Hillend Park

ESOC local event in Edinburgh and the Lothians

Wed 11th May 2016

Info updated: 18th Feb
Type of event: Local
Type of terrain: Moorland

Results

Results now available, including splits    Note that one competitor on the Orange course didn't download before heading home so no time is included.  We know the competitor punched the clear, start and finish boxes and was safely back in the car park so we can work out a total time.  We don't however know if all the correct controls for the Orange course were punched so we have had to leave this competitor off the final results.  

Hope you all enjoyed a lovely evening at Hillend to help celebrate World Orienteering Day!

Organiser, Ewart Scott writes:  Thanks to those who attended the ESOC local event at Hillend.  As with many local events, it’s great to see so many families attending.  The turn out of over eighty was a great contribution to World Orienteering Day.

Mark’s courses were very well received, especially the Spanish Score, where competitors had to keep a tally of controls already visited to ensure they all were.  Counting occasionally proved a problem!  Conditions with the descending mist and decreasing visibility increased the technical challenge more so on the upper parts of the hill.

Unusually, an SI unit failed.  I hope this didn’t cause too much time loss to those who visited that control.

Thanks too, to all the ESOC helpers including the control collectors.

Our next local event is at Bonaly on 18th June 2016; hope to see you there.

General Information

WORLD ORIENTEERING DAY: Why not come along to this early evening local event and be part of a worldwide series of events to mark the very first WORLD ORIENTEERING DAY which is on 11th May. ESOC's little event is part of something much, much bigger!  All schools, all O-clubs and all countries all over the world are encouraged to participate. The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) are looking to set a new Guinness World Record of 250,000 young people participating in orienteering events simultaneously all over the world. Taking part in this small event in Edinburgh may just help set a new world record.  

WORLD ORIENTEERING DAY LOGO: The logo was designed by 19-year-old Ade Anandra. He is a student from Indonesia who is interested in Graphic Design.

HILLEND PARK MAP: We've used the WORLD ORIENTEERING DAY logo as a thumbnail picture for this event instead of the usual thumbnail of the map for the area.  The Hillend map is still available at the bottom of this item for you to look at if you want to and you can see a bigger version of the map by clicking on it. 

Dress: Please check the weather forecast and dress appropriately.  The competition area at Hillend is open hillside which is very exposed.  It can be windy even on the sunniest of spring evenings and the weather higher up the hill can be substantially different to the weather in the car parks. Please come prepared for any conditions.

Terrain:  Open hillside, very steep in places, with plenty of contour detail and a fairly complex path network.  

Other Users: Hillend is part of the Pentland Hills and is used fairly extensively by the general public.  In particular you may encounter hill runners, walkers, dog walkers and possibly even mountain bikers.  Please respect their right to be there at the same time as you are orienteering.  The better the weather on the evening of the event, the more people could be out on the hills at the same time as this event.

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

Course Closure Time: Please note that courses have a closure time of 8pm after which controls will start  to be brought in. 

Location

Nearest town: Edinburgh

• Grid Ref: NT243667
• Postcode: EH10 7DU
• Latitude: 55.89242
• Longitude: -3.20187
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

Parking as for the Midlothian Ski Centre. Registration will be in the small car park to the left. Note that Hillend is very close to the terminus of Lothian Buses service 4 and it is a short walk up the road to the car park where the event will be centred. 

Registration & Start Times

REGISTRATION: This will be very close to parking and also close to the start and finish.

Registration will be from 6pm to 7pm.

It is not necessary - or possible – to pre-enter for this event.  Everyone is very welcome, just to turn up.  Whether you are a newcomer or have been to a lot of events, please try to come and start early if you think you might take a long time over your course.  This is especially important for this evening event.

Registration Form - We know how time consuming, and occasionally frustrating, it can be for our competitors to have to complete the Registration Form outside in the cold (and possibly wet) of a Scottish Saturday afternoon so we have produced an ESOC REGISTRATION FORM for you to complete and print off and bring with you to the event. This will save a lot of time and the forms easier to read!!  Apologies to those experienced Saturday attendees who feel they don't need the sample at the top of the page but it will be very helpful to our newcomers and properly completed, legible registration forms are a huge help to those manning our computers during and after the event.

Thank you in advance for helping us by completing the form and bringing it with you.

If you would like a little more advance information about the registration process at a local event why not read our QUICK GUIDE TO REGISTRATION?

NOTE: Current members of an orienteering club who have their own registered SI-Card can continue to come to Registration and go through the speedy entry system.  If in any doubt whether this applies to you then you could read the quick guide as above for more information about the registration process.

START AND FINISH: These will both be close to Registration. Start times will be from 6pm to 7pm.

COURSE CLOSURE TIME: 8pm.  Controls will start to be brought in from this time.  Please make sure you arrive in plenty of time to register, get to the start and complete your course before controls begin to be brought in.

Course Information

There will be White, Yellow and Orange courses for newcomers and improvers.  These will comply with the same British Orienteering Guidelines as at all other events, but  they may seem harder here because of the unavoidable steep terrain.   
For experienced orienteers, the course is a Spanish Score (visit all the controls on the map in the shortest possible time). 
 

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

Seniors (born 1995 or earlier)
British Orienteering members - £3
Non-members - £5

Juniors (born 1996 or later)
British Orienteering members - £2
Non-members - £2.50

Students
British Orienteering members - £2
Non-members - £2.50

Groups (Adults + children)
British Orienteering members - £4
Non- members - £5

SportIdent (SI) electronic timing will be used.  If you have your own SI-Card (dibber) please bring it with you. We'll have SI-Cards for hire free of charge 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

Phone Janet on 0131 225 7771

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.

Privacy: when entering our events your name may appear in the results section of this website or in newspaper reports.
Read our privacy policy to see how we look after your personal data.

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