Cambridge City Race - POSTPONED

[mikey]

We've done lots of consultations this morning with colleges and the city council and regretably the Cambridge City race is now postponed.

There is a deep covering of snow in Cambridge - this is highly unlikely to have cleared by Saturday morning and it is already covering areas of packed ice. In addition, some of the colleges have said that they won't be gritting paths at the weekend.

Taking these factors into account, the safety of runners cannot be guaranteed.

Further information will be available on the CUOC website later.

Obviously, we are all very disappointed to have had to make this decision and we look forward to finding a new date for the race.

Mike Capper (Controller)
Clare Sutherland (Organiser)
Ben Stevens (Planner)

[Mrs H]

sorry to hear it Mikey - but i'm sure it's the right decision - urban racing only needs a bit of bad publicity to be put back by years.
Out of interest to those of us who were unable to attend the original date - will you be re-opening entries when you set the new date? Me and Mr H would love to make a weekend of it if we can.

[PorkyFatBoy]

That's a shame Little Miss PFB was really looking forward to her podium appearance as there were only three entrants in W12-.

On the other hand, I might be fitter, less injured and have got rid of this stinkly cold by the new date

Do you know if the "Country" part is still on?

[mikey]

Day 2 at Croxton Heath is still ON at the moment. Different factors come into account for this race.

[Meat Market]

Thanks Mikey

I feel sorry for the organisers because of all the hard work they've put in for absolutely no return. I agree 100% with them that if the colleges and councils have said it should be postponed it should be postponed.

As a Scot in London I have been genuinely shocked this last week how a small amount of snow (inches rather than fractions of feet) has caused the absolute shutdown of transport, business for a few days. People cite safety reasons but how many people have genuinely been killed / injured in the last week because of the conditions?

If the council in Camden had bothered to use grit on the pavements / roads as they do in Aberdeen when we get our annual 2-3 weeks of snow then none of the buses would have had to be cancelled and people would have been able to do a normal days work. Fair enough if you want to take a holiday off to enjoy the snow like some people do but since people were unable to get into work due to lack of transport, Monday and Tuesday were written off for me this week and now I'm rushing to make up time before the end of this week.

I think sadly the reaction to the snow has shown that Brits really have turned into a bunch of pansies.

[stsam]

Condolences to all those who've put so much effort into putting this race on. I was really looking forward to exploring Cambridge (never been before), staying over and then attending the event on Sunday.

I will try and make the re-arranged date (hopefully with an appropriate event nearby on the Sunday). If Sundays event goes ahead, is there any chance of a refund for the WAOC event for those that no longer travel for the one event having booked for both events?

[pyrat]

Im off to a street race this evening actually planned by one of the woc planners for 2010. There has been about 5cm fresh snow today and underneath lies lots of patches of ice. Without orienteering shoes with dobs or ice bugs this would be very treacherous. (Its too cold for grit to work and as it damages cars etc, it isnt used in Trondheim)

With dobs however, it will be totally fine.

Im sorry the Cambridge race has been postponed, is there another date in the pipeline?

[mikey]

No date sorted yet. CUOC will announce it when it is known and will almost certainly be accepting new entries for the new date.

As far as the Cambridge race goes, the trouble with shoes that are suitable for ice/snow is that they are not greatly appreciated by highly protective college establishments.

[greywolf]

If the council in Camden had bothered to use grit on the pavements / roads as they do in Aberdeen when we get our annual 2-3 weeks of snow then none of the buses would have had to be cancelled and people would have been able to do a normal days work.

I'm sure that English councils would be delighted with the winter weather budgets of their Scottish counterparts...but despite this preparedness, we had less than an inch of snow here last night and the schools are closed so it truly is a general British pathetic-ness...

btw, Aberdeenshire & Aberdeen Councils report 170+ closed or partially closed schools....

Good call by the Cambridge organisers - hope you can find a good date later in the year

[EddieH]

Just to let you know Greywolf, I live not far from you and have several inches of snow outside.

But I totaly agree about school closures.

[Tatty]

WE're very disappointed the race has been postponed after all your hard work. look forward to running it later if at all possible. We'll still come up for the weekend as we're staying with friends and a day in Cambridge would be lovely. I can wallow in all the book shops

[awk]

Really sorry to hear of the postponement, but appreciate the organisers doing so at sensible notice and explaining the reasons so clearly.

But I totaly agree about school closures.

Yawn...it seems that Nopesport isn't immune to the national desire to make a punchbag of schools. Why not just accept that those responsible have done their best to do right by all concerned? Contrary to popular belief, headteachers (or, in some case, local authorities) don't want to close schools, but have made a decision, based on a number of factors, that this is the wisest thing to do. I respect their professional judgement.

There is nothing pansy-ish about Britain; it's simply a balancing act between the cost of having the resources to deal with this weather and the frequency of the occurrence.

[Wendles]

Guinness and Budweiser will be pleased not to be spending the weekend under the shrubbery in their KatKabins, but we're sorry not to be discovering the delights of Cambridge. We'd like to echo the thoughts and thanks of previous contributors on this thread. We know from Becks' involvement how much work goes in to negotiating with Colleges for access etc so we're glad for the Organisers' sake that it is a postponement rather than a cancellation.

[greywolf]

Contrary to popular belief, headteachers (or, in some case, local authorities) don't want to close schools, but have made a decision, based on a number of factors, that this is the wisest thing to do. I respect their professional judgement.

hahaha

that'll explain why my son's primary school closed at 12 on the last day of the winter term because "inclement weather was forecast" for 4 years in a row then...