Variety of Formats

[seabird]

Some evidence emerging on Fabian4 that the average orienteering punter prefers the classic formula.

On 15 November there are 2 regional events within 50 miles (as the crow flies) of each other both on similar terrain. Eyam Moor and Harden Moor.
Eyam is a classic distance event with £10:00 entry. Harden is a Middle Distance Eveent with £4:50 entry.

Current state of entries Eyam 273. Harden 13

[andy]

given that the Eyam event is the VHI + Interland Selection race, I'd say it was a no brainer really...

[seabird]

A no brainer if you are at the top end of your age groups. But VHI & selection races are scarcely relevant to your average Joe or Jo.

[Homer]

But the entry numbers for Eyam don't yet include the VHI competitors, so the actual comparison is even more pronounced..

I feel a little sorry for Seabird and AIRE. I don't understand why the difference is so massive. As he says Harden is similar to Eyam, but I personally have a bit of a soft spot for the land slip area which forms a small but very important part of Eyam.
However, I agree with Andy that the VHI and Interland selection race issues are probably the main cause; there are people on the list who I'm sure would never travel as far as Eyam otherwise.

An issue for fixture secretaries in neighbouring regions to consider?

[andypat]

If it was a bit closer I'd be heading for Harden in the hopes of a top 14 finish then!

Just out of interest I've not been to a middle distance race before - always thought these were just for elites. had a look at the flier for Harden and confused about the categories. I thought the definition for the various colours at TD 5 ie green to black was the distance.
Seems odd to see blue at around 3k and black as only 5 k. Is that specific to middle distance or is it just a discretionary thing what the courses are called?

[greywolf]

...the average orienteering punter prefers the classic formula...

where "classic formula" for most of the punters will be a 4 - 6 km trundle...

[andy]

A no brainer if you are at the top end of your age groups.

I beg to differ, I would always go to the event with the likelihood of having more of the 'elite' runners so I can judge my performace against theirs, and perhaps pick up the odd scalp!

[Becks]

I am pretty upset by this - Mum's surprise birthday present this year was that we were sending her to the Venice Street Race to indulge her love of street racing. She then remembered that she'd volunteered to organise this event on Harden Moor and decided that she couldn't go to Venice. So she's not. And 13 people are entered for this event thus far.

Scheduling like this is a joke. How can we expect volunteers to give up large amounts of their spare time to plan and organise such things in the face of such tiny returns?

Having run on both Harden and Eyam, Harden is a far more technical area but rather small, and so perfectly suited for a highly intensive middle course. It'll be a great little event with a good mix of orienteering techniques required to succeed, and I urge those who've not made their made up yet to consider it in their plans. Make my Mum's weekend worthwhile, please!

[Mrs H]

.....and just to throw something else into the mix it's our local round of the YBT so in spite of it being an area I might not hurray back to i have to support my youngest daughter as junior captain at that event - it'll be interesting to see if the possibility of Interland selection draws away a lot of the top youngsters there

[seabird]

.
Eyam is a classic distance event with £10:00 entry. Harden is a Middle Distance Eveent with £4:50 entry.

Rather unfair price comparison I made. With BOF discount they are £8.00 and £4.50 respectively.

But Becky's right. Harden is a great little area. Hope my planning does it justice. Wendles organisation certainly will. And with swat controlling - it's really quite a nope effort.

Not complaining about a fixtures clash. Wholly support the thrust of the Fixtures review that there should be competing events of this nature. Merely commenting on the choices that the punters are making.

[seabird]

always thought these were just for elites.

No.
The guidelines for the British Middle Distance Champs give the planning philosophy.

I thought the definition for the various colours at TD 5 ie green to black was the distance.
Seems odd to see blue at around 3k and black as only 5 k. Is that specific to middle distance or is it just a discretionary thing what the courses are called?

No real guidelines on this re Middle Distance races. But this format of Course title worked very well at Clydach Terrace Middle Distance Event. Others will doubtless come up with earlier precedents. There are no age based prizes; hence which classes to enter which course are recommendations only.

[awk]

I think we have to be careful what conclusions to draw. A quick scan through the entries for Eyam show a large preponderance of WM and EM runners. There is also a substantial number of NW, particularly from the southern clubs. For geographical reasons alone, Eyam is likely to win out with these groups.

The interesting one is how many from the Lakes are travelling to Eyam.

There is a small YH entry, and most of those from the Sheffield area. Indeed, there are very few YHOA runners entered anywhere that weekend at the time of writing.

So, all in all, aside perhaps from the northern NWOA runners, i don't think one can put it down to format necessarily (it still may be), but very possibly to one of geography.

[Blanka]

Just out of interest, why did AIRE not put on their middle distance event on Saturday 14th and market it as an event complementing the Eyam event. Plenty fo people might have come to make a weekend of it?

[seabird]

Must admit the Eyam event never entered our consciousness.

We were going to put on a normal C4 type event under the previous fixtures regime using an adjoining area for the longer courses. But the new embargo rule put paid to that and hey presto we realised we had a really good Middle Distance area.

We did not originally intend to have pre-entry at all. It was only concern about parking, when one of the usual fields proved unavailable meant we did it so we could hopefully better predict numbers.

The inital concern about parking does not seem so great now. (We are expecting more than 13 cars!)

and still expecting a healthy EOD entry.

[andypat]

Thats probably the most observant point yet seabird. If the event is essentially being marketed as EOD rather than pre-entry why would you pre-enter. Theres not much point in comparing the pre-entries if one event is pre-entry and one isnt really.