North Pentland Hills

SOL 5, incorporating VHI Individual Event

Sun 22nd Sep 2019

Type of event: National
Near: Edinburgh

LOST PROPERTY: Contact Fiona Findlay by email to: If you think you left anything behind and it is not listed here, please contact Fiona as she may be still be able to help.
1 Addict blue sweatshirt, S
2 pairs of inov8 mudclaw, sizes UK 6 and 6.5

VHI Weekend Coordinator's Comments: Margaret Dalgleish writes - A huge thank you to everyone concerned with putting on the SOL and VHI Individual event at North Pentland Hills on Sunday. It takes a big team of people to put on an event which has starts running from 10am until 1.30pm. ESOC pulled this off magnificently. Special thanks to Organiser Fiona Findlay, Planner Richard Oxlade and Controller Graeme Ackland and his support network of Oleg and Scott. Thanks to Keith Brown and Judy Bell for setting up the computing and working out the results whilst still under pressure from other jobs.

Thanks too to the teams from the home countries who made the sometimes very long journey to take part in the Veteran Home Internationals this year. The accommodation was in Broomlee Centre in West Linton. A lovely setting next to the Pentland Hills. Thanks to Anne Hickling for coordinating all issues relating to accommodation.

CONTROLLER'S COMMENTS: Graeme Ackland writes - The North Pentlands is not the most technical area in Scotland, but its proximity to Edinburgh makes it very convenient. Producing a worthy international course was a fun challenge for the team, and I feel we did well. Its a bit disappointing that due to tight timescales and mapper illness we weren't able to use the event to get the map into the kind of shape we would have liked, but I think the courses were ultimately fair and the routechoices at least were top class.

At one stage it became obvious that I wasn't physically capable of doing th econtrolling job, so many thanks to Scott Fraser and Oleg Chepelin (INT) who did all the hard miles to ensure everything got checked. I was confident they'd be in he right place. Which they were, although in some places the map was so bad it wasn't possible to be clear on approach from every direction and for fairness we had to make the flags a little more visible than usual.
Richard did a superb job on the planning, leaving me just some minimal input to the course designs - I think short blue is the only one I made serious improvements, and that was the difficult "shortest course going up the hill". We discussed at length having a very long leg even on green, but eventually figured that a 2km leg would be too dominant in determining their results, so went for a more routine low-level "find the flags" option. Similarly, great work went into setting out the crossing points and hanging the flags.
Ali Masson won the Black in 71, a tad longer than the 67 target. Other course lengths now scale from there, using the same percentages as wehn M@! was a 90 minute course. So the VHI winning times are typically in the mid-40s - much shorter than they used to be and I feel too short for an International "long" course, but until someone changes them black, them's the rules.

CompassPoint Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) 5 incorporating Veteran Home International Individual race.

Binning Wood, Veteran Home International Relays

A closed event for teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Sat 21st Sep 2019

Type of event: National
Near: East Linton

Results are here

Winsplits are here

Routegadget is here

Summary of VHI Points is here

VHI Coordinator's Comments: Margaret Dalgleish writes - The VHI relays had to take place on the Saturday before the Individual race. This isn't ideal for the teams but in Scotland it would be very difficult to put on a separate event for the Individual race at the level required for such an important competition as the VHIs. This is the reason the Individual race was run alongside the Scottish Orienteering League event on Sunday 22nd September on North Pentland Hills.

Binning Wood is an interesting area. It was originally planted in 1707 by the 6th Earl of Haddington. The 6th Earl laid out Binning Wood with 13 rides converging at three different circles called Lord Haddington's Circle, Lady Haddington's Circle and Bruce's Circle. The majority was felled to help the war effort between 1942-45, with much of the timber being used to make the airframes for Mosquito fighter-bombers. It was replanted after the war and at just 60 years old is still relatively young. The many rides, paths and the large circles suggest very easy orienteering but it can be very tricky indeed for the unwary competitor!

The weather on the day was particularly kind with bright warm sunshine for the entire event. This was especially good for spectating and for the after event relaxation at nearby beaches.

Roger Scrutton planned some great courses to make the most of the area. Colin Eades controlled the event with his usual aplomb and Trina and her small but select team from East Lothian Orienteers put on the event smoothly and successfully. Keith Brown was the computing supremo for the whole weekend and Judy Bell was in charge of the results for the whole weekend. Many thanks to all these people for ensuring the success of the Relay event.

A closed event for teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

ESOC Ultrasprint 2019, Beeslack

Beeslack School grounds and adjoining wood

Sun 25th Aug 2019

Type of event: Local, Other
Near: Penicuik

The results are here

The combined results are here

ORGANISER'S COMMENTS: This event is fun; no other word for it; specially on the most beautiful summer day like today. Running about in lovely parkland; just enough complexity to keep it interesting, the fun of the Maze - what could be better? Did anyone notice that the courses were exactly the same as two years ago here at Beeslack? if you were there and want to compare your times, have a look at the 2017 Ultrasprint Results.

Lost property: I have a white plastic hand-held water bottle left behind .

Thanks to everyone involved with today; the School, the ESOC volunteers, and all the participants.
Janet Clark Organiser 0131 225 7771 janetcrl@'aol.com

Fun orienteering for all the family with controls in a maze and in surrounding parkland.

Sprintelope, Edinburgh (Bruntsfield & Fountainbridge)

ESOC local Wednesday evening event

Wed 07th Aug 2019

Type of event: Local
Near: City of Edinburgh

The results are here

What a night! Undeterred by torrential rain, thunderstorms and gridlocked traffic, Martin swam around to put out the controls and most of the usual Sprintelope addicts turned up, complete with their own polybags. EUOC enlivened the race with their own "Mass Start" and the run-in to the Finish was a spectacular water-jump. Well done all!

Low key urban evening event

Blackford Hill

ESOC local event in Edinburgh and the Lothians

Sat 20th Jul 2019

Type of event: Local
Near: City of Edinburgh

The results are here (Read Planner's Comments to find a link to his optimum route for the strategy score)

PLANNER'S COMMENTS: Mike Stewart writes: 'The Course was set up for a testing challenge with narrow fairways and some tricky pin positions. A warm and wet summer ensured the rough would sort out any competitors straying off the fairways.
The Challenge was to introduce a degree of strategy to what was a normal SCORE course. Most of the runners treated the Event as a normal SCORE and if you got the lot you scored 500 points. Congratulations to the girls at the top who showed the boys how to think on their feet and cleaned up with the quickest times.
There was the possibility of getting 620 points if you chose to collect each group in ascending CODE order. Only Graham McIntyre had a go at this and got the maximum score. Well done to him, though he was 18 minutes over time. I have provided you with the planners optimum route of 5km, so it could have been done in the 60 minutes if you had a good pair of legs on top of spotting the best pick order.
The Orange was a popular choice for many and this area lends itself to a great course in that category.
For those of you who enjoyed the afternoon sun, it wasn't like that while putting out controls. My shower at home has less output than those thunder heads over Blackford Hill at 1030 yesterday. Thanks to those who helped me out. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.'

ORGANISER’S COMMENTS: Janet Clark writes: The lovely sunny afternoon was a bit unexpected and a lovely surprise. I'm afraid MIke and his helpers got soaked putting out the controls, but everyone else mostly remarked on it being too hot for running. And we didn't have to pack up wet tents.
Mike planned a masterly range of courses, from the easiest White, enjoyed by lots of young families, to a tricky "Strategy Score" which tested the best of orienteers. This is the great beauty of orienteering; it is truly a sport for everyone, at whatever level suits them.
Many thanks to everyone for coming, and hope to see you all at another event soon.

Excellent city centre area with surprisingly good orienteering for all skill levels and experience.

Sprintelope, Edinburgh (Morningside & Royal Edinburgh Hospital Grounds)

ESOC local Wednesday evening event

Wed 17th Jul 2019

Type of event: Local
Near: City of Edinburgh

Results are here

League can be viewed here

Very low key urban event.