34th Tinto Twin Day & SoSOL No.860.Pollok Country ParkSun 05 November, 2023
Regional level event
Explanation of Event levels
Local events are usually low key and in the 'localised' area, ideal for newcomers to try the sport and Activities are non competitive events used for training and coaching, aimed at members of the club, but they can attract people from neighbouring clubs, and are often ideal for newcomers to try the sport. Regional events attract participants from around the local Region, National events are high quality competitions that will attract people from far away, Major events are Major Events such as a British Championships.
Results
Report
Links to Routegadget, Winsplits etc are in each day's results.
Gerry Thomson, Organiser
Thanks to everyone who competed and who helped over the weekend contributing to another successful STAG project.
Rudi Paul, Planner
Thanks to everyone who came along to the races and for all your comments. Hopefully you all enjoyed yourself.
Planning wise, my aim was foremost to provide variety – long legs and short more detailed ones, open woodlands and denser undergrowth. The very open woodland and the many big paths mean it is never going to be a test of detailed map reading and intricate navigation, but I do hope it provided a worthy orienteering challenge, especially at high speed and for the night race.
It occurred to me in the summer than the Pollok House Gardens would make a decent sprint area, albeit too small for a proper race. This race seemed a good excuse to make a new map and try it out on you all, especially as it gave the longer courses at least some bits they hadn’t been in before. Hopefully we can find another race to use it for in the future, perhaps at a time when the gardens are a little less busy.
As those of you on the longer courses will no doubt know, Pollok is not the biggest area – finding enough distance for especially the brown course was a bit of a challenge, especially without being too repetitive for those that did both the night and day races. It’s probably inevitable that this led to a fair amount of dead running in places – it’s definitely the sort of area that suits fast runners.
My thanks to Phil for controlling and Terry and Gerry for organising, as well as everyone who helped on the day.
Rudi
Phil Smith (AYROC),Controller
It was a pleasure to work with the STAG Team for my first role as Controller after attending the Grade C Course a while back.
It became apparent fairly early on that Rudi, as planner, whilst perhaps not having much experience in the role at this level, had come up with some imaginative courses given the constraints of the area and the fact it was being used for both the Nox and Dies events.
Feedback seems to indicate that both Night & Day courses were generally well received and the use of the House Gardens for a sprint style precursor for the longer courses was certainly innovative, at least I think for the Tinto Twin.
The use of the gardens did raise one or two issues on the day, probably compounded by a craft fair set up in the courtyard, which only came to light a few weeks prior to the event.
This and the fine weather probably swelled the numbers of visitors and made things a little crowded!
However, we only received one complaint, which was, to all accounts, from someone who perhaps wasn’t keen on the idea of having to share the space with other users!
As Terry has already alluded to, there was a little confusion over course selection and it may be worth exploring further some of the issues surrounding that, perhaps at SOA level.
So, in summary, a great wee event, a cracking team of volunteers, a few lessons learned (certainly for me as Controller) and the weather really did help make life a lot easier for us all!
I look forward to seeing Rudi’s next efforts as planner and indeed perhaps as a mapper too (he mapped the Pollok House gardens). Great to see youngsters getting involved in other aspects of the sport apart from just competing.
Thanks to all for attending and hope to see you at the STAG 3 Parks at the beginning of December.
Location Info
Near: Glasgow Lat,Lng: 55.82969 ,-4.30707 OS Grid Ref: NS555621Postcode: G41 4AS
Open an interactive map in:
GoogleMap -
Streetmap (OS 50k)
OpenStreetMap -
BingMap (OS 50k)
Pre Event Info
WE do what WE do as it is GOOD for US and GOOD for YOU!
Directions / Parking
At Burrell Car Park. There is a £5 charge to park for 4 hours now in place. Parking may be busy so early arrival is advised. Should parking be full competitors will then have to drive back out to Haggs Rd and then park at Nether Pollok where similar charges are in place. This is 500m from The Burrell Car Park across the grass pitches.
The only way to access this car park is by entering from Pollokshaws Road and following the signs thereafter.
Public Transport Options
Travel options from Glasgow City Centre - check timetables
By Train
Pollokshaws West Station is a 10 minute walk from the Burrell Car Park. Turn onto Pollokshaws Rd and head north, on crossing over the White Cart Water turn left into Pollok Country
Park and follow signs for The Burrell Collection.
By Bus
Check out the Moovit website.
By Car from Glasgow City Centre
M8 or M74 > M77 > left onto Dumbreck Rd > right onto Haggs Rd > right onto Pollokshaws Rd > turn right across carriageway into Pollok CP and follow signs for Burrell Collection.
Map / Terrain
As explained above.
Registration and Start times
Note - There is no String Course or similar at this event due to the miniscule entry on Yellow & Orange courses.
Start Times now from 11am > 12:30pm.
Public toilets are available just within the entrance to The Burrell Collection but the museum does not open until 11am.
There is also a cafe on site.
Live results https://www.stag-orienteering....
Course Information
2 Starts -
Near start for Yellow & Orange courses adjacent is adjacent to 'Knowehead' which is the small stone cottage to the west of The Burrell. Thanks to the Countryside Ranger Service for providing us with a power source on the day.
Maps for Yellow and Orange can be uplifted on arrival from the REGISTRATION/Computing at 'Knowehead'.
The far start for Light Green, Short Green, Green, Blue & Brown courses is located approximately 1000m on the south side of Pollok House. Due to a Sunday Market competitors need to walk around Pollok House and not via the Courtyard.
For the day event, courses from Light Green to Brown have a map flip with two different scales of maps and map specifications. These courses start on a 1:3000 sprint-specification map of the Pollok House Gardens. Courses in this first section are planned in a sprint style – lots of short intricate legs with routechoice, although still containing plenty of steep hills and mud.
If you are unfamiliar with sprint/urban maps, consider familiarising yourself with the special symbols for uncrossable features – it is forbidden to cross these features and they will be important for your routechoices.
At the last control on the first side of the map, there is map flip and the rest of the course is on the 1:7500 ISOM map as used for the night event. The last control on the first side of map is reproduced, with the same location and number, on the second side, although the map and control will look different due to the change of specification and scale.
Day
Brown: 8.1km 160m
Blue: 6.7km 140m
Green: 4.7km 100m
Short Green: 3.3km 80m
Light Green: 3.1km 75m
Orange: 2.9km 40m
Yellow: 2.3km 25m
Entry Details
Enter on SI entries.
Miscellaneous
Organiser Gerry Thomson (STAG)
Planner Rudi Paul (STAG)
Controller Phil Smith (AYROC)