Let's all take up golf

[yted]

I hope our leaders at BO are following the example of the England Golf CEO. Of course we can't threaten anything as dark as the APPGG...

"Alongside our colleagues in the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Golf (APPGG) we will pro-actively continue dialogue with government challenging the current position hard, but with great reason, to allow golf courses to remain open for play (in some format) from Thursday."

But we should be making the case that our sport can be done locally (level D evening events should ensure no long distance travelling) without anyone going within 2m of anyone alse.

[Ursula]

Unfortunately no APPGO.

[Arnold]

The golf discussion is important for orienteering though. If golf is shut on grounds of 'no unnecessary travel' then there should be no orienteering either, including level Ds and MapRun races, for the same reason (permanent courses could stay open.)

If golf is now allowed on grounds of 'healthy socially distanced exercise even if it does involve a bit of travel' then local orienteering should really be allowed as well.

Strangely sport seems to be the one area where there are lots of open questions re: Lockdown v2.

[buzz]

Unfortunately no APPGO.

Does anyone know any orienteering friendly MPs ?

[buzz]

Tier 3 guidelines specifically excluded youth sports from the restrictions, but that sentiment appears to have been lost in the current lockdown in England for some reason, despite schools still being open. Something that could be pressed for alongside the outdoor social distanced angle.

[Homer]

Tier 3 guidelines specifically excluded youth sports from the restrictions, but that sentiment appears to have been lost in the current lockdown in England for some reason, despite schools still being open. Something that could be pressed for alongside the outdoor social distanced angle.

Robbie Savage is on the case.

If golf does get an exclusion (unlikely IMHO) then I'll feel very uncomfortable about taking advantage. Probably not enough to stop me though

[pete.owens]

Tier 3 guidelines specifically excluded youth sports from the restrictions, but that sentiment appears to have been lost in the current lockdown in England for some reason

That is because the lockdown is intended to be more restrictive than tier 3 since tier 3 was insufficient to supress the spread of the virus. Whether the new restrictions will be sufficient with schools and workplaces still open is questionable.

[buzz]

Tier 3 guidelines specifically excluded youth sports from the restrictions, but that sentiment appears to have been lost in the current lockdown in England for some reason, despite schools still being open. Something that could be pressed for alongside the outdoor social distanced angle.

Robbie Savage is on the case.

I think Homer was referring to this petition
http://chng.it/qkb4m6kKYy

[Arnold]

The official advice says you may travel "for exercise, if you need to make a short journey to do so".

So I guess drive to local park or possibly nearby hills OK, level Ds & MapRun competitions not so much.

No doubt BOF will issue their own guidance shortly.

[yted]

The point of all the rules is to prevent the spread of the virus. I'm sure a level D evening event would not lead to the spread of the virus... people at events are keeping well away from eachother and no one would travel far for an evening event at this time of year.
We'll soon see what the powers that be say but I've no great confidence it will bear any relationship to whether or not the activities are covid-safe or not. They will probably inroduce a new "eat out" scheme at Christmas.

[Gross]

I'm sure a level D evening event would not lead to the spread of the virus...

But it might lead to non orienteering members of the public thinking it's ok to get together for an unorganised kick about in the park

[King Penguin]

I doubt kids will ever need or consider using Orienteering as justification for a kick-about.

[MChub]

So I guess drive to local park or possibly nearby hills OK, level Ds & MapRun competitions not so much.

MapRuns can be very local. There is one with the start about 1 km from my home and there are a few more that I can reach by bike in less than an hour that can easily be part of allowed exercise. Level Ds are a different matter, because there is contact with officials and, more importantly, they involve relatively large numbers of people meeting at the same time, which is problematic from the public perception point of view, even if there is no actual risk of spreading the infection.

[Arnold]

I agree MapRuns are a bit borderline. Case in point, I'm the street-o coordinator for my club and currently we do one each month that you have 3 weeks to complete.

There's clearly no problem with social distancing, but it will tempt some people to 'travel unnecessarily'. So is that OK for November?

[pete.owens]

But travelling of itself is not the issue (unless you travel by bus). It is what you do (or rather how many people you come into contact with) when you get to wherever you are going.