Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club

Blackford HillSat 18 Jun

ESOC Local Event in Edinburgh and the Lothians

Last updated: Wed 21 February, 2024

Local event

Explanation of event types

Local events are usually low key and in the 'localised' area, ideal for newcomers to try the sport and Training events are non competitive and used for training and coaching, aimed at members of the club, but they can attract people from neighbouring clubs, and are often ideal for newcomers to try the sport. Regional events attract participants from around the local Region, National events are high quality competitions that will attract people from far away, Major events are Major Events such as a British Championships. Virtual events are where there are no physical controls being used. Your presence at a control is registered using an App on your mobile phone, normally the free MapRun App.

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Terrain type: Parkland & Woodland

Results

Results and splits

Officials' Reports

ORGANISER Janet Clark writes: It was windy up there today, but lovely in the sun. Great for running; not quite so good for working in the tent. It was a shame that the Planners, Katherine & Thea, struck down by Covid, couldn't be there to see everyone enjoying their courses. The day was saved by the willing last-minute volunteers, co-ordinated by Ian, who stepped in to put out the controls.
The whole range of ages and experience was here today; the toddler who loves dibbing, the speedy kids, the Juniors practising skills learnt at the pre-event training; the families enjoying doing a course together, the regular orienteers getting a challenging course, the Turfer trying it for the first time, the M85 who never gives up - and everybody in between.
Thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this event happen and to everyone who came to enjoy it.

Winsplits are here

Routegadget is here

Organiser's comments and details of Lost Property added Saturday evening. Read more for these...

Pre-event Information

Location Info

Near: City of Edinburgh
Lat,Lng: 55.92320,-3.18786
OS Grid Ref: NT258706
Postcode: EH9 3HE

Open an interactive map in:
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Directions / Parking

Head for the Observatory car park as Registration, start, finish and download will be located very close by.

Public Transport: It should be quite easy to reach this event by bus. Check Lothian Buses to plan your route.

By Bike: If you live in or close to the city, you'll find it pretty easy to come to the event by bike. A variety of quiet cycle route maps throughout the city are available on the Edinburgh City Council Quiet Routes web pages. It should be possible to lock your bike to a fence near Registration.

By Vehicle: Head for the Observatory car park, at the top of Observatory Road, Edinburgh.

Course Information

As usual for ESOC local events there will be White, Yellow and Orange courses for beginners and improvers. There will also be Green and Blue courses for experienced orienteers.
On this occasion we will also offer a free very, very short white course suitable for toddlers and very young children (along with an accompanying adult). Check this out on the day.

PROVISIONAL COURSE DETAILS
COURSE LENGTH CLIMB
Blue 6.0km 240m
Green 4.2km 170m
Orange 2.8km 110m
Yellow 1.8km 80m
White 1.1km 40m
Very Short White (Toddler) 0.5km 30m

Note that the above course information is a guide only and small changes could be made by the time of the event.

Footwear: The steep slopes are often very slippery in both wet and dry conditions. Studded orienteering shoes are strongly recommended for competitors choosing Blue and Green courses.

Buggies: There are steep slopes on all courses and none of the courses are suitable for buggies (in some cases due to steps as well as the steep inclines). The very short, white course for toddlers is included in this unless it is a robust all-terrain buggy.

NOTE: There is a junior training session immediately before this event and small training control kites will be used for this. They are not likely to be on the same feature as the Event controls but may be seen in passing. Please ignore them. These training kites are less than half the size of normal orienteering kites and may have a number attached but they will not have any SI Unit (for electronic timing) attached.

Read more about Course lengths and Difficulty here

Entry Details

Pre-Entry and pre payment via Racesignup are required for this event. Entries open 9am on Monday 6th June and will close at 10am on Saturday 18th June - the day of the event. However to be guaranteed a course map for your chosen course you MUST pre-enter by 6pm on Tuesday 14th June.

Late pre-entries - As mentioned above, entries will remain open until 10am on the morning of the event but entries will only be accepted by Racesignup if there are course maps remaining. RaceSignUp will not accept your entry once the maps for your chosen course have sold out however it's still worth trying to enter, you could still be lucky. You could maybe even try entering a different course if your first choice is full.

Entry on the day (EOD): If you have to resort to coming to the event without pre-entering please read the Registration Section above for details of what to do.

You can view an entry list for all competitors and their chosen start blocks on RaceSignUp (scroll down to Start List section). Please note that you can arrive at the start any time within your block.

Entry Fees: As well as individuals the entry system also allows pairs, groups or families who wish to go round a course together to enter using a sliding scale of fees. Full details at the RaceSignUp webpage link above but a flavour of the entry fee scales is given below for advance guidance.

ENTRY FEES
Category No of Persons Per Entry Orienteering Club Members Non Members
1. 1 Adult (Senior) £4 £6
2. 1 Junior £2 £4
3. 2 Adults (Seniors) £5 £7
4. 2 Juniors £2.50 £4.50
5. 1 Adult + 1 Junior £4.50 £6.50
6. 1 Adult + 2 Juniors £5 £7
7. 2 Adults + 1 Junior £5.50 £7.50
8. 2 Adults + 2 Juniors £6 £8
9. 2 Adults + 3 Juniors £6.50 £8.50

Note that a Senior is someone born 2001 or earlier and a Junior is someone born 2002 or later. Matriculated students will normally be eligible to enter as Juniors and pay junior fees - check out RaceSignUp as before.

SportIdent (SI) electronic timing will be used. If you have your own SI (dibber) please bring it with you.

We have SIs for hire free of charge via the pre-entry system but there is a £30 charge if lost. If you would like to buy your own SI-Card then a variety are available directly from SportIdent UK. The choice may be confusing and it may help you to know that the SI-Cards which ESOC hires out are very similar to the most basic model shown on the linked page - the SI-Card 8.

Registration and Start times

Registration, Start and Finish : These will all be very close to parking.

REGISTRATION will be open from approximately 1pm to 2.15pm for very limited Entry on the Day (EOD) but only if maps are still available. See also section on Entry Details below – payment for EOD will be in cash only. Please try to have the correct money if at all possible.

WHITE and YELLOW COURSE MAPS: Please collect these from Registration before going to the Start. Course maps for other courses are collected after punching the start.

STARTS: From 1.00pm to 2.30pm with course closure at 4pm. You should be back at Download by 4pm as controls will start to be brought in by 4pm so if you think you'll take a long time to complete your course please enter early so you can choose an early start time.

Contacts / Officials

EMAIL for general enquiries about this event.

Planners: Katherine Kirk and Thea Thomas (both ESOC)

Controller/Mentor: IanPyrah (ESOC)

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