Whitbarrow National Event Start List

[Gross]

If we don't watch out orienteering is going to price itself out of the market

Went to enter the JK today.... was going to cost £36 to enter for M50S... not worth the effort, I'll do a colour coded.

[Paul T]

Some of you have suspicious minds. Here is another take. The well meaning, hard working people organising the event wanted to make a late decision about parking (it said so on event web page in December) to try to avoid the hassle and cost of bussing. In the end, because the parking field wasn't dry enough, they invoked their contingency plan and organised buses. That's probably more difficult than it sounds in this relatively lowly populated area compared with, for example, Dorking. Given the size of the event, and having already organised the event twice, the event budget could not cover it. They ask people to pay by the seat (fair for buses) rather than parking space (fair for car parks).

All the above is a guess but it's at least as plausible as the extortion theory. In the circumstances, this sounds like the least worst decision they could have made. Or has this all be an elaborate hoax to swell the SROC account?

This promises to be top quality orienteering on a new area. We'll remember that long after the £2 bus fare.

[frodo]

The last post has been the most sensible by far. You lot should shut up and stop moaning about £2. Orienteering is a relatively cheap sport and this is in no way an attempt by the hardworking SROC to fleece you lot. If you really dont want to pay it then walk cos its not very far. Anyway stop moaning cos thats whats ruined nopesport recently. Next thing you'll be going on about how the control descriptions were printed in slightly the wrong shade of black and were 0.25 of a mm smaller font size than specified in BOF regulation 2.1.333333 paragrah 7 sentence 3. Seriously, who cares? Go out and race hard and enjoy it!

[Julie Valighton]

Why do people keep using "shut up and stop moaning" or then make a comment about "ruining nopesport" as an arguement.
Firstly nopesport consists of constantly evolving fora: that's what makes it so successful. I stopped contributing to nopesport and even reading the comments for several months as I felt it was becoming too elitist and cleeky. Now I think there is a better balance again. Perhaps most of you people are complaining, not because of the way nopesport is, but because of dissatisfaction with the way your life is changing! No one else really complained and made statements about how what happened at a boys' weekend or down the student bar last night has nothing much to do about orienteering. We accepted that this is all part of the rich tapestry of nopesport. So, please allow us to discuss our views without such immature comments.

Paul, my gripe is that they are not asking us for an extra £2 per person, they are moving the goalposts at the last minute and telling us we must pay this levy. Surely the club has to either absorb this extra expense or ask for a donation, which I'm sure most people would be happy to contribute to.

Anyway, rant over; it's 7:47 and I'd better hurry up as my start is in 5 hours (BTW I'm not being facetious).

As Paul says, lets hope for top quality orienteering on a new area.

[frodo]

I apologise, i think my point was misunderstood. My main point was that people should stop having a go at SROC who have had to work very hard to put the event on TWICE.

[Oldman]

frodo's byline says "How would you kill a tiger armed only with a biro?"

I don't think he should ask such hypothetical questions, since no tiger's ever going to have a biro, it would use its claws.

[awk]

Orienteering is a relatively cheap sport and this is in no way an attempt by the hardworking SROC to fleece you lot.

Agree about SROC, but no, orienteering is not a relatively cheap sport. It can be if you don't travel, but as soon as you go beyond district events.......

[LostOldTimer]

Some more issues for people to comment on...

And they arent 'moans' but valid points for discussion.

As far as I could see there were plenty more spaces in the field to park more vehicles - as it was reasonably dry.
If in last years details the Parking, and Bussing (if used) were going to be free (or part of the entry fee), then they should be this year (especially as there has been NO mention of any additional parking / bus fares before the final details came out).
£3 per car in the car park seems a bit extortionate to me - most events are about £1 (a few £2 / a lot free), but £3... and then a per person charge on the bus.... If people had 'doubled up' before reaching the event, possibly up to 5 adults in the car... that would be £10 to park and go on the bus, as opposed to £3 to park in the car park!

I expect most people noticed the 'STOP / GO' officials on the bus route to the car park. Yes, we know why they were there, BUT: Had the officials been authorised / trained to use Stop/Go boards on a public highway?
Had permission been sought from the police / Highways to do this?
The Stop/Go boards were not official signs and unauthorised to be used on a public highway.
no warning signs had been place before the Stop/Go section.
I think SROC are on very dodgy grounds doing this both legally, and from an insurance point of view, and hopefully no public vehicles were inconvenienced by these 'unofficial' officials.

I thought the courses were pretty well planned - certainly the wooded area was technically very enjoyable.... but did anyone else think the courses were a little short. This is a National event, and I would expect to take around an hour, not less than 50 minutes. having spoken to a few others, they also agree.
Not sure if its just my map, or because of the scale... but the fenced area immediately West of control 145... this was not marked as 'out of bounds' on my map, but was on a competitors on course 8... so was this area Out of Bounds or not?? i did consider crossing it, but ran along the fence anyway.

[RogYoman]

hey, i was running m16A and I was annoyed that I had to use a map with a strange bright yellow colour for open.

Did everyone on course six have this map?

Did any other courses have this map?

[DM]

We all enjoyed the event today, thanks SROC, it was worth waiting for.

Yes, you could have got a few more cars on the field but would you have got them off again without completely wrecking the field, which the farmer needs to make his living from for the rest of the year. Did you not notice the careful way SROC lined all the cars up so they had a rolling start? Did you notice the inability of quite a few people to drive on soft ground? With more cars spinning their wheels furiously the exit route would have been much more difficult. At least the farmer could then charge £5 a tow

The mix of open with limestone pavement and wooded areas was enjoyable and will produce so interesting routes to analyse on routegadget.

[Kitch]

As far as I could see there were plenty more spaces in the field to park more vehicles - as it was reasonably dry.

...but did anyone else think the courses were a little short. .

on the first - I was lucky to get to park in the field -(what a relief with a 16 month old)
The farmer was directing the parking and I personally heard him give the instruction to stop further arrivals -
end of discussion.

on the second- well thats simple - yes, by 25% for M21L

[awk]

Some more issues for people to comment on...
£3 per car in the car park seems a bit extortionate to me - most events are about £1 (a few £2 / a lot free), but £3...

More than usual - yes. But the price will be dictated by the landowner, not SROC.

I expect most people noticed the 'STOP / GO' officials on the bus route to the car park. Yes, we know why they were there, BUT......

I suggest you contact the organiser as nobody here (given that the organisers probably have far more important things to do tonight than read Nopesport) will be able to answer those questions with any authority.

Particularly given the logistics of the event, I thought it was very impressively organised, and all by one club. There looked to be some pretty mammoth efforts on the day (for instance, those Stop-Go guys looked to be the same people when we left as when we arrived 5 hours earlier).

Yes, the courses were short - I suspect that they were planned with bad weather in mind.

[Mrs H]

Just like to thank all the officials who helped Little Miss Rosemary who crashed out somewhere near the start kite and limped in blooded and weeping. They escorted her all the way back to assembly and first aid re-assuring me and Mr H to carry on with our runs (mind you I knew I shouldn't have bothered - not the sort of area to be pre-occupied with other things). I was very glad we were parked in the field and she was able to sort her self out If we had not been I would have gone back too.

I have no problem with the £3 parking fee or stop go arrangements but might have been a bit miffed at paying more than twice that much for our lot on the bus.

[Gross]

Wasn't at the competition so can't comment on why courses seemed short. just know that final info read:

Note that there will not be separate Elite courses. The WRE/UK Cup courses will be the M/W21L courses and these will have estimated winning times of 75/55 minutes.

There must be a reason for the short course lengths.... after all the planners are major IOF Advisor people & the event had a local controller & an IOF Advisor.... so more than enough experience about!

[woodpecker]

Thanks to SROC for putting on a well-organised event - you could have minor grumbles about car-parking and bussing but I don't think it was too bad really.
At the end of the day, though, the thing that made me wonder whether those odd £1 additional charges were worth it was the course lengths - M55L (Course 6) 40 mins was definitely too short (for me at least) in a National. A longer course would have allowed for more interesting medium-length hard legs in the woodland which is what it needed.
The map? - not easy to read - all those dot screens on the map provided little value. At one stage I will admit to interpreting a series of triangular black dots as a path!