25-manna, what is it?

[mharky]

There seems so be some interest. So, a little explanation.

The 25manna is a 25 person relay, involving the whole of the club. It is held every year in October, normally (1st/2nd weekend) roughly around the Stockholm area.

There a quite a few restrictions on who can run each leg, here is a summary of this years team requirements:

1. 9km, 1 x anyone
2. 9km, 1 x anyone
3. 4.5km, 4 x ladies
7. 3km, 4 x (excluding W19-39 or M15-54)
11. 8km, 4 x anyone
15. 5km,4 x (excluding M17-39)
19. 5km, 4 x anyone
23. 3km, 1 x (excluding W19-34 or M15-49)
24. 5.5km, 1 x lady
25. 10km, 1 x anyone

Maximum of 9 M21-39
Minimum of 7 Ladies, with at least 1x -14 or +45 and 1x -18 or +35
At least one M/W16 or younger

£200 per team this year (5th team = half price, 6th team is free!!!)
£25 for parking
£20 for club tent pitch

[Tatty]

THe logistics sound awful. Glad I'm not a club captain over there! Do the legs with multiple runners go off at the same time? I assume its all run at day? Sounds great fun.

[Domhnull Mor]

Just got back to work after running at the 25 manna. Didn't quite manage to beat our 117th place from last year but not far off it.

Plenty of track running this year but still pretty decent terrain. The dry and sunny weather definitely helped as in previous years it has been quite cold so later runners had hard packed tarcks instead of muddy hollows to run on.

The logistics are not really as hard as you may think. It is just getting hold of enough people and putting them in the right order so that at the end of the 19th leg all 4 runners come in at about the same time so the 23rd leg runner can get away quickly.

[rocky]

yeah, tactically its easier to sort out that its scottish spin-off, the 11-manna. great fun, didnt enjoy the first leg of first leg though, a 1km stampede along ski-tracks with a lot of pushing and shoving.

settled down nicely and i was only 20 seconds down at the spectator control which was a position i held onto until i followed BJ (halden 1) and lost a few minutes & around 70 places!

good fun all the same

[Guest]

Not sure that a lot of clubs would be able to get, 25 willing members to travel. That's about 6 British Relay Entries. Can't imagine many with 5 or 6 teams can you!

Hocolite

[Becks]

But it's 25 members of any age or sex - I think most clubs have five or six relay teams att eh JK and British but they're spread out over the huge number of age classes we have. It's the great thing about these big Scandi relays, be it 25 manna which I haven't been to, or Tio and Jukola, that a huge range of people in the club turns out, be you junior or older, elite or punter.

[FatBoy]

On the other hand consider how few clubs get a Harvester team out.

Shame because both Harvester and these great Scandi relays are really atmospheric events.

[Becks]

that's very true Fatboy - what is it that puts off every man and his dog from turning up to relays over here? With Harvester is it just the night O?

[rocky]

grumble grumble courses are too long grumble grumble just cos the elite can sprint round in 45 minutes grumble grumble i'll be out for 2 hours probably grumble grumble and that one m21 we have who'll do the last leg will be waiting for ages grumble grumble and what if i make a mistake and let the whole team down grumble.

[Domhnull Mor]

Believe it or not, the youngest competitor I heard about was a five year old (accompanied by a shadowing parent apparently). The oldest will be in their 70's. We had only two guys and two girls in the M/W18 age group, five guys and one lass in the M/W21 age group and only one guy in the 35 age group. The rest were either children or parents so the spread is quite wide.
I think most clubs could get such a team out. The only thing that tends to scupper things is the willingness to travel. How often is it that people travel over 300 miles each way for a couple of runs in a weekend? My club left Göteborg on Friday afternoon and returned yesterday evening (although I actually flew down from Luleå on Saturday morning and then got a 14 hour train ride north last night). The motivation has to be there but events such as the 25 manna are most definitely worth the effort.

[EriOL]

What more is there to say?

25-manna is always close to Stockholm and just before the hunting season, which means the terrain is usually quite easy and fast with lots of paths. I think next year will be great though.

And there is also a party and a middle distance the day after.

The Swedish competition rules allow combined teams of up to three different clubs, so the size of UK clubs and willingness to travel shouldn't really be a problem. Just get 25 people together and form a team if you want to. Nobody will care unless you run a bit too good...

[Rockaldo]

25manna was amazing. Like all big events in Sweden great organisation. Mass start was also a pretty cool experience, even if there was a long track run to begin with.

There shouldn't be a problem with getting an all British team out there. Its not expensive either flights were 1p without taxes and charges.

[rob f]

that's very true Fatboy - what is it that puts off every man and his dog from turning up to relays over here? With Harvester is it just the night O?

The actual truth is that many clubs don't have a harvester runner who can run 13km last leg
and if they do, they struggle to find 2 9km runners

[awk]

that's very true Fatboy - what is it that puts off every man and his dog from turning up to relays over here? With Harvester is it just the night O?

I used to run and love the Harvester, preferring the night legs. Lost interest when course lengths went longer: my last experience was 80 minutes or so of being nettled alive. Got fed up running in a class with no competition (not much fun coming 5th out of 6 teams, and not seeing another team the entire run). It also lost atmosphere when it split into multiple classes, which it didn't recapture on remerging (the former being a classic mistake in British orienteering). It may have changed now, but that was why I gave up, and it's always harder recapturing an audience than finding a new one. Contrast with Peter Palmers, which is much more successful when you consider the much smaller target group.

I think the Harvester more than most events has suffered from the large decline in under-35s.

[NeilC]

The actual truth is that many clubs don't have a harvester runner who can run 13km last leg and if they do, they struggle to find 2 9km runners

Really, I'd like to see the data on which that "actual truth" is based. In my experience as a club captain it's getting the night runners that's the problem. Fortunately my club has a core of keen night runners allowing us to get a couple of Harvester teams together most years. This is a highly addictive event and many of us need the fix every year. There is a perception though amongst many club orienteers that the big relays are for the elites and not the likes of us. Similarly for the CSC, we've got 40 odd making the 600 mile round trip this coming weekend, but that's still only a third of the number that will turn out week after week for our local league events.