Lochaber 2021 Scottish 6 Days

[Gross]

Seems to me that there are quite a few selfish & ignorant people within the sport of orienteering The restrictions are in place to protect Scotland & the Scottish people. Trying to circumvent the rules is no better than flying into the UK from 'India' and trying to avoid quarantine.

The Scottish Government will announce when it is safe to travel and participate in mass sports events... the health of the Scottish people should come first & if they believe 2000 folk travelling from all corners is unsafe then so be it.

Some state that orienteers will visit Lochaber on holiday anyway... they might well do but they won't be swamping the local communities enmasse.... and just for ref I'm doing yet another 300 mile round trip to one of the areas to finalise part of the courses and would rather not see all the hassle of the last year wasted... but if the Scottish Government says no go then I'm happy with that.... the health & safety of the Scottish population must come first

[RoT]

So, I am now ‘ignorant and selfish’ as well as a ‘covid denier’, all accusations I strongly refute.
All I was doing with my proposal for a contingency for S6D to go ahead with 1000 competitors a day, was to try and find a solution WITHIN current scottish government rules; not least to ensure the efforts of Gross and others will not be in vain.
Just as well I have a thick skin and so will try to continue to promote Orienteering for all on this forum.
Thanks to supporters of my proposal.

[buzz]

Seems to me that there are quite a few selfish & ignorant people within the sport of orienteering The restrictions are in place to protect Scotland & the Scottish people. Trying to circumvent the rules is no better than flying into the UK from 'India' and trying to avoid quarantine.

Sorry Gross you're completely out of order here. Nobody is suggesting circumventing the rules. The Scottish government have opened up Scotland for tourists from the UK and imposed restrictions on the size of different types of events at various tiers. The suggestions made specifically respect the rules and are looking for ways to work within them. There are quite reasonable comments about the efficacy of the rules which don't always appear consistent or logical and there is a degree of frustration from both organisers and competitors, but that's not selfishness or ignorance.

[buzz]

You could. I'm sure nobody on here would complain at paying twice as much...

Absolutely, I'd have no problem forgoing any refund as would all the people I've spoken to so far. I guess the organisers would need to poll the competitors to confirm sufficient support.

I imagine the easiest to organise would be to continue with plans as they stand in case level 0 is achieved and 'simply' remove club start blocks on alternate days to reduce the numbers.

[SeanC]

This thread prompted me to find out what the level restrictions are in Scotland and I noticed that travel to Scotland from Blackburn, Bolton and Bedford is currently banned*, so that would be something to check for as the distribution of the delta variant changes.

https://www.gov.scot/news/levels-and-tr ... ns-update/

* unless for a good reason, which doesn't include orienteering.

[maprun]

SeanC, it's travel from Scotland to these areas, not from them that is restricted.

[SeanC]

Ah thanks, I took 'between' as meaning both ways.

[Freefall]

Thank you for the comments. There is really no possibility of keeping areas open for more than the agreed days - for example Fort William Golf Club have agreed to close the course for Day 2 and in other areas there are animals being moved around.
There would also be issues with use of the event services subcontractors. The current plan (and cost) is based around evening take down and set up for the next day to minimise hire charges of equipment and to make best use of the manpower.
Nopesporters (including myself) would happily pay for six days and run for three but quite hard to judge how the greater unwashed would react. With four long distance and two middle distance (split into different parts of the week) how do you make a fair selection? Day 1, Day 2 and Day 5? Day 3, Day 4 and Day 6? Day 1-3 or Day 4-6?

[housewife]

I think frustration stems from the fact that attending an orienteering event will have an absolutely minuscule Covid risk compared with sharing facilities at a campsite and any form of grocery shopping / catering purchase, both of which are deemed safe and both of which I’ll be doing regardless of whether or not the 6 day goes ahead. Nobody was thought to have contracted Covid following the overcrowding on beaches in Bournemouth last summer - and the 6 day will be far more spread out than that.

[buzz]

Nopesporters (including myself) would happily pay for six days and run for three but quite hard to judge how the greater unwashed would react. With four long distance and two middle distance (split into different parts of the week) how do you make a fair selection? Day 1, Day 2 and Day 5? Day 3, Day 4 and Day 6? Day 1-3 or Day 4-6?

I don't think you need to worry about it being fair - there's been nothing fair about the past year. Personally I'd prefer to balance the quality of the areas rather than disciplines and spread the races through the week with rest days between, but any three days would be massively better than none.

And it's a holiday event, you don't need to worry about overall results, balanced starts, etc.

Perhaps ask via the entry system to see who would be prepared to forgo a refund to keep the event alive with 3 days each, assuming its legal/feasible.

[keduro]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57487533

[Snail]

I don't envy the awkward position the organisers are now in, given the previously indicated need to make a go/no-go decision by the end of June:
- decide on Go, incurring costs taking a significant chunk of entry fees, but with a risk that things don't revert to Level 0 and the event has to be cancelled with only a week or two's notice
- decide on No Go, refund a proportion of fees, but then possibly find that everywhere is Level 0 during what would have been event week.

SeanC, it's travel from Scotland to these areas, not from them that is restricted.

Not according to the Scottish Government website here: https://www.visitscotland.com/travel/getting-to-scotland/england-wales/

[pete.owens]

Ah thanks, I took 'between' as meaning both ways.

It is indeed (rather obviously) both ways. Also, much of the northwest has now overtaken Boltons infection rate, so it is likely that the list of areas will expand to include those where the English government is advising against travel.

Groups booked into shared accomodation would also need to change their plans.

[Mrs H]

Groups booked into shared accomodation would also need to change their plans.

There are 2 Ms in Accommodation

[buzz]

Groups booked into shared accomodation would also need to change their plans.

What are you basing this on?