York Park Race

[LostOldTimer]

Does anyone know what this might mean is happening?
"The section of the course that takes place in the National Railway Museum is not timed and competitors must not run
or even walk quickly under any circumstances. All other visitors to the museum have priority over you at all points on
the course and you are expected to wait patiently if they are where you need to be."

I thought the point of orienteering was to do it as quick as possible, i.e a race?
Is this just for ssightseeing through the museum? or is there more to it?
Am I missing something?

[Gross]

Well if you don't think it's a race then treat it as a training session:) Get a few like-minded people together & organise a session of 'trains'

[rebbid]

I think this section is in case you are running out of steam.

[King Penguin]

Speaking of trains - I was really tempted by this event, but the early starts and prospect of Bank Holiday traffic led me to consider public transport - until the price tag of £98 return each from Birmingham soon put paid to that !

[DM]

I suspect it is one way of saying it's a timed out section, like on many courses that cross busy roads.

A less likely interpretation could be that if you visit the museum you get priority over all other runners on the whole course and you can ask them to wait while you walk round the course and win - but only a complete numpty would think this is what is actually meant.

No doubt someone involved with the event will put you on the right track.

[PKJ]

I thought the point of orienteering was to do it as quick as possible, i.e a race?

Not necessarily....though I'm not sure what to expect as control descriptions.

And there may be a queue for the Wheel.

[awk]

I asked the rorganiser about this. I gather that you gain/lose points (presumably some sort of trail-O style section?) which are converted into a time handicap. Can't say I'm overly thrilled and am a bit disappointed and did think of swapping to the short race (I personally find trail-O a bit boring and not what I want from orienteering, particularly from an urban race, whilst I was looking forward to orienteering around the NRM!), but as we're pre-entered, will try to keep an open mind and give it a go before making my mind up.

[JennyJ]

I think you'll enjoy it Andy!!! It's a once in a lifetime chance to orienteer around the national railway museum - I'm gutted I'm missing it. I've seen the map (an early version) and I'd highly recommend it. The rest of the race is 'normal' York Race orienteering so if you really hate the first bit just take the time penalties and run the rest fast...
I'm not going to pretend I think it's a good idea that should be adopted into events in general but as a way of orienteering round places that you can't run in I think it could work just this once.

Hope it goes well, Jenny

[Angry Haggis]

Speaking of trains - I was really tempted by this event, but the early starts and prospect of Bank Holiday traffic led me to consider public transport - until the price tag of £98 return each from Birmingham soon put paid to that !

Not sure where you are getting those figures from - I see £47 return from Birmingham (or £31 with a railcard). Probably cheaper than getting the car these days what with the fuel prices...

It's £33 return from London for me - I'm quite tempted!

[awk]

I think you'll enjoy it Andy!!!

I'm sure I will - can trust Steve to do a good job with the planning!

Race orienteering so if you really hate the first bit just take the time penalties and run the rest fast...

I can see one small problem there: the words awk and fast don't really go together at the moment!

[EddieH]

AWK wrote: "the words awk and fast don't really go together at the moment! "

Did they ever?

[awk]

Rather longer ago than even I care to remember!

On the other hand, in the sense of fast meaning "firmly fixed in place; not easily moved" (shorter OED), maybe there is still a connection! Maybe that was what Jenny was thinking about?

[mikey]

Drove out of rain and back into rain with a gloriously sunny day in York in between.

Must admit I had some doubts about the format before the day, but thought the start section in the NRM was great fun (and pretty difficult picking the right control). On reflection, should have spent more time in there, admiring the trains.

The second (normal style) city race was the usual enjoyable (slow) romp around some of the sights of the city - different sights from last year which was good. Well planned courses, a few tricks to catch the unwary out, and a map where the 'uncrossable' features really were uncrossable!

Thanks to Steve W and Ebor for a really enjoyable day.

Presumably Steve is back on his walk to Greece now?!

[Wendles]

I'm in complete agreement with Mikey. The first section in the Railway Museum was surreal - orienteers walking round trains and appearing from behind exhibits. I spent the first few minutes trying hard not to break into a trot! Now I know I would be useless at Trail-O, too impatient to work out the right control, and I could have done with my head torch for number 3! The race part of the event fulfilled expectations as per usual. How many more bits of York will Steve find to map? I intend digging them out of the filing cabinet to make one big collage.
Thanks to Steve and EBOR helpers for another excellent day out (I recommend Hotel Chocolat for dessert!)

[awk]

Yes it was really good fun. Whilst it confirmed all my doubts about Trail-O as a competitive activity, the way it had been set up by Steve made it a really enjoyable prologue to the race itself. Certainly different, and there's no other way we'd have got the chance to orienteer round the NRM with the museum open, especially on a Bank Holiday! The format, including the level of penalties, seemed just about right, and gave us plenty to talk about whilst queuing for the racing start!

Good course once we got racing too - plenty of interesting route choices and decisions. Many thanks to all the Ebor team for another great day out .