Rankings Consultation

[geomorph]

Yet we seem to think that if you can dominate in 6 events in your backyard in 1 year you should have the opportunity to top the national rankings

I've seen the Scottish 6 dominated by people in their own backyard, and they then lead the rankings as a result

Which I think is the opposite of your concern, as the Scottish 6 is not your run of the mill orienteering and therefore attracts quality fields to quality terrain and thus domination is a quality achievement. Scottish 6 probably needs to be part of the select group of events that get an increased weighting, along with all level 1's.

As one who does quite well on standard terrain but modestly on quality terrain I'd be more than happy for rankings to be weighted by terrain quality.

Funny thing is though, I'm not sure how much that would change the order of things, except maybe give a slight advantage to those who live in/close to areas of abundant quality terrain.

[IanD]

Yet we seem to think that if you can dominate in 6 events in your backyard in 1 year you should have the opportunity to top the national rankings

I'm not sure that we in orienteering want to use the ranking list to see who is the very best. We have championships for that. "British age-class number one" is not a term that you hear bandied about in the car park, but if it were, I suggest it would refer to someone winning the British or the JK rather than topping the rankings (although hopefully they'd lead the rankings too).

I see the ranking list as serving other purposes, one of which is allowing that person who only does 6 fairly local ranking events a year to see how they compare against the best in their age class - people they rarely, if ever, compete against.

I don't claim to know what the answer is, but I'm pretty certain that it isn't to skew the ranking list too heavily towards those with the time, money and enthusiasm to travel to at least 6 major events. I'd welcome a year-long points-based competition for such people (didn't we used to have a UK Cup?), but I don't think it should be the main ranking list. [Edit: as others have pointed out, I meant Masters' Cup, not UK Cup]

At least the new system will be a single list, which will remove the present absurdity of the class in which you get ranking points being determined by the colour of the course you enter!

[EddieH]

I agree with everything you say Ian.

[Gnitworp]

I don't claim to know what the answer is, but I'm pretty certain that it isn't to skew the ranking list too heavily towards those with the time, money and enthusiasm to travel to at least 6 major events. I'd welcome a year-long points-based competition for such people (didn't we used to have a UK Cup?), but I don't think it should be the main ranking list.

There's also the Masters Cup, presumably also for 'such people': orienteering's best kept secret and biggest non-event that, believe it or not, appears to still be running!

[madmike]

Gnitworp,
I just went and had a look at the Masters Cup as a result of your post and I now beg to differ - it is clearly the most important ranking list in the country

Class M40S Club Total Individual event scores(event-serial-number)
---------- best 5
1 Mike Edwards HH 3800 1086(35) 1029(34) 882(28) 803(13)
2 Steve Wilson CLYDE 3646 1271(28) 1231(35) 1144(34)
3 Tony Udris EBOR 3445 1198(35) 1173(34) 1074(28)
4 Ronald Nolan ESOC 3382 1147(35) 1122(28) 1113(34)
5 Mark Webster NOC 3308 927(40) 893(28) 845(34) 643(35)
6 Simon Bevan SOC 3288 1107(34) 1103(35) 1078(40)
7 Roy McGregor SROC 2881 1002(28) 977(35) 902(34)
8 Vince Roper SLOW 2768 984(28) 938(35) 846(34)
9 Hugh Potter NATO 2507 1283(35) 1224(34)
10 Andy Sykes DVO 2497 1303(34) 1194(28)

I am clearly one of "such people"

[Gnitworp]

Don't let it go to your head! I always liked you as a modest unassuming sort of bloke

[martyn]

There's a week to go before the closing date for the Rankings consultation.

Please send your comments and suggestions to rankings@britishorienteering.org.uk

all contributions are recorded and acknowledged.

Martyn Broadest, Chair of the Rankings Working Group

[Big Jon]

Re travelling further in Scotland - maybe the case if you live in the central belt, but in Aberdeen Deeside there are fewer and fewer people travelling regularly to local events - why? Because the 2 clubs (Gramp and Maroc) coordinate a series of about 20 local events across the year and for beginners there is no need to travel any further to get a quality event (I didn't say quality area because not all our areas are top notch). The coordination is in fact spread wider because the other clubs in the north of Scotland (Moravian, Basoc and Invoc also collaborate on the holding of the old level 4 events - to ensure that, if someone wishes, they can attend all the "better" local events in the NE. Not many people travel to other parts of NE Scotland - certainly fewer than 15-20 years ago. I regard this as a step forward, it is far better to have many local events within say 40-50 miles that people can travel to rather than have to travel 80-100 miles regularly. Apart from any other considerations there is the environmental cost of travel that is an issue that could easily challenge orienteering....

[DaveK]

[quote="Big Jon"]Re travelling further in Scotland - maybe the case if you live in the central belt, but in Aberdeen Deeside there are fewer and fewer people travelling regularly to local events - why? Because the 2 clubs (Gramp and Maroc) coordinate a series of about 20 local events across the year and for beginners there is no need to travel any further to get a quality event (I didn't say quality area because not all our areas are top notch).

Very similar position here in the South-East where collaboration between Saxons O.C. and Dartford Orienteering Klubb has resulted in a regular Saturday Series of events and a weekly winter night league (the Kent Night Cup), in Kent and East Sussex - which, with our more traditional Regional and Local events has seen a rise in participation locally. I'm sure that it is the opportunity to be a regular 'Orienteer', that is making the difference.