British Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships

[Jon Brooke]

Those are the optimal routes. It is possible to do 435 km of riding with over 3 km of climbing on the A course... but you won't win.

[mharky]

that's not very mountainous either!

175km with 5000m climb, now that's bike racing!

[Jon Brooke]

OK, you can do that then.

[kedge]

Final details for the British MTBO weekend on June 13/14th are now available from the WIM website http://www.wimborne-orienteers.org.uk/wim/Brit%20MTBO%20Champs/Final%20details.pdf

Please note that to enter these events via the Fabian 4 website you will need to have a TCA membership number.

Associate membership is free for a year and you can get your number either from http://www.trailquest.co.uk/members/

or via a link during the entry process on the Fabian4 website http://www.fabian4.co.uk/default.aspx?EventID=215

Some people had difficulty entering the event this morning when the payment site which Fabian uses was down for maintenance, but it is now up and working again.

[EBenham]

The MTBO league with the dates of the British Champs was published in the spring edition of Focus and was probably in the Winter issue too. MTBO events are usually made known to the foot Orienteering community at least 2 months before each race, yes this is less than what you may be used to with foot O, but considering most events are often put on by one or two people, this is not a bad effort. I have yet to go to a race where the map has used foot Orienteering standards, which shows the effort that organisers and planners go to in order to make the map MTBO specific. I have only known one control to go missing, and that was on Cannock last year, but how often do foot Orienteering controls go walkabout? It seems that as usual people are fast to criticise the sport without ever really giving it a proper go.

The race on Cannock at the end of March was perhaps one of the largest in the UK for a while, with a number of new competitors to the sport, the majority of whom said post race that they were expecting it to be easy...riding a bike around and navigating on paths is easy right?...but in fact they found it the complete opposite. A number of well seasoned orienteers got lost...

Personally I find the sport more challenging than Foot O, a mistake such as taking the wrong path or wrong route choice costs minutes as opposed to seconds. Decisions need to be made faster and there is alot more skill to riding a bike fast and well than many people think.

This year I spent a huge amount of money, my savings, TASS and student loan, travelling to World Ranking Events around Europe chasing that ever vital experience and competition at Senior Elite Level. I have trained a considerable amount over the winter, have no money left, am failing my university course because I want something badly...I want to win. In the last 8 weekends, 6 of these have been spent abroad racing, how many elite junior foot Orienteers invest this much into their sport? In fact, how many have raced abroad for more than a weekend or two since january? I can barely think of any... Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it not seem a little unfair to anyone else, that the JWOC foot O team are fully funded, several paid for weekends a year (yes, i know Foot O if BOF's priority, but realistically how many top 15 places are we likely to get?) but yet I am told BOF can't help me to pay for my Junior World Champs? It is important to note that I asked for some help several months ago, and only a few days ago found out about the lack of funding, which thus means I am unable to go to Israel for WOC unless I find an additional £800 from somewhere. I find it almost amusing that there is nothing available to someone who is a medal potential at JWOC and a top 15 at WOC. haha, just imagine the outrage within the Orienteering community if, say, Mr Haines was unable to go to Italy due to lack of funds! People would go crazy...

I'm sorry for the above rant, but it P*sses me off that people complain about a missing control, which happens once in a blue moon or that the British MTBO champs are 'only' advertised 4+ months in advance, when there are a small number of individuals single handedly trying to promote this sport, putting on events by themselves, making an MTBO league, encouraging foot Orienteers to come along and give it a go. There are deeper issues within the sport and people moaning about superficial things aren't doing anything expect put people off trying a new sport.

Thanks to all the Organisers/planners for the events this year, without you we would have no sport.

[EBenham]

My real reason for reading this discussion and replying was in fact to say that the estimated winning times and distances look about right.

For the Long, this year I have typically been racing 30km (straight line) in 90 mins but with 500m of climb and with 20 odd controls.

For middle distances, I have mostly had 10-12km (straight line) racing round in 50 mins.

To clarify I would expect to see the Long distance B course won in 80 mins, and the middle distance B course won in 50-55mins, which are perfect for senior competitions.

As for the A courses, 90-95 for the long and 55 for the middle.

[Gross]

As I understand it MTBO doesn't come under the control of BOF.... if it did you may have more success with funding. But I agree that it's daft that a potential medallist misses out.

[RS]

In total agreement with everything you say, Emily and wish funding was avilable for you. I know TASS is a help but nowhere near enough for the likes of you at the almost certain medal end. BOF are quick to promote your successes on their web page, it's a pity they can't think out-of-the-box and come up with some 'unofficial' help. Anyhow, good luck with races and funding.

[Gross]

Have you applied to the Squad Special Fund??? It's not tied to BOF as such (well it didn't used to be). I guess your in an even worse position as you won't get a bike in an overhead locker & Mr O'Leary will charge you left, right & centre

[Gross]

OK.... seems like £800 is needed to help get a GB medal.... so 20 Nopesport readers x £20 and it's half way there. If Emily provides a sort code etc then my £20 will be away today

Who's going to join in?

[Mrs H]

I will

[mikey]

Ditto

[Familytaxi driver]

and me.

[OCM45]

likewise

[awk]

and me.

Seriously Emily, please PM or post details: I would far rather that this goes to support someone with a genuine passion and ability for orienteering, then into some of the other funds that call upon us.

On the comments about MTBO, particularly controls in the wrong place etc, I think that there may not be sufficient distinction by some of us between Trailquest and MTBO. My comments, as I tried to make clear, were specifically about Trailquest, as I've yet to do an MTBO race. I get the impression, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, that standards are more rigorously adhered to in MTBO than in Trailquests.

Even though I've yet to do MTBO, I can empathise to at least some extent with your comments about the technical difficulty, as many of the same comments have been made about urban racing: people think it looks a lot easier until they actually do it, and then they discover that it's as technical if not sometimes more so, as much standard foot-orienteering.