Scottish Competitions Review

[andypat]

Graeme Ackland (SOA competitions convenor) has asked for feedback on the organisation of Scotlands major events including the following:

Scottish Champs and Relays
7 SOLs
Sprint Champs
Night Champs
Score Champs
11 Person relay
Compass Sport Cup Heat

plus the possibility of Middle and Urban champs in future.

Since the article in the SOA managazine Score didnt give an email address for feedback, I thought some discvussion on here might be helpful.

Here's some of my thoughts for starters:

Scottish Champs
I know that this year my club (Clyde) helped put on a very well thought of Scottish Champs at a huge cost in terms of individual effort (not mine!) for very little gain due to signficant mapping costs. Theres a strong case for the SOA to be more involved in the financing of this flagship event - clubs shouldnt be risking having to put it on at a loss.

Scottish score
I think this event will be the most vulnerable to Graeme's suggestion of letting some events "die". While this would be a shame as I like the format, I do think the case for having a championship in this relatively unused format is becoming less tenable. For me a Chamionship should be the culmination of a season of competition in that event, which can hardly be said to be the case for score. Its a bit like having a 5 a side cup at the end of the 11 a side football season! Night O has a bit more of a case in that regard, but to my recollection theres still only one other level 2 night event regularly held in Scotland (Tinto Twin).

Urban
I think we arent too far away from there being a case for a Scottish Urban Champs. BUT it would need to consider some relevant issues, not least would it fit the same format as the popular Nopesport league, and if not would it be overshadowed by this? Would it suit eg initially piggy backing onto an established event such as Edinburgh? Is there a good enough definition of urban Orienteering yet? How much "real" orienteering can you incorporate into it before it becomes non-urban?

[Gnitworp]

I think we arent too far away from there being a case for a Scottish Urban Champs.

I've always thought that distinctions between the new 'types' of orienteering rather than lengths or durations should be the defining criteria for Championships, especially below Elite level, i.e. 'long' style, 'middle' style, and Urban orienteering, rather than 'Long', 'Middle' and 'Sprint' lengths or race durations, with no one of the three necessarily longer or shorter than the other two, rather (ideally) all of a length that maximises the potential of the area being used. Certainly, urban orienteering is a very different activity from standard 'forest' orienteering. Why not make people prove they can sustain the very different skills for longer?

[graeme]

Thanks Andy, all comments on here are welcome. I'll read them.

[greywolf]

Scottish Champs and Relays
7 SOLs
Sprint Champs
Night Champs
Score Champs
11 Person relay
Compass Sport Cup Heat
plus the possibility of Middle and Urban champs in future.

Haven't seen the Score article so thanks for the posting.
A lot of good events there as they are: Scottish Champs probably outranks all but Brit champs, JK & WOC selection races, and the two relays both have great formats which promote healthy inter-club competition (not easy in Scotland when there are a few big and a load of very small clubs). Sprint Champs have been IMHO the best events of the year (although some consistency over prizes/classes would be welcome )
The 7 SOLs are a good way to provide a structure for a national "season" - but why do they all have to be the same format ? - it's not even as if they're held on the best 7 forest areas used in any given year. How about the Scottish Orienteering League embracing the 21st century and incorporating Urban and Middle races? ... which could also serve as National Championships if we really need one.
Similarly, could one of the SOLs serve as the CSC round? Might increase the number of clubs who bother to enter ...
Score Champs seem the obvious candidate for a cull

[AndyO]

How does the rota system work for clubs? Can they simply opt out of the rota for each or any competition? Do smaller clubs get a sort of half share in the rota, so that when their turn comes they can find a partner club to help with the numbers?

[andypat]

I like the idea of greywolf's of having different format SOLS. Middle and Urban seem the most obvious ones but if the score has some devotees any reason why it cant be incorporated and the SOLS increased to 8?

Wort pointing out that gnitworp's response seems to equate urban and sprint O as the same thing - which having planned both, I can attest isnt the case (I'm sure he didnt mean to imply that).

[madmike]

Andypat, agree with you, I think there is a danger of mixing metaphors here you can of course have a middle distance urban race!

Distances:

long, middle, short (vice sprint cos not even the elite sprint for 12-15 mins).

Terrain:

urban, woodland, moorland, mixed..............

Should we not look to designate events by distance and terrain? i.e. long-urban, sprint moorland etc
-

[graeme]

How does the rota system work for clubs? Can they simply opt out of the rota for each or any competition?

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/so ... oa-events/

The "club" rota applies to 11-person, score. I just write down a list of club names pretty much at random, excluding those from the area doing the SOC/SRC and following the order Terry O'Brien set up. For historical reasons that even I don't understand, Uni clubs are left out.

The "area" rota (EWN) applies to Scottish Champs, Relays and Night. These got into synch after foot and mouth, which probably isn't sensible. Within the areas, there's some sub-rota (e.g. ESOC/INT take turns to lead on SOC/Relay, North alternate between Speyside and Deeside). This doesn't seem to work so well, as typically clubs sort out their programmes quicker than areas (esp. with respect to embargoes), and I'm trying to be more proactive.

The good thing is that it gives clubs plenty of notice to plan an event, and to date nobody has opted out, but if they do then they should be able to give several years notice. The bad thing is that if a club has a great idea/area for a particular event, it may be 15 years before they get the chance!

[mharky]

It would be a tragedy if SOLs were to change. They are the staple of the Scottish season with guaranteed high standards in organisation, planning and mapping. They offer real orienteering. Urban orienteering is a horrendous creation, they are not sprint races with thrice the fun.

[AndyO]

Thanks for the explanation of the rota, Graeme.

There does seem to be a difference in general event activity between the Areas, with North Area clubs in particular putting on lots of events at local level throughout the year. They are also, and I don't think it's coincidental, attracting more juniors to the ranks, and links with schools have been fertile recruiting grounds in recent years. Parents have been encouraged to join in with their kids, and the core of volunteers for events has grown as a result. I don't know how you could feed this into the rota - should the more active areas get more of the "centrally controlled" events, or should it be shared as now?

I feel that clubs have a responsibility to put on events for their members, and to share the responsibility with other clubs, and I'd like to see clubs in more densely populated areas putting on more programmes locally (STAG are a good example of a proactive club). That may attract more competitors and make putting on one of the larger events less of a financial risk or organisational burden (to get back to one of andypat's initial points).

I'm with Mharky in not wishing to see any change to the SOLs. SOC is fine as it stands, but I don't think the interest is there for the Score any more. I'd rather see the Nights at the end of the winter, and not to include courses at less than TD5 level as it can compromise the choice of forest. I have tried the "sprint" format in a park setting, but I have reservations about large scale events in an urban setting on competitor safety grounds. I haven't tried this myself yet, and accept that those who have, have raved about it, but putting on a national championship event might be a bit different.

[ryeland of doom]

Keep the SOL. Almost guaranteed 7 top class events and no shortage of venues. As a lot of folk do not attend all of them, there is a danger of it becoming unbalanced. Some will deliberately miss a format they don't like so much etc.
Seven classic races - the foundation of the sport in Scotland. Build the rest on the SOL.