Hopetoun House, SoSOL

South of Scotland Orienteering League

Sun 24th Jun 2012

Info updated: 18th Feb
Type of event: Regional
Type of terrain: Parkland, Woodland

Results

Results
String Course Results
RouteGadget
WinSplits
Splitsbrowser
BOF Rankings

General Information

Comments

Thanks for coming to our first event on the extended map at Hopetoun House. The area added is the Deer Park, to the south of the main house. It is open and largely devoid of significant features, meaning that I had to use the plentiful trees and equestrian features to try and give courses of interest. I aimed to create courses with a feel more like sprint orienteering for at least part of their length. Of course, with open land, relatively short grass and easy control sites, the courses were longer than normal for a SoSOL, although winning times were much as I had hoped. We had been asked by the estate to try and ensure people didn’t cross the high walls, ha-has and tall fences that surround the Hopetoun policies. I could have added controls at the gates, but this would just take away any decisions on the longer legs and negate any route-finding skill. I thought the map would be confusing with a purple overprint all over it, and we decided that just showing the compulsory crossing points and allowing route choice, along with notes in the final details and in the start box, would suffice. How wrong could you be? Well it appears very wrong, as I saw many people jumping the ha-ha to the west of the house, crossing the high walls and climbing through the high fence by the stream. I’m a little disillusioned, as these were experienced orienteers who do know better. What can be done about this problem? I’ve created a new version of the map with a purple underprint along all the uncrossable features, that doesn’t obscure what the feature is, but makes it clearer that crossing is not allowed.

My thanks to Katy Lessells and her wise council to help in producing courses that made the best use of the area. Hope you enjoyed them. Also thanks to Hopetoun House and the ranger Peter Stevens who opened the gates and helped on the day.

Crawford Lindsay, Planner

Location

Nearest town: South Queensferry

• Grid Ref: NT090790
• Postcode:
• Latitude: 55.9955
• Longitude: -3.45850
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

Registration & Start Times

Course Information

A range of colour coded courses including:
Brown
Blue
Green
Light Green
Orange
Yellow
White
String Course

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

Senior (BOF Member) - £7
Senior (non BOF Member) - £9
Senior competing on White, Yellow or Orange courses only - £3.50
Juniors/Students - £3.50
SI hire is free but there will be a £30 charge if lost.

Enter online at Fabian 4.  The closing date for entries has been extended to the evening of Wednesday 20th June 2012.  Limited entry on day if maps are available but with a surcharge of £1 or 50p.

Contacts / Officials

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.