northern woods

[soundman]

i dont understand why alot of major events (JK's) (JHI's) etc etc are all held in england and southern area's when the best woods are in scotland

why arn't the fantastic woods of northern scotland used for major events?
- there remoteness and travelling distance for most orienteers

maybe a good point but what really bugs be as an INVOC (inverness orienteering club) member is that we have to travel for all big events to often trashy woods in england

maybe im being a bit head on but i think iv got a point
what do you think

[eddie]

young man you do have a point

well made also

[Rookie]

havn't been higher than jk in 2000 so can't really vote

if the jk or british was right up in north scotland people would still go (BOC was in ireland not so long ago - that must be harder to get to) so there is no reason why they shouldn't be there (might not travel for a national up there though - unless it was fcc - the final is about half way up next year I think)

next time it's SOA's turn to host one of them have them put it on right up north if you really want to - penhale was about the same distance this year though probably shorter journey

[rocky]

future major events in scotland:

2006:
busa - central
fcc final - west
scottish champs & relays - deeside, ne scotland
harvester - south

2007:
six day - speyside - north

2008:
boc - tbc possibly south west.

so nothing major in the north / invoc area apart from the 6day. however all next years events promise to be on very classy terrain. i can't wait!

[brooner]

so nothing major in the north / invoc

Thats what you think...

[awk]

i dont understand why alot of major events (JK's) (JHI's) etc etc are all held in england and southern area's when the best woods are in scotland
why arn't the fantastic woods of northern scotland used for major events?
- there remoteness and travelling distance for most orienteers

Not just that - in fact probably not that by a long chalk, given the tendency of the British Champs to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. I suspect the availability of people to put it on is more to the point. Compare the number of clubs immediately available to put any sort of event on in northern Scotland to those in the south east of England.

Clubs and people have burned out by putting on big events, given the propensity for the British to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. With the Scottish 6-day and the Scottish Champs weekend, there isn't a lot of room for clubs to commit to other big events. Better to have a really active local scene and thriving clubs than be burdened with big events that do little to promote the viability of one's own club.

[Guest]

Not just that - in fact probably not that by a long chalk, given the tendency of the British Champs to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. I suspect the availability of people to put it on is more to the point. Compare the number of clubs immediately available to put any sort of event on in northern Scotland to those in the south east of England.

Clubs and people have burned out by putting on big events, given the propensity for the British to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. With the Scottish 6-day and the Scottish Champs weekend, there isn't a lot of room for clubs to commit to other big events. Better to have a really active local scene and thriving clubs than be burdened with big events that do little to promote the viability of one's own club.[/quote]

i do see your point there

[soundman]

Not just that - in fact probably not that by a long chalk, given the tendency of the British Champs to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. I suspect the availability of people to put it on is more to the point. Compare the number of clubs immediately available to put any sort of event on in northern Scotland to those in the south east of England.

Clubs and people have burned out by putting on big events, given the propensity for the British to visit the periphery of the British Isles of late. With the Scottish 6-day and the Scottish Champs weekend, there isn't a lot of room for clubs to commit to other big events. Better to have a really active local scene and thriving clubs than be burdened with big events that do little to promote the viability of one's own club.

that is a good point

[graeme]

A goodish point AWK.

Something we've sorted long ago in Scotland, but seems to be very slow evolving elsewhere, is the idea that the burden of organising doesn't have to fall on those who live nearby. Or equivalently, the chance hold an event on a good area isn't resticted to those who live there. e.g. recent or upcoming events around Aviemore staged by BASOC, INVOC, GRAMP, TINTO, INT, ECKO.

[HOCOLITE]

THe major events circulate around the regions and when it is in Scotland it is upto them to decide/volunteer for hosting

[Guest]

Yes, this does seem to be a bit lacking in England & Wales, perhaps because regions are involved as well as clubs (as in some of the comments in the thread on the NE).

[NeilC]

Something we've sorted long ago in Scotland, but seems to be very slow evolving elsewhere, is the idea that the burden of organising doesn't have to fall on those who live nearby. Or equivalently, the chance hold an event on a good area isn't resticted to those who live there. e.g. recent or upcoming events around Aviemore staged by BASOC, INVOC, GRAMP, TINTO, INT, ECKO.

I don't think you can really compare Scotland and the NE with some of the more populated areas. From what I hear SEOA fixture meetings are more of a fight to see who can claim the "burden" of putting on an event on a given weekend. Though perhaps not comparable with Aviemore you will find events in the Ashdown Forest shared around various clubs (SO, SAX, MV, CROC and BAOC).

[awk]

Something we've sorted long ago in Scotland, but seems to be very slow evolving elsewhere, is the idea that the burden of organising doesn't have to fall on those who live nearby.

I was aware of this as I wrote the post - but rightly or wrongly, I assumed that even then, going north of the northernmost club could put an additional and unacceptable burden on those travelling from other clubs to put these events on, particularly given the association's commitment to it's already extensive programme of high quality events. I know what stress it put on me controlling a JIRC in Birmingham some years ago, and that was a mere 2 hours drive away!