25-manna, what is it?

[Mrs H.]

There is a perception though amongst many club orienteers that the big relays are for the elites and not the likes of us.

and is that perception surprising when you get elites ridiculing plodders on this very forum for taking 2 hours on a harvester night leg? I for one will probably not bother with the Harvester again even though I'm a very keen night orienteer. If anything is likely to deal the Harvester a death blow it is attitudes like that - I bet you don't get that at the 25 manna.

[Guest]

and is that perception surprising when you get elites ridiculing plodders on this very forum for taking 2 hours on a harvester night leg?

I thought Rocky was actually ridiculing "plodders" not for taking 2 hours, but for thinking that taking 2 hours was a problem. It's not - OK such a team has little chance of winning, but that's the case for most of us week in week out but doesn't stop us enjoying the sport.

[HOCOLITE]

The actual truth is that many clubs don't have a harvester runner who can run 13km last leg and if they do, they struggle to find 2 9km runners

Really, I'd like to see the data on which that "actual truth" is based.

We as a club have a lot of experienced night runners and thus with limited night events they want to run a night leg. We have one M21 who could do the long leg but he is also a very good night orienteer. In fact our long day leg runner would probably be a good M55 who has eye sight problems and can't cope with night vision. Even our older juniors prefer the night legs as shown by the Perter Palmers. As with many clubs the M/W21-M/W40 age classes are very sparsely populated. This is also indicated in Compass Sport Cup, where good M55's have to run against M20's and even Andy Hemsted struggles for a good result their

[Guest]

I thought Rocky

I wasn't talking about Rocky - although I think grumble was not quite the right word to use - mutter might have been better.

Rocky wrote elsewhere

in a thread about the harvester ***** had a go at Mrs H's performance.

That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence to have another go and given that there was only me and Lumpy in my club prepared to give the long night leg a go in a women's only team - if she's not available then bang goes another team - and no we never win anything but we were prepared to travel over 100 miles with our kids in tow to take part - until now! I bet the Swedes don't pour elite scorn on their alsorans - they probably know which side their bread is buttered.

Arttitudes have got to change before you'll get a groundswell of support for events like this.

[Mrs H.]

Sorry that was me - I seem to have to log in twice everytime before it works!

[Guest]

elite scorn .

is very much under discussion in the UK Cup forum at the moment too!

[Adventure Racer]

We have one M21 who could do the long leg but he is also a very good night orienteer.

Well if that's me you're referring to (though actually no longer an M21!), then I'd probably be happy to run a night leg and then the last 13km leg given sufficient spacing! OTOH the reason I've never run in a Harvester is that I tend to do O in the winter only, as I'm usually busy doing other things in the summer.

[HOCOLITE]

Sorry Adventure Racer, you were not the person I had in mind. I thought of you as being capable of the long day leg but as you say you are not usually around when the Harvester is on.

[Doug T]

Arttitudes have got to change before you'll get a groundswell of support for events like this.

if you are going to give up on doing something that you enjoy just because some idiot has a dig at you then maybe it's not just the elites that need to change their attitude!!

[Lumpy Lycra]

But part of the enjoyment of an event is the atmosphere and support from other competitors.

Personally, I really enjoy the long night leg at the Harvesters and get a sense of achievement about completing it to the best of my ability and will continue to do so for as long as my club can field a team that needs me. I don't expect any prizes or points - and certainly don't regard myself as an athlete - just remind me not to linger next to the results board or to read Nope around that time of year!

I do actually understand the perspective of some elites that we need to promote orienteering as a proper sport, with young athletes doing their thing and no beards, wrinkles or lumpy lycra in sight. But there is then a clash with the views being expounded here, that we need more participants at events like the Harvesters to improve the atmosphere & make the competition more like the big Scandinavian events.