Nopesport Urban League 2011 speculation & other urban races

[andypat]

Oh i don't think i'll be able to justify Glasgow on top of Edinburgh - that's a shame- tempt us with event 3

Mrs H - I hope we'll be able to tempt you to Erskine. Theres a good reason Erskine is one of the events this year. Its a fantastic new urban area, and dont let the fact that it doesnt have a Cathedral put you off!

The area was mapped specifically by Paddy Walder at the request of the BOF organisers of the selection races for the 2010 WOC in Norway, for the sprint selection race. Its a fantastically varied urban area with several complex residential areas with alleys, underpasses, bridges, small wooded areas, hills. And after that you can get a shower at the sports centre for free and head off the the FVO Scottish Orienteering League event the following day if you like for more ranking points!

For the WOC Sprint selection race we managed to cram 7 controls into a seriously intricate area of alleyways 75m by 250m. I'm organising not planning this one but expect to be challenged with stuff like that along with really tricky longer route choices.

Here's what some top class orienteers said/blogged about the selection race held in Erskine earlier in 2010:-

WOC selection sprint at Erskine. This was a great course on a great area and I was just not up to the job. I failed to spot some of the route choice tricks and missed quite a bit in the control pick later on in the course. I would like to get better at this kind of sprint - but I have some way to go. OJ

WOC test sprint. Really tricky interesting course. Not sure where my head was - started well, but then started rushing and not making good decisions. GG

WOC sprint test race in Erskine. Really good course and thouroughly enjoyed it.CW

British WOC Selection trials - Sprint. Erskine, Glasgow.
5th, 11secs behind 2nd but Helen B won convincingly. Really fun/tricky sprint around some housing estates with three controls in some green thrown in in the middle. I had a pretty good race but in the last third struggled a little to stay ahead of myself and hesitations started to sneak in. Lost 2 x 15secs on two of the longer legs (hesitations + sub-optimal routes).GE

In a 3 way tie for 3rd place with Murray and Speakey - Murray commented that we all came 4th on average. Pleased with the result and most of the performance - felt pretty good and flowed well through the first bit and into the woods. Came out of the woods into the housing estate again and was never on top of things after that. Most of my routes got me to the control ok but I dithered a bit choosing them and chose poorly a few times. This kind of sprint is very tricky though - I don't know how you're meant to stay ahead of the game in something like that. Some room for improvement but a good result still.MC

I'd definitely be back you hold an open race on the area. MS

We might hold you to that one Rocky!

[DaveR]

To add to Andy's advert , you can see a the section of the Erskine map used for the WOC selection race on http://www.clyde.routegadget.co.uk/clyde/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=3&kieli=

This is the only section of the area that has been used for orienteering but is just a small section of the much larger map which will be used for the Urban Race.

[IanD]

I see the details http://eborienteers.org.uk/future-fixtures/spring-o-in-yorkshire-2011/ for the Filey event on 7th May gives instructions as to the class to enter to be competitive in the Nopesport Urban League. A leak, or wishful thinking on the part of the organiser?

[Spookster]

A leak, or wishful thinking on the part of the organiser?

A leak I reckon, but looking at the urban fixtures it would have been easy to guess that NUL round 3 (and perhaps also 4?) would have been in Yorkshire in May.

[Slowtochide]

Just in case anyone gets confused when the fixture list comes out - the City of London race will not be in the Urban League this year. The growing numbers have meant that some classes were getting pretty full so we have had to make a prediction on the numbers for 2011 and as a result take M40+ and M55+ and restructure them into M40, M50 & M60. I discussed this with Brooner and we agreed that this was the sensible option, however it means that we will not match the Urban League age classes. I hope that people won't be disappointed by this change - the event will be part of the UK Cup and Master's Cup.
We also intend to offer a shorter Men's A course in addition to the previously existing Men's Elite (aka Open). The same structure will apply to the women's classes as well of course - it is just that it is the number of Men Vets and 21s that have triggered the changes.
More details on the event in Bulletin 1, due out late January

[graeme]

it is just that it is the number of Men ... 21s that have triggered the changes.

Wow! You had more than the nine courses for M20-35 at BOC combined! Now that the sprint champs is abolished, you'll probably be the biggest race of the year.

(Note to self: Must find out where this "London" place is)

[Mrs H]

Well I'm a bit disappointed but inclusion in the Master's Cup, Much Ado at The Globe on Friday afternoon and Last Night of the Proms in the Park on Saturday (hopefully) will help me get over it

[Slowtochide]

We did Proms in the Park after the 2009 event. Good fun but it made for a very long day after getting up at 5am to put out controls
We aim to have a page on this year's website to give special 'tourist' ideas

[Garnon]

So have we got a finalised list yet for the Nopesport Urban League?

I know that the first few events have been announced, but have the rest yet? Urban events this year have begun, with Scarborough happening yesterday, so it wold be nice to know which events are included in the NUL (preferably before they occur ).

Thanks in advance.

[awk]

So have we got a finalised list yet for the Nopesport Urban League?
I know that the first few events have been announced, but have the rest yet? Urban events this year have begun, with Scarborough happening yesterday, so it wold be nice to know which events are included in the NUL (preferably before they occur ).

Yes - my weekends are already provisionally solidly booked now until the middle of the year. Not knowing about the Clyde event sooner meant that I have already had to scrub that from the list.

[brooner]

I really am sorry about the delay, but events are finally announced here.

Things will be much prompter next year, especially as I've had about 5 expressions of interest already about inclusion in the 2012 league. We'll also introduce Ultravets or similar then.

For U16/18s I've changed the class to U16, so any U18s wanting to compete in the league will need to race in the open classes. For Edinburgh this only affects 3 actual U18s, as Edinburgh (& Filey) have a separate U18 class.

Enjoy your 2011 urban racing, whether as part of this league or not, and get out there and showcase orienteering to the public.

[IanD]

The south of England seems to be rather under represented in this league. Given that urban terrain is the one sort of orienteering terrain which is unquestionably as good in the south as elsewhere, I find this rather ironic.

And no,this is not a complaint about the league organisers. They can only select from what is available. Come on you southern clubs, let see some more events for 2012, and pester the Nopesport league to include them.

[EddieH]

It looks pretty South to me Ian The only one to the north of me I am planning.

[Angry Haggis]

The south of England seems to be rather under represented in this league. Given that urban terrain is the one sort of orienteering terrain which is unquestionably as good in the south as elsewhere, I find this rather ironic.

And no,this is not a complaint about the league organisers. They can only select from what is available. Come on you southern clubs, let see some more events for 2012, and pester the Nopesport league to include them.

I would have loved to have had my club's City of London Race in the urban league this year (at least for the open classes) but the decision seems to have been taken out of my hands.

Maybe we should have another race in London? The city's certainly big enough.
I would also really like to see a race in Bristol and/or Bath, both cities are nice places to visit and certainly have enough interesting bits for urban races. Plus they have hills! The one thing we do miss out on in London.

[Slowtochide]

Well I know that Ian D is doing his bit by working on a map for a new Urban area in the South and St Albans and Canterbury are certainly on the way so things should be better in 2012.
In the meantime I've got the SN/BKO Wellington College event on Sunday 3rd April in my diary. Not in the League but looking like a 'must do' with a mixture of runnable forest and 200 school buildings.
http://www.southernnavigators.com/web_documents/comingsoonwocflyer.pdf
And BOC Sprints are in the (very) South of course this year as well.