Scottish Champs & Jubilee5

[harry]

yeah cool i get to chase the short term goal after all, i guess they have paid attention to more than just last weekend's results. def. not covergirl standard yet but maybe after 17th July

[Big Jon]

Many others had issues with malfunctioning emit cards and/or units. (Not only on the sprint). It would be nice in future to use electronic punching rather than having to pin punch at every control.

There were not many malfunctions of brikkes at all - and no unit failures.
If you want to take your chance with brushing an emit control , go ahead, the system is designed to provide a back-up punch mark if the emit brikke is inserted into the unit. Claire Ward's brikke failed on Saturday (it was a new unit - we will be asking for an explanation from Emit) but she had used it properly and was reinstated.
Brushing an emit brikke past the forest unit is, to my mind, identical to waving an SI SI Card near an SI unit and hoping it registers..... in other words very risky!

[andy]

Many others had issues with malfunctioning emit cards and/or units. (Not only on the sprint). It would be nice in future to use electronic punching rather than having to pin punch at every control.

Brushing an emit brikke past the forest unit is, to my mind, identical to waving an SI SI Card near an SI unit and hoping it registers..... in other words very risky!

I might not like emit but it does have a backup which is a plus. Making sure you punch correctly at every control (plus start and finish) can help you get selected, Claire on Saturday is a fine example!

[graeme]

Making sure you dont punch correctly at every control (plus start and finish) can help you get selected, Claire on Monday is a fine example!

[Simon]

Thanks to all those involved in organising the races. It was very much worth the long trip up north.

Photos - most are from the start of the relays and a few from the sprint.

[housewife]

Just to make things clear, i went nowhere near no 5 on monday - i didn't see it on the map. Saturday i punched all correctly as i rarely use emit, but had a brik fail in 2008's scottish champs too, and got a result off the back of my emit card. 4 scottish champs i have done in the last 5 years, 2 brik failures. Either i am unlucky or the system is flawed.

[Big Jon]

4 scottish champs i have done in the last 5 years, 2 brik failures. Either i am unlucky or the system is flawed.

Very unlucky - one failure would be bad enough, but 2 is spooky! Try it again next time - I'm sure you'll have 3rd time lucky

[HOCOLITE]

When my Brikke failed I had no finish time as download was remote and I like many others hung around to watch. With no finish time a perfect back up does not help

[awk]

When my Brikke failed I had no finish time as download was remote and I like many others hung around to watch. With no finish time a perfect back up does not help

"When my Brikke failed"

.....join the club!

[Lucy.F.]

Just a small note that I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use the EMIT download software - a return thanks to the guys for teaching and trusting me with it!

I must say it was even nicer to see some of the youngsters getting involved with jobs not normally given to them such as commentary....a very hard task when you don't know much about the runners and it's in public etc but well done to all the youngsters who helped out on everything last weekend.

[frog]

I found myself listening to the commentary more than usual at the relays because it was entertaining. They also commented on the ordinary runners more, not just the elite folk and class winners which was nice.

[mharky]

The commentary provided by the youngsters, I.e. not Lard, was aweful. It might be nice to pretend they were good, but in the interest of future events it should be made quite clear that they were very bad. This was a combination of basically no radio controls, therefore athlete bios, no knowledge of any runners, and very poor commentating style.

If you're going to spend lots of money hiring an expensive PA system it should be put to good use. It was wasted. At times it would have been better to have just music or even nothing as it was so terrible and cringeworthy.

It's nice to give kids jobs, but it was very bad. Only when Jason Inman took over was it worth listening to.

I'm going to get flak for being "harsh", but it's true and everyone I spoke to thought the commentary was crap.

The only bad thing of the weekend for me, everything else was great.

[andypat]

I think while Mharky is technically correct, it depends what you are aiming for. I got the impression the organisers were aiming for a fun atmosphere which I think they acheived. Whether or not thats the right goal for a Scottish Champs is a different debate.
One thing I did find a bit off putting was the loud music blaring out when I was half way round the individual. Not sure that added to my enjoyment of the run.

[Lucy.F.]

Fair point Mharky and obviously it's not going to be up to a normal standard when its children and their first time. And without radio controls it made it harder. But is this not one of the most suitable event for children to try this challenge out? Quite a family atmosphere, not a British Championships, and lots of children willing to help out? Perhaps shorter stints with experienced people commentating inbetween might have pleased more people but definitely worth giving them the chance and getting them started now. Anyone can do a parking job but learning to do commentary is harder - the more people practised at it the better for future years

[mharky]

I don't think it's ever appropriate to have such young people commentating. Public speaking is not easy. Experience counts for a lot. Their voices aren't ready and I doubt they know what they should be sounding like. It's like when you see some kid doing a pseudo news report on news round or similar, it just doesn't work.

It's not their fault, and I'm sure they had fun, but it wasn't successful and I doubt it would ever work with juniors.

Oh, and kids shouldnt do major roles in car parking, they do t understand how cars work. Collecting the £1, handing out flyers and general signalling yes, but not parking.