Grampian Mountain Challenge

GMC – fingers crossed everyone

It is still our hope that the Grampian Mountain Challenge can go ahead in November 2021. 

If we think it could go ahead, we plan to open entries later than we would normally do, probably around 1st August, to allow us to gauge as well as possible how things are progressing, what changes might need to be in place, and the views of other relevant bodies.

Please keep an eye on the Grampian Orienteers Club website for further updates.

GMC 2020 postponed until next year

Due to the many ongoing uncertainties caused by Covid, we have decided to postpone the GMC until 2021 probably still in November again. More information to follow later in the year.

We know this will be a disappointment to many, not least our regulars from south of the border who have been looking forward to treating themselves after Lockdown, but we feel it better to wait and be able to make concrete plans and proper preparations rather than play “will it, won’t it” for the next few months.

GMC 2020 – entries open postponed to 1st July

What? Grampian Mountain Marathon
When? 7th and 8th November 2020
Where? Lochnagar area

2 days of tough running in spectacular scenery – orienteering section on all courses on both days – run individually or in pairs – we carry your camping gear to the overnight campsite – we also provide hot food and cold beer

Visit the GMC page for more details

What more can we say except put it in your diary, start spreading the word and keep your eyes peeled for link to online entries open 1st July now due to Coronavirus keeping us all on tenterhooks.

SCOTLAND’S FRIENDLY
SOCIABLE WINTER
MOUNTAIN MARATHON

GMC Braemar 2018 photos

If you spotted Struan Kirk out and about with his camera then there’s a fair chance he spotted you and you’re in the GMC Braemar 2018 gallery.

If you want a high res copy (anywhere between 3 to 8MB) of any of these then email webmaster@grampoc.com with the photo number(s).

More photos here too from Ian Hamilton

GMC Braemar 2018 photos

Continue reading →

GMC 2018: Braemar 10th/11th November

Grampian Mountain Challenge  –  Scotland’s Friendly Sociable Winter Mountain Marathon

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend in and around Braemar, we certainly enjoyed hosting our fifth GMC with a fantastic group of competitors, please come back int two years’ time!

Here are some provisional results. If you notice any discrepancies please get in touch (see Dave’s email in the joining instructions).

Overall Results
Day 1 simple results
Day 1 splits
Day 2 simple results
Day 2 splits

Please put your routes up on the Gramp Routegadget site. (you can draw by mouse and download GPS).

Photos by Struan Kirk
More photos by Ian Hamilton

Read on for the Organiser’s Report and Planner’s Comments …

Continue reading →

GMC 2016: Morven 12th/13th November

Day 1  Results  Splits  RouteGadget
Day 2  Results  Splits  Routegadget

Overall results    Organiser’s Report

A big thank you to all who came to pit themselves against the Grampian terrain and each other. We were lucky with the weather in the end after the previous weekend’s foul conditions – sunshine and superb visibility on Saturday and a dry but frosty night at the overnight camp helped make it a day to remember for all the right reasons.

Thanks to those who realised things weren’t going to plan and phoned to let us know they’d bailed or would be late back – another bit of luck as we don’t always get such good mobile reception – and to those who bowed out gracefully on Day 2 and helped to pack up the campsite or lent their Excel expertise – really helps us run the event smoothly.

Bit of rain Sunday afternoon but didn’t seem to cause too much grief on the homeward stretch and well done to those who completed Day 2 and laid a few Grampian demons to rest

Congratulations to the overall winners and other prize winners:

A
1st Overall     Alec Keith MV
1st Pair           Alex McVey & John Ryan M
1st Ladies       Susan Blackwood & Katy Boocock FV  aka Black and Boo
1st Vet             Jonathan Shepherd MV

B
1st Overall     Duncan Coombs & Chloe Haines MIX  aka Auld and Reekie
1st Solo           Gordon Urquhart M
1st Ladies       Bryony and Rebecca Harding F  aka Hard(-ing) as Nails
1st Vet             David Frame MV*

C
1st Overall     John and Naomi Lang MIX  aka The Hare and the Tortoise
1st Mixed       Ben and Clare Stansfield MIX aka The Stoating Stannies
1st Vet            Kenny Milton MV
1st P&P          James & Graeme Ackland M  aka A Clan
1st Solo          Pete Lawrence MV

* corrected 14/11/16 – apologies for getting this wrong on the day (blame Rachel’s mental arithmetic for mis-estimation in our rush to present as many prizes as possible on the day before potential winners left to go home.) Bottle of wine en route to you somehow soon.

We also need to thank numerous folk for help/permissions etc (see Organiser’s Report above too.)

The Factors & Owners of Candecraig, Dinnet & Kinord, and Tillypronie Estates.
The Sporting Tenants on Dinnet & Kinord Estate.
Mr John Anderson.
FCS & SNH.
Tisos – for providing voucher prizes.
Mar Orienteering Club.
Aberdeen Scouts.
Maryculter Scouts.
Dave, Alan & Ross – The Catering Team.
Mike, Donnie & Graham – The Heavy Kit Team and Hill Marshals.
Mid Deeside Community Trust.
The Dinnet Hall committee.
Brandon Hire & Heilan Loos.

And personally, I’d also like to thank Ian S, Ian H, Rachel, Helen, Sam, Tim & Josie G, Iain B, Tim, Ali, Kate, Sean, and all the competitors who also became helpers at some point during the weekend. A final thanks to my wife Liz for putting up with my ‘project’ over the last 18 months, acting as event Base Contact, and managing to come up with a GMC Prize Cup (in chocolate).

Organiser: David Kirk
Planner: Ian Searle
Controller: Ian Hamilton

If anyone took any photos and is willing to share them then send the link to webmaster@grampoc.com please.

More photos from Ian Hamilton here and Yomping Yardleys here

“Many thanks for the race – a great introduction to mountain marathons for my daughter. She’ll now expect all of them to transport bags, have heated tents, controls in the right places, be well catered and have quick results. A few photos from my phone are linked here.  Cheers, Dave Robertson”

Photos from the Langs: “A bit Langcentric, but a few photos from the week end. And proof that John and Naomi even had time for photos on Day 1!”

GMC 2014 – a keek behind the scenes both ways….

Non-runners – to see what the runners got up to, take a look at Routegadget (too difficult and time consuming to get a more accurate bit for the O section but it was really the hill section that had the big route choices so we’ve chosen to get that bit as good as poss.)

Runners – this is what some of the non-runners got up to…

Grampian Mountain Challenge 2014 Glenshee 15th/16th Nov

Thanks 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.

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.

Grampian Mountain Challenge 2012 Glen Dye – Results

Here are the results for GMC 2012 :-

Overall results    Day 1 – Splits   Day 2 – Splits   Routegadget

UPDATE 21/11/12 – Routegadget is now loaded up, separately for the Forest sections and the Hill sections of both days.  PLEASE would all competitors take the time to add their routes, as this will help the planners improve future events.  You can also analyse the splits using Splitsbrowser and Splitalyzer.

More photos from Ali Robertson who would also like to thank Maroc for the use of their controls.

UPDATE 20/11/12 – couple of extra sponsor acknowledgements and a message from the organiser added at the end of this post.

More photos here from Donnie Mann     Some photos here from Sarah Dunn
And if you can’t spot yourself in all those then try this lot of photos from Ian Hamilton
Photos from Simon Caldwell

We were incredibly lucky with the weather again for the GMC with blue skies throughout and I’m told “Good event – lots of happy faces at the download” so I’m guessing everyone enjoyed it whether or not they managed to bag a prize (like a certain happy chappy pictured below).

Big thank you to Sean for an ace bit of organising again (see his comments below), Ali for the planning and Ian for controlling and acting as official photographer again. We’ll give you a link to the rest of his photos just as soon as he’s had time to go through them all and if any of you took photos en route you’d like to share then email them or the link to flump@care4free.net please.

GMC 2012 Overall results    Day 1 – Splits   Day 2 – Splits   Routegadget

A big thank you to Haglöfs, Braemar Mountain Sports, Cotswold Outdoor and Tiso for donating prizes to help make the GMC that little bit more special.

Sean the Organiser says:

Well done to all the runners for coping with the short days, long heather and freezing nights. While there were a few scratched legs everyone enjoyed themselves and enjoyed the glorious east coast weather at its best. Thanks to everyone who knew their limits and either dropped out or sped up! Everyone finished within the course cut off time on Sunday.

Thanks to all the marshals from Scouts, Gramp and Cosmic Hillbashers, and to Deeside and Gordon Scouts for the equipment and help setting up. Scout leaders again ran the catering and on their behalf we’re pleased to donate £120 to the Braemar Pipe and Chanter group to help fund new instruments for their young pipers. Thanks to Fasque Estates for permission to use their land and to all the companies who provided prizes.

Watch this space for GMC-2014!! 

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Grampian Mountain Challenge 2010 Invercauld

Day One Results
Day Two Results
Overall Results

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Action photos taken by Ian Hamilton on his Flickr site

Happy snaps of happy winners:

A Class Solo Alec Keith : A Class Pairs Oleg Chepelin/Tom Owens : A Class Female Solo Sarah O’Neil

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B Class Solo Gareth Yardley : B Class Pairs Jeff Paterson/Simon Bunn

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C Class Solo Euan Cameron : C Class Pairs Robin Orr/James Kellock

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(The smiley bearded man is not a multi-prize winner but the organiser, Sean O’Sullivan.)