Lauriston Castle

ESOC Local Event in Edinburgh and Lothians

Sat 23rd Apr 2022

Info updated: 24th Apr
Type of event: Local
Type of terrain: Parkland, Urban

Results

Provisional Results for Lauriston Castle available here

If you've enjoyed this event why not check details of our next Local event on Saturday 21st May at Bonaly or maybe even our next 'big' event which is even earlier - at Loch Ordie on Sunday 15th May.   Lots to look forward to.

​ORGANISERS COMMENTS added Sunday 24th April .....read on to see them

General Information

PROVISIONAL RESULTS at the event should are available HERE 

ORGANISER's COMMENTS:  Lauriston castle was looking amazing for our latest local event in the sunshine. Thanks to everyone who came along. It was good to see lots of children and families there, many trying orienteering for the first time. Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves. 

A big thank you to everyone who helped make sure things ran smoothly on the day - Martin, Jayne, Janet, Alistair, Peter, Mark, Anne, Emma and William, and David and Hanne. We look forward to seeing everyone at more events this year.

Sam Baker

COVID: The legal restrictions related to Covid will have been removed by the time of this event. However much of the Government guidance remains the same and the precautions we have been taking for some time now will continue for now. 

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. 

Dress: Please check the weather forecast on the day and dress appropriately.  This event is mostly in the grounds of Lauriston Castle though at least one, and possibly 2 courses will go out into surrounding streets so please wear appropriate footwear for the course you are entering. It can be very cool and windy on this area, even on a fine Spring day, due to proximity to the Firth of Forth. 

Terrain:  This is a particularly good area for beginners.  Beginners courses will be in the castle grounds which include some woodland and a small pond.  Please note that the Japanese garden and the croquet lawns are out of bounds (these are marked as such on the map).  The courses for experienced orienteers (Green and Blue) will also use the streets adjoining the castle grounds. These streets can be busy so please take extra care when running on these parts of the course.  Note that juniors under 16 years old are not allowed on the Green or Blue courses unless accompanied at all times by an adult.

Other Users: Although this is a private estate the area is used by others, most notably dog walkers and families. Please respect their right to be there at the same time as you are orienteering, especially giving dog walkers plenty of space when meeting/passing.  

Toilets: There are toilets in the grounds of the castle which we've been told will be open.  They are very close to the cafe which we are also advised will be open.

Course Maps: ​These will be printed on waterproof paper and control descriptions will be printed on the map. No loose control descriptions. 

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

Course Closure Time: Please note that courses have a closure time of 4pm after which controls will start  to be brought in.  We will start to bring in controls at this time so please return to download by 4pm.

General Safety: The area can be muddy and slippery in places if there has been a lot of rain immediately before the event, please take care.

MEDICAL CONDITIONS (not Covid): You have the option of downloading and completing this Medical Form. It could be life saving if the organisers are aware of any existing medical conditions in the event of an incident. You can put it in a sealed envelope and hand it to the Organiser on the day.  It will only be opened if required and destroyed or handed back to you after 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 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: NT203758
• Postcode: EH4 5QD
• Latitude: 55.96886
• Longitude: -3.27878
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

Head for Cramond Road South.  Parking for the Lauriston Castle event will be in the surrounding streets; such as Lauriston Farm Road or Barnton Park, both off Cramond Road South just south of the main entrance to Lauriston Castle (please don't park in the small car park within the grounds). When parking in residential streets please be considerate of local residents. Postcode for the event is EH4 5QD and What3words for the main gate is ///scar.storm.dates

By bus: If you live in the city it is pretty easy to come to this event by bus, service 41 is probably the closest. Further details, such as about out of town buses that stop close by, will be added closer to the event but check Lothian Buses for general details of city buses, including the 41 service. 

By bike:  If you live in the city 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. 

Registration & Start Times

REGISTRATION will be open for limited Entry on the Day (EOD) but only if maps are still available.  This will be open from 1.00pm -2.15pm - see also section on Entry Details below – payment 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.

The Start and Finish will both be within very easy walking distance of the entrance to Lauriston Castle grounds and of Registration.

Course Information

As at all ESOC local events there will be White, Yellow and Orange courses for beginners and improvers plus Green and Blue courses for experienced orienteers.  The Blue course, and probably also the Green course, will go out into nearby streets so no under 16s will not be able to go out on this course without being accompanied by an adult.  

Provisional course lengths are:
White    1.4km
Yellow    2.4km
Orange    2.9km
Green    4.2km
Blue    6.5km
These are direct measurements between controls. For the urban sections of Green and Blue the running distance will be considerably more.

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 remain open until 10am on the day of the event, i.e. Saturday 23rd, BUT to be guaranteed a map on your chosen course you had to have entered by 6pm on Tuesday 19th April.  After that, entries for each course will only be accepted if there are maps available for the course chosen.  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.

You can view an entry list for all competitors and their chosen start blocks (scroll down to Start List section). Please note that you can arrive at the start any time within your start block - this should help those who wish to start close to other members of their family or friends.

ENTRY FEES: 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.  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.

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.