Have you seen this?

[Mrs H]

I think perhaps a lot of you wont have tuned into this thread because you think you are not interested in the subject - but you ought to read what Emily has to say anyway
particularly this bit

"This year I spent a huge amount of money, my savings, TASS and student loan, travelling to World Ranking Events around Europe chasing that ever vital experience and competition at Senior Elite Level. I have trained a considerable amount over the winter, have no money left, am failing my university course because I want something badly...I want to win. In the last 8 weekends, 6 of these have been spent abroad racing, how many elite junior foot Orienteers invest this much into their sport? In fact, how many have raced abroad for more than a weekend or two since january? I can barely think of any... Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it not seem a little unfair to anyone else, that the JWOC foot O team are fully funded, several paid for weekends a year (yes, i know Foot O if BOF's priority, but realistically how many top 15 places are we likely to get?) but yet I am told BOF can't help me to pay for my Junior World Champs? It is important to note that I asked for some help several months ago, and only a few days ago found out about the lack of funding, which thus means I am unable to go to Israel for WOC unless I find an additional £800 from somewhere. I find it almost amusing that there is nothing available to someone who is a medal potential at JWOC and a top 15 at WOC. haha, just imagine the outrage within the Orienteering community if, say, Mr Haines was unable to go to Italy due to lack of funds! People would go crazy..."

anyway - it all here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9526&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30
ps have you noticed how nice Gross is these days - I think it must have something to do with these visits to Cuba

[Gross]

We're up to 7 contributions now........

[madmike]

make it 8 contributions

[Mrs H]

I've e-mailed a couple of people with some influence who may be able to do things to help Emily - anyone else with any contacts worth using?

[mappingmum]

9 - I put mine on the MBTO thread.

[mappingmum]

I've e-mailed a couple of people with some influence who may be able to do things to help Emily

I think we need to think laterally here. I would approach people who would be keen for the positive publicity it would create eg business, newspapers, or even airlines. Ask the airline for the flight (to WOC) for free in exchange for article in their in-flight magazine, credit for getting you there afterwards, wearing their logo etc

[J.Tullster]

Wow, thats quite a rant.
Immpressive dedication. Nice that people are contributing!
I was struck by a couple of things...
Shame that BOF aren't helping out with JWOC, did you know that was the case at the beginning of the year? Are you getting support/advice from anyone? £3000 (or whatever it is) TASS money doesn't seem like a bad start to me, and spending all savings etc on top of this sounds like a lot. Failing university course too doesn't sound like the best idea. Going abroad racing 6 weekends out of 8 also seems like an awful lot of travelling and racing when you are focussing on one competition?

[madmike]

ps have you noticed how nice Gross is these days - I think it must have something to do with these visits to Cuba

Now you mention it Mrs H - yes it's extremely worrying. Who do you think he really is and more importantly what the hell have they done with Gross

[EBenham]

See other thread for the rest of my post:
'Secondly, 6 out of 8 weekends was a hell of lot of travelling. I got back from a training camp in Italy 2 weeks ago and was absolutely shattered....but... I have three top 5 places at WRE's and finished 5th overall in the Denmark training camp league (all races at W21E level). I had a chat with Mr Compass Sport earlier, who mentioned that some people my see all these races as a misuse of TASS money. Last year I underperformed at my major races because before JWOC 08 I had done a grand total of 2 MTBO races in 2008. I made the decision in November to commit 110% to MTBO this year, no Orienteering, no Coaching, no summer tours, nothing! Instead I have put everything I have into MTBO because I really believe I can do well this year. By going to international races I have learnt to race against the best, developed a pre-race plan, I know what works for me and what doesn't, and I can go to Denmark being the best physically, technically and mentally that I have ever been. WIthout the World Ranking events I would be far from this and can now confidently compete against the best juniors in the world. It is a totally different mind game knowing that you can out perform people at a race compared to going for a top 20 result. You either win...or lose. At the end of June, if I do well, then spending £9K was well worth it. If I lose, I can say I did my best.'

In response to Tullster (?).... I asked BOF back in feb/march time what funding would be available and I found out on Friday 5th June that there is nothing. So in short I was not aware of a lack of funding. British Orienteering kindly paid for my entries and accommodation last so I had hoped to receive a similar level of support.

[Gross]

BOF/////////////////////////

[ER]

I was thinking of your predicament walking to work today. Have you thought of getting in touch with Britishcycling who seem to have embraced all forms of sports which use a bicycle? Would they offer you support and sponsorship?

Sadly orienteering is a very minority sport in the UK; with such commitment you could possibly be an olympic champion if in a different cycling sport with the financial and other rewards that come with that. There was a programme last year to scout for females to train for 2012 in the sports of rowing, cycling, modern pentathlon and two others that I forget. Those athletes may end up famous winners with the financial rewards that go with such success. I am not suggesting you give up MTBO as you are clearly top of your game. But no one is going to make a living just as an orienteering athlete and it will always be a struggle as an orienteer to find the funding to train, live and compete. That's why it is important to have some profession/qualification to eventually fall back on. I am not sure whether you have been given a reason by BOF as to why you cannot be funded this year to go to JWOC.

[EBenham]

It was called the Girls4Gold scheme, which i participated in. I had been unable to attend the first 3 selections but finally made it to the fourth. I had a bad cold at the time, and had just had 3 weeks off training, so I didn't get thru to the next round. Since then, in the 8 months since, I have come on leaps and bounds in my cycling so it is a shame it wasn't a few months later. there's still 2016 to aim for, and a few years left to aim for the U23 world MTB champs. we'll see.

BOF gave the reason ' that they were unable to as it is more expensive in Denmark and Israel....'