Terminology

[Sunlit Forres]

To quote the event details for the Scottish Champs Relays....

"Orange and Yellow will not be gaffled" and "During the course of the event there will be one mini-mass start."

After the individual day, while sat in someone's campervan with a bottle of wine on Saturday night, I came in for some serious punishment from a bunch of relative novices. They (and their kids) were doing relays for the first time. Having just mastered pictorial control descriptions they thought that they were beginning to understand a bit about orienteering..... until they came to read the event instructions.

Most educated people know that "gafall" is Icelandic for fork (and no doubt the Norwegian derivative is responsible for our word gaffle). Similarly, just about everyone knows that last-leg runners in teams of no-hopers don't have to wait until tea time to start in orienteering relays, thanks to the mini-mass start.

However, lurking out there lies the great ill-informed, so if you're writing event details and want to avoid getting grief of some of those who we're trying to attract to the sport, beware.

I'm pleased to say that, enlightened by their new vocabulary, all our newcomers had a fantastic weekend and are hungry for more. One mum even ended up supervising the relay handover! Thanks to everyone for overcoming all the challenges to produce a terrific weekend.

[Adrian]

Most educated people know that "gafall" is Icelandic for fork

Whether you're being serious or not, that must go into the Top Ten Quotes of the Year.