WOC overall view
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WOC overall view
I really enjoyed watching it (from armchair/ desk stuck in Fife). What did the WOC athletes think of it and what did the ordinary orienteers who watched it think?
- frog
Re: WOC overall view
frog wrote:I really enjoyed watching it (from armchair/ desk stuck in Fife). What did the WOC athletes think of it and what did the ordinary orienteers who watched it think?
I've heard a lot of positive comments, including some specific comments from athletes about the great courses. I've heard very few negative comments. You can't please everyone...
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Spookster - god
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Re: WOC overall view
Fab.
+ve:
* Big screen
* Great Arena atmosphere (commentary, food outlets)
* BBC Alba coverage of WOC
* Impressive event staging from everyone involved
-ves:
* the queues/long waits to get into the car parks on days 2, 4, 6
* the stress about whether we would be able to get in/out the car parks or even to the event at all on some days.
* I didn't wear my shorts so it's WOC 0: S6D 2013 Moray 1
* I didn't get to meet James Bond, Club: "Her Majesty's Secret Service", running M45L dressed in a suit.
+ve:
* Big screen
* Great Arena atmosphere (commentary, food outlets)
* BBC Alba coverage of WOC
* Impressive event staging from everyone involved
-ves:
* the queues/long waits to get into the car parks on days 2, 4, 6
* the stress about whether we would be able to get in/out the car parks or even to the event at all on some days.
* I didn't wear my shorts so it's WOC 0: S6D 2013 Moray 1
* I didn't get to meet James Bond, Club: "Her Majesty's Secret Service", running M45L dressed in a suit.
"A balanced diet is a cake in each hand" Alex Dowsett, Team Sky Cyclist.
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mappingmum - brown
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Re: WOC overall view
My first WOC ever as the last one was just before I returned to the sport after a period of football/road running. I really enjoyed it -with the caveat that being involved on the periphery has left me exhausted so no idea how some of the central team must feel!
It's fantastic to see proper orienteering getting some coverage on the telly too. I think the WOC team delivered a fantastic event and should feel proud of themselves. And as for the queues, even professionally delivered events like Belladrum seem to have similar problems so I think sometimes we just need to grin and bear it.
It's fantastic to see proper orienteering getting some coverage on the telly too. I think the WOC team delivered a fantastic event and should feel proud of themselves. And as for the queues, even professionally delivered events like Belladrum seem to have similar problems so I think sometimes we just need to grin and bear it.
Orienteering - its no walk in the park
- andypat
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Re: WOC overall view
I went to highland 99 and don't remember parking queues then but the 6 day numbers have grown since then and there wasn't sprint / street o. I think the woc races were in different areas to the punters too, although I remember watching the relay and yvette Hague getting her medal so maybe they weren't that different. The weather was v different as I swam in Loch Ness to cool down
- frog
Re: WOC overall view
Paradoxically - I really enjoyed WOC and thought the whole thing very professionally handled and most spectacularly conveyed - but I found the S6D rather disappointing. I suppose there was always going to be a slight conflict of interests with the two events staged side by side. Is that how other countries do it or do they just put on a few spectator races to keep the public occupied?
There were obviously daily queues of sometimes over an hour and a half which just creates an atmosphere of anxiety. The Day 5 area from an early start was like some kind of Japanese endurance test - presumably to fit the public race into the same general area as the WOC long. The shifting of the rest day made it a tough end to the week.
I really enjoyed the Darnaway races and Day 6. There were plenty of caterers and stalls and the toilet queue moved very quickly. I think a few loads of saw dust or wood chippings at certain pinch points in the fields wouldn't have gone a miss. I didn't visit the camp site or any of the activities - were they good?
I should think everyone in Scotland is exhausted. I hope the strain of staging two such enormous events side by side was not too much.
There were obviously daily queues of sometimes over an hour and a half which just creates an atmosphere of anxiety. The Day 5 area from an early start was like some kind of Japanese endurance test - presumably to fit the public race into the same general area as the WOC long. The shifting of the rest day made it a tough end to the week.
I really enjoyed the Darnaway races and Day 6. There were plenty of caterers and stalls and the toilet queue moved very quickly. I think a few loads of saw dust or wood chippings at certain pinch points in the fields wouldn't have gone a miss. I didn't visit the camp site or any of the activities - were they good?
I should think everyone in Scotland is exhausted. I hope the strain of staging two such enormous events side by side was not too much.
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Mrs H - god
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Re: WOC overall view
Mrs H wrote:Paradoxically - I really enjoyed WOC and thought the whole thing very professionally handled and most spectacularly conveyed - but I found the S6D rather disappointing. I suppose there was always going to be a slight conflict of interests with the two events staged side by side. Is that how other countries do it or do they just put on a few spectator races to keep the public occupied.
Disappointing in what way? And relative to previous S6Ds or relative to your expectations (if different)? Personally I thought the S6D side of things was about the same as previous S6Ds (which is "very good" - mainly a comment on the orienteering aspects, maps, terrain, courses, organisation, etc., rather than say campsite, social events, rest day sprints, etc.).
I think WOC 2015 was somewhat unique (?) in that the spectator races were an established multi-day competition. In most other WOCs the spectator races are simply there because WOC is there (e.g. Swedish WOC spectator races are not the O-Ringen, Swiss WOC spectator races are not SOW, Finnish WOC spectator races are not the Finn5, etc.) and not intended to be the main attraction, whereas the S6D probably was the main attraction for many people this year (i.e. those who don't care much for WOC). There are pros and cons. If you join WOC with an established multiday then you probably get more WOC spectators, but you may compromise the multiday by having WOC overshadowing it (although I don't think that was true this year).
- Duncan
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Re: WOC overall view
Disappointed in the way I detailed in my second paragraph and you perfectly described in your last sentence (Without the bit in brackets)!
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Mrs H - god
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Re: WOC overall view
I thought it was a great week, and so much hard work put in by so many. I did find it more exhausting than usual although I think I can put 90% of that down to having a 3 and 1 year old at the event and just 10% to the actual orienteering!
The queues to the car park were a negative but this has been an unbelievably wet summer in Scotland. In contrast to Mappingmum I wore my shorts every day (I refuse not to in 'summer') and at least it didn't rain much.
The number of traders (equipment and food) was fantastic and I barely queued all week. Having a young family I only watched the sprint relay in person but really enjoyed it. bBC Alba's coverage of the sprint final was great.
A combination of hubby's exhaustion from being day 4 organiser and me having food poisoning/stomach bug overnight caused us to miss day 5.
The string courses each day were excellent and lots of effort put it. I also appreciated the car parking being close to assembly on most days and at least on day 2 the 3 year old could cycle to assembly.
There was such a great atmosphere in the arena on each day and although there were around 6000 people it didn't feel overcrowded - just right.
Thanks to everyone who made the events happen.
The queues to the car park were a negative but this has been an unbelievably wet summer in Scotland. In contrast to Mappingmum I wore my shorts every day (I refuse not to in 'summer') and at least it didn't rain much.
The number of traders (equipment and food) was fantastic and I barely queued all week. Having a young family I only watched the sprint relay in person but really enjoyed it. bBC Alba's coverage of the sprint final was great.
A combination of hubby's exhaustion from being day 4 organiser and me having food poisoning/stomach bug overnight caused us to miss day 5.
The string courses each day were excellent and lots of effort put it. I also appreciated the car parking being close to assembly on most days and at least on day 2 the 3 year old could cycle to assembly.
There was such a great atmosphere in the arena on each day and although there were around 6000 people it didn't feel overcrowded - just right.
Thanks to everyone who made the events happen.
What are pictorial descriptions?
- Electrocuted
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Re: WOC overall view
The S6D is most definitely unique in terms of 'spectator races'. I'm sure all the foreigners who came and had been to previous WOCs left with a huge smile on their face as they got to see the S6D brand and will have loved it. However, I can see why Brits maybe didn't think it was quite up there with previous S6Ds because of the strain placed on the event from WOC, both in sheer numbers (extra 1500 competitors) and infrastructure.
It was partly perception and partly from sharing arenas and sheer car parking numbers. S6D sold hundreds (literally) of parking passes on the first day which contributed to the parking issues, which combined with wet weather recently.. Working two major events alongside each other (albeit with different focuses and different issues) was a massive massive undertaking and while it wasn't as smooth as it perhaps could have been the volunteers involved in bringing it together put in absolutely huge amounts of work. Seriously, you have no idea. Having been involved now in 4 different S6Ds, this was so much bigger than any of those and just as good. Even if you've done something as big as a JK this was another level on top of that. Hats off to everyone involved, especially the S6d as they went above and beyond at times, it was an amazing week.
Hearing all the positive comments is/was really great, we (WOC IT team) had very little in terms of issues and certainly nothing major. It was fantastic to be a member of such a great team. I did however hear a few 'never again' comments on Friday!
It was partly perception and partly from sharing arenas and sheer car parking numbers. S6D sold hundreds (literally) of parking passes on the first day which contributed to the parking issues, which combined with wet weather recently.. Working two major events alongside each other (albeit with different focuses and different issues) was a massive massive undertaking and while it wasn't as smooth as it perhaps could have been the volunteers involved in bringing it together put in absolutely huge amounts of work. Seriously, you have no idea. Having been involved now in 4 different S6Ds, this was so much bigger than any of those and just as good. Even if you've done something as big as a JK this was another level on top of that. Hats off to everyone involved, especially the S6d as they went above and beyond at times, it was an amazing week.
Hearing all the positive comments is/was really great, we (WOC IT team) had very little in terms of issues and certainly nothing major. It was fantastic to be a member of such a great team. I did however hear a few 'never again' comments on Friday!
Andrew Dalgleish (INT)
Views expressed on Nopesport are my own.
Views expressed on Nopesport are my own.
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Re: WOC overall view
I enjoyed WOC more than I expected.
At the start of the year I was vaguely aware there were elite runners and some sort of international competition, but my experience was with age classes and with people just having a nice run in the forest rather than serious athletes. When planning the Dunalastair SOL the elite courses became increasingly important and I got a first insight into that side of orienteering.
I would probably not have traveled to a WOC, but having it here meant I watched the races and I come out with a new appreciation of that level of orienteering. And with an increased interest in planning serious events (though perhaps not WOC after reading Graeme's experiences!).
On the other hand, it did affect the S6D. This was my first year planning (day 3, middle distance) but it felt like we were second rate - decisions were made by WOC, and we just had to wait to hear what we could and couldn't do. Day 3 did not have the S6D tannoy, only the one for WOC, even though we started well before the WOC races started. Putting out controls was not too hard for us as we had a compact area with easy access, but it must have been a challenge for some of the other days.
At the start of the year I was vaguely aware there were elite runners and some sort of international competition, but my experience was with age classes and with people just having a nice run in the forest rather than serious athletes. When planning the Dunalastair SOL the elite courses became increasingly important and I got a first insight into that side of orienteering.
I would probably not have traveled to a WOC, but having it here meant I watched the races and I come out with a new appreciation of that level of orienteering. And with an increased interest in planning serious events (though perhaps not WOC after reading Graeme's experiences!).
On the other hand, it did affect the S6D. This was my first year planning (day 3, middle distance) but it felt like we were second rate - decisions were made by WOC, and we just had to wait to hear what we could and couldn't do. Day 3 did not have the S6D tannoy, only the one for WOC, even though we started well before the WOC races started. Putting out controls was not too hard for us as we had a compact area with easy access, but it must have been a challenge for some of the other days.
- Rosine
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Re: WOC overall view
Duncan wrote:I think WOC 2015 was somewhat unique (?) in that the spectator races were an established multi-day competition.
With the possible exception of the sprint races. Interestingly the planner for both open sprint races were from CLYDE, Dave Robertson having the difficult job of planning the Nairn sprint relay AND putting on a post event open race in the same area. The rest day sprint was a much lower pressure affair for me and the rest of the small team, although still a significant undertaking.
I do feel the S6D rest day sprint is a little caught between a rock and a hard place. It has the potential to be the biggest sprint in Scotland each year but its effectively consigned to a role as an informal add on. We tried to treat it as a proper race given the context of WOC but although we had loads of positive feedback, I'm not sure whether that was universally appreciated. A lot of people who wanted to race didnt get a run - we didnt have the manpower to do EOD. We did have to limit numbers due to not having any traffic controls etc.
Ironically having WOC meant we had access to as many trestles as we wanted to use for controls, but next to no volunteers to man them so we couldnt use them. Many thanks to those who did volunteer to help with our race - took a huge weight off the organising team!
Orienteering - its no walk in the park
- andypat
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WOC bird's eye view
Rosine wrote:And with an increased interest in planning serious events (though perhaps not WOC after reading Graeme's experiences!).
Don't be too put off, there was enough of my work there to enjoy on the day (like all the crucial bits). But also, the planning/controlling/advising team for all WOC events was all male.
Since it meant I could get on with it, I was happy enough to just be told by the IOF advisor that "the women's course must be adjusted to fit around the men's"*, but I was surprised it didn't have equal status. If you look at number of red-shaded errors on the winsplits for the middle, you have to conclude that either the women's course was considerably more challenging (this is my opinion) or that the women are poorer navigators.
I can sympathise with being second-fiddle to WOC. I planned S6D in 1999 and controlled Day 4 this year. Both involved a lot of stressful hanging of controls without tapes in a short timescales. I'm very proud (as you should be) that we got them all right.
* Really, that's the most detailed comment I ever got from the "Advisor".
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graeme - god
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Re: WOC overall view
ps one of the most entertaining memories of WOC is of exhausted athletes lying on the ground with a helper running in and ripping the SI Card off their finger while ignoring the athlete
- Rosine
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Re: WOC overall view
Murray was interviewed for Reporting Scotland last Monday and I have heard good reports of this, but I Player only goes back one day. Does anyone have a recording or know how we can get to see it?
- Sheila S.
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