Tayside Orienteers

Navigation

Jamie Stevenson Trophy

Image of the Balkello Hill map

Scottish junior inter-club event

Sun 19th Jun 2016

Last updated: 19th Jun
Type of event: Major, Social
Type of terrain: Moorland, Woodland
Read more about the mapped area

Results

Results will be available soon.

Info

LINK TO RESULTS FROM TODAY'S COMPETITION http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/documents/results/jst2016/ Huge congratulations to Kerri in this national competition for her top result on Yellow and to Finn for his hard-fought fifth place. Full report to follow ... meanwhile massive thanks to all concerned in making this event such a great success, organiser Elizabeth Furness (MOR), TAY club members, especially Roos, Alistair and Elaine and all other parents/helpers.

Club event OPEN TO ALL AGES, NOT JUST JUNIORS also attached to this event - full details further down the page.

The Jamie Stevenson is an annual inter-club competition for junior orienteers in Scotland. It was set up over 10 years ago to celebrate Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club member Jamie Stevenson’s gold medal at the 2003 World Orienteering Championships in Switzerland. This is a great event for juniors of all abilities to meet, socialise and compete against each other. The competition is open to juniors (M/W18 and under) and courses offered include Yellow, Orange, Light Green and Green.

Location

Nearest town: Balkello, Dundee

Pre event information

Tayside Orienteers members of all ages and abilities are also welcome at this event - not just juniors! The club is running its own "event within an event" (once the main competition action is over). We plan to make this a social event too so if the weather is good bring your mini BBQs. If the weather lets us down we can stick up the tents and have a picnic under canvas instead! More details to follow and keep your eye on the website.

Balkello is a Forestry Commission area of mixed woodland, open grassy areas and ponds with an open hillside, old quarry workings, mountain bike trails and dense patches of gorse above.  There are some areas of scree or loose rock; take care if crossing these as they can slip underfoot.  On the hillside there are many area of broken ground mapped; these are generally a series of small indentations with the larger ones mapped as pits or depressions. 

Balkello can be affected by low cloud. The Organiser will advise if any additional safety measures are required on the day. Courses have been planned to avoid being above or in the quarry workings . The Orange, Light Green and Green have compulsory crossing points through gates on the hillside. Being only 5 miles from Dundee it is a popular area for locals to walk dogs, ride bikes and horses. Ticks are also likely; please ensure you and any children in your care are checked after their run.

There are some steep home-made mountain bike trails marked on the map (a very obvious zig zag on the open hill and linked paths above and below). The courses are planned to minimise conflict but this depends on route choice for Green and Light Green competitors; there will be signs in the car park and at the trail start.

Directions / Parking

Follow directions to  Balkello Community Woodland Car Park

From A90 southbound at Tealing, turn right on to minor road for Auchterhouse. Balkello aprox 6km. From eastbound A90, take A923 towards Coupar Angus, at Muirhead take B954 for Auchterhouse; after approx 4km turn right (Kirkton of Auchterhouse/ Tealing). Balkello 4km.

Car parking: is on a level(ish), well-drained field on the right as you come in to the Forestry Commission car park. Please follow marshall’s directions. Please remember the general public will also be using this car park so do not obstruct the entry/exit track.

Registration & Start Times

Start Times from  1pm-1.30 depending upon entry numbers. Please allow 25 minutes to walk to the start for all courses. It is essential that you shut any gates you open to pass through PROPERLY - even if on a spring - owing to cattle in the area!

Course Information

Yellow, Orange, Light Green and Green (1:10000 map)

Yellow                 2.0k        45m                                

Orange               2.9k        95m                  

Light Green        3.3k        135m                               

Green                 4.0k         210m                                

Map is A4 for all courses; loose control descriptions available at the Start.

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

Please pre-book maps by emailing Elaine at 2egillies  @gmail.com (remove spaces) though there will be some Entry on the Day.

British Orienteering Federation members - adults £5; Juniors £2. 

Non-BOF adults £6; Juniors £3

Contacts / Officials

Planner: Roos Eisma (TAY)

Controller: Bill Stevenson (ESOC)

Overall Organiser:  Elizabeth Furness (MOR), ScotJOS Manager

Organiser/contact for TAY entries/enquiries only: Elaine Gillies 2egillies  @gmail.com (remove spaces)

Dogs allowed?

Dogs: On a lead in car park(s). Anyone wishing to exercise a dog may go anywhere to south and west of the route to the start.

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.

Keep It Clean campaign - Forestry Commission Scotland

Our forests are at risk from tree pests and diseases. These can dramatically affect the health of our trees, upsetting the delicate ecosystem balance and devastating large areas of woodland.
Pests and diseases hitch a ride in mud and debris on shoes, paws and tyres, ending up in new forests. Here, they can spread rapidly in environments with no natural resilience.
Read more about this on the FCS website.

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.