We will provide a choice of courses at various Technical Difficulties (TD) – Levels 1 – 5, where TD1 is the easiest and TD5 is the most difficult.
TD1: M/W10B, White colour-coded course
TD2: M/W10A, M/W12B, Yellow colour-coded course
TD3: M/W12A, M/W14B, Orange colour-coded course
TD4: M/W14A, M/W16B, Light Green colour-coded course
TD5: Green colour-coded course
TD5: All Other Courses
The following is an explanation of the colour-coded courses:
White
Technically easy with most controls on paths. Where paths don’t exist, a taped route may be necessary. Mainly used by 6-10-year-olds and family groups.
Yellow
Uses linear features like paths, walls, and streams. Mainly used by under 12s and family groups.
Orange
Involves basic use of the compass and route choice. Ideal for competent youngsters or novice adults.
Light Green
Uses simple contour and point features. Ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase.
Green
Very hard navigational difficulty. Mostly used by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course.
Which classes at which start
There are remote finishes on 5 of the 6 days.
On Day 2, the distances quoted are from the priority parking and toilets – the main parking is a further 2km away. The finish is 1km from the priority parking.
On Day 6 the routes to and from the starts & finishes follow paths and the longer lengths are needed to get competitors into the best terrain. Finding a location for Day 6 proved very difficult and we only managed to get access to Creag Meagaidh in the autumn. It is a superb location but the options for car parking / arena fields are very limited.
On other days walks from finishes are less than 500m.
The following age classes / colour-classes start at each start:
| Red Start | Blue Start | Green Start | White Start | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M16A M18L M20L M21E M21L M35L M40L M45L M50L M55L | W21E W21L | M18S M20S M21S M35S M40S M45S M50S M55S M60L M65L M70L | W16A W18L W20L W21S W35L W40L W45L W50L W55L W60L | Green L. Green M14A M16B M60S M65S M70S M75L M75S M80 M85 | Green L. Green W14A W16B W18S W20S W35S W40S W45S W50S W55S W60S W65L W65S W70L W70S W75L W75S W80 W85 | Orange Yellow White M10A M10B M12A M12B M14B | Orange Yellow White W10A W10B W12A W12B W14B |
Distances to starts
| Red Start | Blue Start | Green Start | White Start | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 1.3km & 140m climb | 1.3km & 140m climb | 1.1km & 70m climb | 1.0km & 40m climb |
| Day 2 | 1.1km & 10m climb | 1.1km & 10m climb | 1.2km & 20m climb | 1.2km & 20m climb |
| Day 3 | 1.1km & 130m climb | 1.1km & 130m climb | 1.1km & 130m climb | 1.0km & 120m climb |
| Day 4 | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.6km & 30m climb |
| Day 5 | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.7km & 30m climb | 0.6km & 30m climb |
| Day 6 | 3.0km & 150m climb | 3.5km & 130m climb | 3.0km & 150m climb | 0.9km & 30m climb |
Elite Starts
For the M21E & W21E competitors, a Reversed Seeded Start will no longer be used on Day 6 at Creag Meagaidh.