CompassSport Cup Final

[Mrs H]

Less than a week now to the CompassSport Cup Final - it's the first time HOC have ever made it and we are all very excited about it. Young Neville is feeling particularly perky about The Golden Boot Competition.

But realistically, who is going to win - will SYO carry it off again or will OD have something to say about that - and is there a dark horse in the race?

[redkite]

Mrs H
Perhaps more important is how good is the area going to be for our top club competition. After a few years of, shall we say, not the best terrain available, we have found it difficult to motivate some of our runners for the final.

My, not very informed guess would be SYO, with FVO for the Trophy.

[wonderboy]

I am very interested to read what people thought about the area after the event! Especially those who've travelled from Scotland. I think people may think that the past few years areas are not so bad after all! I really hope I am wrong, as I am running too, but the area has a rather ironic name!

[superstartradesman]

I am very interested to read what people thought about the area after the event! Especially those who've travelled from Scotland. I think people may think that the past few years areas are not so bad after all! I really hope I am wrong, as I am running too, but the area has a rather ironic name!

I was part of the Tayside Orienteers team which travelled several hundred kms to the 2006 and 2008 finals at Greenham Common and Sutton Park respectively, and I thoroughly enjoyed running on both areas - completely different to what we're used to back home.

The only thing that annoyed me, in retrospect, about the Sutton Park event was the pre race info - which effectively said "you've all been here before, so we'll not bother with a detailed terrain description". I trust this year's organisers will be a little less parochial

[Homer]

But realistically, who is going to win - will SYO carry it off again or will OD have something to say about that - and is there a dark horse in the race?

It might come down to who is presently competing down under.
SYO are missing a couple of gold medalists (Nick B and Bill E) plus others who just missed out (Pete G). Nevertheless I think SYO are just about favourites to retain the title...

[Pete_Bog]

An old map of the area is available to view on the LEIOC website

(http://www.leioc.org.uk/fixtures/cscmap.pdf)

[ba-ba]

how many people are missing due to the FRAs? 2/3 spring to mind.

[jjjl]

An old map of the area is available to view on the LEIOC website

(http://www.leioc.org.uk/fixtures/cscmap.pdf)

Doesn't quite compare to the LEI area used for the British middles.....

[Spookster]

An old map of the area is available to view on the LEIOC website

(http://www.leioc.org.uk/fixtures/cscmap.pdf)

Hmm, well it's... er.. colourful! I'm almost looking forward to it.

[geomorph]

It would not be my first choice of East Northants woodlands.
Wakerley is best of the bunch, dominated by long tracts of mining pits and depressions, though it too is becoming more and more bramble infested. You'd have to ask LEI but it may be that due to the large area now used by other sports requiring restricted access this woodland is no longer large enough.

It is a shame that all the large Northants FC woods are limited in their challenges and boring in their content and covered in poor/no runnability blocks. I'd like to see as much spent on upgrading one of these areas for 'better orienteering' as they've spent on sky-walks and bike trails.

Now if only they'd bring back work camps for the unemployed.......

[Snail]

Perhaps it has changed signiifcantly since 2007 - but that seems unlikely. It does look a rather disappointing area for the final of our premier inter-club competition...

Not sure how these areas come to be selected - have we somehow imposed a "midlands only" requirement, because we think people won't travel? The first CS Cup final was on Tarn Hows - the location didn't stop the southern clubs from attending.

[PhilJ]

Have to agree, my club has spent £300.00 on entries and £450.00 on a mini-bus. Lets hope the area turns out better than the map shows, not sure how I'd plan a 9km Brown course on that map?
Wasn't there a questionnaire that went around not so long ago asking what people thought of the CompassSport Cup, how it could be improved etc? What were it's findings and when will they be implemented?

[Nails]

I'm glad that this clashes with the FRA's !

[mike g]

This means that two of the last four years' finals will have been on areas totally unfit for the competition, and two on areas that were pleasant but offered limited navigational challenge.

I see next year's final is being organised by SYO on Burbage, which is an improvement. Perhaps that points to a way forward, that there should be a Eurovision-style system with the winner (or highest placed club that hasn't organised it in the last 5 years) having to organise the next year's final. That way the event would always be organised by a club that has a serious interest in the competition. Or if the size of the event is limiting the choice of areas, perhaps consideration should be given to holding the Cup and Trophy finals separately.

[Gross]

Most folk in the UK don't get the point of competition.... you can have the crappiest area ever & still have a good competition.... a real competition is decided by those who attend, not the terrain.... good athletes & a crap area = a good competion.... world class terrain & crap athletes = a waste of an opportunity for a good competition