Training Log Archive: graeme

Coordinating the Scottish Champs I.

As in athletics, Scotland's orienteering is split into three regions, East, West and North. Every three years the Scottish champs is allocated to East district. Unlike athletics, East doesn't include Deeside or Stirling. As a consequence, ESOA has essentially no decent areas. Normally we drive up past our northernmost club (TAY) and its northernmost members until eventually we get to something. Finding volunteers to plan and organise and even help around a three and a half hour there & back drive isn't easy. In 2017 INT are 6day central coordinating club so everyone is organising stuff even further away on Deeside.

So I decided to pitch to hold SOC and SRC at Gullane & Aberlady, the only area in East Lothian remotely credible. I thought that coordinating might be fun like RtC was. Also, it would allow us to get the maps sorted out. I wrote a little A4A grant proposal to secure the finances to do the mapping and off we went.

Binning Wood Relay
The first choice for the relay was to do both days on Gullane, but once we lost permission for the southern extension this became unviable. Second choice was a bijou relay on Yellowcraigs. Probably two laps would be needed. But when we lost even more of Gullane we needed that to for the individual. Third choice was Riccarton, but the idea of an urban relay got slapped down. Fourth choice. Binning.

After the ELO event in September was not universally well received, the queue to plan was zero, so I took it on. The ongoing rhodo work meant delaying the planning until very late, and the main rationale was to funnel the courses through the nice bits, continually changing the required orienteering style. A bit of gardening and ungardening created the control pick in the little maze of paths and the final loop gave something for spectators to watch.

The handicap was mighty close as always, Tullie just taking Musgrave on the last loop, with the Maroc Juniors a minute clear. Women's open had 9 teams finish within 10 minutes.

Generally pretty pleased with how it went. The D course and LG were a tad too long, D deliberately so to get the maximum time in the nice but far away bit of wood (Reiver still ran sub-29).

Braids, Fairmile, bburn, back over the south rim of Hermitage