Corstorphine Hill

ESOC Local Event in Edinburgh and Lothians, incorporating ESOC 2022 Club Championships

Sat 19th Nov 2022

Info updated: 21st Nov
Type of event: Local
Type of terrain: Parkland, Woodland

Results

Results are here

Winsplits are here

POST EVENT COMMENTS: Organiser's Comments and Planner's Comments have been added. Click 'Read More......' to read them

Next ESOC event: Royal High School & Davidson's Mains Park, Sat 10th December

General Information

POST EVENT COMMENTS:

Janet Clark, Organiser, writes:  After the last two days of continuous downpours, Corstorphine Hill in the winter sunshine felt very special and absolutely everyone was there!  Regular ESOC members, new ESOC members, several members we hadn't seen for quite a while, a huge group from the Mary Erskine School, friends from other clubs, some quite far away, complete beginners; old and young - everybody!

The organising team  was a wonderful combination of old hands and newcomers to the team, working together to the highest standards to give all competitors a great experience.  We shared the hill with an enthusiastic children's mountain-biking group, and there was room for all, with our extra marshals being hardly needed.
Thank you very much to everyone, competitors and helpers, who contributed to this most successful event.

Mark Sanderson, Planner writes: I am very glad the weather decided to change its run of form for Saturday!  Thank you for everyone who attended, I hope you found the courses fun and interesting.  My main aim was to avoid excessive climb on the shorter courses and hoping the paths were clear enough with the autumn fall.  My other aims was making the longer courses as technical as possible given the area and the path network. 

It was my first time planning and the whole ESOC team made it a great experience.  Peter helped enormously as Controller, lending his experience and wise guidance, many thanks.  Janet coordinating just about everything and kept things organised and ticking along, thank you!  To all the other volunteers on the day, you helped make the event happen and your dedication to ESOC and promoting orienteering was very impressive!  A final thanks to the control collectors, Sally, Crawford, Alison and Peter, your help avoiding a late finish was greatly appreciated.  A reward collecting in controls was seeing the monkeys in the zoo from control 226 (Blue and Green courses) playing around before their bedtime!

PRE-EVENT INFORMATION

TRAVEL ALERT for day of event: Be sure to read the alert, relating to international rugby match, on Directions section below.

Interlopers urban event on Sunday 20th November - if you live in the Edinburgh area or are visiting there's a great opportunity for a weekend of orienteering- Interlopers are putting on an urban event in Livingston on Sunday 20th. Check here for details of Interlopers' event.

ESOC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022 will be part of this event.  This event item includes all the information all competitors will need about the area and the competition generally.  Details of how the Club Championships will be managed will be communicated directly to Club members.

Location: Corstorphine is on the West side of the city of Edinburgh but still offers great orienteering for everyone, whatever their skill or experience level of orienteering.  

Dress: Please check the weather forecast on the day and dress appropriately.  This event is in the city but it is November and the weather could be very cold, windy and wet.  It can also be very slippery on the area.   We recommend full leg cover for all competitors. We also strongly recommend that competitors on courses other than white and yellow wear studded shoes if they have them as the steep slopes can be slippery in both wet and dry conditions.

Terrain:   City parkland with a mixture of open fields and wooded hillside, with plenty of rock and contour detail; some steep slopes and crags.  Note that for the small paths, boulders and crags only the most prominent have been mapped. The terrain can be wet/slippery/muddy depending on the weather in the weeks beforehand.  

Course Maps: The map will be printed on waterproof paper, the control descriptions will be printed on the map (no loose control descriptions) and the map scale will likely be 1:5000.

Other Users:  The area is very well used by the general public, including dog walkers, runners, families out for a walk and even bikers.  Please respect their right to be there at the same time as you are orienteering. 

Dogs: Dogs are allowed but should be kept under very close control at all times.

Facilities: There are no facilities. NO TOILETS - Please 'go before you go' to the event. 'Informal toileting' is discouraged as this is a busy area for the public.  There are numerous options for calling in at a supermarket or shopping centre on your way to the event. 

Course Closure Time: Please note that courses have a closure time of 4.00pm after which controls will start to be brought in. All competitors should be back at Download by 4pm. At this time of year this is especially important as we don't want to be bringing controls in during darkness.

Covid: Please don’t come to the event if you have Covid or symptoms of Covid.

Please also try to:

1. Respect other people's personal space at all times; 

2. Make use of the hand sanitiser wherever it is made available; 

3. Remain as quiet as possible at and around the start area, the start line and the download area;   

Please read and respect the British Orienteering Participant Code of Conduct.

Medical Conditions: You have the option of downloading, completing and handing this Medical Form to the Organiser (via Registration) so that existing medical conditions are known about in the event of an incident. Please put in a sealed envelope with your name on it. It will only be opened if required and will be destroyed unread if you don't collect before the end of the event. 

First Aid: We encourage you to bring your own first aid kit and administer as necessary.  A basic first aid kit will be available at Registration/Download. Please ask there for anything you may need.  For further specific advice please call 111 or for a life threatening emergency dial 999.  The Organiser will be happy to advise and support you as required, including use of a mobile phone if you do not have one with you.  

The main hospital for A&E services in Edinburgh is:

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
51 Little France Crescent
Old Dalkeith Road
Edinburgh
EH16 4SA
Telephone: 0131 536 1000

Depending on where you live you may prefer to attend A & E or the minor injury unit local to your home. Note that current advice is to ring 111 before attending A&E if the situation is not life threatening. 

Location

Nearest town: City of Edinburgh

• Grid Ref:
• Postcode: EH12 6UT
• Latitude: 55.952630
• Longitude: -3.276500
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

TRAVEL ALERT: There is an international rugby match between Scotland and Argentina at Murrayfield at 3.15pm on same day as Corstorphine Hill event. This will affect much of the travel to and from Corstorphine Hill.  The area around Murrayfield Stadium, including Roseburn, should be avoided and an alternative route found to get to and from the Corstorphine Hill event. The attached map provides details given by the Council of the road closures/times. The link below to Lothian Buses website will be helpful for details of any re-routed services that day.  If this affects you there should still be plenty of options to get to Corstorphine Hill via an alternative route.

LOCATION OF EVENT: The event will be based at the GTC, 96 Clermiston Road, Edinburgh EH12 6UT.  Please note that parking is not available here.

There are plenty of options for getting there. Please use public transport or share cars if at all possible.

By Bus: Check Lothian Buses website to plan your journey. Other (out of town) bus services run along St John’s Road, Corstorphine and also Queensferry Road and these could be more convenient. Get off at the stop nearest Clermiston Road to walk 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 find a place to lock your bike close by while you run.

By Car: Please park in the residential streets in the general area of Corstorphine Hill (near Clermiston Road). Please do be considerate to local residents when parking.  Please also be aware that you are likely to be parking in a very public place so if changing in your car please be sensitive to this.  There is no competitor parking at the GMC (see Registration item below).

Registration & Start Times

REGISTRATION: will be open from around 12.45pm until 2.15pm. Registration and Download will both be in the GTC car park.  We will be sharing the car park with a cycle club which meets there every Saturday so it is very likely that only a very few helpers' cars will be allowed to park there. Please therefore follow the instructions above about parking in local streets.

START TIMES: Starts will run from 1pm to 2.30pm. Please choose an early start time if you think you might take a long time out on your course. You must be back at Download by 4pm.

Course Information

As usual for ESOC local events we will have WHITE, YELLOW and ORANGE courses for beginners and improvers. We will also offer GREEN and BLUE courses for experienced orienteers.  

Please note that the course information given below is provisional, subject to final controlling. Note too that whilst the length given is straight line, the climb given is based on optimal route choice. 

Explanation of colour courses

• White are very easy with all controls on paths. They are mainly used by 6-10 year olds and family groups.
• Yellow use simple linear features like paths, walls and streams. They are mainly used by under 12’s and family groups.
• Orange progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters.
• Light Green are ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses simple contours and point features.
• Green are used mostly by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course with a very hard navigational difficulty.
• Blue are a longer, more physically demanding course in comparison to the green. The distances are more varied between controls and the course attracts experienced orienteers.
• Brown & Black are very physically demanding and have a very hard navigational difficulty. They are for experienced orienteers only.
• Score means visiting as many controls as possible in any order in a specific time, like 45mins.

Entry Details

Pre-Entry via Racesignup is required for this event.  Entries will open on Monday 7th November and will finally close at 10am on Saturday 19th November - the day of the event.  To be guaranteed a map of your chosen course you MUST however pre-enter by 6pm on MONDAY 14th NOVEMBER.  It is especially important to enter by this date (which is a day earlier than usual for ESOC local events) due to possibility of postal strikes affecting delivery of maps.

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. You could maybe try entering a different course if your first choice is full though this could affect your participation in the ESOC Club Championships.

Entry on the Day (EOD) at the event will be possible only if there are course maps available. If you have to resort to coming to the event without pre-entering please read bring the correct money or be prepared to pay by card.

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.

Note that a Senior is someone born 2001 or earlier and a Junior is someone born 2002 or later.  Currently 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.  

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.

Contacts / Officials

Enquiries: EMAIL

Planner: Mark Sanderson (ESOC)

Controller/Mentor: Peter Halling (ESOC)

Organiser: Janet Clark (ESOC)

Safety and Risk

A comprehensive risk assessment will have been carried out by the organiser, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.

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