Scottish Championships 13th June 2021

[buzz]

Agree with Housewife - its the quality of the events that's important not the status. Yes there should be Senior (MW21) and Junior Championships but the ridiculous number of veterans classes at major championships is just nonsense.

Anyway Homer, it looks like the (English) government is back-pedaling and underlining that the latest edict is just advice so hopefully the organisers will look kindly on you and others in similar predicaments, so you can go and win yet another medal

[Homer]

Entries now open to non-Scots.
Still over 150 short of the 500 limit (at time of posting) so it looks like anyone who wants to experience Craig a Barns is able to. My entry is in.
Looking forward to it

[simonbeck8848]

Yeah, time to troll the O-net again.

I hope all those who enter the Scottish champs will indeed enjoy Craig a Barns. Last time I went up to Scotland (JK 2000) in the hope of an event in Craig a Barns I was in the early years in M40, and when I entered, I asked to be entered in whatever class MArtin Bagness entered (who was the top M40 at the time, but I suspected would enter elite). I had won elite in one of the national events the previous year and considered myself qualified.

Result: Bagness did indeed enter elite but my request was refused and I was put in M40. Elite had a short race entirely in the good part of Craig a Barns but M40 was fobbed off with a course that started at the bottom of the hill, spent a lot of time flogging up the hill to the good bit for just one decent leg and some control picking, before it was time to go back down again.

Still, on day 2 it was elite that got the rough end of the stick. M40 nicely fitted into the good part of the area, and we had 8k of good O. Elite had 8k of good O plus 5k of rubbish.

Yet the courses were well planned. Had I been given constraints such as you have to start at the bottom because too many people will complain about having to walk up to the top for the start, and you aren't allowed a map exchange, I couldn't have planned it better. I imagined myself arguing with the rule makers, the controller, everyone, I imagined myself getting cheezed off, never being invited to plan again, part of the reason for deciding not to remain in the sport after I got too old to do a respectable time in elite.

Still, in the present climate one would be glad to be able to do any O at all, anywhere, and I wish all those who've entered (even more, those involved in their organisation), all the best, I would say a situation where small groups are allowed but not events would have been great opportunity to invest in mapping, volunteer mapping, planning courses, controlling practice using dummy events with deliberate planning errors, perhaps all this has been going on anyway?

[smf]

Live Results at http://scottish-orienteering.org/docume ... index.html

[housewife]

Really excellent orienteering today. Thanks to all involved. It was such a treat.

[RoT]

I enjoyed my course (Green), but thought the mapping a bit odd in places. I was careful to avoid the numerous crags with heavy bold lines and tags, assuming they would be massive and impassable, whereas in practice they were often just a broken rocky slope and a Lakes ‘Bagness Map’ might not have even shown a crag!
The smaller crags without tags (used as control sites) were by contrast a very fine black line and quite difficult to read where drawn on the contour line.

[Freefall]

I couldn't be there but the map was universally praised at the Scottish 6 Days. Stirling Surveys completely remapped the area for the S6D and they have always been the best in my opinion. Perhaps slightly different styles for different mappers so you have to adapt.

[Davy]

I did the Green. Excellent fun. Also did the two Lake district days the week before. Also excellent.

Where and when are the 2021 English Championships going to be held ?

[pete.owens]

No all English Champs - we get Northern, Midland and Southern.
The next championships will be the Britsh Sprint and Relays on 21-22 August (so long as the covid restrictions are lifted)