociable run hunting down their fellow orienteers or wants to explore their camera’s capabilities then feel free to have a go yourself and send me the results.  Rachel

 

GRAMPIAN ADVENTURE CHALLENGE   Final results

Well done to all the runners in the three teams who entered the first Grampian Adventure challenge. The winning team were Maersk with Genesis second closely followed by Fugro. For their performance Maersk take home the Grampian Bonsai as a reminder of all those forests they have been running through over the past few weeks. Look after it! The winning male and female were both members of Gramp (they knew what they were doing!) and the first non-orienteers were Craig Burry and Claire Anderson.

Over the series we had a total of 27 competitors who ran 98 times. Conditions were mixed with the mist of Balmedie during the training event, the rain, damp and quarry of Foggieton and the nettles of Dunottar. For the last two events at Crathes and Balmedie summer finally arrived.

If you want to continue your orienteering you are welcome to come along to all the events which run every Wednesday through the summer, continue in the Autumn with the urban series and if that’s not enough the night series over the winter. We hope to see you in the woods!

Cheers

John L.

NB Next Wednesday (July 2nd) it’s Kingshill. We have been told not to use the Rotten O’ Gairn car park so we will have to park in the Countesswells carpark instead.
This will mean a 15 minute walk to the start, but the quality of the fabulous orienteering at Kingshill will compensate for this!

GRAMPs in print

CompassSport mag has a behind the technical scenes exposé of how Ali Robertson created his fiendish E-W reversed map for the HHH this year. Sounds like he bashed his brain to create the map far more than we had to bash ours trying to use it. (Are we sympathetic?)

In SCORE, Neil McLean waxes lyrical about the march of time and how you can find your own level of competition regardless of official age class.

And in a multipage article in the Scots Magazine, GJO Morvern Farqhuarson is pictured just setting off at one of the 6 Days events last year with Ewen Rennie and Alison Lovie lined up in the start boxes behind. The article was written by one of SOA’s new patrons, Cameron McNeish, and although he says he was surprised to be invited to become a patron it looks like he’s warming to his new role. (Wonder if he can pull some strings with the Adventure Show for WOC coverage next year?)

Jamie Stevenson Trophy 2014

P1020371rPhotos from Carolyn now on Flickr – more to follow.

Overall position 5th at the Jamie Stevenson Trophy today. WELL DONE to you all for taking part.

I thought you all competed very well despite the mud and drizzle!
You had great team spirit especially when you stayed by the finish to cheer everyone in. Definitely a credit to Gramp. I was very proud of you all and very much enjoyed the day. Well done to our two podium positions: Naomi Lang, 2nd on Light Green and Calum McLeod 2nd on Green.

Finally on behalf of everyone I would like to say a big thank to Evgueni for driving the minibus once again.

Carolyn

There are some cracking photos of some of the GJOs, mud-caked but still smiling (mainly!), on ActivNorth’s website aka Chris Spencer of Scottish 6 Day photo fame. I’ve asked if we can purchase some for our archives even though his cart isn’t set up for business just at present.
Anybody got any other homegrown photos to share? Send Rachel the link or files please to  webmaster@grampoc.com.

 

If you want to see the full results and who scored what, check here.

BTW – the latest (JD)2C points are up now after the Glen Fearder event. Click here for those.

Rachel

Dunnottar 11/6/14 – Results

I hope everyone enjoyed Dunnottar last week, not too muddy or slippy and the nettles weren’t so bad if you thought about all the Peacock butterflies they are supporting. Did anybody stop for a bit of bodging? I liked their smoky-wood-shavings-midge-repellent idea (is that what it was for?).

Here are the finalised results (thanks for your patience), with 2 or 3 small changes and one corrected time (for Craig C.)
Dunnottar Results 11June2014.

How will they impact the Grampian Adventure Challenge results? Although most of the weekend’s LAMM particpants were out zooming round, one Maersk member that has been getting them a few points at previous events was absent (tired legs? scared of nettles?).

Gramps at the LAMM

Congratulations to all those Gramps recovering from the weekend’s exertions at the LAMM in Strathcarron … LAMM Team Gomersall

A class: Tim Gomersall & Ryan McHenry 3rd
C class: Jack Gomersall & Anna Wells 2nd
D class: Sam & Lesley Gomersall 2nd
Elite class: Dave Thomson & Gareth Yardley 1st Vets (of those that didn’t podium)

And other names spotted in the lists… Ian Hamilton, Dave and Liz Kirk (any others? No club filter to help the search so leave a comment).

Tempted at having a go at a mountain marathon? How about Gramp’s own GMC in November? If you need a lightweight rucsac perhaps ask the Gomersalls, they may have some going spare …LAMM Vets

 

Foggieton Summer Series – 4/6/2014 Results

Well done to all those who braved the wild wet woods of Foggieton last Wednesday. Hands up who knew how big that hidden quarry was before hand!

Results

Next event at Dunnottar Woods, Stonehaven

Hazelhead Summer Series 28/5/14 Results

Results

Well, that was a blast of fun thanks to Iain McLeod’s cunning use of two maps at different scales to keep us on our toes. What’s the verdict on Doug’s new map? Makes the old campsite area feel quite different at that scale?

And hands up who got tricked into running across that nice open field on the way to number 2 on ST and LT courses only to find themselves trapped by high fences and gate?
At least one Junior squeezed under the gate pretty easily…  and one Senior was game enough to admit trying to follow suit and getting stuck. They must have been having visions of having to wait a few days with no food like Winnie the Pooh when he got stuck in Rabbit’s front door.

“So daily and nightly
The Pooh’s been shrinking slightly
And mind over matter
Will make the Pooh unfatter.”

Lyrics from ‘Songs from Walt Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and other children’s favourites’ Vinyl LP 1966
I’ll lend it to you if you want to hear the whole thing (and still have the technology to play it). They don’t write ’em like that anymore.

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2014 Scottish Orienteering Champions

Not many Gramps went down for this year’s Scottish Champs but a high percentage of those who did made their mark and either won their age class or got onto the podium for the top three. We even managed to field three relay teams who did well too. Obviously the cream of the Gramp crop this year – well done guys!

W10B 1st Kirsty Farquharson
W10B 2nd Morven Farquharson
W20E 2nd Katrina McLeod (EUOC really but answers to Gramp still)
W50L 3rd Carolyn McLeod
W55S 1st Oonagh Grassie
W55S 3rd Anne Hoy
W65S 1st Margaret Aust
M18E 1st Sasha Chepelin
M35S 1st David Esson
M50S 1st Evgueni Chepelin
M50S 3rd Iain McLeod
M60L 1st Rob Hickling
M70L 1st Neil McLean

(With a couple of obvious exceptions it looks like our metier is the short course.
Maybe we should push for a Middle Championship to test my theory?)

Relays
Men Open Gramp One 4th
Alexander Chepelin/Jack Gomersall/Calum McLeod

Handicap 14+ Gramp Two 6th
Robert Daly/Lesley Gomersall/Adrian Will

Handicap 17+ Gramp Three 2nd
Robert Hickling/Carolyn McLeod/Evgueni Chepelin
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Grampian Mountain Challenge 2014 Glenshee 15th/16th Nov

GMC 2014 logoThanks to everyone for risking hell and high water just to get to the event never mind taking on the challenge of some of the longest and toughest GMC courses we’ve served up to date. Judging by the many “thank you”s as you left most of you seemed to relish it all (even if it was in a hair-shirty, glad-it’s-over kind of way!)

Day 1   Results by course   Splits   Winsplits
Day 2* Results by course   Splits   Winsplits
Overall results (updated 19/11)

Routegadget is now loaded – please enter your routes here!

*The C course on Day 2 suffered a missing control, swept away by the torrents coming off the hillsides on Friday we think, and after much debate we decided to simply remove that control from the course rather than void the long legs on either side which accounted for about 2/3 of the course.
The Stansfields’ brikke gradually stopped working on Day 2 as well but they started and finished very close to their main rivals, the Galloways, so were awarded an overall time which both parties agreed.

disaster on A course

 

Our Facebook page has already attracted comments and photos. Feel free to add to that or leave a comment here. Doesn’t have to be enthusiastic thanks (although we do like that!) as we need to know if anything major is bugging you so we can factor that in next time. If you don’t do Facebook you can send photos or links to webmaster@grampoc.com instead.

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Left: Disaster strikes on the A Course as leading pair discover maggots in their hillfood.

Photos from Ian Hamilton here.

 

Prizes were awarded as follows:
Overall Winners – A Tim Gomersall and Johannes Felter, B Sarah Dunn, C Ben and Dan Standsfield
1st Vet – A Mark Harris, B Grahame Nicoll, C George Patterson
1st Female/Mixed – A Ciara Largey, Sarah ONeil and Andrew Llewellyn, B Harriet Battan and Kirsty Coombs, C Sam Gomersall and Carolyn McLeod

And all Dads and Lads teams got a prize by way of encouraging the younger element of the orienteering and fell running scenes to take part in this kind of event (and maybe something else!) Some winners had already gone – we’ll get them to you somehow.

 

Summer Series 2014

  7th May      Countesswells*          Results
14th May      Tyrebagger*               Results
 21st May      Cheyne Hill                 Results   
28th May      Hazlehead*                 Results
  4th June     Foggieton*                  Results 
11th June     Dunnottar*                  Results
18th June     Crathes*                     Results 
25th June     Balmedie* + BBQ     Results
  2nd July      Kingshill                      Results               
9th July        Glen Dye                     Results
16th July      Haddo House             Results
23rd July      Tollo Hill                      Results
30th July      Scolty                          Results
6th Aug        Mulloch                       Results
13th Aug      Perwinnes Moss         Results
20th Aug       Bennachie                  Results
27th Aug      Templars Park + BBQ   Results   

 

Junior Attendance Awards
The more events you attend, the higher the award you’ll get. 3 for Bronze, 6 for Silver, 10 for Gold.
The scores on the doors so far after Perwinnes Moss…

Bronze
Helena Coman, Jack Gomersall, Alex Lang, Madeleine Oxley, Jennifer Ricketts, Duncan Will, Hannah Will, Joseph Wright

Silver
Ailsa Anderson, Isobel Anderson, Olivia Coman, Patrick Lang, Abigail Mason, Calum McLeod, Keith Yardley

Gold
Paul Caffyn, Josie Gomersall, Lachlan Kirk, Naomi Lang, Katrina McLeod
As we haven’t been counting points at all this year, we decided to give out prizes for various more lighthearted categories.

Most amazing thing found/heard/seen while out on your course:
Bil Caffyn found a legible map in the heather at Cheyne Hill for last year’s course
Most easily distracted: Helen Rowlands for playing on the aerial runway at Haddo
Earliest Bird Award: Phil Campbell – always first to arrive and run
Muddiest: Joel Gooch at Scolty
Most dedicated and determined (aka Value For Money): Sheena Farqhar
Best dressed picnic table: Lynsey and George Esson
Most improved: Paul Caffyn
Most SS 2014 events attended: David Esson

(If your name’s on the list and you weren’t there to collect then ask at the next event you go to and we’ll make arrangements to get it to you.)

 

have you got*This year, the Summer Series incorporated the Grampian Adventure Challenge for teams of 8 at the venues marked by an asterisk.
Check the GAC post for results and comments and contact email.

 

 

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Cheyne Hill Summer Series 21-5-14 Results

Results   If you spot any spelling mistakes then tell webmaster@grampoc.com please.

Congratulations to those who bit the bullet and tried out ‘The Technical Twist’ – a section of the course was printed without any background map so they had to rely on bearings and pacing to get to the next control. Although many pulled wry faces at Registration on being told this, the same faces were beaming with satisfaction at Download and said they enjoyed the challenge. (Maybe just too polite to tell Pete what they really thought?!)

At least we didn’t make you all do logic problems and puzzles on the way round like Team GE were doing. What”s the maximum number of pieces of pizza you can get if you make just 3 straight cuts? Hint – it’s a round pizza and the pieces don’t have to be equally sized and shaped. If you want to know the answer then catch them at Hazlehead next week! (PS Dave, what was the elephant puzzle?)

Lost property: map from last year’s event found up on the moor nestled in the heather.
A great recommendation for waterproof paper as it was still legible, if a bit mucky, but begs the question how did the loser manage to get back to base without it?

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Tyrebagger 14/5/14 Summer Series Results

Well done to all the brave souls who had a go at the Map Memory. It was quite testing, especially the long leg across the valley, and would have been made easier if you were familiar with the area but most of you were not!

We had 66 entries – a few more competitors than Countesswells but still quite low for a beautiful evening. Is there something else more enticing going on in Aberdeen on a Wednesday I wonder?
Or are lots of folk still working up their summer fitness levels before coming along to blast us all out of the water in June after we’ve worn ourselves out early?

Anyway, well done to everyone and especially the Grampian Adventure Challenge contenders as Tyrebagger is definitely a notch up from Countesswells in terms of complexity and hilliness.

Results attached. The GAC points tables will be posted asap.

Tyrebagger SS 14-5-14 results.pdf

Scolty Forest Sprint 9/5/14 Results

Plan a bog standard TD3 course I was told. So I did. And quite successfully judging by the state of many of you but the prize for overall coverage and gloopiness has to go to poor wee Joel Gooch who looked like a giant had picked him up and dunked him in chocolate custard up to his waist. (Maybe Roger can award consolation points? He’s threatening to get round to working out some scores this weekend BTW.)

Several adults were lured into a false sense of security watching Juniors skipping over the mud but discovered that an extra few pounds in weight makes all the difference when they tried to follow suit. But it seems that the WW1 style mud engendered a WW1 sort of camaraderie amongst competitors and David Esson would like to thank Ewan Musgrave for being kind enough to hang around watching him flounder to safety before dashing off.

In my defence, I’d just like to point out that route choice is supposed to be part of the game even at the micro level. And I’ve done my penance by having to run 3 quarantined brikkes under the tap when I got home which produced enough mud to nurture a small tattie plant or two and are now ponging gently in the kitchen.

The laptop battery died on me before I could download all finishers. Now connected to the mains I’ve done so and discovered a couple of typos but I think I’ve managed to match the correct brikke to everyone. If you think your result looks wrong then drop me an email on webmaster@grampoc.com (no trying to blag a few minutes off mind unless you can produce evidence!) Three folk used their own brikkes so I can’t give splits for you guys I’m afraid but I did write down your times so you appear in the overall results.

Congratulations to Dan Gooch for his flyer of a run to win Scolty within the 15 – 20 minute goal. Two more events to go at Sluie and Glen O’Dee – good luck everyone!

Rachel

Scolty Forest Sprint 9-5-2014 Splits.pdf
Scolty Forest Sprint 9-5-2014 Results.pdf

2bogmonstersPatricia Graham sent me this photo of 2 victims of the Scolty Bogmonster. It’s a bit blurry partly due to low light but probably more because she was laughing so much while she was taking it?

 

Overall scores post-Scolty

 

Grampian Adventure Challenge

Well done to all the runners in the three teams who entered the first Grampian Adventure challenge. The winning team were Maersk with Genesis second closely followed by Fugro. For their performance Maersk take home the Grampian Bonsai as a reminder of all those forests they have been running through over the past few weeks. Look after it! The winning male and female were both members of Gramp (they knew what they were doing!) and the first non-orienteers were Craig Burry and Claire Anderson.

IMG_8158mrOver the series we had a total of 27 competitors who ran 98 times. Conditions were mixed with the mist of Balmedie during the training event, the rain, damp and quarry of Foggieton and the nettles of Dunottar. For the last two events at Crathes and Balmedie summer finally arrived.
Genesis team pictured here but sadly we didn’t manage to catch the others – did you? Send us your photos if you have any please.

If you want to continue your orienteering you are welcome to come along to all the events which run every Wednesday through the summer, continue in the Autumn with the urban series and if that’s not enough the night series over the winter. We hope to see you in the woods!

Final results

Cheers

John L.

Email GAC@grampoc.com if you want to contact us.

 

A few Gramps spotted at Run Balmoral

As they will no doubt be too modest to tell you themselves and in case you don’t scrutinise the P&J…

Carolyn McLeod won the Women’s 10k race at Balmoral yesterday (21st overall) and Naomi won the Secondary Schools race and broke the course record by 15 seconds. Woohoo! Well done girls!
Sasha was the second senior male in the 5k (can just see his face over the Yellow Leader’s left shoulder in one of the photos) and Struan Kirk came 18th in the MPH Primary Boys 1.5k.

There may have been more of you but our ace sports reporters, Marianne and Naomi, didn’t spot you so apologies if that’s the case. A few photos attached, the 10k ones were taken by Naomi, and you can you just about spot Carolyn chasing/being chased by a pink tutu!

Thanks to Marianne for sending me the bones of this post and the photos. If anyone has any news on how the Highlander GRAMPs fared then let me know? Ta. R.

3 GRAMPS in podium places at JK2014

Putting her money (feet?) where her coaching mouth is, Anne came 3rd overall W55S at the JK down in Wales over the Easter W/e. Looks like she and Rob were also having a private Pre-O battle which resulted in a draw with one better result apiece. (There’s a rumour that Anne will be signing autographs at the next Training session at Tyrebagger.)

And Carolyn cruised to 3rd in the W50L Sprint (some of you may have seen the photo over on Facebook) and Sasha gained 2nd place in M18E. Congratulations, all!

Both Carolyn and Sasha missed a podium finish by one place in the overall Day 2 and Day 3 results which also deserves mention, as does the intrepid GRAMP One Relay team consisting of Sasha, Bob Daly and Kirsten Strain who had a crack at the JK Trophy and finished half way up the field. Most impressed with the GFI spirit, guys!

Crathes Level C – Sun 18th May Results

Final Results              BOF results incl ranking points
Final Splits                 Winsplits
Routegadget  (all roads lead to RG2 these days – see Nopesport for tips on getting this to work or how to alter the url to get back to RG1)

A big apology to all those who thought they’d EEEed via the form here on the website only to be told that the message hadn’t come through. I’ve discovered your entries quarantined in a spam trap on the website server but can’t figure out why the system should have taken against your particular messages as they contain nothing different from those that did get through.

Anyway, thanks for patiently filling in an EOD stub instead and thanks also to everyone for your patience and understanding when your download was delayed slightly while we tried to catch up with the stub entries. Thanks also to those Juniors who readily donated their Orange maps so that everyone could get a run, much appreciated.

What wasn’t appreciated was the arrogant tosser of a brikke in the general direction of download while stomping past in a huff due to his bad run. Many other folk mispunched or DNFed too but still took the time to wait and tell us and hand in their brikke in a civilised fashion. (Rant over!)

We had 127 entries in the end including some very keen Juniors who went round two courses and would have done more if Registration hadn’t closed. Well done guys! In case you’re wondering, your second runs are shown as nc or non-competitive as you had already been out into the competition area.

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Mulloch Forest Sprint – Friday 25th April

Hope you all enjoyed your run, the haar adding that bit of special Grampian atmosphere (seemed particulary keen on hanging round people’s glasses).

Results      Splits

Balmedie Middle Distance Event – 13 April 2014 Results

Lovely day out at Balmedie with a very good turnout.

I hope the dog enjoyed nicking Paul’s sandwiches!  … hard luck Paul, but some consolation in winning the Green!

Results

Splits

Officials
Planner : Neil McLean
Day Planner : Alex MacLachlan
Controller : Chris Lowe (Maroc)
Organiser : Helen Anderson

 

Tollohill Forest Sprint – 11th April 2014

What a pleasant evening for the first Forest Sprint of the series of 6 races throughout Deeside this year.  The views from the hill over Aberdeen harbour were great.  Here are the results and splits:

Results    Splits

Thanks to David for planning a smashing little course that avoided the nasty stuff in the north!

Crathes DNC – 26th Feb 2014 – Results

Here are the Results and Splits for the last DNC event of 2013/14 season.  Click here for Routegadget.

Congratulations to all those who took part and braved the damp dark forests and heaths (not much if any snow this year, thankfully). 36 of us enjoyed the post-series curry and prize-giving at Derbar’s in Banchory. See you next year.

2014 Forest Sprint Series Fridays

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

April
11th Tollohill GRAMP  Results Splits
18th No event – too busy eating Hot Cross Buns
25th Mulloch  GRAMP  Results Splits

May
2nd Bogendriep  MAROC  Results
9th Scolty  GRAMP    Results   Splits
16th Sluie  MAROC    Results Splits
23rd Glen O’Dee MAROC  Results

Overall scores post-Glen O’Dee now on the Maroc website.
Big congratulations to wor Alex Maclachlan for taking top spot from many keen and nippy Marocs!

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Scolty Level C Results 23/2/14

You were all obviously thinking it was time to get some spring exercise today, as we had 116 runners at Scolty.  Despite the less than perfect weather late morning….!  Those of you who took a long time on their runs, like me, saw the sun come out later on.

Here are Results  and  Splits  and BOF results showing ranking points.

Routegadget is loaded up here – please put up your routes!

Thanks very much to all our helpers and the officials, namely:

Planner: Gareth Yardley
Organiser: Adrian Will
Controller: John Mason MAROC

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Glen Dye DNC – 12 Feb 2014 – revised results

The weather turned wild and wet about 3pm, and it was raining as we left Aberdeen to drive up the valley. The rain held off for a little while about 6pm but returned an hour or so later, so we all got rather damp…

But Glen Dye is such a cracking area and wonderful to run in at night – as there is very little green veg to get in the way, and hardly any windblow in the part of the area we used.

Control 173 (no 6 on Long) was slightly misplaced into another depression 30m NE.  On reflection, we’ve decided to void leg 5-6 on the Long for DNC points calculation, so revised results are here:

Results and splits.        Routegadget is now set up – load up your routes!

A couple of runners on the short mispunched 173 for their control (174). The two controls were about 40m apart instead of 70m as intended. We’re feeling generous and have reinstated the people affected. But no precedent is being set by this! Please consider yourself reminded that it is very definitely the competitor’s responsibility to check the control code.

Time for a hot bath and mebbe a wee dram to warm the extremities.

Forvie DNC – 29 Jan 2014

A good, dry, night had by all. Everybody who went out came back (always a relief). Results linked below, routegadget to follow …

Helen

Simple Results Splits

Tyrebagger Score Event – Sunday 19th January

Here are the results for the Tyrebagger event held in rather damp conditions (to say the least):

Score Results and Points Calculation

White Course Results    White Course Splits

Congratulations to winners Luke Charles and Hannah Smith (tied on time on the White course), to Alex Maclachlan (SS), Peter Collins (JS solo) and Eilidh and Kirsty Campbell (JS pair).

Here are the chosen routes of the competitors who visited all their Score controls:

Junior Score Routes    Senior Score Routes

Here are possible optimal routes from the Planner:

JS Planners Route    SS Planners Route

Key decision points were:

Junior Score:  After S-105-224, it was tempting to go north to 230 and 103.  However this left the problem of control 139.  It’s best to go to 139 straight away after 224 (easy valley run).

Senior Score:  How best to fit 160 into the circuit?  I think it’s best to go 105-160-225 (or reverse).  It’s a very steep climb up from 223 or 138.  And how best to cover the eastern group of six?  Planner suggests130-222-150-131-140-227 (or reverse) could be quickest, or alternatively 130-131-140-227-150-222.

Special thanks to helpers (who got quite wet!) :-  Paul D., Anne H. and Jayne, and control collectors David E. and Adrian.  And thanks also to Paul and Evgueni for shortening their runs slightly, so that we could start collecting controls a wee bit earlier than planned, due to the heavy rain.

Organiser:  Anne Hickling,    Planner: Rob Hickling.

Balmedie DNC 15 Jan 2014 – Results

Well, the weather was mild (9°C) but there was wetness in the air which dampened the outsides (but not the spirits) of the 40 people who ran at Balmedie.  Tricky courses on a moonless night…  No 154 in particular was hard, and the prizes go to those who persevered (eh, Ali?).

Many thanks to Dennis McD for planning and organising (enjoy your 30 pts!) and control collectors (in the worst of the rain) David E, Simonas and Rob.

Results   Splits    Routegadget

P.S.  We’ve attempted to update Age Classes shown in the results for the new orienteering year.  If we’ve got it wrong, please email the correction to grampoc *at* gmail.com.

HHH 2014 Results

Did anyone’s head actually explode yesterday? Felt like mine was going to on several occasions as Ali’s novelty twist was truly evil (and to add insult to mental injury he seemed truly proud of it!!)

North was still North and South was still down (or was it up?), but East was left sometimes and right others and then the map seemed to fold back round on itself and by the time you’d gone up, left, unWest, down-rightish and run too far South-Up you were back where you started and still in the wrong place. If you tried reading through the back of your map held up against the weak sun or even turning your compass upside-North you stood a vague chance of running in the right direction!! Clear as mud? You had to be there.

HHHThanks to Ali, Adrian (who I noticed was fielding a lot of flak on download that should have gone Ali’s way!), Helen R and family (for soup and warmth afterwards), car pushers and anyone else who helped out.

HHH2014 – Results.pdf

GRAMP Championships 2013

GRAMP CHAMPS 2013 by age class.pdf
GRAMP CHAMPS 2013 by category.pdf
2013 Roll of Honour and Prizes.pdf

Christmas puzzle

If you get bored over the hols here’s a wee orienteering puzzle to keep you occupied.

Print out the AGM O Starter map which has Start, Finish and 3 controls already marked on it.
Using the info contained in the control descriptions and the given distances between some pairs of controls, see if you can recreate the complete course with a total length of 5km and all the controls in the right places. At the AGM we did this offline with the aid of a ruler to measure distances but you could ‘cheat’ and use Condes (which will take some time to set up and thus keep you occupied for even longer if you’re really, really bored!!)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

AGM O starter map.pdf
AGM O control descriptions and distance info.pdf

AGM O answer map.pdf

Raemoir DNC Results 18/12/13

Here are the confirmed results and splits.

Routegadget is now loaded – admit to your wanderings!

A good turnout of 41 considering the weather. Did anyone else hear ominously loud and alarmingly close thumping noises as large bits dropped off tall trees?

Raemoir DNC 18Dec13 Results     Raemoir DNC 18Dec13 Splits

2013 AGM roundup

For those of you unable to make it to the AGM on 7/12/13, here is a copy of the Chairman’s Report plus the 2013 Roll of Honour and GRAMP Champs final standings.

Helen Rowlands was also collecting names for 2014 events and has emailed you all with the list of events and officials so far. Please don’t be shy in grabbing something you fancy before anyone else does – help and guidance will be freely available for those who need it so don’t think just because you’ve never planned anything bigger than a Summer Series that you won’t be able to make the step up to a colour-coded.

Chairmans report 2013.pdf
GRAMP CHAMPS 2013 by age class.pdf
GRAMP CHAMPS 2013 by category.pdf
2013 Roll of Honour and Prizes.pdf

Balmedie Pre-Xmas O: Sun 8th Dec

Rob provided us with some devilish “Precision-Xmas” courses, with a strong “Pre-O” or “Trail-O” element (but not on any trails…).  Six of the controls on the long course were clusters of controls, and you had to pick the one that you thought was in the exact centre of the circle and fitted the control description most precisely.

A time penalty of 2 minutes was given for each incorrect punch at a clusters.

Control no 6 was vandalised  😦  so everyone’s splits from 5-6-7 have been deleted from the times.  That’s why you’re all faster than you thought.

Here are finalised results.  Well done to class winners Tim (and happy birthday on your 21st!), Ailsa and Stuart.

Balmedie Pre-Xmas-O Results   Balmedie Orange Results

Very well done to everyone for making an excellent try at picking the correct flags.  Overall the average success percentage was 57.6%, but top marks to Rachel for being 100% correct.

Special thanks to those who helped collect controls:  Ian, Gareth, Helen R, Helen A and Stuart.

Here are some notes on the special control clusters, and enlargements of the control sites showing the locations of all the controls in the cluster:

Control Cluster Notes      Site enlargements: Cluster AB  Cluster CD  Cluster EF