Orienteering is a cheap sport?

[mharky]

thats exactly what they are scott

[egocentric pothunter]

Aren't they those things worn by people whose feet are too feeble to cope with Inov-8s?

No, the feet are still fine - it's the Inov-8s that got totally trashed in no time.

those shoes i got for £40, vj lops, with steel studs. don't make em any more best value shoe, nearly trashed. wouldn't dream of oeienteering in inov8s much too expensive! vjs all the way! they last between 2 and 4 years if I'm lucky!

[JayBee]

I ran a fell race in the North Yorkshire Moors yesterday and that cost me 4quid and that is the most expensive race I’ve done (usually 2quid)! And there was prize all they up to 14th place (I know because I was 15th ), top 5 women, top 3 veterans and the best team. Prizes ranging from 2 bottles of whiskey and 2 bottles of wine for the winner, to a bottle of wine and a tin of quality streets for 14th, and boxes of beer for the teams. This isn’t unusual to see this many prizes.

This seems to me that these fell are fairly cheep and also crate a better atmosphere.

So in comparison I feel Orienteering is quite expensive.

[Scott]

But fell running entry fees really aren't a fair comparison: no mapping costs, much lower printing costs (numbered bibs are cheaper than full-colour, waterproof maps), very rarely a hideously expensive electronic punching system, no levies to pay...

[JayBee]

Yes i understand its obviously got less outgoings, but the original question was "is orienteering a cheap sport?" and the things you have just stated are the thing that do make orienteering a more expensive sport.

[Scott]

Yeah, fair enough. That said, if you don't demand a particularly high level of competition (and happen to live near the right club) it's possible to get a reasonable amount of orienteering done for £2 or less.

Of course, you're right about the atmosphere - at most fell races I've run, I've hung around at the finish for ages and ended up chatting in the pub afterwards until late in the evening, but at orienteering events I tend to hop in the car and go home within half an hour of finishing. I've been wondering whether chasing sprints - as a format for local/informal events - could help with this. You stand around chatting with people between prologue and chase, so long as the assembly area is nice (or indoors!) and the wait isn't too long, and then everybody finishes at about the same time, creating much more of an "event" atmosphere. Plus, as a moderately unfit and technically incompetent M21, I've always found that they offer a much greater feeling of competition out on the course than standard cross-country events. Anyone with experience of the recent MDOC series know whether this has been true of those?

[DM]

Scott, ref MDOC races, the number at the first chasing start race was 29, the second last Saturday got 43. It attracted a different group compared to the usual Saturday events. We got all ages, fast and not so fast a good number of returns from the first race, some bringing their friends. Also some "runners" who liked the idea of something more head to head, who commented they really loved it.

There was a good amount of discussion between prologue and chase and also after the chase, between all runners. The atmosphere was really good. No adverse comments and many questions about when the next one is - Chorlton Water Park, 14th March.

Important that you get the gap between prologue and chase down to something reasonable, so there's time to talk but not to get cold.

[Mrs H]

seeing what sort of people my children have grown up to be i will give the sport the benefit of the doubt and say it's been worth every penny.

Having just listened to the "Mack-Off" row between my two girls I take it all back - it's been a total waste of time and money (and it's only the first day of the half-term holidays)

[youngladdie]

How much is it to enter the JK again?
It goes up every year, usually by at least 10%, way beyond inflation.

No, orienteering is not a cheap sport, or at least is getting more and more expensive.

[Scott]

How much is it to enter the JK again?
It goes up every year, usually by at least 10%, way beyond inflation.

Although they've not gone up this year, I wondered about this. In 2004, the adult entry fee for the two individual days at the earliest (cheapest) rate was £22. This year it is £30, giving a year-on-year increase of 6.4% for the past five years (although it has been a bit uneven over that period). A good way ahead of consumer-price inflation over that period, but not as bad as some like to make out.

Whether or not that is expensive/constitutes good value for money has already been discussed at some length elsewhere...