Mary Erskine School & Ravelston Woods

Sat 11th Mar 2023

Info updated: 11th Mar
Type of event: Local
Type of terrain: Parkland, Woodland

Results

Provisional results are here

Winsplits are here

General Information

POST EVENT COMMENTS 

Organiser, Catherine MacColl writes:   It was a beautiful sunny day for our local event in the grounds of Mary Erskine School and Ravelston Woods. We had postponed the event from September, following the death of the late Queen. It was interesting to see the progress that many young orienteers had made in the intervening months - we needed to go back to the printers for more copies of the more advanced maps as there was lots more demand for these than we had in September.

The courses were very well received, there's quite a lot to see in this small area and many people commented on a surprising level of challenge in the woods. It is a good area for beginners though, and it is a great pleasure to send family groups off on courses and see them come back full of energy and smiling. We saw lots of enthusiastic children and teens completing their own courses too.

I was greatly supported in organising my first event by a crack team made up of both experienced volunteers and fresher faces. Lots of the kit was passed on directly to the organiser of next weekend's events in the North Pentlands. ESOC is indeed a "friendly and very active club!"

PRE-EVENT INFORMATION

Dress: Please check the weather forecast on the day and dress appropriately.  Full leg cover recommended for courses other than white and yellow.

Terrain:  School grounds, including sports pitches (out of bounds) with adjoining woodland. There are several paths and tracks in Ravelston Woods but off track there will be vegetation which should not be too high at this time of year.

Map: 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 School grounds and adjoining woods are both very well used by the general public, including dog walkers.  The School pitches are likely to be in use throughout the event with players and coaches coming and going at all times.  Please respect their right to be there at the same time as you are orienteering and take special care around blind corners. 

Dogs: Dogs allowed on leads in the car park only. Not to be taken into the school grounds at all.

Course Closure Time: Please note that courses have a closure time of 4.00pm after which controls will start to be brought in.

Covid:  Out of respect for others please don't come to the event if you have Covid or symptoms of Covid. Please also try to respect other people's personal space at all times and make use of the hand sanitiser wherever it is made available..   

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 very basic first aid kit will be available at Registration/Download. Please ask there for anything you may need, the Organiser will be happy to help. 

Location

Nearest town: City of Edinburgh

• Grid Ref: NT221739
• Postcode: EH4 3NT
• Latitude: 55.95286
• Longitude: -3.25421
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

The event will be based just outside the Mary Erskine School Sports Centre (PC: EH4 3NT) which is approached from Craigleith Rise, off Ravelston Dykes. There is a small car park for Mary Erskine School/Sports Centre just off Craigleith Rise.  You are welcome to use this if there are spaces left otherwise please park in surrounding streets. Please be considerate of local residents if you are parking in public streets. If you are changing your clothes in your car please try to be discreet!!

Please try to walk, use public transport or bike to the event if you possibly can. The following websites should be useful in planning how to get there by bus/bike - Lothian Buses and Edinburgh City Council Quiet Routes.

Registration & Start Times

REGISTRATION: This event will be based at, or very close to, Sports Centre building within the School grounds which is visible from the car park entrance. Opening times confirmed as 12.45pm to 2.15pm.  Download will be very close Registration and the Start and Finish will also be close by.

START TIMES: As the daylight hours are getting longer we are moving the start time back to more 'normal' local event start times of 1pm to 2.30pm. The course closure time will be 4pm (by which time all competitors should have returned to Download. Controls will start to be brought in at 4pm. Please choose an early start time if you think you might take a long time out on your course. 

Course Information

As usual for ESOC local events there will be White, Yellow and Orange courses for beginners and improvers.  There will also be a Light Green course for experienced orienteers. 

PROVISIONAL COURSE DETAILS: 

Light Green        3.4km 100m climb

Orange              2.7km 65m climb

Yellow                 1.9km 40m climb

White                 1.1km  25m climb

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 (a specific link will be added soon).  Entries open Monday 27th February at 10am and will finally close at 9am on Saturday 11th March - the day of the event.  To be guaranteed a map of your chosen course you MUST however pre-enter by 2pm on Tuesday 7th March.

Late pre-entries - As mentioned above, entries will remain open until 9am 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.

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 (note there is a small charge for using a card for payment).

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 will be on the RaceSignUp webpage but the grid below gives some details of the fees.

Note that a Senior is someone born 2002 or earlier and a Junior is someone born 2003 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

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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