Dufftown

Event Summary

Update - 24 May 2025 - Maze cancelled due to forecast winds.

Update - 23 May 2025.  Start times published (below).

Update - 21 May 2025.  Full leg cover is mandatory on all courses and shoes with grip recommended as all courses go into wooded areas with direct route choice through slightly rougher areas.  

Welcome to the fourth Scottish Orienteering Urban League event of 2025.  Dufftown offers a compact set of streets and roads and some small sections of woodland which all have good path networks.  As such, this urban event will be run on approximately 70% urban terrain and 30% forest terrain for courses 1-5.  Junior courses (6 and 7) run on a higher forest to urban terrain percentage (around 50%).  

The area was last used as a SOUL event in 2014.  The routegadget for that event is linked here: 2014-06-21 Moray Mix Dufftown SOUL.

Why not make a weekend of orienteering in Moray?  To coincide with this event, Moravian is delighted to offer an indoor event at Kinloss Barracks on Saturday 24 May 2025.  With special thanks to CO 39 Regt and his staff, the event will be held in the ex-MRA4 simulator building on the base.  Pre-entry only, with full details here: Indoor Event - Kinloss Barracks | Moravian Orienteers. 

Urban
National
SI AIR
1000-1200 hours
1030-1230 hours
1430 hours
86184
On Leads
Online
SiEntries

Directions and Parking

From the North: Head south from Elgin on the A941 towards Aberlour.  At Craigellachie, turn left and continue on the A941 to Dufftown.  On entering Dufftown, continue on the A941 until the junction with Albert Place.  Turn left into Albert Place and the event registration is on the right in the Memorial Hall.

From the South: Head north east on the A95 through Grantown-on-Spey towards Craigellachie.  At Craigellachie, turn right onto the A941 and follow the road to Dufftown.  On entering Dufftown, continue on the A941 until the junction with Albert Place.  Turn left into Albert Place and the event registration is on the right in the Memorial Hall.

Registration.  The event registration will be at the Dufftown Memorial Hall (w3ws///instructs.printing.flirts).  It will offer:

  • Hired dibber collection:
  • Enquiries;
  • Course 7 junior map collection;
  • Limited entry on the day, subject to a £1 surcharge and map availability.
  • And download.

There will be light refreshments available in aid of Moravian Juniors. Please bring some small change with you.

Car Parking.  Limited parking is available in the Memorial Hall car park.  Sorry - no larger campervans/motorhomes allowed.  If the car park becomes full, then please park on one of the following nearby roads to minimise access to the competition area: Albert Place, Stephen Avenue or Tomnamuidh Road.  Make your way back to the Memorial Hall from where the route to the start will begin.  Please be considerate to the residents when parking.

Toilets:  There are toilets at the Memorial Hall (in the car park).

First Aid: At registration.

Start and Finish

Start and Finish.  The start and finish will be a relatively close distance from the Memorial Hall.  The start is 340m and the finish is 300m.  The route to the start and from the finish will be marked.  

Courses

Courses.  Seven courses (lengths and climbs are based on optimal routes):

  • Course 1 - M Open, 7.3 Km, 180 m climb.
  • Course 2 - MV (M40+)/W Open, 6.8 Km, 180 m climb.
  • Course 3 - MSV (M55+)/WV (W40+), 5.4 Km, 150 m climb.
  • Course 4 - MUV (M65+)/WSV (W55+), 4.9 Km, 150 m climb.
  • Course 5 - MHV (M75+)/WUV (W65+)/WHV (W75+), 3.0 Km, 70 m climb.
  • Course 6 - MJ (M16-)/WJ (W16-), 3.6 Km, 120 m climb.
  • Course 7 - MYJ (M12-)/WYJ (W12-),  1.5 Km, 60 m climb.
  • Open courses 1-7 are also available on SIEntries.

Course Information

  • Courses (1-5) cross the main road A941 at points which can be busy with traffic.  Please be alert to this. 
  • Juniors under 16 on the day of the event must enter course 6.
  • Juniors under 12 on the day of the event must enter course 7. 
  • SI Air will be enabled. 
  • Punching start and punching finish.
  • Loose control descriptions will be available at the starts.
  • Courses 1-4 and 6 will have a map turn.
  • Maps for Course 7 only will be available for collection at registration in the Memorial Hall.

Terrain

Dufftown offers a compact set of streets and roads and some small sections of woodland which all have good path networks.  As such, this urban event will be run on approximately 70% urban terrain and 30% forest terrain for courses 1-5.  Junior courses (6 and 7) run on a higher forest to urban terrain percentage (around 50%).

In the wooded sections, courses have direct route choice through slightly rougher areas.  As such, full leg cover is mandatory and shoes with grip recommended.  

1:5000, 2.5m contours.

Entry Details

Entries are online via SI Entries only.  

  • Entries open online on 3 April 2025 and will close at 23:59 pm on Thursday 22 May 2025 at normal prices.  Online entries can also be edited/changed/cancelled until this closure, subject to map availability. 
  • Limited Entry on the Day subject to an additional £1 and map availability.  

Entry Fees: 

  • Senior (21 and older) BOF Member - £10.
  • Senior SOA-only Member - £11.
  • Senior Non-Member - £12. 
  • Junior (20 and younger) and Student BOF/SOA Members - £5. 
  • Junior/Student Non-Member - £6. 
SiEntries

Final Details

Alphabetical Start List (154.34 KB)

Safety Information

  • General Safety.
    • Competitors take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
  • Other Users. 
    • Participants are advised to be mindful of other competitors and users in narrow passageways (particularly entering them via a blind corner).
  • Road Safety.
    • Participants on courses 1-5 are advised to be mindful of traffic when they cross (at least twice) the main road A941 through Dufftown, which can be busy with traffic.  
    • Participants advised that ‘caution runner’ signs will be displayed at key points on the A941, adjacent roads and minor side roads to warn road users of runner’s crossing. 
    • Participants advised to be mindful of road users when they cross any road on their course. 
    • Juniors under 16 on the day of the event must enter course 6 and Juniors under 12 on the day of the event must enter course 7.  These courses have been designed around areas virtually traffic free or with no traffic (the wooded areas).  Participants advised that marshals will be in place in the urban areas of the junior courses to monitor vehicular movement and to assist juniors to cross the roads safely.  Juniors are requested to adhere to the Marshal's instructions as required and necessary.
  • Terrain Hazards.
    • Participants are advised of potential trip hazards, including tree roots, stony and broken ground, litter, kerbs and steps.
    • Full leg cover is mandatory and shoes with grip recommended as there are direct route choice in the wooded areas through slightly rougher areas.
  • Water Hazard.
    • Participants are advised that the River Fiddich flows around the east side of Dufftown.  Courses have been designed to avoid the river, which must not be entered or crossed.
  • Weather.
    • Participants are advised that a waterproof may be made compulsory if inclement weather.  The organiser will update the event webpage and place a sign at the start and at registration, as required.

Event Officials

Andrew Campbell
Eddie Harwood
fixtures@mor.scot
07951628600
Colin Salisbury

COVID-19

COVID-19 Guidance (Updated March 2025)

If you have symptoms of COVID or have tested positive to COVID, then do not attend the event or activity to help avoid spreading infection.  

Controllers Comments

Organiser's Comments

My thanks to everyone for coming to Dufftown yesterday.  We hope you enjoyed the day.

As some of you may be aware, we had an issue with two SI controls (219 and 224) being transposed on the north and south sides of a building.  These two SI units were swapped during the event to minimise the issue for later runners.  However, this error did result in several missed punches, time being lost by competitors in having to find the control with the correct code, and also providing the potential for unfair advantage by competitors punching the correctly numbered control in the wrong place.  On behalf of Moravian, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the error and its impact on your run.

The error resulted in a control being in the wrong place on courses 1-6.  Competitors on Course 1 were able to complete their course without impact, as the error was corrected in time for everyone's run.  However, courses 2-6 were impacted and we have decided that the legs leading into and out of the wrongly numbered controls should be excluded from the final results.  We believe that this provides the fairest outcome.  I would like to thank our controller Colin Salisbury and Ian Welsh on results/download for their support in working through the error.   

For the rest of event, everything seemed to go smoothly.  I am most grateful for all of the support from our Moravian members who made the event happen.  The Hall provided a terrific venue as well and I hope you enjoyed having some refreshments.  My sincere thanks to Anne Parkinson for making that happen and for raising funds towards our Moravian juniors.  

Results (259.27 KB)
RouteGadget