Happy Birthday to us!!!

CAKE!! 50 Years after Gramp was recognised by the SOA as an orienteering club in its own right, we’ll be celebrating with cake at Balmedie! It would be great to have at least 50 members there (we’ll count ex-members too!) and there will be spot prizes for some lucky competitors. Come and join in the celebrations.

Watch out for further celebration events and activities next year and if anyone has any ideas of ways to mark this milestone then please contact the committee asap via secretary@grampoc.com.

This is no ordinary tower….

Tucked away on the west side of our (extended) Seaton Park map is a small but venerable building currently on the At Risk register, the neglected Wallace Tower. Originally built in 1600’s it was moved and rebuilt stone by stone to make way for M&S in the 60’s.

Since then it’s struggled to find a role, apart from being a control site now and then, but there are plans afoot to refurb it and add a modern extension out the back to house a cafe-cum-community space. Tillydrone Community Development Trust have just approved plans from TINTO architects who will now submit them to Aberdeen Council.

Watch this space….

DNC Hazlehead Wed 9th Nov

Hazlehead is back… and not just in the park this time so using mostly the golf course area and some of the few wooded parts that have not been affected by the storms.  

Although traffic will be minimal if any, please take care at road crossings and note the under-16s should be accompanied to ensure their safety.    

Long course   5.1k  with 14 controls
Short Course  2.9 k  with 9 controls

Starts between 18:00 & 19:00
Courses close  20:00

Seniors £5, Students/Juniors £2.50 contactless payment preferred

Parking and registration in carpark on the bend just before the golf clubhouse.
what3words: coherent.waving.rides

SAFETY STUFF:
If you’re not yet TD5 (Green+) standard, find a clubmate who is to go round with.
Check forecasts and dress appropriately for the weather.
Carry a waterproof, a spare torch/battery and a phone for emergencies.

DNC starts 2nd Nov

The Deeside Night Cup kicks off at Banchory East (urban) this year, then runs most Wed evenings right through to February so plenty of chances to brush up your night O skills ready for the Scottish Champs which are going to be at Pannanich 25th Feb 2023.

GRAMP and MAROC take turns to host DNCs and details of each event will be posted on respective websites nearer each date. You’ll notice more urban and smaller areas have had to be used due to ongoing access problems following storm damage but it’ll make a fun change to the series and it’ll be interesting to see if it attracts a different set of runners and what folk think about the mix.

NOV
2 Banchory East MAROC
9 Hazlehead GRAMP Dennis McDonald
16 Banchory West MAROC
23 Foggieton AUOC Charlotte Horne
30 Aboyne MAROC
DEC
7 Dunnottar GRAMP Dave Kirk
14 Johnshaven MAROC
21 ???? ????

JAN
11 ???? MAROC
18 Elrick Hill GRAMP
25 ???? MAROC
FEB
1 Glen Dye GRAMP
15 Balmedie GRAMP
25 Pannanich Scottish Night Champs

Did you get your Gramp Gossip last week?

Zoe sent round the latest Gramp Gossip on 4th Sept packed with info on upcoming events, training, Gramp’s 50th birthday celebration plans for next year, Griffin call-ups to the Junior and Senior Home International squads plus news of a trial of a online post-run analysis initiative using Zoom:

Tuesday 27th September – Post run analysis of SOUL at Cooper Park and SOL on Anagach
Tuesday 4th October – Post run analysis of regional event at Crathes
Tuesday 11th October – Post run analysis of SOL on Creag Dubh

Did you get the Gramp Gossip email on 4th Sept? No?
Look out for the invites to the Zoom post-run sessions and if you don’t get one of those either please email webmaster@grampoc.com so we can check we have the correct email address for you.

Urban Sprint @ Seaton Park and Hillhead Student Village 31/8/22 Results

Beautiful sunny evening with great courses planned by Ros. Many thanks to Rob, Bob & Hugh for collecting controls and David for laptop duties.

Results
RouteGadget

Urban Sprint @ Aberdeen Uni 24/8/22 Results

Results from another fun course with plenty of route choices.
Routegadget

Thanks to Dennis for organising, David for ‘puting and results, and Aileen, Ros and Hugh.

Westhill 17th Aug 2022 Urban Sprint results

Here are the results for last night’s tour around Westhill courtesy of the Grassies.

Hope you’re all getting the Urban bug as there are two more events lined up for you, at Aberdeen Uni/Old Aberdeen and Seaton Park. Watch this space for details soon.
Westhill Results – 2022-08-17.pdf
Westhill Results – 2022-08-17.xls

New tree planting at Scotstown Moor aka Perwinnes Moss

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Scotstown Moor/ Perwinnes Moss is one of the more eclectic maps in Gramp’s portfolio with a little bit of everything – heathland, marsh, woodland and a SSSI.

There are plans being mooted to replace trees in the storm damaged area of woodland in the middle plus extend north and SW from that strip as part of the Council’s Climate Change Plan and will contribute towards a Net Zero and Climate Resilient City.

However, the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Local Group of the Scottish Wildlife Trust have misgivings about this scheme as, although tree planting is good idea in principal, the type of trees proposed and positioning in relation to the moor’s wetlands may impact the very particular biodiversity found there. You can find out more on their website.

If you have views on this project then ACC would like to hear them via a short questionnaire which includes questions on how you use the area as well as maps showing the proposed area affected and a suggestions box for anything else you’d like to see included in the revamp plans.

Click here for the survey. It’s open until Aug 22nd.

Urban Sprint @ Westhill 17/8/22

Next up, the Grassies are hosting us at Westhill.

One course 3.4km   Orange/Medium standard
with an option to shorten it to 3.3km
(That’s as the crow flies – actual distance covered in urban is about 1.5 times further and Donald tells me optimum route at Westhill is 5.1km)

MapRun so you’ll need a phone with MapRun 6 app loaded – see below for more info.
Paper maps will be provided, A4, 1:4,000

Registration: 17:30-ish to 18:40
Starts: 18:00 to 18:45
Courses close: 20:15
Fees: £5 Senior, £2.50 Junior/Student – contactless payment preferred
Please note that to comply with British Orienteering insurance requirements juniors under 16 should be accompanied by an adult.

Parking is at Elrick Primary School, Rowan Drive, Westhill.
what3words: verve.coconuts.magpie

Urban maps have some special symbols so make sure you know what’s Out of Bounds (olive green) or can’t be crossed (thick black lines) as it’s private property.
This mock up of an urban map explains Sprint (ISSOM) symbols in more detail.

MapRun 6 info
– download Maprun 6 onto your phone prior to coming if you don’t already have it
– enter your personal details (you will have to do it anyway before you start if you haven’t used the app before)
– under options and settings (select “Line” under event type – it just shows the leg line on the courses

SAFETY STUFF:
Urban O means you may have to cross roads and although speed limit is 30mph in Westhill there’s still potential for a serious collision so ca’ canny, look both ways and don’t risk it for the sake of a few seconds please. Also take care when running round blind corners so as not to flatten any unsuspecting locals and give dogs a wide berth.
Oh, and try not to grin too much while you’re having fun dashing round the urban ‘maze’ as your face will really ache the next day.

Cove Bay 10th Aug 2022 Urban Sprint results

Really enjoyable course planned by Eric, ably assisted by Alison. Thanks to Alison, Dennis and Sam for collecting controls.

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2022/Cove

Routegadget

Bob D almost a World Champion! JWOC 5th for Sam Griffin Mixed Relay Sprint Team

Bob Daly placed 6th in the M65 “A” final for the World Long Distance Champs in Puglia on Saturday – improving on the very good 13th place he got on Thursday in the Middle format. Well done, Bob!

And at JWOC in Portugal, Sam Griffin and his GB Teammates Rachel Duckworth, Jim Bailey and Iris MacMillan came 5th in the Mixed relay and also managed a run in the Sprints before the threat of forest fires meant the cancellation of Middle and Long Distance races.

Prize to the first person to spot him in the JWOC TV coverage (link half way down the BO report page) and tell us which part of the five and half hours of coverage to target!

Both events took place in scorchio wall-to-wall sunshine and hats off to anyone daft enough to even contemplate running round in that heat.

Loads of events happening on your doorstep soon…


– Autumn Sprints in August (bit earlier this year to avoid late starters running in the dark)
– then towards the end of the year we have bigger events planned at Crathes and Balmedie


Wednesday 10th Aug – Autumn Urban Cove
Wednesday 17th August – Autumn Urban Westhill
Wednesday 24th August – Autumn Urban Abz Uni
Wednesday 31st August – Autumn Urban Seaton Park

Sunday 2nd October – Full Colour Coded @Crathes (Possibly Middle distance)
Sunday 11th December – Full Colour Coded @Balmedie

SOL? SOUL? What’s all that about?

For the benefit of new members who keep seeing our posts urging you to enter SOLs and SOULs but aren’t sure what we’re on about….

SOL = Scottish Orienteering League (sponsored by CompassPoint)
– larger events – 350-400 runners on average
– a full range of courses to choose from including Black and Short Green/Blue/Brown
– better quality mapping and organisation with loos and often traders/food stalls
– online entry system and very little Entry On The Day
– your result earns you SOL ranking points and the chance to win trophies by age class

SOUL = Scottish Orienteering Urban League
– all as above but in an urban environment including parks, streets, estates, alleyways, waste ground
– usually 5 or 6 courses all TD3 or Orange standard where route choice is key to a successful run
– the chance to earn ranking points for the SOUL categories where age classes are grouped together

If you’ve not tried a big event yet why not give SOUL 5 at Grantown on Spey 25th Sept and/or SOUL 8 in Perth 18th Sept a go – almost on our doorstep, bound to be some friendly Gramp faces you know, and maybe even the chance to munch on some excellent baking in aid of ScotJOS, the national junior squad.

Balgownie 29th June Results

Below are the results from tonight’s event at Danestone. Many Thanks to Sam & Lesley for planning and to David for helping collect controls afterwards.

Good luck to Sam Griffin who is off in the next few weeks to Portugal to the Junior World Champs, and to David who is off to Italy for the World Masters Champs.

Short
1Hazel Nicholson w21 GRAMP         16.21
2Magnus Huthwaite +2 m3 GRAMP 28.32
3Margaret Aust w70 GRAMP             39.40

Medium
1Olivia Coman w20 GRAMP           29.18
2Ros Nicholson w55 GRAMP          34.26
3Lennon & Neil Atchison m10       59.23                                  GRAMP

Long
1Sam Griffin m18 GRAMP                   21.35
2Matthew Thompson m35 GRAMP  23.46
3Calum McLeod m21 GRAMP            27.08
4Hugh Nicholson m55 GRAMP           27.53
5Tim Griffin m55 GRAMP                    28.14
6Phil Campbell m35 GRAMP               32.19
7Dennis McDonald m55 GRAMP        34.10
8Bob Sheridan m55 MAROC               34.42
9Eddie Coman m55 GRAMP                38.52
10Iain McLeod m60 GRAMP              41.46
11David Esson m40 GRAMP              42.50

Balmedie 22nd June + BBQ Results

Many thanks to Neil for planning the event and to Ian/Farran/Sam & Lesley for helping collect controls.

Easy

1 Emily Arthur 31.08
2 George Esson 35.32

Short Tech

1 David Esson 30.06
2 Aileen Salway 31.25
3 Ros Nicholson 36.53 (cycled from Aberdeen)
4 Chris Aust 37.05
5 Samantha & Kailin 59.48
6 Lennon Atchison 76.23
7 Paul Atchison 76.28

Long Tech

1 Pete Lawrence 30.01
2 Gareth Yardley 31.18
3 Tim Griffin 32.29
4 Dennis McDonald 34.36
5 Sam Gomersall 37.36
6 Julian Robinson 37.43
7 Ian Hamilton 37.58
8 Phil Campbell 41.25
9 Lesley Gomersall 42.36
10 Mark Reid 46.04
11 Matthew Thompson 46.07
12 Michaela Kolistanikova46.56
13 Sarah Wallace 50.07
14 Farran McLean 50.32
15 Adrian Will 51.39
16 Rachel Scott 51.56 (kept stopping to admire the view until flushed out by Dennis)

And some yummy results came off the BBQ too. Lovely to be able to socialise without the aid of umbrellas for a change on such a cracking evening – couple of photos on our Facebook page.

Westburn & Victoria Parks Wed 15th Jun Results

Many thanks to Tim & Zoe for running the event on the night and to Sam Griffin our recently crowned British Sprint Champion who planned (lucky devil is in Majorca on a cycling holiday at moment!)

Thanks to Bob and Aileen for helping collect controls at the end and David Esson for computing.

Results

P.S. You’ll have noticed the website is getting a bit of a makeover to try and make it more mobile and user friendly. I was trying out new looks on my phone on the train home and accidentally pressed the ‘activate’ button prematurely and can’t go back to the previous theme as it’s no longer supported by WordPress. It was 12 years old! Watch out for more changes to come as I try to streamline the menu system and bring the homepage to life.

Foggieton Wed 9th Jun Results

Below are the results from tonights event at Foggieton.

Many thanks to George for helping put controls out, and Sam G, Zoe and Bob for helping collect the controls.

Easy
1 Logan Thompson 15.38
2 Emily Robertson 20.20
3 Sophie DePasquale 24.41
4 Helen Greenwood 25.22
5 Owen DePasquale 26.14
Short Tech
1 Olivia Coman 36.02
2 Ros Nicholson 41.09
3 Stuart Hall 43.50
4 Oli Robertson 68.06
5 Lennon Aitchson 68.53
Long Tech
1 Ewan Bennett 23.55
2 Sam Griffin 24.03
3 Calum McLeod 26.07
4 Jonas Newey 29.34
5 Ali Robertson 30.32
6 Gareth Yardley 32.01
7 Alan Bennett 32.47
8 Yann Newey 34.23
9 Hugh Nicholson 34.24
10 Dennis McDonald 37.02
11 Keith Yardley 38.03
12 Matthew Thompson 38.36
13 Rory Murray 40.44
14 Iain McLeod 41.14
15 Kate Robertson 41.38
16 Samantha McDonald 42.18
17 Paul Chapman 42.36
18 Ian Hamilton 42.50
19 Gary Morrison 42.54
20 Bob Daly 45.45
21 Julian Robinson 46.40
22 Sarah Wallace 48.36
23 Michaela Kolistanikova 53.21
24 Jonathan Smith 55.35
25 Eddy Coman 58.48
26 Phil Campbell 63.25
rtd Catriona Chapman (injured)
mp Lucie Hamplova mp

P.S. You’ll have noticed the website is getting a bit of a makeover to try and make it more mobile and user friendly. I was trying out new looks on my phone on the train home and accidentally pressed the ‘activate’ button prematurely and can’t go back to the previous theme as it’s no longer supported by WordPress. It was 12 years old! Watch out for more changes to come as I try to streamline the menu system and bring the homepage to life.

GRAMP successes at Scottish Champs 2022

No Champs this year but some great runs/results including:

1st
Pete Lawrence M55S
Helen Greenwood Yellow

2nd
Duncan Grassie M35L
Gary Morrison M55S
Chris Aust M70S
Neil McLean M75L
Gramp3 Mike Greenwood, Gary Morrison, Dennis McDonald Relay Class: 14+ points

3rd
Matthew Thomson M35L
Kevin Reynard M55S
Bob Daly M65L
Ros Nicholson W55S

4th
Samantha McDonald W12A

Priceless Class
The willing volunteers who not only ran but also helped out at Glen Dye and then still had energy left over to run round Sluie in the Relays too in some cases.
Did you see you all got a big thank you on Scottish Orienteering’s Facebook? #valueingvolunteers

Duthie Park & Ferryhill Wed 1st Jun Results

Sorry about the delay in posting results – too busy celebrating Saturday’s and Schools Championship results – oh, and Zoe’s first serious orienteering race in far too many years – and then work got in the way this morning.
Better late than never! Results

P.S. You’ll have noticed the website is getting a bit of a makeover to try and make it more mobile and user friendly. I was trying out new looks on my phone on the train home and accidentally pressed the ‘activate’ button prematurely and can’t go back to the previous theme as it’s no longer supported by WordPress. It was 12 years old! Watch out for more changes to come as I try to streamline the menu system and bring the homepage to life.

Scottish Championships 2022 Individual @ Glen Dye Results

Final Results
RouteGadget (done by course rather than age class so check your map)
BOF results (ranking points)

Big congrats to all the Champions for 2022 and the Gramp Team who made it all happen today.
And good luck to all those relaying at Sluie tomorrow.

18/5/22 Hazlehead Summer Series Results

Below are the results from tonight’s event at Hazlehead Park. Was a gorgeous evening, and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. Interestingly we have a few participants who had equal times. Not often we get that!

Many thanks to Tim and George for putting the controls out and Tim, Bob and George for collecting the controls.

Hazlehead Summer Series Results
Easy Course
1 Chris & Margaret Aust 27.59
Short Tech
1 Olivia Coman 18.05
2 Eddy Coman 22.05
3 Lennon Atchison 39.07
4 Emily Arthur 54.23
Long Tech
1 Dennis McDonald 20.16
1 Matthew Thompson 20.16
3 Ewan Bennett 20.25
4 Alan Bennett 21.34
4 Hugh Nicholson 21.34
6 Calum Mcleod 21.36
7 Yann Newey 22.41
8 Phil Campbell 25.02
9 Gareth Yardley 25.1
10 Rory Murray 25.17
11 Karen Maxwell 25.58
12 Julian Robinson 26.32
13 Lucie Hamplova 26.45
14 Gary Morrison 26.53
15 Bob Daly 28.07
16 Sarah Wallace 28.37
16 Samantha McDonald 28.37
18 Iain McLeod 29.09
19 Heidi Ross 29.38
20 Debbie Green 31.49
21 Rod Campbell 69.05

n/c Tim Griffin 22.55

Balmedie Wed 27th April Forest(not) Sprint Results


Results RouteGadget

Great evening at Balmedie. Many thanks to Tim for planning and Bob and Sam for helping collect controls and David for results service.

(P.S. Foggieton RouteGadget is up now too.)

Foggieton Forest Sprint 13th April Results


Results RouteGadget

A dry but chilly night saw old and new test their wits on the twists and turns of the many paths and linear features at Foggieton. Many thanks to David for all his IT wizardry, and to Gareth for helping with control collecting (and to those who also offered to help – always welcome!)

We have British Champions among us!

Well done to Sam Griffin and Jeremy Huthwaite, M18E and M50S respectively, for wins at Golden Valley & Cognor Wood down in Englandshire.

Click on the image below to link through to our Facebook page (and while you’re there Like it to get news like this as soon as our roving reporter posts.)

Sam Griffin on podium at British Champs 2022

Tollohill Wed 30th March Forest Sprint Results

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2022/FSTollohill
RouteGadget

Many thanks to Ros for planning a great wee course and to Hugh, Helen and Gareth for helping collect controls

DNC 2021-22 Final Results

Final results
This season’s DNC final event took place at Crathes with award winning courses from Ros who managed to weave everyone between all the wind blow and also scooped First Lady in the Mini DNC in the process.

Just look at all those extra pink crosses! Some are pre-existing felled areas but even so – Yikes!

About 30 other Gramps have been out enjoying the dark side on Wednesdays and three have a fully stamped-up loyalty card – Gary Morrison with 12 runs out of a possible 13, Ian Hamilton 13 and David Esson 14 (?! – incl planner’s points for the Dunnottar event cancelled due to Arwen damage.)
Big thanks go to our all our planners: Dennis McDonald, David Esson (also designated laptop driver), David Kirk, Murray Anderson, John Lang, Ros Nicholson and Julian Robinson (joint Course of the Year winner for Balmedie.)

DNC @ Crathes 16th Feb Results

Results
RouteGadget
(If you think folk took odd routes bear in mind the actual map used on the night was covered in pink crosses indicating felled/windblow patches.)

DNC Tyrebagger/Elrick Hill Wed 2nd Feb Results

Results for tonight’s Night O at Elrick Hill

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2022/Elrick
RouteGadget

Many thanks to Murray for planning it👍

AGM 2021 roundup, Gramp Champs (not) and other successes

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the AGM last December you missed the entertaining sight and sound of David struggling to contain his own bemusement at having to refer to his mum and dad as “Lindsey” and “George” for the purposes of his Chairman’s Report. (I know the feeling having been taught by my own mum a few times at primary school!)

Headlines from the report and AGM in general in no particular order:

  • we managed to put on ~30 events once Lockdown was lifted including a SOL in conjunction with the SHI Relays at Balmedie and the ever popular GMC at Lochnagar this time
  • after several years of gently decline membership rose by 20% (welcome everyone!)
  • we supplied 2 Controllers, 1 Planner and 1 Main Day Organiser for the Scottish 6 Days
  • some areas took a real battering in recent storms so we need to take stock – anyone able to note map corrections for area(s) near you? – but still planning to put on the Scottish Champs in Glen Dye May 2022
  • we’re looking for volunteers to adopt a Permanent O Course to carry out an annual audit/maintenance of markers/posts and also fill a few more of the vacant positions in those “backroom” roles that help the club function
  • Pete Lawrence thanked David Esson for his unstinting enthusiasm and hard work getting various events and series back up and running during a difficult year

Once again the Gramp Champs and (JD)2C was hit by lack of suitable events to make any rankings meaningful so the 2019 winners get to hold on to their trophies for another year. However, we had several success at national events:
SMC 2020 Morven Farquharson got Bronze, Neil McLean Silver and Sam Griffin Gold
SOC 2021 Neil McLean Silver
SSC 2021 George Esson Bronze
SOL 2021
Gold: Morven Farquharson, Lesley Gomersall, Dominykas Kardokas, David Esson and Gary Morrison
Silver: Joanna McDonald, Lachlan Kirk, Julian Robertson, Tim Griffin and Bob Daly
Bronze: Kirsty Farquharson and Sam Gomersall
JHI Relays Sam Griffin was part of the winning team
BNC David Esson

Musgrave Trophies were awarded to Paul Duley for his work as Event Coordinator for several years and 6 Days 2021 Day Organiser and Helen Rowlands for planning effectively two days of the 6 Days

Chairmans Quaich was jointly awarded to the main officials of GMC – Dave Kirk, Ian Hamilton and Sam Gomersall – for pulling off another great event in difficult conditions (just don’t mention the marquee)

Balmedie DNC Weds 5th Jan Results

Chilly but fantastic night at Balmedie tonight. Many thanks to Julian for planning, and Julian & David for collecting controls afterwards👍

Results
RouteGadget

Hogmanay Hangover Handicap 1st Jan 2022 @ Hazlehead

Many thanks to Team Esson for planning/’puting and Rachel, Helen and Pete for Control collecting.

Results and splits
Routegadget

Turns out we could have had some sort of social outdoors as it was so warm this morning. Plenty folk spotted picnicking in the park and also bumped into some old ex-Gramp friends, Gordon and Ruth, who confessed to feeling very nostalgic when they’d spotted the controls going out.

DNC Templars Park Wed 22nd Dec Results

Results and splits
RouteGadget not quite sure how crazy this is going to look but will be fun playing it back!!

Many thanks to Dave Kirk for the courses and to Lachlan and David E for helping collect controls.

British Night Champs Winner

Big congrats David Esson on winning M40S down in Englandshire last night, while Hugh Nicholson came 7th in a large M55 field. Looks like it would have been quite magical with a smattering of snow over Cleeve Hill.

DNC Tollohill Wed 24th Nov

Results and splits
RouteGadget

Thanks to David Esson for planning and Drew Tivendale for assistance in collecting afterwards. Looking at the spiders’ webs seems like the “wee tip” re checking numbers was a good one. Good luck to anyone trying to suss out a training run in the area by looking at Strava traces!!
And good luck to Ros and Hugh who are off down south for the British Night Champs in Gloucestershire this weekend.

DNC Hazlehead Wed 10th Nov Results

Fantastic nights orienteering at Hazlehead tonight. Great courses which caught a few people out planned by our W12 junior Samantha McDonald. Well done Samantha👍

Results are now available to view

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2021/DNCHazlehead

BOF results RouteGadget

Well done, Sam, and the ScotJos Team – JHI 2021 Relay Winners!

Scotland won the Boys JHI Relay by 2 seconds this weekend!
Congrats to James Hammond, Laurence Ward, Sam Griffin running in Team Scotland 1 and all the rest of the ScotJos crew on some other great performances too.
Individual results from the day before

Abz Uni Urban Sprint 29/9/21 Results

Thank you all for attending tonight’s event. Below is the link to the results.

Many thanks to Dave Kirk for putting on a fun challenging event.

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2021/OldAberdeenUrban

Westburn & Victoria Parks Urban Sprint 22/9/21 Results

Wow! Never seen the Westburn so burny as tonight or the grass so waterlogged. Almost needed a snorkel in parts. Thanks to Sam and Tim for doing the soggy honours tonight.

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2021/WestburnUrbanSprintResults

I also uploaded to RouteGadget to see what it would make of the voided section for the road crossing and seems to cope OK although if you look at the Splits it has dotted lines between 17 & 19 rather than 18.
As expected, those with older dibbers that cut out at 30 controls have dotted lines from 30 to the Finish.
Interestingly, all of us crawl from the last control to the Finish when replaying the race, regardless of dibber vintage. Don’t remember the water being that deep in the car park that we would have been reduced to wading carefully so no idea why!!

Is it mapped?

More evidence of urban developers having fun at Boca Raton, Florida. Built on top of old waterways so the black bits seen here would have to be mapped as blue and if you could persuade some residents to welcome soggy orienteers popping up at the back of their houses you could make hold (probably) the world’s first Come-and-Tri-It event.

Nothing to do with orienteering but… (part 2)

Remember the video with Foss and Erik and other members of the Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra summoning up their inner Picts at Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle?
Well, the ASO Zoomed with a southern counterpart, Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra based in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, for UK Make Music Day on June 21st and recorded ‘Entry of the Gladiators’, by Czech composer Julius Fučík. You’ll recognise it when you hear it as “that circus music” – click here for the video.

‘This collaboration is one positive thing to come out of lockdown – how else would two such geographically distanced orchestras ever get to meet, let alone play together? We’re looking forward to more enterprises with Phoenix, maybe even in the real world, not just the Zoom one!’
Foss Foster, tenor saxophone, Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra

ASO and PSO have been nominated for the Royal Philharmonic Society National Inspirations Award for this innovative non-professional musical hook-up, along with 5 other diverse groups from Orkneys down to Bristol. Please go to the RPS website to find out more and don’t forget to vote for ‘oor local SO’ by 11am on 30th Sept.

Westhill Urban Sprint 15/9/21 Results

Thanks to Oonagh and Donald for organising the Westhill leg of the series. Donald is so taken by the ease of making courses and timing etc that he’s going to introduce his DofE group to MapRun.

Results – not sure but I think the folk recorded as mispunches are self-declared rather than just failing to get a ping so I’ve kept their times in the mix for comparison and you can see that the whizz kids are back in town!

Some names don’t appear yet on the MapRun results so I’ve put together a quick guide on uploading results for you if you want to have a go (not compulsory, that’s why Oonagh was recording times manually.)

How to upload Check Sites results manually

SHI Relays and SOL Results Balmedie 4/9/21

Here are the results from todays event at Balmedie Beach.

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2021/SHIRelays2021

https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/GRAMP/2021/SOL2021Balmedie

Many thanks to all the Gramp helpers and in particular to Zoe Griffin ably assisted by Tim (Planner), Sarah Dunn (Controller), and Sam & Lesley Gomersall. (Organisers)

Routegadget  SOL and SHI Relays
BOF results & points (updated 13/9/21)

Templars 18/8/21 Results

Great night with a lovely BBQ afterwards enjoyed by everyone. Thanks to planner Tim Griffin and Scouts for use of the fire pits.

That wraps up our Summer Series. Great to see such big numbers turning out regularly and welcome to all the newcomers who have joined the club recently as a result.
There’ll now be a short intermission before we start the Urban Sprints at Cove on Wed 8th Sept. See you there?
Easy Splits.pdf
Medium Results.pdf
Easy Results.pdf
Long Tech Splits.pdf
Long Tech Results.pdf
Medium Splits.pdf
Short Tech Results.pdf
Short Tech Splits.pdf

Cove Urban Sprint 8/9/21 Results

Seems like everyone enjoyed themselves this evening even if one or two got fooled by incoming texts or emails making them think they had hit a control when they heard a ping. Others said they couldn’t hear the pings very well at all but we’re reliably informed that bluetoothed ear phones solve that problem – although maybe just the one would be a better idea so you can still hear the traffic?

I have to say that from a (lazy) planners point of view not having to put out and collect controls in an urban environment, cable-tying everything down, makes for a very relaxed evening. Especially when you get to sunbathe in a car park waiting for folk to come back.
I do appreciate though that some folk take it all far more seriously and find the inconsistent GPS reaction times a bit frustrating. I was asked if I’d found out an optimum combo of phone and app? The answer is that I don’t know but no doubt if you sniffed about on a forum like Nopesport you’ll find plenty of folk that think they do.
I have a theory that there is more likely to be an optimum maximum running speed for the tech which is just a tad too slow for the hares. (I think I may be about to find out if flattery will get you everywhere or not!)

Cove coincided very nicely with World Orienteering Day II as many countries were too locked down to take part in WOD I earlier this year so we all got a second bite of the cherry this week. Woohoo!!