Taping routes on courses

[RJ]

These comments are not (past)event specific.....

Quite often routes between controls on the White, the Yellow and possibly Orange course are taped, to give guidance to the competitors as to the route to take over terrain where there may not be a definite line feature. Giving adequate guidance to youngsters, who might be quite small, is critical. You must get it right.

It may be that two courses at the same event require taping. Possible disaster situation! A suggestion for clarity..... use pieces of coloured cloth of the appropriate colour...... yellow strips of cloth if taping a Yellow route, orange cloth if taping the Orange. Then if a competitor comes across some white tape they will know it is not their course.

In large forests the yellow course may have a decision point at a major junction, where taking the wrong track will take them a long way off their route. Placing the control on the correct exit is not always enough. One or two events have used large smiley faces on signs, ten or so metres down the right track, with a sad face on a sign if the child takes the wrong track. Positive feedback.... and helps to make the experience the one we all want the youngsters to have.

Protecting our next generation of orienteer from a tearful failure must be a priority.

[mharky]

what if its at a race which isn't a colour coded?

[RJ]

In the new event structure all courses are being mapped from colour to age class. Only nationals are different.... but the junior courses are still colour based, JM/W 1-3. For local events there will probably only be one course, and the events are often on areas lending themselves to TD2/3.

[mharky]

i can remember when it was M11