BOC 2013

[drobin]

Finishers excluding the n/c courses.

Men 914, Women 532. M55L (103), the only class over 100. W45L (46)

[Broken Ground]

The JK will be the big orienteering festival holiday weekend and BOC will be an event for people who want to do a serious orienteering competition...

The problem with this is that this year and next year the JK is probably the selection race for summer international competitions as it is 90 days out, so really the JK is serious orienteering competition for elites.

[Mrs H]

Actually it's me you're quoting there and I don't see it as a problem - you can use the JK fr as many different purposes as you like. i just don't see BOC as an everyman orienteering festival.

[The Loofa]

Only the second time I've been to BOC and it was great. I can see that there were two mistakes: holding the event on the Tiomila weekend and holding it so close to the JK area, and I dare say BOF will do their best to avoid these things in future, but otherwise I think the organisers should be congratulated on a great weekend.

Thank you Adrian. We knew we were lumbered with those 2 "mistakes" from a long way out. And we knew there was nothing we could do about it. So we just got on with doing the best job we could.

As for the entry fee, how many of you know this? BOF levy this year at most events is £1 a run. For BOC we had to have a budget with a certain profit. The level of profit required equated to a levy of over £5 a run. That accounts for quite a bit of the higher entry fee.

[King Penguin]

For £5 a head I would like to think there would be quite a lot of central support and assistance available, and not just the right to use the title "British Orienteering Championships". I have no idea whether or not that is the case. A consequence of reduced membership fees I guess; the revenue has to come from somewhere. I have no problem with the principle of levy at the point of supply, so the more events one enters the more one contributes, but £5 levy is more than the total entry fee to many local events.

[Sunlit Forres]

Men 914, Women 532. M55L (103), the only class over 100.

I've never understood why the British Long-Distance Champs offers short courses. The Middles had one course for each age cat. It would make better sense to me to have cheaper colour-coded courses for anyone not wanting to run in the Long-Distance. It might encourage attendance from locals, especially with a bit of marketing.

[SeanC]

It can't be healthy that on one of the best weekends for getting out into the forests there were (aside from BOC) only 3 orienteering events in England and Wales.

[graeme]

The long/medium/sprint definition for elites is 90 / 35 / 15 minute winning time.

Now everyone else has the same naming, middle is defined by 35min winning time, but winning times for long and short depend on age. So for most non-elite classes BOC "long" was just under an hour winning time. Short courses typically are for people who want a "long"-type course appropriate for their fitness. So in order of length we have

Long - Short - Middle

Unless you happen to be under 14, in which case the "long" winning time is under 35 mins and so in order of length it goes

Middle- Long - Short

What is there not to understand?

[Simon]

It would make better sense to me to have cheaper colour-coded courses for anyone not wanting to run in the Long-Distance.

There were five courses available for pre-entry and entry on the day. They were not named by colours, but were equivalent to white, yellow, long orange, green, and blue. I ran the blue and it offered a really good course at a much cheaper cost than the championship courses.
(It also meant I had a 1:10000 map and I was able to start when I liked.)

[Marco Polo]

Having said that, the EOD offering on Saturday went up to blue, so there was plenty to cater for novice orienteers (in the surrey area at least) or those not able to enter in advance.

usually, light green or orange are the longest EOD courses.


Mark

- Edit: I was responding to SeanC, but looks like Simon E beat me to it. .

[Angry Haggis]

It would make better sense to me to have cheaper colour-coded courses for anyone not wanting to run in the Long-Distance.

There were five courses available for pre-entry and entry on the day. They were not named by colours, but were equivalent to white, yellow, long orange, green, and blue. I ran the blue and it offered a really good course at a much cheaper cost than the championship courses.
(It also meant I had a 1:10000 map and I was able to start when I liked.)

D'oh, I wish I'd spotted that. I didn't run on Saturday as I didn't fancy running a really long course, and would probably have finished near the bottom, which didn't seem a fun way of spending £25. However I would have happily done a blue - as a bonus, it was presumably eligible for ranking points. Oh well.

[dustytoo]

I can give a couple of reasons why short courses should be offered at BOC. My knees protest after about 8 km, and my stamina starts dropping rapidly at that point. Short courses give me the chance to run competitively and still be able to walk the next day!

More importantly, I put a lot of time, effort, and money into orienteering - competing, planning, mapping... - and one of the biggest rewards is taking part in the British Champs. If I got relegated to an unimportant sideshow, why would I bother turning up?

[greywolf]

If I got relegated to an unimportant sideshow....

so how else would you characterise a short course at the British Long Distance Championships?

[Karen]

It can't be healthy that on one of the best weekends for getting out into the forests there were (aside from BOC) only 3 orienteering events in England and Wales.

And very good the event at Bewick Moor was. Dry and breezy, good underfoot apart from the heather, cracking views, and a lot less hassle and travel than BOC.
Even used the latest Emitag technology
Thank you NN

[AndyC]

It can't be healthy that on one of the best weekends for getting out into the forests there were (aside from BOC) only 3 orienteering events in England and Wales.

And very good the event at Bewick Moor was. Dry and breezy, good underfoot apart from the heather, cracking views, and a lot less hassle and travel than BOC.
Even used the latest Emitag technology
Thank you NN

I'll second that -and NATO had a CATI on Saturday so I was at 2 events this weekend without travelling a long way (albeit as a control retriever on Saturday).
Heather is shorter at Ray Demense than Bewick Moor btb