JK 2009 Feedback?

[Duncan]

If you have any comments about JK 2009, good or bad, feel free to discuss them here. But you are welcome and encouraged to also email us at comments@jk2009.org.uk.

[Angry Haggis]

More buses please!

[Angry Haggis]

PS I've just heard (third-hand) relay starts are delayed by 1 hour.

[epocian]

Mrs H gets her pic on the front page
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east ... -23362359/

[graeme]

Weather ; standard for north east England/south east Scotland

Areas nicer than I'd feared.

Sprint: was very good, obviously would have been better if the Uni was available I'm wondering whether we really need a professional to make sure about access.

Map. A real opportunity missed to get a proper PG basemap and bring Kyloe up to modern standards. Some of the time it felt the courses were avoiding the trickier bits, and once or twice I strayed off line enough to find why some bits weren't being used... Legibility - well my eyesight is sh*te but I coped OK with 1:15000 (+magnifying glass), nice cartography and good printing, especially compared with previous map versions. Day 3 was a nice example of what could be done linking a few bits.

Planning was pretty good, controlling ... I thought given the vagueness of the map there was a bit too much hiding of controls. Some contraflow of courses which didn't seem needed.

Overall, an excellent way to spend a weekend, thanks to all involved.

Graeme

[Freefall]

Graeme

Can I now stand down from my duty as official Nopesport watcher? I elected to do this job on behalf of the JK committee to make sure that rumours were kept under control!

Colin Matheson Day 3 Organiser and reasonable orienteer at times

[RS]

A very enjoyable weekend spoilt by the appalling organisation of the relays. The helpers are not to blame, they were trying hard to cope with the badly planned tasks they were given, particularly the map issue. Perhaps the time has come to pay experienced people to be in charge of the organisation so things are run properly and volunteers don't have to take the flack. From comments I heard, the relays should have been voided as there were so many unfair aspects. For example, the JK is not the time to trial tightly - rolled maps with minute labels which are difficult to read and stuck with tape which is very difficult to undo. I have never seen so many upset competitors, some reduced to tears Since when has it been expected that you enter the waiting pen (although today's was not obvious as it was chaotic in there) as soon as your runner has started? That's what officials were saying. 15 mins in a queue for maps is ridiculous.
Sorry to go on but I feel very unhappy about today. Why not take advice from the likes of the Tia Milo or Spring Cup organisers - those events are huge and appear to run seemlessly.
Rant over.

Well done and thanks for Days 1-3 I particularly enjoyed Day 3 courses.

[mharky]

No need to pay anyone, just copy the Scandi's. The Jukola manages to get nearly 1500 teams of 7 men into the change over pen with no problem. It's pretty simple as Oxford University excellently showed at BUSA this year. Map boards/trees.

Two ways of doing this. Either the incoming or outgoing runner can get the map from the boards. The the big races they tend to have the incomming runner do it, but this requires them to ditch their own map after they have punched the finish and before they get to the boards. These maps are then chucked away and new ones are handed out afterwards. More suitable would be the incoming runners punches the finish and hands over to the outgoing running who goes and gets his map off the boards. All you needs is soom wood, a saw, hammer, nails and stapler.

[Wendles]

Thankyou to everyone involved in the planning and execution for a great Northumberland weekend and North East Welcome. Yes, there were hiccups but we met some great people in the queues today and the Dunkirk spirit was generally in evidence. It would be great to see some photos of lesser mortals on the BOF website!

[Adrian]

All in all, the event was excellent. Congratulations to the organisers, planners and helpers!

Day 1 very good, with a great finish, though it would've been better if they hadn't had to squeeze the courses into such a small area, consequently overusing the park. And more info for passersby would've been useful.

One discussion afterwards was whether it was possible for competitors to work out which underpass route would be quicker.

Day 2 I was impressed by the way the planner had threaded good courses through the runnable bits of the forest. But on days 2 and 3 I could hardly read the map, which was obviously frustrating. 1:10,000 for all non-elites, please!!

Day 3 The course started well but got progressively worse, with over 1km of dead running. (And control 178 was on a knoll, not a hill) I suppose it was worth it to visit such an interesting area.

Both days the Trail O appeared not to be wheelchair-accessible.

Day 4 Not sure whether the starts had to be put back an hour. I was on last leg and I was on the last bus, and even I got there for 11.15. Ideal location for a relay, with the (relatively easy ) courses circling the assembly field.

Did the organisers try to book any extra buses for the afternoon?

Adrian
http://reentrant.wordpress.com/

[andy]

awesome weekend, thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks to all involved! Too many things were done right to metion each individually but as per the requirements for posting on nopesport, I've got a moan:

whoever worked out the number of buses required for the relay....was wrong! Didn't enjoy the 1hr20min wait to get a bus back to the car park (and the 20min bus journey after it!)

[bedders]

I really enjoyed the whole weekend!

I thought the sprint was an excellent advert for orienteering with it being right in the middle of a big city and that Chris Wright did an excellent job replanning the top 3 courses at a week's notice.

Days 2 and 3 were good, solid orienteering, even if the areas were tough. Tough is pretty much what you come to expect from a NE area!

Relays were great fun! Despite the obvious problems with the busses the courses and such were ace. I really liked how they were so wonderfully short, made for some really exciting racing (even if it it didn't give me the time to make up for screwing up number 1). Sprint relay champs anyone?

[Spookster]

Great weather (better than forecast). Rough, tough, steep terrain (but actually better than I feared). Maps and courses were good on all four days.

Days 1 to 3 appeared very well organised. It's a pity Day 4 suffered because of the bussing, and other problems in the relay arrangements.

Overall a great weekend, thanks.

[Homer]

Thanks to the NEOA for a great weekend.

The weather more than made up for the few hitches on relay day. Overall the event exceeded my expectations.

I think Graeme has a point regarding access arrangements. How can we ensure that agreements made by landowners, etc are not retracted at the last minute?

[awk]

whoever worked out the number of buses required for the relay....was wrong! Didn't enjoy the 1hr20min wait to get a bus back to the car park (and the 20min bus journey after it!)

I'm sure someone involved with the organisation will be able to clarify better, but, in the meantime, my understanding was that the car park field was lost with barely 2-3 weeks notice. A search for an alternative produced only the racecourse, and the need for bussing. Unfortunately at that sort of notice for Easter Monday, there were only a limited number of buses available.