Sheffield City Race

[seabird]

Too much money in the Universities these days. They won't leave anything alone.

Considerable empathy Nails.

[Nails]

Get your entries in... http://www.shuoc.union.shef.ac.uk/csprint08.htm

[Spookster]

Entries close on Monday 17th. Start list will be online by Wednesday 19th.

Course lengths are now available on the event website.

[RS]

I'm quite surprised at the low number of entries at present, especially from families of SHUOC students.
Won't hazard any guesses to why

[seabird]

Entries are about the same as Leeds University was this close to closing date.

These races are popular with those that go to them, but a large segment of the O population have yet to be won over. The Yorkshire Pudding weekend attracted significantly fewer runners than our normal low key colour coded events held at this time of year.

[Angry Haggis]

The Yorkshire Pudding weekend attracted significantly fewer runners than our normal low key colour coded events held at this time of year.

I would have gone to Leeds, but the trains from London were expensive (£50+) - Sheffield's only costing me £20 to get there and back.

[seabird]

AH I think you highlight my point. It is the local orienteers we are not attracting to these races in sufficient numbers. There are plenty of people prepared to travel long distances.

[EddieH]

There are some people who have a valid physiological reason for not wishing to run on tarmac surfaces, (although probably more weak ankles that can't cope with rough forests).
They aside I expect it's a matter of time before numbers grow as few that try it aren't hooked.
The best attended urban style events seem to be those attached to quaity conventional events - e.g. JK, WMOC and even Purple Thistle.
That's what we are hoping for our Culbin/Forres weekend in March.

[Spookster]

AH I think you highlight my point. It is the local orienteers we are not attracting to these races in sufficient numbers. There are plenty of people prepared to travel long distances.

There are only a handful of long distance travellers amongst this lot, but I agree there are also low numbers from clubs within about 50 miles. Hopefully lots more will enter before the deadline (Monday).

Club Total
SYO 28
NOC 16
ShUOC 14
AIRE 11
DVO 10
OD 6
EBOR 4
EPOC 4
HOC 4
DEE 3
UWOC 3
WCH 3
SWOC 3
PFO 3
SPOOK 3
MDOC 3
NATO 3
CLOK 2
LOG 2
LEI 2
FVO 2
FWOC 2
WAOC 1
ESOC 1
ERYRI 1
TVOC 1
BKO 1
SELOC 1
DRONGO 1
DFOK 1
SLOW 1
WRE 1
CLARO 1
Grand Total 142

[Roger]

I'd planned to come, but the late start block for the chase doesn't leave enough time to get back down to Berkshire in time for the Southern Nights. Faced with having to choose, the difference between 5 hours' travelling and 40 minutes outweighs my preference for sprinting on daylit streets over plodding through darkened forest.

Hope it goes well.

[epocian]

Anyone any idea when final details will be available?

[King Penguin]

A previous post says "startlist by Weds 19th".
I agree more details would be helpful. There's no grid reference or postcode and Multimap fails to find both Endcliffe and Crookes Valley. Not sure whether train might be a viable travel option until I know whereabouts in Sheffield I'm going to.

[Spookster]

Entries closed last night, so I'll be doing the start list tonight. As I said previously, it'll be online by Wedsnesday 19th. Prologue starts are 1030 to 1145, chase starts are 1400 + your prologue race time (i.e. about 1415 to 1445).

Gareth (the organiser) is doing the Final Details tonight. I guess they'll also be up tomorrow. Meanwhile:

Endcliffe Village is here and

Crookes Valley Park is here

Both locations are easily reached by buses from the railway or coach stations.

[King Penguin]

So much for going green !
2 hours by train; I can drive it in about 1.5 hours.
Worse still £96 for 2 of us by train (that's 4 x singles; 2 x returns would be £128 - where's the logic in that ?). I reckon I can do it by car for about £20 in fuel. No contest.

(Maybe this rant should be in banter. How does the goverment expect us to use public transport on these sorts of figures ? Even if I travelled on my own the train would be more than twice the price of the car.)

[mappingmum]

This is going off-topic (sorry), but it's not just the price of fuel you need to account for but tax, insurance, depreciation and perhaps something for the "labour" of the driver.