Where do we go from here?

[PorkyFatBoy]

Family tent was so good that I missed it at the relays.

Day 2 car park officials are top notch!

Surely the lack of JK merchandise was to make sure we all bought Nope clothing instead

I had v early day 1 start and v late day 2, which with the journey and AGM/banter meant eating at the right time was difficult.

Campsite sprint O was good - I beat Rocky......('s mum and dad) and provided me with my first experience of emit.

M40L was too long for me, but I didn't come last and neither did our relay team

[mikey]

Not being locked into the car parks until 1.30 was greatly appreciated for those of us with really early starts on one of the days (the traffic lights were an excellent idea!!).

[Blanka]

The bus service was a really good idea - it was only a shame that not many people used it given the number of people in the campsite, and the number of cars that must have been going to the events on each day. It was definitely much better for people to go early and come back late as this meant we could run in the same block as people from our club, which is always a nice thing to do.

It was a shame about the shower blocks, but in the end the showers at the Tennis Club were quite sufficient, and there wasn't too much of a queue. Maybe if that had been the problem again, it might have been an idea to give a specific hour where the gents' showers would have become ladies' showers...

My grumble *is* about the JK clothing. I have stopped buying event sweatshirts and T-shirts as I have too many already, but the hoodies actually looked quite nice and was going to get one. So it was quite a disappointment that there weren't any on Day 1 morning, especially as an awful lot of people wouldn't have been to training or event centre on Friday.

Good to have Wilf's at the event centre - and the place-mats (laminated old maps for those who didn't make it there) were quite a nice idea.

[Guest]

The JK hoodies were a complete gamble in knowing whether they would sell or not. At £12.00 a time they were not cheap, and it was vital that there were none left over after the event. That would easily have wiped out all the West Midlands Junior Squad's profit.

A total of 150 hoodies were overprinted, and they were an unprecedented success. Sorry to anyone who didn't get one - maybe JK 2006 will do them as well.

[rosalind]

The bus service was a really good idea - it was only a shame that not many people used it

Before arriving at the campsite on Friday we had info that the bus was full and couldn't take any more people, so I'm surprised to hear now that it wasn't really used.
I had a great time at the JK and campsite, it's all about the taking part, eh.
Bit unfair blaming the Irish for all the noise, but I apologise for whatever input we had.

[Stodgetta]

at committee Walton chasers were against any form of identification apart from a badge

Not exactly true - we were against spending over £2 of every seniors entry fee for the weekend on free hats and JK t-shirts for all helpers (maybe that's why the merchandise ran out if 250-300 t-shirts were taken by W Mids helpers), as well as free parking permits for all 3 days. Thats why we asked not to have waterproof jackets free to all helpers.

A form of identifying helpers is a good thing and we had nothing against that.

[Mrs H.]

there was no noise - Rosalind - that's the whole point, i'm not blaming you for anything - but If I was doing it again I'd make some provision for after hours chat - you sorted your selves out under the security lights on the patio - some people used the table in the washing up room to put their cookers on and make their tea - I wish I had thought of both those things to make it a better camp site - see what I mean

As for the bus - a week before the event I had two mini buses booked and only one full and two people on a waiting list. One more person contacted me - I could not run a second mini bus for just 3 people and I had no volunteer driver(I had a very tight budget) I found lifts for all the people on the waiting list. I cancelled the second mini bus. With the best will in the world people must understand there has to be a reasonable cut off point for providing a costly and time consuming service such as this. And I think 1 week is being very accommodating.

Actually stodgetta - that's not true either, Wch were against the jackets yes - but they agreed with the hats and the T shirts . A decision taken long after most people had entered so how could it affect the entry fee? The T shirt income recommends a massive investment in the regional junior aquad - so all the club are winners - I would have thoughjt tha was something close to your heart with your new coaching qualification - I expect you'll be getting very involved with the squad now, won't you?

[Jene]

yep...t'was the irish plus me on the patio and we were as "quiet as mice" once we went up from the patio area...dry chairs would have been nice!!

the weekend as a whole was very well organised and i dont think i could moan bout nethin, the leisure centre showers were very nice for those who didnt want to que in the tennis ones, and both the sprint o, 5 a side football (which the nope lot seemed to get bored of referee'ing after aout 15 mins!!) and the banter evening were really good....esp joy!!

dont think the jk joker was a good idea tho..my mum decided it meant you had to go do the cultural bit!!! *sigh....lol

n having wilfs on the event site was good as well...mmm, apple crumble

[awk]

We had a really great weekend: well done WMOA on getting it generally so right as an orienteering festival.

On the use of Brown Clee: yes, it was a long way, but I thought the organisers got it right by putting it on Day 1, leaving the rest of the weekend really local. Certainly, the area was up to scratch.

Most things we particularly liked have already been mentioned, but one other: having the individual prize giving straight after the event in the field rather than at a separate evening event was a really good move. So were the traffic lights on departure (sorry, that makes two!).

As someone particularly interested in this area, the junior planning (particularly on day 1) raised an issue that might need a look. This is NOT a criticism of the planning at the event, which struck me as being really good (I saw samples of M10, M12 and M14 courses):

The M14 course was pretty much spot on TD4. However, technically, it was distinctly tougher than the vast majority of JM4 courses we've seen in the past six months. In particular, very very few (any?) JM4 courses include longer legs (there were two of around 1km on Saturday). In order to prepare for M14, one really needs to be running JM5M, and that isn't what was intended (or set in the guidelines!). This is more a reflection on planning at regional events, which all too often don't meet the technical guidelines sufficiently.

But, in terms of the JK - some really great courses (we M45S/W45S parents enjoyed ours too!). Thank you!

[Paulo]

I think the commentary team deserve a mention as well - excellent as usual from Andy and Chris, really helped to add to the atmosphere of the weekend, especially towards the end of the Elite races on day 2 and at the relays.

Have to echo everyone else's comments about the organisation being excellent throughout.

I think the areas were good, and was more than happy to drive another hour on day 1 to get onto a completely different quality area, rather than having both days on adjacent Cannock areas (which presumably would have been the most likely alternative?).

[Simon]

And everyone was free to stay where they chose.

We decided on using two places to stay. That way we started close to day one and then moved on to get us closer to day two and the relays. This worked well and cut down on overall travelling.

Had an enhoyable weekend if we exclude my poor run on day two! Found the JK helpers to be friendly and helpful when we had questions and queries.

The event centre seemed fairly well laid out, 'cept that the people eating were a bit noisy for those of sitting at the back of the AGM.

[Electrocuted]

Having just taken part in my first JK, I have to say I really enjoyed it, and thanks to everyone involved in the organising.

I have one suggestion for future events; as it took us over an hour and a half to get to Brown Clee from the Event Centre, we obviously did not take the best route. Having no local knowledge of the area, it was a frantic grab of the AA Road Map to try and locate where we were going - road directions all the way from the Event Centre to the event would have been useful.

Apart from that, well done on a great event.

[Mrs H.]

You obviously did not ask at event centre enquiries where pre-printed route suggestions were available

[Liz F]

In response to"maybe that's why the merchandise ran out if 250-300 t-shirts were taken by W Mids helpers":

goodness me whoever did the merchandise must be thick.. oh it was me and I was sure I knew how many vouchers had been given out and ordered that many extra t-shirts... Once and for all - we are not a couple of mean women who wanted loads of people to be left wanting a t-shirt/ hoodie whatever; we are like you - people who give time and energy (in this case on behalf of every junior in the region, not just our club)to the sport.

I hope the people doing next year haven't been following this thread'cos it's enough to make me think , *** it, they can do without JK t-shirts.

[Guest]

I'd take all this fuss as a compliment Liz: I can't ever recall there being complaints about not being able to get memorabilia kit before. It's usually the other way round: complaints about naff designs, naff kit, and loads left over. Congratulations on scoring such a hit!