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Crathes event 5/8/20 CANCELLED

As the local Aberdeen Lockdown has just been implemented and the Planner and many competitors live in the City and can’t now travel that far we’ve had to cancel the event at Crathes tonight.
We may be able to rearrange it for later in the year so watch this space for news on both Crathes and our other Summer event at Tollohill that may also be affected.

Covid 19

We want clubs, volunteers and participants to feel safe, confident and also enjoy their first experiences returning to orienteering events. So Scottish Orienteering have put together an Event Guidance document and a COVID-19 Risk Assessment which has been approved by Scottish Government and we also have the support of sportscotland.

Why club members only at the moment?
It’s to do with contact tracing should the need arise, minimising numbers of people using an area at any one time and so we can practice our new anti-C19 measures.

What are these new anti-C19 measures?
Simple things to minimise the amount of person-to-person contact and the risk of person-object-person transmission so for example we ask runners to register in advance, pay by contactless gizmo, no results displayed at the event or anything else like cake stalls that would cause folk to gather in larger groups, provision of sanitiser as well as general observance of the current government guidelines. For a fuller list, see our Covid 19 info page.

Hazlehead Orienteering Sunday 2nd August

Results

Woohoo! We’re back in business with a near-normal event today in the southern part of Hazlehead thanks to David Esson. Looks like post-Lockdown event guineapigs, e-payment gizmo and new SI kit all held up well and you didn’t find the C-19 precautions too bothersome?

If you’re a non-member reading this looking for something different to do over the summer hols, we will be holding some Summer Series events but these will also have to club members only I’m afraid until we get the all clear to open things up to the wider public, but hopefully not too much longer to wait. You could of course get in touch about becoming a member – even though there’s less than half the year left, I’m sure we can do you a deal 😉

Why club members only at the moment? It’s to do with contact tracing and minimising numbers of folk gathered at events. We have other measures in place too – check our Covid 19 page for more info.

Round 9

Round 9 – Something a bit less orienteering – but map required… what year and where were they?

Round 8 – Back from holiday and

Round 8 – Back from holiday and visiting a local place… Clue: A-mazing! – Same as usual Location Year and what event?

That nice welcoming ‘ding’!

The Gramp MapRun Factory (Rachel) has been busy over the last couple of weeks and we now have several more courses uploaded courtesy of Sarah Dunn. From Aberdeen Uni and Perwinnes Moss (4 variations Easy to Tech) down to Stonehaven via Cove.

Rachel has plans for Dunnottar Woods and Aberdeen Street Art Trail next. More ideas are being worked on by a couple of other Gramps too and we’re open to suggestions for either areas to use or courses to convert. Ping an email to webmaster@grampoc.com to get your requests/offers in for either MapRun or lowkey trad courses as we start to prepare for travel restrictions being lifted even further.

And the ‘ding’ bit? That’s how Tim Griffin described the noise his phone made at each control when test running Perwinnes Moss.

Round 7 – “We shall orienteer soon!”

(Fingers crossed, if we remember how?)… What’s the name of the woods, competition name and date!? Good luck…

Round 6 – What was the year!

Round 6 – What was the year!, Location and which day of the event and where are we? Clue: Scotland

Round 5 – Fast turn around

A bit closer to home…..
Clue: Less than 200m from a GRAMP area! 👣

Round 4 – Takes on a “holiday feel”

Round 4 – Takes on a “holiday feel” with two maps – where are we is the 1st question? Courses and date…
Clues – Both “Not in Scotland” and Clue to the lower one “Planner was Mike Edwards” – Good luck !

Round 3 – of where are we? Two maps today

Round 3 – Two maps today – Map 1 with controls 6, 2, 1, 8 – where are we and what event? and map with controls 5, 4, 7, 8 where are we, course and when? – Good luck !

Where are we? Round 2

Round 2 – Where was this course? What was the course colour code? and what date? Scotland…

Where am I?

Where was this course? What was the course colour code? and what date?

Holiday abroad anyone?

As some of you said you’d like to do more of the virtual O here’s one somebody else made earlier. No cryptic shenanigans just straight forward questions to answer thanks to an Italian club in Trentino.

Question form (in English – they’ve cottoned on they’ve got an international audience) has links to the O map and Google imagery. Too late to submit the form now to take part in the competition but do it anyway with a big THANKYOU! on the bottom.

Visit https://oritrentino.it/virtual-cpop/ for more of these but you’ll have to translate the questions.

Tics

In anticipation of Phase 1 and greater flexibility meaning we can get out and further about, here’s a wee reminder that starts about 1 min 40 secs in on BBC’s Out of Doors Out of Doors – Archaeology, Cloud Gazing and Wildlife Watching – BBC Sounds

Abz Uni Kings Campus virtual O answers and winners

Answers

Congratulations to Helen and Stuart for winning the “answer them all” category gaining 980/1000 points in a time of 4:00 GMT (Gin Mit Tonic) and I know they will now be puzzling over how they got that now they have the answers to check as it doesn’t match up. (Clue: arbitrary bonus points awarded for bothering to convert four score merks into £sd.)

Jeremy came second despite sprinting out of the blocks as soon as the quiz was posted, even supplying photographic evidence, but then fell victim of WiFi problems so didn’t manage to answer them all before the deadline and incurred a few penalties in his panicked rush to submit by Monday.

Pete won both the “500 points with least number of controls” and “most controls in 30 mins” categories by dint of no other entries.

I know of more folk, non-Gramps, who had a go but didn’t want to submit answers so would you like another of these but without the competition side to it? Leave me a comment.

Abz Uni Kings Campus virtual O

Take a virtual tour of the Abz Uni Kings Campus map using Google Maps/Streetview to “visit” controls and have a look around to find the answers to questions in this Score event.

The questions are all based on what’s visible in the latest Streetview imagery so don’t bother visiting on the ground as the same objects may not be there any more. This is purely armchair orienteering so grab a coffee/tipple and get clicking instead.
All control sites are either right on or visible from the nearest Streetviewed vantage point or can be found via the Photosphere blue dots.

Control scores vary from 10 to 100 depending on whether
– the answer is staring you in the face
– you need to do a bit more manouevring/zooming/panning (like Trail O)
– a bit of a parallel Google hunt required triggered by what you observe
– cryptic clues with the answer word lengths in brackets, e.g. (3, 6, 3)
– a couple which will really test your Google search skills unless you happen to be or know a local historian (but the answers suggested themselves within a few clicks while I was noodling around so shouldn’t take you hours.)

Google Maps centered on Start
O map with Score controls
(You may find it easier to have two devices on the go to view side by side.)
“Loose” control descriptions if you want them – they are also on the O map
Question sheet xls pdf

1. Choose a challenge from the four types listed at the top of the question sheet, depending on preference for easy ride to brainbending.
2. Time yourself – be honest!
3. Visit your chosen controls and fill in the answers
4. Send your sheets to webmaster@grampoc.com by 11th May. Postable lavish prizes may be up for grabs!

Gramp Orienteering Bingo Game – April 2020

Which Gramp members, past or present, or anyone can get a tick off the boxes to get a cross (X), a frame around the outside, or a full house?!

Click on the pic to view biggified version.

Answers – Gramp map sprint recognition – 8 Apr 2020.JPG

Answers to the Orienteering Puzzle

1. Aberdeen University, building: new library
2. Seaton Park and Hillhead, building: ‘the boiler room’
3. Hazlehead Park, building: café
4. Westhill, building: shopping centre
5. Danestone, building: Grandholm dental clinic
6. Cove, building: Altens hotel
7. Duthie Park, building: toilet block
8. Westburn & Victoria Park, building: toilet block

Well done to all the winners – prizes…. found on the next event.

Click on the pic to view enlarged version.

Gramp map sprint recognition – 8 Apr 2020.pdf

Hello,

Sprint map recognition brought to you by Sam, they are all from Gramp Sprint area, and there’s a bonus point if you guess correctly the function of the building shown in each extract. 😉

Prizes for all…!

See attached PDF. Answers in next week.

Posted by Jeremy.

Gramp map sprint recognition – 8 Apr 2020.pdf

Answers to “Gramp Orienteering Lock in Quiz”

Well done to all of you who tried the "Gramp Orienteering Lock in Quiz".

Answers -> And see attached PDF.

1. Hazlehead
2. Scolty
3. Crathes
4. Tyrebagger
5. Glen Dye
6. Forvie
7. Foggieton
8. Balmedie

Next Quiz Due tomorrow Wednesday 8th April.

Answers – Grampian Orienteering Lock in Quiz.pdf

Gramp Orienteering Lock in Quiz

Hello,

What with all the Orienteering suspended – do you know or can you find which location belongs to each map snippet?

– for many this will be easy…

– answers in 1 weeks time.

See attached PDF.

Comments welcome!

Grampian Orienteering Lock in Quiz No. 1.pdf

All orienteering suspended due to Covid 19 coronavirus

Those of you who are British Orienteering members will have received an email this morning (17/3/20) announcing the suspension of all orienteering activities with immediate effect on the advice of PHE, WHO and others.

All bets are off as to when we can recommence but I think you’ll need to find alternatives for your exercise fix for some weeks if not months to come. Cue MapRun! BUT… DO NOT TRAVEL UNNECESSARILY JUST TO DO THIS AND PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL BRITISH ORIENTEERING REGISTERED EVENTS OR ACTIVITIES.

We’ll see about adding some more courses for you to have a go at when restrictions are relaxed but for the moment keep it local, don’t all go at once and respect the 2m rule. Stay safe everyone!

GRAMPIAN MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE 7th/8th NOV: postponed until 2021

Johnshaven SOUL

Always thought Johnshaven would make a good place for a SOUL and Maroc proved me right today with Nick Hale exploiting the best bits to full advantage. David Esson was keeping his powder dry for his Birsemore Black Binge tomorrow but wandered around watching the entertainment and took some photos of various Gramps (and 2 ex-Gramps) in action…..

I particularly like the one of Iain with the creels next to the wheelie bins. It’s urban, Jim, but not as many people know it.

New Membership Secretary

Many thanks to Helen Anderson for diligently carrying out Membership Sec duties over the last decade or so – not sure when she started but it certainly feels like a loooooong time ago.

She’s now handed over the files of office to Lesley Gomersall so thanks to Lesley too for taking over.

Anyone else out there wanting to assist us with some of these backroom roles please get in touch as we can always find a suitable slot for your particular skills/preferences.

Right now we could really do with someone (or two someones if you work better as part of a team) to ramp up our Facebook site or help us swap to other platforms you think might help and to come up with some fresh ideas re advertising or otherwise spreading the word to newcomers.

Does this sound like you? Please get in touch with David Esson or one of the other committee members.

SOA Gift Aid declaration

Just before Christmas SOA’s Finance Director, Ben Hartman, sent round an email asking any tax-paying members to complete a Gift Aid declaration.
As the SOA is a registered charity, Gift Aid allows it to claim extra funds from HMRC on any donations made – including our membership fees – as long as we’ve completed a declaration that we’re a UK taxpayer.

SOA has claimed £3K so far which all goes to help run and develop orienteering in Scotland. Needless to say every little helps so if you lost the email, didn’t get it in the first place because your email has changed or simply haven’t got round to it yet then please do it now.

http://bit.ly/SOAGiftAid2019

There’s a paper-based version if you prefer – just shout out to webmaster@grampoc.com and I’ll forward a copy.

MapRun

Sarah Dunn of Scottish Orienteering is championing this mobile based version of orienteering using your phone’s GPS capabilities to track and time yourself while running one of our MapRun courses. Upload to Strava too so you can challenge your Stravamates.

Visit the MapRun page for more info, instructions and downloads for the MapRun app and pdf course files.

Controllers Course 11/1/20

IMPORTANT CALL TO ARMS!!
SOA are running a Controllers Grade C course on 11 January, 2020 at Roseisle. We need more Controllers so that we can continue to put on as many Regional and National events as we’s all like to see, so if you’re interested in helping out not only Gramp but also the rest of Scottish Orienteering then please contact Denise Martin, SOA Coaching and Volunteer Coordinator, on 01479 861374 asap.

Christmas Brain Teaser

Anne Pearson of Tay to thank for this Christmas Brain Teaser.
There are 51 points available. 1 point for getting the IOF symbol correct, if there is a + sign you get an extra point for then converting O speak into a word/ phrase that makes sense in the letter. One point for each Christmas symbol. Have fun!

Rachel ha ganado tercero W50 en El Trofeo de Las Pueblos Blancos

Three events of very different natures, in or close to 3 of the typical Pueblos Blancos in Andalucia, go to make up the competition. Typical Spanish organisation which means very relaxed but it all comes together in the nick of time even if it means some nifty improvisation like using oranges straight off a tree to weigh down the maps at the Start if windy.

Sadly, prizes will have to be left behind again as bottles of olive oil and sherry vinegar made with Pedro Ximenes are bigger than 100ml and we’re hand luggage only. Had we won the whole jamon top prize in the race number draw we would definitely have bought a suitcase and checked it in!

GJO news and congrats

Firstly, congratulations to three GJOs who have just achieved milestone awards (or should that be kilometrestone in Ospeak?):
Olivia Coman – 50 events
Lachlan Kirk – 25 events
Isobel Anderson – 10 events

And congratulations to Jeremy and Pamela who have a new born son, Magnus.
“Not long before he’ll be running in events! Time flies….” says Dad.

Finally, congratulations to all the young Scots who were victorious in the Junior Inter Regional Championships in Yorkshire last weekend.

GRAMP SOULsters

Summer Series Glen Dye 24/7/19

Results

From comments at download and earwigging conversations it seems most folk who took on the contour only map challenge for Long and Short Tech enjoyed the novelty factor and surprised themselves by managing to get their head around all the squiggles more easily than they thought they would and Katrina said she actually enjoyed the lack of distracting paths as she saved time by not deliberating distracting alternatives before choosing her routes.

In fact, if anything, the penultimate control on the gully proved the most problematic where all those helpful squiggles suddenly disappeared and counting contours and keeping tabs on height gained, or not, became key.
Some folk approached it by creeping up – hill to the left, boulder, boulder, bearing.
Some aimed deliberately high or low for the right sort of distance then turned 90 degrees and trawled down or up to it.
Some had prior knowledge of the area and went looking for the earth banks that run either side as they are quite large and noticeable even at a distance.

Thanks to my control collectors – Bob, Tim, Zoe, David, Carol and Norman – and to Ros for picking me a lovely big pot of blaeberries. (Pudding Night tonight in the Scott-Lawrence household!)

Summer Series Dunnottar Woods 17/7/19

Results    Apologies for the delay. Work getting in the way as usual.

“Wow! That was fun! Just think – some folk pay £50 for the Banchory Beast when they could come to Dunnottar for £4!!”

One family said they wanted to give orienteering a try after seeing the Adventure Show coverage of the JOK Chasing Sprints – not quite like on the telly as a truly luxurious growth of nettles this year combined with a fair bit of rain for double dose of mud made for pretty adventurous conditions tonight so well done to those who gritted teeth and braved the stingers to complete and also those who sensibly decided to go the long way round or just wave at some of the controls long distance.

Thanks to Bob Daly, Dennis McDonald, David Esson, Pete Lawrence and Rachel Scott for control collecting and Helen Rowlands for going back out to keep an eye on beginners.

Summer Series Tyrebagger 10/7/19

Results

Apologies for the control in the wrong place. Clearly those who read the warning note on the board were less likely to waste time but that is no excuse for my mistake, sorry.
Thanks to David, Hugh, Jeremy and Bob for taking in controls as well as to Matthew Thompson an ex-Grampian Junior who had come simply for a run without knowing we had an event.

Neil

(PS last weeks results updated to show Yann Newey and Katja Neumann on the correct course – Short Tech not Short.)

JOK Sprint on The Adventure Show Live

The JOK sprint on Friday 28th June was broadcast live on the Adventure Show and can still be viewed on BBC iPlayer nationwide for a while yet. It was held at Callendar Park, Falkirk.

There is a good write pre-race up here: https://www.ontheredline.org.uk/articles/jok-chasesprint-preview mentioning our very own Sam Griffin.

3 Gramps entered – Rory Halliday and Sam & Tim Griffin – and there’s plenty of footage of Gramp tops running away fast from the cameras, the strategically placed banner at the Finish as well Sam being interviewed by Dougie Vipond. He came 2nd in the Junior Men’s race a mere 6 seconds behind the winner. Congrats!

The programme lasts 2 hours and includes reruns of coverage of various O events our Adventure Show friends have covered in previous years, like the Trail O Champs at Crathes in 2015. Definitely worth a watch before it gets taken down end of July.

Gramp Junior success at the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival 2019

Three GRAMP juniors attended the Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival held at Hopetoun House. All three represented Aberdeen Grammar school and ran really well to get second place S3 boys team . Sam continued his good form of the last few weeks to win overall and retain his title from last year. Patrick came 4th and Rory 11th. Well done boys!!

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)

Proof of the Pudding – WSOC 2019

Remember all those cakes we’ve been eating recently? Here’s photographic evidence from the World Schools Orienteering Champs of Sam Griffin during the warm up day.

JK 2019 Podium Success

Gramp has already had podium success at Day 1 of the JK 2019.

Sam Griffin came 2nd in the M16 Sprint. His father also got a top ten placing in M50.

Today is Middle Distance day, and we have three more Gramps competing, having kept their powder dry yesterday!😂

Good luck to Bob Daly, Paul Duley, David Esson and Tim and Sam Griffin👍

Picture is Middle Distance finish. Are there prizes for being first to the event😎

David

Junior Sprint Selection – Go for it Sam!

GJO Sprint Maestro Sam Griffin is going down to Lancaster University this weekend for the BOF Junior Sprint Selection Race where M/W 16 – 20s from all over the UK will be competing.
It’s a fantastic location to test aspiring squad members, with multiple complex route choices on a very busy map so full on mental concentration required as well as fleet feet all the way to the finish.

Have a good one, Sam!

Cat [gjo]

Think Fast | Run Hard | Go Orienteering – coaching videos

Even if you can’t manage the Run Hard bit it’s definitely worth taking a look at this suite of 8 coaching videos funded by Sport England and produced by SLOW Orienteers along with GB Team members explaining and demonstrating various techniques to help you plan your routes between controls and nail them more accurately thus saving time and energy and making you feel chuffed with yourself as it all goes to plan. (Plus you get to put faces to the Elite names you might have read about.)

1. Setting the map – so that what you see on the map matches what you see in front of you and you don’t have to think “upside down”
2. Using the compass
3. Attack points – getting as close to the control as possible first by using bombproof features so you know exactly where you are
4. Aiming off – deliberately aiming to one side of your target when running towards a linear feature so that when you get there you know exactly how far along it you are and don’t have to guess between turning left or right to home in on the control
5. Large contour features – making those brown lines leap out at you from the map as being hills or valleys
6. Route choice – could go round it, could go through it but which is best in terms of length vs height gain vs undergrowth?
7. Intricate contours – making the really squiggly brown lines make sense – how to spot a re-entrant or a depression as opposed to a ridge or small hill
8. Simplification – forming a route plan based on the bigger picture so you can “put the map away” and don’t slow yourself down checking off every last boulder

(Personally, I just need another video now to help me remember to do all these things while I’m out there rather than tune out and drift off into a dwam as I sometimes do!)

SRUC tick research project has recommenced for 2019

The idea is to build up a database to help estimate the risk of exposure of humans to ticks and tick bites in Scotland and many of you helped this citizen science project by Scotland’s Rural College last year by reporting the presence, or absence, of ticks after you’d been orienteering or doing other outdoor activities in Scotland.

Preliminary results have been released by SRUC. Orienteers are an obvious group to target and you can see evidence of the 2018 campaign where SRUC folk attended some of the larger events in Speyside, Moray and Deeside to raise awareness and gather data.

(Guess who submitted the purple walking report in the middle of The Minch? Who do you know with a mischevious side to their personalities and that knows an orienteer with a boat?)

There’s a lot more analysis to do yet and the project will be looking for comparative data from this year between 1/3/19 and 31/10/19 so follow the links above and register or dig out your username and password from last year and get reporting.
And if you think March is too early for ticks, it’s not! Rachel had one after the British Night Champs at Dinnet tail end of Feb.

On a more serious note, Ewen Rennie sent a link to a petition to improve The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) upcoming guidance on Lyme Disease that orienteers might be interested in.

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

DNC Glen Dye 6/2/19

Results  Splits   RG (sorry – georef’d version of the map isn’t playing tonight so you’ll have to adjust your GPS tracks manually)

Thanks to Sam for planning and the family for assisting on reg and anyone else who helped collect the controls as that was the final Gramp offering for this year’s DNC.
Only 2 more to go, where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday we were getting all excited at the prospect of darkness by 4 in the afternoon and wondering whether to upgrade our headtorches this season.

Short course 3.3 10 controls
Long course 4.9 12 controls

HHH Hazlehead 2019 Results

Lovely crisp morning, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves out on the courses, and they certainly enjoyed warming up afterwards with the homemade soup back at the Esson’s house.

HHH Hazlehead 2019 Splits.pdf
HHH Hazlehead 2019 Results.pdf

Hazlehead Hogmany Hangover Handicap 2/1/19

Another fiendish brain bending scheme has been hatched for the HHH by George Esson so better start reading the details and inwardly digesting now…

Norwegian Master Maps – with a twist

On a Norwegian Master Map course, at the Start and at each subsequent control, the competitor finds a small segment of the map showing his next leg, which he/she then completes from map memory.

The twist? At some controls there will be a multiple choice question with three possible answers, and a map segment corresponding to each answer. If your answer is correct, at the next control you will find a kite, an emit unit to punch, and a map segment(s) for the next leg. If your answer is wrong you will find a kite and a unit (which you may punch if you wish to know how expensive your error has been) but no map segment. You will then either have to go back to the last control and pick another answer, or remember all three control site options and go from one to the next. If you get all the answers right first time the course is 3.0 km.

For this course the rule regarding proximity of controls has been disregarded.

Blank maps will be available for those lacking confidence in their memory.
Map Scale is 1:4000

A 1.2km Yellow course will also be available

Assembly is at the car park adjacent to the gates to the cafe, on the way to the golf club.
what3words  party.flag.backed

Entries and Starts 11 a.m. to 12 Noon.
Cost – £4 Seniors, £2 Juniors.

Party afterwards

will be at the Essons, 215 Springfield Road, Aberdeen AB15 8JN (just round the corner – well two or three corners). All welcome.

Bring your own left-overs and drinks; soup and tea/coffee will be provided.

DNC Forvie 12/12/18

Well Murray certainly made us all think all the way round with a couple of exceptionally difficult courses. Chapeau to those who whizzed round in ridiculously quick times and commiserations to those who really struggled on those fiendish long legs.

Results  Splits   RouteGadget