Are M/W 20s being marginalised?

[Mrs H]

A few things have happened lately which in isolation may not seem that significant but put together seem to me to be very detrimental to our carefully nurtured youngsters just when they leave home and might need more encouragement than ever to stay in the sport.

things like:
* no M/W 20s in the Yvette Baker Trophy.
* no FCC final again next year according to the Fixtures committee minutes.
* the suspension of the further/higher education programme after only 6 months.

Now hopefully there is a grand plan afoot to replicate the beneficial effects of these factors - some of which I know for a fact help to keep the sheep in the fold at a time when they might otherwise stray - if so it would be very encouraging to hear about it.

(obviously i'm not talking elites here just ordinary orienteering kids who have come up through the family/school support network and suddenly find themselves adrift and at the same time without a framework to carry on orienteering).

Anyone got any thoughts. ideas, news?

[SeanC]

Some good news on the subject of accessibility. On Saturday we had a good turnout of newcomers at Greenwich Park of all ages. Quite a few said they didn't have a car, but this time I could confidently say you don't need a car to go orienteering as there are 1-2 events every week in London all summer, all accessible by public transport.

For our next event I'll print out some copies of SLOW's list of London events ( http://www.sloweb.org.uk/summer10/ ) to give out. Maybe those from the other London clubs reading this could do the same?

[awk]

things like:
* no M/W 20s in the Yvette Baker Trophy.
* no FCC final again next year according to the Fixtures committee minutes.
......
Now hopefully there is a grand plan afoot to replicate the beneficial effects of these factors
.....
Anyone got any thoughts. ideas, news?

As the person who set up and established both competitions in the orienteering calendar, I have to say that I am very disappointed with BOF on this. Not necessarily because of the changes - sport moves on and things need to change in response - but because there patently obviously isn't any grand plan afoot - because if there was, it would be in place before dismantling the previous structure, wouldn't it?

To be honest, without the final, the FCC is a probably a waste of time - the whole point being to get young athletes together to race head to head. There are different ways of doing a final, but to just abandon it is questionable at the very least.