Club info

Scottish Orienteering Champs 2019

Solway Orienteers hosted this year’s Champs way down in the southwest corner if Scotland and several GRAMPs made the long trek down to compete. We have three podium places – congratulations to Neil, Sam and David!

Neil McLean M75L 1st
Katrina McLeod W21E 10th
Lindsey Esson Yellow 7th
Sam Griffin M16A 1st
David Esson M40S 3rd
Tim Griffin M50L 13th
Bob Daly M60L 5th

Gramp 1 Sam Griffin/Bob Daly/Tim Griffin came 2nd in the 11+ points Relay category

Gramp 2 Michael Greenwood/David Esson tried their best in the 17+ points category but being one leg short of a full team meant that they were logged as DNF.
Hope they had fun anyway.

JK 2019 & BOC 2019

I had hoped to bring you some updates from JK 2019 but still can’t figure out the results by class so that’s still pending. I did have a trawl through Steve Rush’s photos and found this photo of the lesser spotted Daly though.

BOC 2019 in Yorkshire is still going strong with Relays today (6/5/19) and there were plans for a GRAMP 2-man-3-man team – well, if you’ve travelled all that way down then make the most of it! Over the weekend Bob Daly came 33rd M60L, David Esson 26th M40S, George Esson 15th M70S.

Father and son in action above on Arncliffe and Kilnsey North for the BOC 2019 Individual race – looks a bit cold and claggy but plenty of stile action to keep everyone warm judging by Routegadget.  (Photos by Steve Rush)

British Night Champs 2019

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

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

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

(Only L courses get medals.)

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

River Dee RadioRiver Dee Radio feature on night O and BNC

2019 Scottish Night and Sprint Champs

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

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

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

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

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

Steve’s Flickr account

2018 AGM roundup and Roll of Honour

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

GRAMP Champs 2018

2018 GRAMP Champs by category (for trophies).pdf

Congratulations to all our trophy winners!

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

*these folk retained their 2017 titles

The trophies were presented at the AGM. If you weren’t there and think nobody else might have collected on your behalf then contact John Lang asap.

In case you’re wondering how the points are calculated, these are the Gramp Champs rules:

• You have to be a member of Gramp to qualify.
• The Champs are run over 10 nominated events with the best 5 scores counting for each runner.
• Within each event, the Gramp member who is highest placed for each course scores the maximum course points:
  White 200, Yellow 400, Orange 800, Red 1200, Light Green 1600, Green 2000, Blue 2800, Brown 4000.
• Points for subsequent runners are calculated using this formula: score = [(winner’s time)/(runner’s time)]*(maximum course points)
• Men and Women’s Junior, Senior and Veteran divisions are used to decide Championship positions and individual totals are modified to try and make competition within these divisions as fair as possible:
  M/W10 +100% of total, M/W12 +50%, M/W14 +32%, M/W16 +24%, M/W18 +16%, M/W20 +8%, M/W21to M/W40 +0%, M/W45 +5%, M/W50 +15%, M/W55 +25%, M/W60 +40%, M/W65 +60%, M/W70 +80%, M/W75 and over +100%
• Any questions – contact Iain McLeod

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

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

Scottish Score Champs 2018

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

GJO success @ World School Orienteering Championships 2018

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

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

GRAMPs on telly!

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

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

JST event summary

Congratulations to all the Gramp junior competitors at the Jamie Stevenson Trophy event at Braemar on Sunday. Amidst strong competition, especially from Maroc and Moravian, Gramp juniors made a great effort, gaining four top-ten places including a podium place for Sam Griffin on the boy’s Light Green course.
Many thanks to everyone, especially Zoe, Tim and Laura for helping me (in my first JST experience) and as event helpers.

Eddy

Jamie Stevenson Trophy 2018

Big congratulations all round to the Gramp Team who ran at the JS Trophy today at Morrone Birkwood, Braemar: Mia and Olivia Coman, Morven and Kirsty Farqhuarson, Noah and Sam Griffin, Oli Robertson, Reuben Cole and Connor Whitelaw. Between them they scored 558 points coming 6th overall which is a great result for such a relatively inexperienced team.

Report and photos to follow asap so check back here later.

Congratulations also to the JST hosts, MAROC, who won beating MOR by just one point in the end.

GRAMP Junior Participation awards

Congratulations to our Gramp Juniors on their achievements in the SOA/Gramp Participation and Colour awards. Awards are granted as follows for the period 01 Jan 2017 to 30 Apr 2018:

• Ailsa Anderson (5, Green)
• Paul Caffyn (Green)
• Olivia Coman (10, Orange)
• Josie Gomersall (Green)
• Noah Griffin (5, Yellow)
• Sam Griffin (5, Orange, Light Green)
• Patrick Lang (10)
• Connor Whitelaw (5, Yellow)

Participation awards recognise any run at any Gramp event.
Colour awards are granted for three top-half finishes on courses of a given colour.
For more information see ‘“Courses completed” badges’ and ‘Colour coded badges’ sections of this SOA document:

https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/documents/natcen/incentive_awards.pdf

I will be distributing the above and any newly-earned awards at Gramp events over the summer, primarily at the Summer Series evenings.

Eddy Coman

Gramps at LAMM 2018

Congratulations to all those who high-tailed it to Harris for the last ever Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon (LAMM) this past weekend. Special mention to Sam and Jack Gomersall – FIRST – on the C course. Whoopee! Well done! Great photos on the LAMM site (and links to full results).

Other Gramps and associates spotted in the listings below, apologies to anyone I’ve missed – there’s no club listing …

Scottish Championships 2018

We have more champions in our midst – and some double champions too! Building on last weekend’s successes Ros Evans, Oonagh Grassie and Kevin Reynard all won this weekend and some excellent personal results all round so congrats to all and as with the BOC I’ve listed all results as a measure of how we did overall:

Individual at Achagour
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M14A 7th Sam Griffin
M14B 2nd Connor Whitelaw
M21E 14th Jack Gomersall
M40L 2nd and Scottish Champ Ali Robertson
M50L 6th Tim Griffin, 21st Gareth Yardley
M50S 1st and Scottish Champion Kevin Reynard
M55L 7th Ian Hamilton, 8th Sam Gomersall, 13th Pete Lawrence, 14th Iaiin McLeod
M60L 9th Bob Daly, 10th Paul Duley, 12th Rob Hickling
M65L 14th Dave Armitage
M70S 2nd and Scottish Champion Michael Forsyth
M75L 3rd Neil McLean

W14A 10th Morven Farquharson, 12th Kirsty Farquharson
W18L 2nd Josie Gomersall
W50L 12th Carolyn McLeod, 14th Laura Farquharson, 16th Helen Rowlands, 17th Rachel Scott
W55L 14th Lesley Gomersall
W60L 18th Anne Hickling
W60S 1st and Scottish Champion Oonagh Grassie, 4th Anne Hoy, 5th Jayne MacGregor
W65L 1st and Scottish Champion Ros Evans

Yellow 1st Oli Robertson

Relays at Roseisle
11+
5th GRAMP 1: Tim Griffin/Ali Robertson/Bob Daly
6th GRAMP 2: Sam Gomersall/Gareth Yardley/Robert Hickling

17+
2nd GRAMP 3: Pete Lawrence/Ros Evans/Kevin Reynard
12th GRAMP 5: Sam Griffin/Neil McLean/Rachel Scott
13th GRAMP 6: Lesley Gomersall/Oonagh Grassie/Helen Rowlands (5 secs behind-ooh!)

20+
30th GRAMPy Auld Wifies: Anne Hoy/Jayne MacGregor/Anne Hickling

Many thanks to GRAMP’s own Christian Horner (aka David Esson) who not only got his head around the team age categories but also successfully managed us all up into teams and came back up from Aberdeen to cheer us all out and in on Sunday despite not running himself. All photos were taken by him with his iPhone while standing in the pits trying to keep track of us all.

2017 AGM roundup and Roll of Honour

Quick summary of you for those of you who didn’t go to the AGM – and it’s very quick as it was a long time ago and I can’t remember much now. Sorry – should have posted much sooner.

Busy year: Forest Sprints, Summer Series, Level C events, Urban etc.
Scottish 6 Days – another successful day planned and co-ordinated by Gramp
Some discussion on map updates and changes required due to IOF introduction of new mapping symbols and control descriptions plus can we put on some Mountain Bike O in 2018?
Emit kit – new controls, whether to invest in more new brikkes soon
Events: are we taking on too much with such a packed calendar now that membership has waned somewhat? what do the members think we should concentrate on in 2018 or happy to carry on at same level?

Subject of training/coaching came up again as not much progress on the good intentions mooted in 2016 AGM.
Would still like to organise more coaching- but need someone to plan it and liaise with coaches – either the few remaining qualified coaches in Gramp or outsourced. If you’re interested in either becoming a coach or doing the coordination thing please get in touch with the committee. You don’t have to be a medal-winning orienteer just enthusiastic and we can get you some training/mentoring.

Confirmation of entry fees for 2018 to stay the same:
Level D (summer series, urban sprint etc) £4 and £2
Level C £6 and £3

Adrian Will thanked all for effort and time over the year
Chairman’s Awards
Musgrave Trophies:  Helen Anderson and John Lang
Chairman’s Quaich: David Esson – planning S6D, organising Forvie SOL and just generally always being first to offer help

Committee update:
Adrian Will           Chairman (really is his last year due to work commitments)
John Lang             Secretary
Ian Hamilton        Treasurer
Stuart Anderson   Mapping
Helen Rowlands   Fixtures Coordinator and Officials
Helen Anderson   Membership

Liz Sloan is no longer Social Secretary due to job down south so any takers to step in?
David Esson has joined the committee as man without portfolio as Sam used to say
Sarah Wallace has taken over Publicity/Social Media from Alex McLachlan (again job commitments abroad)
David Kirk has taken over from Gordon Urquhart gaining permissions to use areas for events
Anyone fancy playing with their smartphone to set up some Permanent Courses and take over from Stuart as POC mannie/wifie?

Club Championships Overall Trophy Winners

Class 1st  (Trophy)
Junior Women  Josie Gomersall
Junior Men        Paul Caffyn
Senior Women  Sarah Wallace
Senior Men        Jack Gomersall
Veteran Women    Rachel Scott (who is still reeling from that bombshell!)
Veteran Men          Gareth Yardley
Super- Veteran Women (>55)   Lesley Gomersall
Super-Veteran Men (age over 55)  Bob Daly

John Duncan Cup Medal Winners:

Class
M8        Gold          Oli Robertson
M14      Silver         Sam Griffin
M10      Bronze      Robert Prince
W16      Silver         Josie Gomersall
W8        Bronze      Emily Robertson
W12      Bronze       Kirsty Farquharson

Grampian Orienteers Roll of Honour for 2016  

Scottish Elite Development Squad:    Tim Gomersall, Sasha Chepelin

Scottish Championships:
1st
W60S Individual:  Jayne Macgregor
3rd
M55S Richard Oxlade

SOL winners:
M50S 1st Pete Lawrence
M70L 2nd Neil McLean
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M55S 3rd Richard Oxlade
M60L 3rd Robert Daly
W40L 3rd Carolyn McLeod

SOUL winners:
WSV 2nd Lesley Gomersall
WYJ 3rd Morven Farquharson

Scottish Night Championships:
W 45L 1st Helen Rowlands
W50L 1st Carolyn McLeod
W55L 1st Lesley Gomersall
M70 2nd Neil McLean
M55L 3rd Richard Oxlade
M/W open 1st Keith Yardley

GRAMP Champs 2017

2017 GRAMP Champs by age class.pdf
2017 GRAMP Champs by category (for trophies).pdf

Congratulations to all our trophy winners!

Juniors: Josie Gomersall & Paul Caffyn*
Seniors: Sarah Wallace & Jack Gomersall
Veterans: Rachel Scott & Gareth Yardley*
Super Veterans: Lesley Gomersall & Bob Daley

*these folk retained their 2016 titles – Lesley retained her winning streak but moved up a category this year

The trophies were presented at the AGM. If you weren’t there and think nobody else might have collected on your behalf then contact John Lang asap.

In case you’re wondering how the points are calculated, these are the Gramp Champs rules:

• You have to be a member of Gramp to qualify.
• The Champs are run over 10 nominated events with the best 5 scores counting for each runner.
• Within each event, the Gramp member who is highest placed for each course scores the maximum course points:
  White 200, Yellow 400, Orange 800, Red 1200, Light Green 1600, Green 2000, Blue 2800, Brown 4000.
• Points for subsequent runners are calculated using this formula: score = [(winner’s time)/(runner’s time)]*(maximum course points)
• Men and Women’s Junior, Senior and Veteran divisions are used to decide Championship positions and individual totals are modified to try and make competition within these divisions as fair as possible:
  M/W10 +100% of total, M/W12 +50%, M/W14 +32%, M/W16 +24%, M/W18 +16%, M/W20 +8%, M/W21to M/W40 +0%, M/W45 +5%, M/W50 +15%, M/W55 +25%, M/W60 +40%, M/W65 +60%, M/W70 +80%, M/W75 and over +100%
• Any questions – contact Iain McLeod

2017 events were: Glen O’Dee, Potarch, Crathes, Tyrebagger, Sluie, Coull, Cambus O’May, Forvie, Scolty.

2018 events have already started happening but full list will be announced soon pending permissions so watch this space…..

Would you like to see the Gramp Champs results published at intervals throughout the year? Would this encourage you to attend more events? If you want the results in Excel format so you can do a bit more analysis and figure out which 2018 events to target for maximum points then contact webmaster@grampoc.com.

Scottish Sprint Championships 2018

Sprint is one of the many different flavours of orienteering that seems to be getting more and more popular. It can be done in forest* or urban settings but in either case involves very short courses with lots of controls and twists and turns to keep your brain, lungs and legs at max capacity for 12 – 15 minutes if you’re at the top of the field or at max fun for much longer if you’re not so speedy but enjoy the opportunity to use your navigation and decision making skills every inch of the way.

Route choice is paramount – which way to go round a large building or lake when at first glance it looks 50:50? which side of an uncrossable hedge is the control? – but don’t spend too long overthinking it as you’ll waste vital seconds. Quite often for big events there will be a prologue race and then the final with combined times counting towards your final position as was the case at this year’s Sprint Champs held at Stirling University 10/3/18. If you want to see what sort of course to expect if you decide to have a go next time then take a look at FVO’s Routegadget.

Well done to our speediest Gramps:
Sam Griffin 4th Junior Men 16- (just 19 seconds off the podium)
Tim Griffin 6th Veteran Men 40+

*And here comes the shameless plug – keep your eye on our website for info on the local GRAMP/MAROC Forest Sprint Series starting 11th April.

CompassSport Cup Qualifier 2018

Thanks to Tim Griffin, Oonagh Grassie and Anne Hickling for flying the Gramp flag at this year’s CSC qualifier at Beecraigs 11/3/18. Between them they scored 280 points – just enough to keep us off the bottom of the table for the small clubs’ CompassSport Trophy.

I know there were several others who entered, or were going to, but couldn’t make it on the day for various reasons.
Even so it looks like Gramps generally aren’t interested in this competition or travelling further afield than Aberdeenshire to compete.  Am I right?

What can the club do to get a few more of you interested?
Training?
A club captain’s call to arms?
More social events to build up the team spirit?

Let the committee members know next time you bump into them (although maybe halfway round a course in the middle of Glen Dye is not the best time or place but you know what I mean.)

Rachel

10/2/18 Event Safety Workshop

MOR and INVOC are jointly offering a Event Safety Workshop:

>     Sat 10 February, Nairn Community Centre, 3-6 pm

Interested members can register with Ali Wiseman at secretary@moravianorienteering.org

If you’re organising a Level C event or above you’re supposed to have done one of these workshops although we realise that it’s not always possible to time it right so can sign things on your behalf while mentoring new organisers. Topics covered include risk assessments, first aid cover, rescue plans, planning out your event layout to avoid traffic-pedestrian clashes,  planning your volunteer rota to avoid personality clashes leading to need for First Aid…..
As well as the serious stuff there will be a chance for a blether with our neighbours from the north.

2017 AGM – 2nd December

The Grampian Orienteers Annual General Meeting and social will be held at the Craigiebuckler Scout Hut, Aberdeen at 7pm on Saturday, 2^nd December 2017.

Last AGM minutes and agenda were sent out by email – contact club secretary if you didn’t receive copies or for items to raise under AOB (any other business).

Please bring contributions to a pot luck supper and your own supply of crockery and cutlery – to reduce our environmental footprint. Meeting will start at 7pm, so best arrive a bit beforehand.

Sunday 3rd December – run it all off at the post-AGM event at Seaton Park courtesy of Dave Kirk (all welcome as usual!)

SOL Rankings 2017

Congratulations to the following GRAMPs for top 3 placings in this year’s Scottish Orienteering League final rankings:

W40L 3rd Carolyn McLeod (running up a class or two)
W60S 2nd Oonagh Grassie
M12B 2nd Noah Griffin
M35S 1st David Esson (who also got his Organiser’s badge for Forvie)
M50S 1st Pete Lawrence (who also got his Most SOL Points Overall badge)
M55S 3rd Richard Oxlade
M60L 3rd Bob Daly
M70L 2nd Neil McLean

And others who made it into the top 10:
M21E Rachel Scott (retaining her What Does She Think She’s Playing At? badge)
M12B Connor Whitelaw, M40L Ali Robertson, M55L Iain McLeod, M55S Stuart Anderson, M60L Paul Duley
W12 Morven and Kirsty Farquharson, W16 Josie Gomersall, W50L Laura Farquharson
W55L Lesley Gomersall, W55S Anne Hoy

Porto City Race Night Podium for Pete

2nd M Supervet* in the Night Race on Friday in the build up to the Porto City Race finale on Sunday.
When interviewed by our roving reporter, Pete commented “Finally all those freezing cold nights in Deeside have paid off. Cheers!” as he cracked open his prize, a bottle of Poças Tawny Port**, and cranked up the aircon.

* Age categories over here are different and broader.
** No qualms about alcoholic sponsorship either.

Scottish 6 Days 2017 Royal Deeside

Back home now after a great holiday in deepest, darkest Deeside and it’s good to see the sea again after a whole week of heathery hillsides, silvery birch and bouldery… bouldery… um… bignesses? (Sorry, been a long and energetic week.)

Congratulations to the following successful Gramps:
1st Sam Griffin M14B and Oonagh Grassie W60L
2nd Pete Lawrence M50S and Carolyn McLeod W50L
3rd Lachlan Kirk M18S and Helen Greenwood W75S (plus Lesley Gomersall Supervet W in Sprint Race)

Top Ten Finishers: Noah (chocolate? what chocolate?) Griffin M10B, Murray Anderson and Kevin Reynard M50S, Sam Gomersall M55L, Richard Oxlade and Ian Searle M55S, Bob Daly M60L, Neil McLean M70L, Hannah Will W12B, Maya Reynard W14B, Lesely Gomersall W55L and Helen Greenwood W80 (don’t ask – it’s just the way the scoring system works!)

.

As well as champions we have unsung heroes in our midst including:
– Helen Anderson, Gareth Yardley, David Esson and Murray Anderson who were Day 3 Organiser and – Planners – big thank you guys for taking on the major roles and making life pretty easy for the rest of us
– Richard Oxlade, Tim Griffin and Rob Hickling who controlled other days
– Sheena Farquhar who assisted with a heart attack patient on Day 4
– Anne and Rob Hickling who organised, planned and controlled the Trail O
– Bob Sheridan who kept his sense of humour despite turning 50 on Wednesday and having it announced every minute at the end of each list of names at the far start on Day 3 by his “friend” Tim Griffin.

Anyone got any photos or other anecdotes they’d like to share with us all?
Send to webmaster@grampoc.com please.

More photos from Old Glutton, Sam Gomersall, Helen Anderson and others on our Flickr page here

Thanks to Andy Johnson  you can get a flavour of Trail O (and other days) by checking his Flickr account. Trail O is all about fully understanding the info on your map and control descriptions coupled with careful observation and being able to judge distances, contours, features and orientations all from 10 to 100m away from the viewing point on the path. Each problem has one or more kites dotted about and you need to identify which kite, if any, is correctly placed to match the control circle and description. It’s tricky but also oddly addictive once you get inside the midset!

Keith Yardley showed a promising talent for this coming 16th on the Elite course against some experienced opposition. He’s pictured here doing the timed controls, used for tie breaks.

Sasha running really well at JWOC

SOA website has a post with regular updates on how Scottish athletes are helping Team GB rack up some great results at this year’s JWOC with Sasha playing a big part.

In the Middle Sasha comfortably made it through the heats to the A Finals finishing 7th, missing a podium place by only 1 second.
In the Sprint he had an excellent run to finish on the podium in 5th!
And the Long saw him in 7th place again. Excellent set of results which has certainly got the Nopesport crowd buzzing (although looks like he risks being eclipsed by his own haircut?)
Relay – 9th – think I’ve got that right but my Finnish isn’t so good. Maybe Lena can confirm for us?
Check this space… for links to GPS, live results and Arena video/commentary.

Other ‘locals’ doing well are Grace Molloy and Jenny Ricketts 19th/24th Middle A Final and 20th/13th in the Long respectively and 2/3 of the W20 Relay Team who came an amazing 5th place.

Well done guys!

Jamie Stevenson 2017

This year’s Jamie Stevenson Trophy took place at Kinnoull Hill on Sunday 25th.
Morven and Kirsty Farquharson were the only Gramp representatives which must have felt a little odd in the parade but looks like they didn’t mind too much.
Both girls ran well on the Orange course scoring 187 points between them and I am delighted to say that Kirsty was 3rd. Well done to Kirsty!

Carolyn

Team Gomersall wins the LAMM D Class

Congratulations to Sam and Lesley who won the D Class in this year’s LAMM in a stunning and very physical area comprising An Teallach, Fisherfield and Fannichs (and still had energy to peg it on the uphill finish at Dunnottar Woods – very impressive.)

As course leaders they got the honour of providing a quick blurb which I’ve reproduced here. You can read the full results and browse photos, maps, Routegadget and everything else on the LAMM website.

Sat write up: “How ideal does it get; a sunny Friday evening with few if any midges, then clear sunny Saturday morning still with no midges. A surprise bus took us to the D class and score starts, then we were off. Being used to orienteering maps everything takes a while on a 1:40,000. We hit the ridge a bit early on the first control and hunted; luckily we found it soon. Then we were in our stride, Sam out in front and Lesley behind. A long leg with route choice was interesting, we found a reasonable way. Views from the tops were spectacular, Coigach to the North and Torridon to the South. Let’s hope day 2 is just as good. Good work Martin and the rest of the team.”

Sun write up: “5am alarm, cold porrage, pack up and get to the start line for 6am. Then off again; tired legs; another big climb (but what did we expect). Into the fog, just for some extra navigational challenge. Then downhill; sore knees. When the fog cleared the view was spectacular, Fisherfield hills and AnTeallach from Craig Pannaich, a hill less visited. The last proper leg involved some serious contouring below An Teallach; too high, too low? Luckily we got relocated before heading in to the last knoll. Then down to the finish. Just the Rhododendrons left to fight through. Pleased, if a bit surprised to be first home. A great weekend all round. Thanks.”

And as well as waxing lyrical, that’s not all Sam got up to…

“As well as leading the D course, Sam Gomersall also had time to do a bit of sketching! He had brought an old waterproof O map with him and spent half an hour last night making a sketch of the camp site, which he then managed to keep in pristine unfolded condition in order to present it to Martin Stone at the finish. Who’d have thought that the LAMM would be the subject of fan art?”

C Class had a several Gramps running too:
Gordon Urqhuart as one half of the intriguingly named team Guild of Doric Farmers 14th
Ian Hamilton and Colin Larmour 27th
Dave Kirk and Lachlan as Team Greenhowe Greats 29th

Compass Sport Cup 2017 – 3rd place for Gramp in the Trophy class!

=-O How did that happen?! As a club with no clear strategy or captain (although we did have a banner which was more than many) we somehow managed to rack up enough points at Tentsmuir to come 3rd in the Trophy class (small clubs) and a mere 6 points behind arch-rivals Maroc. Result!

It’s a team competition so you need strength and depth across a variety of age classes/courses, so potentially anyone’s score could be the deciding factor between placings.
Tentsmuir’s an area well suited to such a broad variety of competitors with a grid of forest blocks, some of which have small patches and ridges of highly complex contour detail for the TD5 courses. The blocks seem ridiculously easy at first glance but lulled one or two of us into a false sense of security and caught us napping.
Thanks to all 31 Gramps who ventured down and particularly to our 13 highest scorers shown in bold below.

Helen & Stuart Anderson; Evgueni Chepelin; Bob Daly; David Esson; Morven, Kirsty & Laura Farquharson;Sam, Lesley & Josie Gomersall; Oonagh Grassie;Sam, Noah & Tim Griffin; Rob & Anne Hickling; Anne Hoy; Pete Lawrence; Alan & Jayne Macgregor; Neil McLean; Iain, Calum & Carolyn McLeod; Richard Oxlade; Ali Robertson; Rachel Scott;
Bob Sheridan; Gordon Urquhart; Duncan Will. For full results check out Robin Strain’s results pages.

This now means that we’ve qualified for the CSC final down in Devon 22/10/17 at the intriguingly named area, Virtuous Lady – fancy an Autumn break anyone? FlyBe will get you to Exeter via Manchester for a mere £180!

New tops for 2017

Is your GRAMP club top getting a bit jaded and battle-weary these days? Fancy a change anyway?

Ali has been tasked with coming up with a new design and has been busy discussing materials and designs with potential customers (“no castles on bums!” was the feedback at the HHH lunch) and suppliers.

So how about this? Click on the image to embiggen it.
Size guide here and there’s a choice of a zip collar top or technical T in different materials. Hunt him down, ask for more details, place an order!

Double win for Lesley Gomersall at Scottish Night and Sprint Champs 2017!

Woohoo! Congratulations to Lesley for sweeping up two trophies a couple of weekends ago (and apologies for not spotting this and posting sooner :-[)
And she wasn’t the only Champ as Gramp mopped up several of the
other Night Trophies too… congrats to Helen, Carolyn, Keith and
Neil too.

Scottish Night Champs
W45L 1st Helen Rowlands
W50L 1st Carolyn McLeod
W55L 1st Lesley Gomersall

M/W Open 1st Keith Yardley

M70L 1st Neil McLean
M55L 3rd Richard Oxlade

Scottish Sprint Champs
W55 1st Lesley Gomersall

M21 2nd Callum McLeod
M55 3rd Sam Gomersall
W50 3rd Carolyn McLeod

Full results and RouteGadget can be found on the MOR website.
What do you make of the courses?

2016 AGM roundup and Roll of Honour

Quick summary of you for those of you who didn’t go to the AGM:

Busy year: Forest Sprints, Summer Series, Level C events, Urban etc.
Scottish Champs in May – run jointly with MAROC
JIRCS in Sept – very successful, Ian coordinated whole w/e
GMC – Dave plus 2 Ians – no issues – might move it to April? No one has yet volunteered to organise the next one…..

Looking at getting new club kit – Ali Robertson will reveal all soon (?!)

Would like to organise more coaching- but need someone to plan it and liaise with coaches. If you’re interested please get in touch with the committee. You don’t have to be a medal-winning orienteer just enthusiastic and we can get you some training/mentoring.

It’s getting more and more expensive to run events, mainly levies on all events and Forestry Commission permissions on the larger events.  Our aim is to keep the summer events at cost and on the level C events, which often have more costs attached try to make a small profit and help maintain a surplus in the account.  So unfortunately  entry fees have been raised ……..  but we still think we are offer the best deal around.
So, for 2017:
Level D (summer series, urban sprint etc) £4 and £2
Level C £6 and £3

Week end away? Opportunity to do some coaching and go to big event as a club.

Adrian Will thanked all for effort and time over the year

Liz Sloan is our new Social Secretary – anyone got any ideas for club events other than curling this year?

Club Championships Overall Trophy Winners

Class 1st  (Trophy)
Junior Women  Naomi Lang
Junior Men        Paul Caffyn
Senior Women  Kate Robertson
Senior Men        Mark Stockton
Veteran Women    Lesley Gomersall
Veteran Men          Gareth Yardley
Super- Veteran Women (>55)   Oonagh Grassie
Super-Veteran Men (age over 55)  Rob Hickling
John Duncan Cup Medal Winners:

Class
W8        Bronze     Emily Robertson
W10      Silver        Hannah Will
W12      Silver        Morven Farquharson
W14      Silver        Isobel Anderson
W16      Gold          Naomi Lang
M8        Gold          Oli Robertson
M10      Bronze      Robert Prince
Grampian Orienteers Roll of Honour for 2016  

Scottish Elite Development Squad:    Tim Gomersall, Katrina McLeod, Sasha Chepelin, Oleg Chepelin

Scottish Championships:

1st
M50S Individual: Pete Lawrence
W60S Individual:  Oonagh Grassie

2nd
17+ Points Relay Class: Sam Gomersall, Carolyn McLeod and Bob Daly
M16B Lachlan Kirk
M60L  Rob Hickling
M65S  George Esson
M70L  Neil McLean
M85  Angus Aitken
W16L  Naomi Lang
W50L Carolyn McLeod
W65S  Margaret Aust

3rd
M12A Sam Griffin
M55L  Bob Daly
M55S Richard Oxlade
M60L  Paul Duley
W65S Audrey Wilson-Hay

SOL winners
M50S  2nd Pete Lawrence
M55S  1st Richard Oxlade
M60L  1st Rob Hickling
M60L  3rd Paul Duley
M65S  3rd George Esson
W50 L 3rd Lesly Gomersall
W60S  1st Oonagh Grassie

SOUL winners
WYJ  2nd Morven Farquharson
WJ  2nd  Josie Gomersall

Scottish Night Championships
M55 1st Sam Gomersall

SOA Presidents Medal:  Richard Oxlade
Presidents Alarm Clock:  Rob Hickling (Geo referencing all the Maps, and support Mo Farah!)

Chairman’s Awards
Musgrave Trophies:  Carolyn McLeod – Coaching the Juniors.
Iain McLeod – Organising the JIRCS weekend

Chairman’s Quaich: Richard Oxlade – organising Scottish Champs relays

6 Day Accommodation

Did you know that Dave Kirk is the Booking Secretary of the Cairngorm Club Climbing Hut called Muir, near Inverie, near Braemar?
It is free for the week of the 6 Day if anyone wants to book in. People can stay for as many nights as they like. It might be most suitable for the second half of the week when the events are near Braemar. More info can be found on the Cairngorm Club website (Muir section) http://www.cairngormclub.org.uk/muircottage/muircottage.htm.

It’s £12 pppn for adults and £6 pppn for under 16s. Max 22 places available each night, in five separate rooms.
Anyone interested in staying should contact Dave directly dkirk006 ‘at’ btinternet.com.

GRAMP Champs 2016

2016 GRAMP Champs by age class.pdf
2016 GRAMP Champs by category (for trophies).pdf

Congratulations to all our trophy winners!

Juniors: Naomi Lang & Paul Caffyn*
Seniors: Kate Robertson & Mark Stockton*
Veterans: Lesley Gomersall* & Gareth Yardley
Super Veterans: Oonagh Grassie & Rob Hickling*

*these folk retained their 2015 titles but Mark cut it a bit fine in his ding-dong battle with Gordon Urquhart – will 2017 be Gordon’s year?

The trophies were presented at the AGM. If you weren’t there and think nobody else might have collected on your behalf then contact John Lang asap.

In case you’re wondering how the points are calculated, these are the Gramp Champs rules:

• You have to be a member of Gramp to qualify.
• The Champs are run over 10 nominated events with the best 5 scores counting for each runner.
• Within each event, the Gramp member who is highest placed for each course scores the maximum course points:
  White 200, Yellow 400, Orange 800, Red 1200, Light Green 1600, Green 2000, Blue 2800, Brown 4000.
• Points for subsequent runners are calculated using this formula: score = [(winner’s time)/(runner’s time)]*(maximum course points)
• Men and Women’s Junior, Senior and Veteran divisions are used to decide Championship positions and individual totals are modified to try and make competition within these divisions as fair as possible:
  M/W10 +100% of total, M/W12 +50%, M/W14 +32%, M/W16 +24%, M/W18 +16%, M/W20 +8%, M/W21to M/W40 +0%, M/W45 +5%, M/W50 +15%, M/W55 +25%, M/W60 +40%, M/W65 +60%, M/W70 +80%, M/W75 and over +100%
• Any questions – contact Iain McLeod

2016 events were: Glen O’Dee, Tyrebagger, Torphantrick, Crathes, Glen Fearder, Glen Dye, Carlogie, Scolty, Muir of Dinnet.

2017 events will be announced soon so watch this space…..

Would you like to see the Gramp Champs results published at intervals throughout the year? Would this encourage you to attend more events? If you want the results in Excel format so you can do a bit more analysis and figure out which 2017 events to target for maximum points then contact webmaster@grampoc.com.

Date for your Diary: Gramp AGM, 10th December 2016

Where? The Craigiebuckler Scout Hall, accessed from Craigibuckler Drive starting promptly at 7pm. No parking on the grass please!
When? 7pm en punto
What? AGM business followed by prizegiving and food and fun and games and blether

Just a reminder for everyone to bring a dish to share to the AGM and your own choice of beverage. Your dish can be savory or sweet, and perfect if it can be shared.
If you have any special dietary needs, it is assumed you will ensure you bring a sharing dish to suit your needs.
Drinks as per usual is BYOB “Bring Your Own Bottle/Booze/Beverage”. Please remember your own serving spoons and tongs to suit. Cutlery, napkins, cups and plates will be provided.
There will be team games for all following the meal.

Bring your food 5/10 minutes early to allow a prompt start to the AGM at 7pm.

See you all there.

Out for the Weekend BBC Radio Scotland 14:00 Friday

Listen out for John Lang about 1:33 into the programme talking about orienteering and the new Duthie Park Permanent Courses (you can listen to the rest too of course.)

Gramps on the podium – BTO Urban League 2016

The results have now been published for the 2016 SOUL races, sponsored by BTO Solicitors.

Congratulations to everyone who took part, and especially to the following who finished in the top 10 of their class :-

W12-
2nd   Morven Farquharson
4th   Kirsty Farquharson

W16-
2nd   Josie Gomersall

M Vet 40+
5th   Peter Lawrence

W Vet 40+
7th Rachel Scott

M Vet 55+
7th   Sam Gomersall

Full results can be found here.

One to read

Have you played “Spot the Gramp” in the latest edition of Focus?
Helen Anderson gives the low down on our (slightly serendipitous) World Orienteering Day event at Balmedie in June and Murray Anderson is pictured in action at the Scottish Champs at Balmoral in May.

One to watch @ Rio 2016 – Karen Darke

Karen Darke, para-cycling medal winner and one of our patrons of Scottish Orienteering, will be competing in the Paralympics in Rio next week.

Silver 2012 London Paralympic Games H1-2 time-trial
Silver 2014 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, USA H3 time-trial
Bronze 2014 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, USA H3 road race
….to name a few of her major results but if you read her bio on the Team GB site you’ll see she plays just as hard!

Think it’s all happening on Wed 14th so tune in and cheer her on.

Update: Gold! Missed it live? pic and brief report can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37363311

More admissions than UCAS?

One person admitted to oversleeping and not getting to Glen Dye when expected to set up the all important time-keeping system and having to be chased from their bed by a phone call from the Planner at 10-ish. He claimed: “Mo Farah made me do it!”

One person admitted to having inadvertently embezzled club assets while they were still in office as Treasurer and sheepishly handed over the red tunnel tent.

One person admitted to double-handedly (judging by the tell-tale spread of purple stains around their mouth) eat all the blaeberries at Glen Dye. Obviously the new wonder-berry though as he won the White comfortably.

Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon

Several parent-child* pairings from NE Scotland entered this year’s SLMM in Martindale, it’s becoming a bit of a tradition. Congratulations to the following Gramp and Maroc teams:

Lachlan and Dave Kirk, 29th (out of 71 finishers) in Carrock Fell class
Keith and Gareth Yardley, 4th (out of 86 finishers) in Harter Fell class
Alistair and Craig Chapman, 3rd in Bedafell class (out of 43, but out of 120 if you include Wansfell class on same course)
Peter and Nick Collins, 13th in Bedafell class (ditto)

Scottish Vets call up for Bob Daly

If you see Bob Daly going about at one of the Summer Series over the next few weeks congratulate him on his call up to the Scottish Vets Squad for the VHIs in Northern Ireland 3rd/4th September. (If you don’t know him, he’s the one who always runs late and always offers to collect controls.)

Tim Griffin and Paul Duley are also down as reserves and Rob Hickling already had a better offer so although invited had to decline.

10th (and last) Highlander 2016

The fell-runners of the club were out and about over the weekend taking part in the last Highlander Mountain Marathon in Glen Cannich.

“A great event and amazing weather conditions, with some really tough courses. Didn’t expect the B to be quite the test it was for me, or my right shoe (which had half it’s sole hanging off on the start line of Day 2!!)  Highlander 2016 will live long in the memory!”  Ali Robertson

The Gramps I’ve spotted so far in the results:

A course: 3rd Tim Gomersall (with BASOC’s Johannes Felter)

B course:
5th Gareth Yardley and Ian Hamilton (not bad at all for a last minute substitution? 2nd Vet team too)
8th Ali Robertson (with MAROC’s Andrew McMurtrie)

C course: 32nd Dave and Lachlan Kirk (who get a mention for registering as Grampian Orienteers. Yeay!)

Score: 48th Lynn Smith and Bob Sheridan  (35th Vets too)

President’s Medal 2016 goes to Richard Oxlade

In recognition of his invaluable contribution to the success of Highland 2015, this year the SOA President’s Medal will be going to Richard Oxlade. Read all about it here.

Congratulations and thanks once again from the rest of the club to Richard for stepping up to that very challenging role on our behalf. (Just hope that being Medallion Man 2016 doesn’t go to his careful and calm head!)

Bakers extraordinaire

Anne Hickling is doing a charity trek for WaterAid later this year and was busy raising funds at the Relays today. Ask her all about it at one of the Summer Series events as I can’t remamber the name of the mountain she’ll be climbing but I do remember it’s 3002m high so that’s her target in £ too. Doubt there were any cakes left today (despite Helen having to use a wide angle lens to get them all in the pic) but I’m sure she’ll bake to order for Templars Park BBQ if we were all each to pledge a £1 extra on top of our Summer Series fee for 10 of the events?

It’s time for us to stick up for trees

In 2017 the Woodland Trust will launch a Charter for Trees, Woods and People, a lasting legacy for the whole of the UK, leading more than 50 organisations in a call to define the charter. (Is SOA one of those organisations I wonder?)

“The charter will:

• Help to unlock the potential of the UK’s trees and woods.
• Improve our lives and landscapes.
• Celebrate the trees in our lives.

Tell us your tree story. It could be about your favourite tree that you climbed as a child, or the sapling you planted in the garden of your first home. Maybe it’s a memory of the woods you always walked in with your family, or something you made with your own hands out of wood. We need your stories to help us understand what people want and need from the UK’s trees. Tell us what woods and trees mean to you. Share your story today.”

Share your orienteering stories with them today – click here.
(You could consider joining WT too?)

World Orienteering Day 11th May

Did you know that May 11th was World Orienteering Day?

I’d forgotten until Sarah Dunn reminded me yesterday so I’ve retrospectively registered Balmedie on the WOD website and our 39 participants are now part of the bid to create a record for the most folk O-ing on a single day. Not sure when they stop counting but 172,081 so far when I last looked and still counting.

WOD website – scroll down for one of those interactive, blobby maps showing who’s registered and where and you can then zoom right down to Scotland and eventually Balmedie. Did you know there’s a club in Nuuk in Greenland? They had 8 participants. Research station I wonder? Fascinating stuff.

If you were at Balmedie then you might like to award yourself this WOD diploma to stick on the fridge?

WOD newsletter here.

40th Anniversary Photo Competition

1996 11 Person Relay Winners

Richard Oxlade, Rob Hickling, James Esson, Tim Nash, Bob Daly
Gordon Hendry, George Esson
Andrew Lobban, Duncan Grassie, Laura Mackinnon, David Esson

Planner was Neil McLean
Controller was Chris Aust
Organiser was Donald Grassie

The first (and only) response to our wee competition was Neil McLean whose first reaction on seeing the photo was disbelief: “But why wasn’t I in the team?”
He quickly regained his composure sufficiently to correctly identify not only the year, the competition and the team members but also the location as being “the top end of Scolty”.

His composure was shot down in tatters again tonight when presented with his prizes – a legendary GRAMP chocolate coin and a bit of GRAMP memorabilia in the shape of a rather fetching pair of red lycras, not too dissimilar to those sported by Bob in the photo.

Other members present tonight were heard to mutter something about “not entering any competitions if that’s what you get”. No sense of adventure!

Many thanks to David Esson for supplying the photo and results. Does anyone else have anything stashed away that Rob, our club historian, could borrow to scan in and publish during our anniversary year? (Mr Controller 1996, we’re looking at you for starters…)

JK format – your opinion counts

Ali has flagged up that there is a survey on the BOF website for folk to give their opinions on whether or not JK should permanently change to having Sprint, Middle, Classic and Relay for all age classes (it’s doing this anyway in 2017). The link to the survey is here… http://bit.ly/1YrtN0S

Gramps used to travel far and wide to multi-day events like the JK but I’ve noticed these days we’re struggling to get above double figures (apart from the 6 Days).
If you don’t already go to these, what would tempt you to start? Would a change in format to mix it up a bit do the trick so that rather than knackering yourself on 3 long classic courses you could have a bit more fun and still have time to be a tourist too?
Tell BOF and I’m sure the 6 Days spies will be keeping an eye on this too as similar changes have been mooted for that.

Who are all these skinny/hirsute people?

To celebrate GRAMP’s 40th birthday, I thought we might run a wee competition for some of our long-standing members.

Click on the photo to get a better view if needed, then drop an email to flump@care4free.net with the answers to these questions:

Who are all these skinny/hirsute people?
What year was the photo taken?
What was the event they’d just won?

I’ll give the answers (and lavish prize) at the GRAMP dinner and post them here too on the 22nd.

40th Anniversary Dinner, Friday 22nd April

The Grampian Orienteers’ annual dinner is once again being held at Raemoir House Hotel.  The price is £26.50 for 3 courses and coffee.

If you have not attended the dinner before it comes highly recommended, this is a great opportunity to meet your fellow orienteers somewhere other than a forest car park!  If you have been to previous dinners then you will know it is not to be missed.  If you would like to attend then please contact Helen Anderson using this form.

This year you have the added bonus of a level C event at Crathes on Sunday 24th where you can burn off those extra calories.

Tim Gomersall’s been at it again

Nothing to do with orienteering but he is a Gramp so I feel totally justified in passing on a link to something Ian Searle spotted and flagged up with the comment ‘Simply outstanding!’ Seconded!

Intrigued? Click here.