Demographics

[Red Adder]

Should are clubs be trying to adopt their local university as a way to move the sport forward ? That way the students could have access to experienced coaches and transport to get to events to start them off.

[SeanC]

Not sure what conclusions this thread's come to... but definately there's an issue with dumming down of orienteering if we don't save the regional events. Seems to me the most straightfoward way of getting more numbers and making the economics sustainable is to offer (and promote) less-technical courses, to serious or fun runners or anyone who likes to keep fit (there are 2 million footballers... they like mud and getting hurt)

I know many will be rolling their eyes thinking about the last Long Orange which got 3 competitors, but (properly marketed) trail challenge and simple score courses could get a decent turnout. I think Long Orange is a bit too hard for some... long yellow or white (ie trail challenge) gives a bit of navigation but mainly running. And score courses = no disqualification and predictable times. Marketing is the key. The Saxons one where there was 100, mainly due to advertising on Runners World and fliers at running events.

Some comments left on Runners World after the Saxons trail challenge (3 courses 7,14,21k)

In short: Great fun, amazing scenary and jelly babies!!
In full: Really enjoyed this though found it quite tough in the heat. Excellent water stations with jelly babies at all of them.
Did the 21k with the intention of treating it as a training run as I knew it would be slow due to trying to read the map, find check points etc.
Got a bit lost trying to find one of the check points but my friend and I ran together and luckily I know the area well as it's my normal training area so we found our way in the end.
Organisation seemed pretty good and everyone was very friendly so I'd definitely do it again.

in short: Fantastic scenery, varied terrain and a fantastic 14k run.
In full: This was my first orienteering race and was a great experience.. My friends and I decided to do this as a team, which turned out to be a good idea. The club were very helpful and explained what the race would entail. We treated this as a point to point run in fantastic scenery and were under no illusions of being serious competitors. The ability to map read is a definite bonus, but we were never under any threat of getting lost. Would do this one again!

"In short: Got very very lost...
In full: The race was really well organised if you are practiced at orienteering, however, if you were not you were a bit scuppered. Ended up lost for over an hour, but with the amazing scenery and nice and helpful locals it worked out in the end. More indications for pure runners would have been nice... or Map Reading for Dummies offered in the price of 6 quid!

[roadrunner]

Some membership figures from my running club might make an interesting comparison against orienteering. These are for the end of 2011, and I only have a detailed breakdown of female membership. There were virtually no juniors.

Membership: male 60% female 40%
Turnover (fraction of members joining for the first time) 32%

Breakdown by age (female only)
<35 30%
35-40 14%
40-45 8%
45-50 15%
50-55 13%
55-60 9%
60-65 6%
>65 5%