Proposal for British Middle Champs

[gg]

OK, its a bit late now i guess, but how about as soon as they realised that the British Middle Champs and TIOmila clashed (taking out all GB squad runners give or take a couple), and having a WRE middle race the day after the British Sprints.

How about turning the WRE on Rowney Warren into the British Middle champs?

OK that doesnt quite make sense but what about the idea?

Would get more elite runners there
Its already a WRE so presumably of the required standard.

Thoughts?

[rocky]

i think the problem with that was that it was meant to be the OUOC Oxford urban race the day after british sprints which does not really fit the bill for BEOC middle.

[distracted]

i think the problem with that was that it was meant to be the OUOC Oxford urban race the day after british sprints which does not really fit the bill for BEOC middle.

I can't imagine Oxford playing host to a WRE, let alone BEOC middle...

gg > I think the concept is a good idea, seeing the Rowney event was sorted out mid-January, but I guess all of the elite competitions for the coming year had already been mapped out so to change it would have been a bit of a hassle. and they didn't have the WRE until after the Lakes national was cancelled.

Coming back to said OUOC race, after today we've hopefully now got a new date in the autumn sorted Third time lucky I hope!! Will let you know more details once things have moved a bit more.

[DIDSCO]

What a joke! British Elite Middle Champs on same day as Tiomila, that just takes the piss.

If the runners competing in the British Elite Champs have any respect for the sport of orienteering in the UK this weekend they should all declare themselves non-competitive or not punch the last control in protest.

[tendon]

If the runners competing in the British Elite Champs have any respect for the sport of orienteering in the UK this weekend they should all declare themselves non-competitive or not punch the last control in protest.

... and if they have any respect for the team from Sarum who have organised and planned the event on Saturday, they should race like the wind, recognising the winners as worthy holders of the BEMDC title.

[Supersaint]

i was wondering why there weren't (m)any gb squad people going this weekend.

top 3 of baker, archer, northrop in the mens
alison to win the womens

[Mrs H.]

... and if they have any respect for the team from Sarum who have organised and planned the event on Saturday, they should race like the wind, recognising the winners as worthy holders of the BEMDC title.

I was just coming downstairs to say the same thing - all that extra effort and for precious little gain and no appreciation. just ordinary club members - you know the same people I heard some elite whingeing about having to line up next to at the start of JK Day 1.

Stageing elite events is beocoming a poisoned chalice. You just get scorn and derision before hand and moans afterwards - why bother when working for "ordinary people" is so much more rewarding.

Bugger off to the tio mila and don't hurry back I say

[fish]

... and if they have any respect for the team from Sarum who have organised and planned the event on Saturday, they should race like the wind, recognising the winners as worthy holders of the BEMDC title.

Also agree with this, the race is happening and I hope it's a good event, and well done on whoever wins it ...

However ... with some advance planning it does seem strange to get a clash between the british elite middle distance champs and tio mila. maybe there is a good reason we don't know about. But it does look like the fixturing of this sort of thing needs some work ... (and, yes, I know it's not easy).

Anyway enjoy the racing wherever you go.

fish

[the duncan]

Maybe Dids' comment was a bit strong, but still, it sounds like a bit of a cock up really.

i know lots of effort goes into organising the race, and its not those peoples fault, and i think dids was refering to sticking fingers up at others, not the organisers.

Tiomila is pretty much the biggest relay in the world, so of course most of the top elite guys will be there, as that is what the top end elites need to race in to improve. so to put an event that really is set up for elites on the same weekend does not make sense

[harry]

It is the fault of Elite Competition Steering Group. They should have made sure they had the right date for Tio Mila before they agreed on the British Middle Champs. They thought it was last weekend. I was on a training camp last summer and we got given a preliminary season plan thing and I said er.. I'm pretty sure Tio Mila is the wrong date on this.. but nothing got changed.. if they couldn't find it on the website they could have just phoned SOFT.

Of course it's a shame and I can't really understand why they didn't originally have 2 British Championships weekends with Long & relay and Sprint & Middle. Having them over 3 separate weekends in an already jam packed season seems daft.

A 5km race round Oxford sounds like it would be a laugh and a worthy UK Cup race but I can't understand why they would have originally prioritised that over having decent and well attended British Championships races.

[graeme]

Maybe it should have been with the FCC final. We did offer!

Elite middle race clashes with Tio, UKRL on a working (or exam!) day, its a shame so many of us won't be able to go to what should be a good set of races.

[Joykok]

I have to agree with Didsco. Having the British Elite Middle Distance Championships on the same weekend as Tio Mila is taking the piss.

This is not the fault of the organisers of the event, and no matter what people say now, it is what is going to happen, and the winners will be deserved winners because everyone knows the race is on and if they really feel strongly about attending them, and skipping Tio Mila they can.

I think Mrs H. that you saying that "stageing elite events is becoming a poisoned chalice" is a bit strong. The "scorn", "derision" and "moans" arise from the things that go wrong, and waver from the high standards that Elite competitions set, and that in many ways is what drives orienteering forward (mapping standards, organisation etc). But these opinions sadly come out more often, far quicker, are taken notice of, and jumped upon more than compliments and showings of appreciation. For example, people have said how good the JK Sprint was for the Elites, I haven't read anything about the warm up maps at the JK and British Long for the Elites, but this seems to be a great step forward by British orienteering. The way elites had a seperate finish at the JK was great too (no stampede). I'm sure that all elites in Britain appreciate these improvements, and also the visting foreigners too, who will be able to go back home and speak favourably about orienteering in Britain. So don't be convinced that stageing elite races is a bad thing, because it is appreciated and it is driving the sport forward in our country.

As for Tio Mila, I for one have prioritsed this above the British Middle Champs because my club Halden Skiklubb does a heck of a lot for me. For them Tio Mila is the number one priority in the year, and it is the same for most clubs over Scandinavia. Nowadays these clubs rely on their ever improving foreign members more and more to strengthen their teams and so the event has turned into a real melting pot of the World's Elite. Therefore for the powers that be that decided that the British Elite Middle Champs should clash with Tio Mila is a tragedy that should not be repeated.

Ewan McCarthy

[distracted]

There's a note in the BOF minutes in October 2005 which states

A clash between the British Middle Orienteering Championships and the Tio Mila was recognised and regretted.

At the time there most probably wasn't an alternative date they could put it on. Whether they could have moved the event to Rowney Warren after we had to cancel the Oxford race in December/January, I don't know. At that point, with their event a little over 3 months away, it would have been very harsh on those in SARUM who had put in so much effort to say "no, you're not staging BEOC middle any more".

As for having the Oxford race as the day after the British Sprints - that was the date we were given (most likely due to the proximity of the two events) and we tried to work with that until other circumstances intervened...

[Mrs H.]

OK Ewan, I accept I was a bit over the top - I was just stung on behalf of my friends at Sarum by didsco's suggestion that their efforts should be treated with so little respect.

It's this "let them eat cake" attitude which gets me down - amd we all know what that led to.

Both Greame and Harry's suggestions have merit - but things are as they are and we have to make the best of it.

[Tessa]

just to add another thought to the discussion. There are also the M/W20 British Elite Trophys to win this weekend. Last year I won, not even knowing there was such a trophy and in a field of about 5 mostly W18s and under. Not complaining, but I felt a bit stupid collecting a British Championship Trophy. Shouldn't the M/W20 trophys be seperated from the seniors and awarded to the Winner of the 1st Day of the FCC or Winner of JK Day 1, where the field is so much more competitive?