JK 2009 Feedback?

[Wayward-O]

I think having the control descriptions in the start lane is a bad idea. My son got a bit frantic trying to fit his control description into his widget within the time limit as well.

My son has problems loading his control description holder as well. I always ask to accompany him and load them for him and have yet to be refused. I never go beyond that point with him, so gain no advantage.

[mharky]

it's a lot easier to do it if you don't already have to holder on your harm

[Marco Polo]

I think 75% distance for multidays would be fair enough, yes/no?

http://www.scottish6days.com/2009/about/course-details

M21L, average length of 8km
recent SOL length for M21L was 9.6 (in a grotty slow area), so they are shorter (but not quite 75%)

but I'd hope that Tay 09 isn't going to be as physical as SOL1 (on average) so the reference distance for M21L can be a bit longer.

I guess that really the comparison should be EWTs in anycase so that gnarliness and climb can be considered as well.

[mharky]

Back onto JK feedback...

I don't think shot glasses were particuarly great prizes. I'd much rather have a mug.

[satire]

Custom Glass Maker: "And here is our standard tumbler with your sample logo on it"
JK Prize Person: "Oh wow, that looks great, thanks. And how much was it again?"
Custom Galss Maker: "£££"
JK Prize Person: "£££?!... ah. um. we'll take the smallest ones you've got please"

[/satire]

[Scott]

Bit of positive feedback that just occurred to me: I quite like the idea of named (rather than numbered) bibs for the elite - it made watching the run-in a bit more interesting for those who weren't quite sure who everyone was (and also made me feel important). I reckon you could have got away with printing the names in a slightly larger font size, though.

[seabird]

I love having descriptions in the start lanes, means you don't have to worry about them prior to getting to the start and stops lots of comparing codes before running...

Or lots of waste paper from people printing full pages at home.

As Mharky says take the description holder off your wrist, and then fold over the strips at either end which have no useful race information, and there is no trouble fitting descriptions.

Juniors (and others) can always practice their technique at home with old descriptions before they get to the start lanes. Would prevent a lot of on the day anxiety.

[epocian]

mharky said

Bekele's 1500m PB is 15:32.35,

Should hope it's a touch faster than that - even I could manage to go quicker !

[mharky]

he's only a jogger...

think i mean't 3:32, which is bloody rediculous!

[ba-ba]

I reckon you could have got away with printing the names in a slightly larger font size, though.

Maybe they judge the font size on the bib which has to have the longest name on it - in which case you have Rachel Findlay-Robinson to blame

[Mrs H]

Just back from a great week in the NE - thoroughly enjoyed the competition and thought the festival atmosphere in the assembly areas - helped by the unbelievable weather - was spot on.

I must admit I would have been very impressed if the relay bussing had worked - it all sounded so easy in the details - but i wasn't convinced and got my lot up at 6.30 am as we had an hours drive to get there - that and an early departure led to minimal waits both ways. Perhaps a little bit of angst in the details might have panicked people to get there a bit earlier. i also think that there were ways the existing busses could have been better utilised - one way system with the busses pulling along side the road - door to queue - no reversing either end - could have saved 5-10 minutes a journey. Even so some of us did fall foul of the map issue hold up.

I thought the prizes and mementoes for everyone was great - presumably the sponsors provided the prizes and i have found that ordering twice ther number of mementoes can cost hardly anymore due to the drop in unit costs - but is there really an adult out there Long short or Very short - who seriously cherishes or even wants a medal?

We are very disappointed about the lack of fuss over the Trail O results - you have no idea how much effort it took for our family competitor to complete the novice courses. We came home with a small clutch of medals and mementoes deserved or otherwise - but she was the one who really earned something. the competition was given a lot of prominence in the event details like it was part of the whole festival but no results or prize giving at the event

I am however very embarrassed and not a little perplexed about that jourrnal photo

[redpossum]

Advice for all event organisers in the future. Don't use Sutmap. Ever. He makes crap maps. Cheap crap maps. I hgad the displeasure of planning a JK day on one of his maps and it was crap.

I think this is a rather sweeping statement about a mapper without some understanding of the situation - if it hadn't have been for Jon updating the map then you may well have not had a JK at all.

According to the the JK Event Guideline maps of new areas should be available for the planners 1 year in advance and updated areas should be available 9 months in advance. It might interest you to know that the original mapping tender document was not sent out until November 2007 and there were 3 different areas, one of which was 13sq km of unmapped area, the others were existing areas (one was 2 different maps with extra areas to be added). No PG plot was available for the new area because neither Harveys or Stirling could provide them due to it being difficult to obtain photographs. Needless to say nobody was interested in mapping these areas.

A new tender document came out in March for the areas that were eventually used but the contracts weren't awarded until the end of April. Even then nobody was interested in Kyloe (due to the shakiness of the previous maps and, by now, the timescale). Jon eventually took it on and started in July - have you ever tried mapping a forest in July with 3 metre high bracken? It's not a good idea. He wasn't able to as good a job as he would have liked, I'm sure. Luckily Paul Taylor came to the rescue with late updates.

The real problem was the timescales and I, for one, am grateful to Sutmap for stepping in and providing a map that was usable if not perfect so that we could all enjoy a great weekend in the North East.

Perhaps the Major Event committee will check schedules more closely so that this sort of rush doesn't occur in the future (I'm assured that SWOA has everything in hand for JK 2010).

[mike g]

Needless to say nobody was interested in mapping these areas.

Why not? I can understand that the difficulties of the job and/or a short deadline would cause professional mappers to tender at a higher price, but not that it would cause them to refuse to tender at all.

Are all the UK mapping firms so flush with work that they can afford to pick and choose which areas they are prepared to map for the UK's premier competition?

[Freefall]

Is it going to become more difficult to get aerial photography for PG plots? Diapositives were traditionally used in analogue plotters (Stirling Surveys, Harveys?) but with a move to modern digital cameras in aircraft instead of film cameras the output is a digital file (positive) and unsuitable for such machines. Has anyone started using software such as ERDAS to produce PG plots?
What companies are known to produce photo coverage - I know that the Forestry Commission had waited several years to get decent coverage of NE England for their forest survey work. I am aware of Bluesky, Blom, Infoterra and Getmapping (plus OS themselves). I would be interested to hear fro anyone who has recently procured photos, and who they have used to produce PG plots. How about private flying- costs?

[redpossum]

Pat Blashill at Stirling Surveys is the man to ask. There is obviously a lot more aerial imagery out there but, I believe, it is not suitable in the traditional way.

[HOCOLITE]

I was led to believe that the real problem with the relay map issue was actually the SI check because it went back to the server to check all the details. This system doesn't really lend itself to relays when people want a quick and efficient admission to the waiting pen. Normal SI software is much quicker. I also couldn't see the need to have start times and entry setails on two different web sites. Fabian 4 works normally so why use an extra web site?