ESOC
Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club
Type of event: Local, Sprint
Near: City of Edinburgh
The updated Sprintelope league table is here
A very informal event with only one short and one long course. Suitable for most people who have done some orienteering before.
Type of event: Local
Near: City of Edinburgh
Organiser's comments: This was local orienteering at its best. Lovely weather, central area easy to get to, and good courses for the wide range of age and experience who came along. It was great to see a number of families from the local area trying it out, and equally good to see experienced orienteers who know Blackford Hill well thinking hard and running hard on Mike's ingenious Score course. Grateful thanks to everyone who worked hard behind the scenes to put the event on, and to everyone who came along to enjoy it. Janet Clark
Planners Report: The weather proved perfect for the Planner at least. I rather enjoyed the heat and the sunshine. Not so sure about my two trusty dogs but special thanks go out to Evie the Sprocker for running Walter round to victory on the SCORE. The SCORE was a strategy Event and aimed at those who have orienteering experience but are looking for something different in a well used area. Top SCORE potentially was 450 points and the Optimum route was only 4.5km albeit involving a few contours. So well done to anybody getting near that. Mike Stewart.
Marks: I originally calculated the bonuses incorrectly, assuming the controls were to be tackled in the order listed. Of course, the correct way (as it said quite clearly on the map) was to do them in code order. A few people made the same mistake I made, and ran groups in listed rather than ascending code order. Because I had used the wrong sequence, the results posted here on the 22nd missed a lot of bonuses. I have now corrected that, and the more-accurate results are here. This has been further updated to show the time penalties correctly. (23/7/18, Alistair Armitage).
Winsplits are here. Note these are not very relevant for the Score course.
Our next Local event is on 8th September at Lauriston Castle, at which everyone is equally welcome.
Type of event: Local, Sprint
Near: South Queensferry
Results in simple format.
PLANNER'S COMMENTS from Ewart Scott: Other than a small event at King’s Buildings a few years ago, this was my first attempt at any urban planning. The guidelines make for interesting reading, compared to those for cross country orienteering and with a fair number of urban courses attempted from which I’ve gleaned some ideas, I was keen to take on this planning challenge.
Like other forms of planning, having a good area certainly makes the job easier. South Queensferry does have a great variety within the urban context, with very detailed sections where observation of the map and ground are vital, to those legs where route choice is simpler, the map easier to read, with hopefully a corresponding increase in pace. Because of the above interpretation, I almost deliberately chose not to plan very long legs. I also avoided the east area where the control descriptions were placed. The open ground is now covered by a new sports pitch and the area south of Dalmeny Station and to the east of the Scotstoun estate is now linked up by a through road and more housing. This area would have needed significant map updates and a sprintelope doesn’t justify the expense.
When collecting the tubes only number 2 was missing, and controls 8, 10 and 16 where I used chalk, all had the marks intact.
The ESOC idea was to have simple organisation and good courses. Our thanks to Arup’s for their facilities and to everyone for their positive comments on my courses.
Informal local urban event in South Queensferry
Type of event: Local, Sprint
Near: City of Edinburgh
The updated Sprintelope league is here
Another in the series of very informal events with only one short, one long course and a yellow course for juniors. The event is organised in a very straightforward way and is suitable for most people who have done some orienteering before.
Type of event: Local
Near: Edinburgh
ORGANISER’S COMMENTS: Bonaly always works for us, even in the most unpromising of conditions. Today we had Junior Training first, followed by a wide variety of people not put off by the forecast or the reality of intermittent heavy rain. It was good to see a number of "First-timers" from the local area and some hill-runners for the innovative Long Light Green course. The "Alpaca Walk" coming up through the route to the Start/Finish gave us all a bit of excitement. Registration was a bit difficult in the rain, but ESOC teamwork made it all happen.
Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who worked hard.
Janet Clark Organiser 0131 225 7771
PLANNER’S COMMENTS: I had a lot of fun planning this event, doing my Wednesday run with a couple of my friends and discussing the map and then going out with Craig to discuss the control sites and courses.
The Orange was probably the most difficult and least successful course as to get the required distance there was a lot of climb but I was told by Craig that the western part of the map was too tricky for an Orange so I couldn't use this slightly flatter area.
I was pleased at the uptake of the Long Light Green and Green courses which made it worth the effort of putting out the distant controls.
Thanks to Jonathon Marks and Mark Johnston for pointing out the error on the Long Light Green, and to Jonathon for rectifying it before anyone else was affected. A big thanks to Janet once again for her excellent organisation, and to all the ESOC helpers who helped make the event a success even in all the rain.
Helena Nolan
Brilliant area for orienteering at all skill levels.
Type of event: Local, Sprint
Near: Edinburgh
ORGANISER’S COMMENTS: I expect participants in World Orienteering Day (WOD) experienced a wide range of climatic conditions throughout the world. Here in Edinburgh it was a bit on the cold side, though lovely and sunny in the afternoon. Good for running, though.
The WOD activities during the day were fantastic. ESOC provided the Maze, masterminded by Judy Bell and Ben Brown and enjoyed by eight Primary school classes and a number of passers-by of all ages, some delighted to rediscover orienteering from their youth. The INTerlopers club provided a range of activities related to orienteering, resulting in lots of happy children racing about the Meadows with intense concentration.
The Sprintelope in the evening moved across to Bruntsfield Links to avoid the embargoed area of the Meadows. The Yellow course for Juniors around the Links was enthusiastically received by, among others, a large group of local Scouts. The urban courses visited areas new to many and enjoyable to all, with the sprint finish apparently especially competitive.
Thank you to everyone who came and helped us to contribute to the world-wide event which is WOD.
A thumb compass was left behind on the Registration table. Contact me if it is yours.
Janet Clark .
World Orienteering Day maze and other orienteering related activities from 11am to 4pm aimed at newcomers followed in the early evening by Sprintelope urban event for more experienced club orienteers.