BOF Discounts at level 3 events

[Clive Coles]

Have noticed the minutes of last weeks BOF Board meeting have been posted on the BOF web site. They have now decided discounts will be offered at ALL level 3 events. Previously discounts were not offered on C5 events and the event fees in the current fixture lists follow that rule.

I am happy that discounts will continue for the old C4 style events. It helped to convince new recruits to orienteering that it was worth joining BOF as a local member. But...less convinced that all clubs will want to have discounted entry fees for their Try-O's and Saturday morning Summer series. They will more likely prefer to keep it simple.

But, once BOF decided to merge C4 and C5 events into one level, this was always going to be a problem which ever way the decision fell.

I intend to wait until the new on-line data entry registrations facilities are available. We can then probably find a way of identifying which level 3 events have discounts and those which do not.

What are others thinking of doing ?

[greywolf]

What are others thinking of doing ?

Bluntly, I think my club will ignore it

we put on a range of so-called "Level 3" events - district events on world class terrain with a full range of colour-coded (& sometimes classic) courses, plus a town race - these are £5 or £6 for seniors after the BOF discount (but £2 for juniors / novices); and low key 2 or 3 course events aimed at boosting participation / following up on dedicated schools events / getting families involved. These are typically £2 per adult, £1 for juniors, no BOF discount.

Maybe BOF can't tell the difference between an 18k Classic at Culbin and a 2k Yellow in Grant Park, but we can and I suspect most punters can too

[roadrunner]

The idea of a flat £2 discount is crazy for events where the entry fee is £2 or less - would that mean that a £1 club training event should give £1 back to BOF members (or increase the price to non-members by a factor of three)?

Discounts are (and will always be) a problem for EOD because of the checking involved. I've noticed that some road races have found a way to avoid this problem: pre-entries from affiliated club members get a discount, entries on the day are at the same price for everyone. Maybe this is something to consider - it encourages the more regular orienteers to pre-enter (which helps the organising club with cash flow and planning), but doesn't penalise non-members who turn up on the day, and in addition it makes life easier for the volunteers handling the EOD entries.

[Clive Coles]

I think our experience is different from Roadrunner as very few of our events in East Anglia require pre-entry. EOD is the norm ~ we don't have the attentance numbers to justify the organisational overheads .

When folk queue up to register they bring their BOF card as well as their money and registration slip.

The person collecting the money may glance at the BOF card to check but, in practice we recognise most of our regulars anyway. If we don't recognise someone and they don't have a BOF card the chances are they are first timers. They will probably be asked for the entry fee stated on the fixture list. It's all quite easy to run ~ no great hastle.

But I agree applying a discount to the low entry fees that we charge at those events at which we hope to attract new orienteers is daft.

BOF are not listening. The old C4 and C5 events served different purposes. The categories should not have been merged. We still however need to package our product to suit the targeted punter.

Like Greywolf ~ we will probably ignore BOF and find a way to avoid having to put up fees for the old C5 events on the fixture lists ( just so we can apply a discount !).

When they are in a hole they really should stop digging.

[IanD]

We put on a range of so-called "Level 3" events - district events on world class terrain with a full range of colour-coded (& sometimes classic) courses.

Slightly off topic, why not register your events at "Level 2" in the new world?

I know all registered C4's for 2009 were automatically regraded to "Level 3", but that was just to get the system running - and I believe you can apply for regrading.

As I understand it, part of the reason for the change is to allow good quality events to be given Regional (Level 2) status without needing more courses than a standard colour-coded.

[EddieH]

Well Ian we decided not to apply for reregistering because basically "so what" if nearly all events are level 3 and virtually everyone can see what a great weekend we are putting on. Why would we go through the hassle of changing it. Besides we would need 2 grade 2 controllers (I think as it happens we might have anyway, but not both from outside the club,) and we would need a retrospective 12 month embargo - the British was held in Culbin less than 12 months before, and an embargo on Forres town would not be desirable, quite apart from the fact that an event has been held incorporating a small part of the Forres map within the year.

All ion all as I said, what the difference - we're just going on as before with an imposed status that good advertising should nulify.

[greywolf]

why not register your events at "Level 2" in the new world?

Well I did spend some time and energy exploring this, but eventually the committee decided not to, I think mostly because it would be too much of a distraction in the short timescale available

Firstly, it's not quite as simple as "register your event at L2" - although that was the terminology used in the BOF announcement - what it should say is "Clubs can apply to their Regional Association for re-registration..." but of course there's no established procedure, timescale for decisions etc etc and there wasn't a lot of clarity about what's involved or required.

So in my investigations I got mixed messages about embargos - would having the Culbin race 11 months after BOC rule out L2? - although eventually the majority view seemed to be that it shouldn't, as "everyone ran BOC anyway". (And as SOA has just approved Kerrera for a SOL race in May 8 months after the Purple Thistle it's difficult to see how they could rule out Culbin on embargo grounds)

The requirement for a Grade 2 Controller was another issue - when (in september) I went looking for a controller for the Culbin event, i was very pleased to find someone with great experience of elite orienteering and very good knowledge of the forest, who could give (and has given) excellent feedback on courses, and I wasn't too bothered about what grade controller they were... (although actually we have a G1 controller involved, as the weekend co-ordinator, maybe that would've counted??)

And then a red herring... SOA suggested that Level 2 events might incur a SOA Levy, or a different level of levy ... again this was sorted out after a bit of research and a few emails...

In the end you have to ask - would it make it a better event? - answer - probably not. It might give it a slightly higher profile, and allow it to contribute to the rankings (which is a whole different rant...), but i'm not sure that this justifies the time & effort (and uncertainty) of applying for re-registration this close to the event...

to end on a positive note - entries for both the Culbin Classic and Forres Town race are now open at http://www.oentries.com/ with some more event details available from http://www.moravianorienteering.org/

happy holidays!