European Orienteering Championships

[AndyC]

I believe if Gross is from the same theme as frodo we should prevent him posting after dark. On the other hand I've found SOME of his posts interesting in the past so maybe he's eaten someone who disagreed with him.

[Gross]

OK... for the benefit of frodo I can re-phrase my earlier post...

GBR had outstanding success in the EOC relays.... the men were 21st & the women were 16th according to the list I have just looked at. This obviously shows that GBR classic orienteering has developed tremendously from the days when GBR men won the Nordics & GBR women got bronze in EOC

Does that please frodo?

[AndyC]

Much improved Gross - the antacid has obviously kicked in

[housewife]

It doesn't really please me. Most people know that we don't have athletes the calibre of yvette and heather, who got the women's results back then, and the mens team suffered from gg nit being there. constructive comments would focus on where we are going wrong (if we are - personally i think that yvette and heather coinciding to be a great women's relay wasn't down to anthing other than chance). just pointing out that the results aren't particularly great doesn't acheive anything.

[frodo]

To be honest it was the predictable, and quite frankly insulting nature of Gross' post that prompted me to post. No-one is claiming the relay results were great, but coming on here and offering nothing but derogatory comments about the team doesn't seem particularly constructive.

[Gross]

I made no comments about the team or the athletes who do their best & that is all you can ask.

What I did say was the GBR results were crap & they were. There is would seem to be something fundamentally wrong with the GB elite set up in the UK. Maybe it's lack of money, maybe it's lack of talent, maybe it's too much concentration on urban etc but more likely it's a lack of ability to squeeze the best out of athletes.

That's what the point is.... not individual results or athletes or this or that athlete missing.... if you look over the past few years you'll see that GB results have not been great (with notable exceptions).

So my point stands .... GBR were crap!

PS - and don't ask me what the answer is... I've been out of the loop too long

[smf]

GBR was crap then ?

Whats that then if you haven't made any comments!

What I did say was the GBR results were crap & they were.

and this!

So my point stands .... GBR were crap!

and this!

[Gross]

Can't see any mention there of athletes etc.... only GBR (I was very careful NOT to mention athletes good or bad in either EOC2012 or NOC or EOC in Lvov)

[WillG]

I made no comments about the team or the athletes

Surely saying GBR were crap is making a comment generalising the teams results as a whole? Also it can be argued that the Europeans are a lot harder than WOC!

[graeme]

constructive comments would focus on where we are going wrong (if we are.)

Don't know if it counts as "going wrong", but if you're going to establish a centre of excellence at a particular university, you won't get a strong team during the exam period of said university. And if you don't have a strong team, you can't expect the best individuals to focus on the relay.

Scott's podium finish and Claire's breakthrough performances at international level were a decent outcome. Though nobody else shone, there were no embarrassingly bad individual runs either.

[andypat]

And everybody got a bit of international experience at no expense to BOF...

[lilywhite]

if you look over the past few years you'll see that GB results have not been great (with notable exceptions).

GBR: 'crap with a few notable exceptions'. By your standards Gross I think that phrase has always applied. A cynic could argue that the nordic relay win was a notable exception. We've still got a couple of guys who can medal in any given race - I don't think much has changed there. Are the rest any weaker than they used to be? Are there less decent juniors coming through? I don't know the stats but it's not obvious to me that things are any worse. My suspicion is that the guys coming around 30th would've been easily top 20 a few years ago.

[DIDSCO]

I would argue that for the first time ever we've got 3 men in the same team that have a realistic chance of an individual medal - Scotia, GG, Murray. Also with all 3 of those guys in top shape its a relay team that on the right day can win. At Euro Champs 2 of these runners didn't run (GG sick?), which of course is going to impact on the results as a whole for a small 'o' nation like GBR.

After these 3 runners there's a lot of potential - Tullie, Haines, Street etc......but it will be up to them whether they make the lifestyle choice to give them a chance of being the best.

Best moments from the week seeing Scotia's confident smile at the end of the Sprint final, suggesting there's more in the tank and without the long race in his legs he knows he can win and Clares consistent top results throughout in a field more competitive than WOC.

Its inspired me to dust of the o shoes anyway

[andypat]

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/index.php?pg=results&eday=61679&results=61679&course=3&

Pot v's kettle? Who would win. There's only one way to find out....Fight!

[Gross]

Look at EOC results with the thread on publicity & sponsorship in mind. Joe Public doesn't care if athlete X was ill or athletes A,B & C had exams. They look at the overall results & at EOC Joe Public is going to say 'Britain's not good at this sport are they'.

I'm sure that individually all the athletes will go away from EOC and look at their performances and find the good parts and the not so good parts and learn from the exposure.

BOF still has no mention of the Relays on their website.