Park World Tour comes to Scotland

[rocky]

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Last edited by youngladdie on Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well that's big and clever. Really helps the debate.

PWT is an elite race, contested by committed orienteers who have often chosen to stop working in order to pursue excellence in their chosen sport. Why shouldn't they reap the rewards?

As I want to race in the PWT I'm keeping at arms length from the organisation (unlike many of my Scottish rivals who are doing a great job organising this by the sounds of it ) so I don't know where the prize money is coming from. BUT let's say (although I doubt this is the case) that it was funded by an extra premium on the entry fee of every competitor - what's would be wrong with that? It's considered normal in a lot of other sports.

It's a tactical decision by organisers/promoters - put up some prize money, attract some "big name" talent. Then Joe Public takes notice of the event and thinks "well he could run anywhere in the country/world but he's chosen this tinpot race, so it must a race worth doing", hence entry numbers are up, participation increases and the event is bigger better and makes more money...

I do find it slightly ridiculous that I've won more for one average road 10k than In 10 years of elite orienteering - and I suspect the same would be true even if I was a good orienteer.

[graeme]

BUT let's say that it was funded by an extra premium on the entry fee

£5k would be rather a hefty premium... like about £20. So you're right - it isn't!

[DeerTick]

I have no problem whatsoever with elite athletes making money from their efforts. Look at next week's London Marathon: in the elite Brit women's field there are several thousand dollars to be made from a 2 hour, low thirty something minute run. Sounds good, but think of the hundreds of unpaid hours they've put in to reach that level. Orienteering's no different.

And I've yet to meet an elite athlete who refers to him/herself as such.

Tick

[EddieH]

Youngladdie, if the current elite crop were arrogant you might have a tiny semblance of justification in your argument. I can only assume that you have not talked to them - I doubt many sports have a nicer bunch of elite athletes.

As for the term elite I understand that it has unfortunate undertones, but the name is nothing more than that - our elite are very definitely not elitist.

[andy]

I don't see what the fuss is about

Entry fees are similar / lower than other top level sprint races, I can't remember where the prize is coming from exactly but it's not solely, if at all, from entry fees.
Some of the best orienteers in the world have said they are coming (hubmann and gg to name 2)
There will be a lot of bells and whistles (no, whistles won't be compulsory for competitors) over and above your average sprint race. It's going to be really really epic and probably the first event with such a 'show' seen in the UK in recent years. Hopefully it'll set the standards for future events.

Get your entries in now http://www.fabian4.co.uk/default.aspx?EventID=308

[awk]

Why, because you are one of the 'elite'?
Not everyone cares about the elite being there

True, but equally a lot of us do, recogninsing that a successful and healthy pyramid at all levels is an essential prerequisite to a healthy sport. As a very much non-elite orienteer, I think it's great if there are decent prizes in orienteering. More power to the organisers' elbows on this issue.

[frog]

I'm a bit confused by the entry info in PWT. It states you can do the Scone race on Fri or Sat but only Fri competitors are eligible for the elite run at Perth centre on Sat pm.
Can you still do the Sat pm race if you are not an elite runner and do Scone on the Saturday(ie all TAY members)?
Also is there a different race for children as I know Dave P is promoting this event in the schools or will children be doing the same races on Fri/Sat as the adults ie TD4ish and elite length? What sort of length are they likely to be?

[mikey]

My understanding is that to qualify for the Sat PM race you have to compete in the Friday race. If you don't qualify or choose to do the Friday race on Sat AM you can then run the Sat PM race after the elite qualifiers.

[frog]

Are any club runners not in a national team likely to qualify for the elite final though, or is this something only runners in elite teams need to worry about?

[andypat]

Plenty of time to put in those extra hours of training frog - live the dream!

[frog]

The barrier would have to be set very low for me to qualify!
Have come to terms with the fact that it's lack of ability rather than lack of training that's stopping me being near the top of the rankings list.
Was wanting a vague idea of how high the barrier would be set though, but maybe the organisers haven't decided yet.

[Scott]

The website says that 30 men and 30 women will qualify for the Elite final, so I fear that the €1000 is well and truly out of my reach.

[graeme]

Plan is to have 15 invitees. Obviously we're going for big names first, and can't guarantee invitations to all national team members. Then it depends on who enters.

I would guess it will end up being about as tough to qualify as the elite sprints were. But this hasn't been staged before, so there's a pretty high uncertainty on that.

Fabian entry is complicated (not my fault guv!): you need to enter

1/ either "day 1" or "day 2" (to run Scone on Friday or Saturday respectively)
2/ and "day 3" (to run Perth)

If you don't qualify on Fri, or run Sat a.m. you get to run the Perth course after the elites.
If you enter both "day 1" and "day 2" you'll run the same course twice (and obviously, it will be so good you will want to do this! ).

...and there's a Ceilidh. ...and there's free stuff.

There's a big Schools event on Friday at Scone, I think with different courses from the PWT.

[EddieH]

Well that's cleared that up then

[MAPS]

Is an M16 able to enter the open class, or does he enter junior.
Are there any silly rules stopping juniors running across roads in Perth.