Ballater is a typical grid pattern Highland village founded in the late 18th Century. It has since expanded into a more complex urban system including in-fill housing on former railway land freed-up in 1966 by the demise of the Deeside Railway.
The mapped area comprises the expanded village with parks, playing fields and a path network in the woods of the lowermost slopes of Craigendarroch.
Two sprint events have been held previously in the area, the first on the rest day of Royal Deeside 2017 and the second as a warm-up to the the 2023 Scottish Night Championships at nearby Balmoral.
We will be offering only a limited entry event which does not count towards the main competition.
Final Details
Important Information
- Organising clubs
- Edinburgh University Orienteering Club (EUOC)
- Organisers
- Issy Sunley (EUOC) & Emma Crawford (EUOC)
- Planners
- Ewan Bennett (EUOC)
- Controllers
- Roger Scrutton (ESOC)
- Directions
- Car Parking at Monaltrie Park is confirmed.
If approaching from the centre of Ballater follow the A93 for 100m north from the event centre and turn right into Provost Craig Road. Follow this for 250m to the entrance to the park.
If approaching from the west follow the A93 for 700m from the 30mph Ballater sign and turn left into Provost Craig Road.
There will be no time restrictions to parking, although the parking field will close at 15:00.
But to allow this, there will be two-way traffic in and out of the parking field and you should proceed with great care.
Course 7 crosses the parking field entrance – it will be signed and marshalled so that you can allow runners to cross.
In the event of bad weather we may have to use street parking. If this is the case we will post instructions on the event website and on social media. - Parking
- GR: NO 371 961
W3W: sprinkler.tubes.mixed
Post Code: AB35 5RG - Arena
- Adjacent to parking. Portaloos will be located within assembly.
- Starts
- Start times will be from 10:30am to 1:30pm.
There is a single start for all courses which is 150m from assembly and will be taped. This crosses a road and young children should be accompanied by an adult.
- Maps
- Original map by Graham Gristwood 2017 using LiDAR from Open Government Licence. Revised for Royal Deeside 2025 by Jon Hollingdale 2025. © MAROC.
View old map on Routegadget - Terrain
- Areas of housing of varying complexity, the historic town centre and open parkland.
- Finishes
- The finish is adjacent to assembly and parking.
Courses close at 3pm. - String and off-string courses
- None
- Safety
- The A93 runs through the middle of the competition area and will require care in crossing. Elsewhere, roads have only moderate or light traffic. However, usual restrictions will apply for participants under 16 years of age and Courses 6 & 7 will be planned accordingly. The town centre will be busy with tourists.
- Junior courses
- Courses 6 & 7 are planned to avoid busy roads, but some side roads carry light traffic to residential areas and there might be marshalled crossing points.
- BOF Registration No.: 84585
- Special Information
- You must wear your bib from the other days.
Estimated Course Lengths
| Course | Class | Length (km) | Controls | Map Scale |
| 1 | MO | 3.8 | 26 | 1:4000 |
| 2 | MV WO | 3.1 | 23 | 1:4000 |
| 3 | MSV WV | 2.8 | 20 | 1:4000 |
| 4 | MUV WSV | 2.4 | 18 | 1:4000 |
| 5 | MHV WUV WHV | 2.1 | 17 | 1:4000 |
| 6 | MJ WJ | 2.7 | 17 | 1:4000 |
| 7 | MYJ WYJ | 1.7 | 17 | 1:4000 |
Thanks to…
Ballater Highland Games