NoSOL?....

[graeme]

Certainly used to be a Northern O-league. They didn't need to specify "of Scotland" whereas there are folk who don't believe Perth is in the south.

[andypat]

You could look at it the other way and ask why there are not more stand alone events which happen every year? I really like the Glasgow parks champs in December. Its a well run well organised standalone event. Every club should have one or two of these IMO. Small events that stand on their own. I think the SOSOL was a good idea borne out of necessity as much as anything, but its so spread out that I find it really hard to justify sufficient trips (on top of the SOLs) to make it count.

Anyhow I'm really looking forward to the double header SOLs this weekend!

[Sunlit Forres]

Nice idea. I have a feeling it used to be called 'Northern Galoppen' and it would certainly generate some interest. Then we could all have a big debate on whether they should be called level 3 events. There again, if they were just called "Northern O League" I suspect folk would come irrespective of what number someone attached to them. Your post suggests you're probably somewhere down south but if I'm wrong, are you offering to be the co-ordinator?

[Big Jon]

There is a JD2 (Jon Duncan Junior Deeside) competition in, you've guessedit, deeside - mainly Gramp and Maroc juniors taking part, very successful. Both Gramp and Maroc have a club league - best X results out of Y chosen races. There is also the Deeside Night Cup (Britain's premier night orienteering league) which is open to anyone, though mostly Gramp and Maroc members - ohh and Eddie Harwood. I think this level of combining of races for extra competition is fine, very few orienteers now regulalry travel widely across the north of Scotland - there are enough events in interesting enough areas locally to remove this need except for special events (Culbin long-O or Darnaway for example). I guess the SoSol is needed because no clubs in central/southern Scotland have A. enough areas of decent quality and B. put on enough events to fulfill the need of competitors.

[andy]

and B. put on enough events to fulfill the need of competitors.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/so ... the-devil/

people in the deep south want less events, not more....obviously! (well, maybe just interlopers)

sigh

[greywolf]

Big Jon's right - there's lots of events up here already. Moravian will have held c. 20 events (all Level 3!!) by the end of the year, including the Scottish sprint champs, the Culbin Classic, Forres Urban race, 2 full colour-codeds, several schools races and a dozen or so local events in a league with a two race formula - a "long sprint" of c. 3.5k, and a yellow course. These latter have been popular locally, but haven't attracted folk to travel very far - maybe that's a branding issue 'cos although notionally TD3/4 the "sprint" courses have often been more challenging than what sometimes gets passed off as "green"
Think INVOC will have held a dozen events too...

[Big Jon]

What good is there having more people travelling longer distances more often. The way forward for orienteering, particularly if it wants to flaunt its green credentials, is to have more local events more frequently, thus allowing more (most?) orienteers to get their fix without having to commit to many hours of driving the length and breadth of the country. Those who are very keen and wish to travel more can do so and the SOls are a superb next step up from local events. My ideal dream of Scottish orienteering is of 8-10 local events most weekends all attracting 150-200 people, well OK 200-250!

[greywolf]

anyway, it was only a question....

and it was a reasonable question...but in addition to the partial answers above, perhaps you're overestimating how "local" things are... (and how crap the A96 is). Forvie or Banchory are 2 & a half hours plus from Inverness - about the same time as Stirling or the Forth Bridge

[campervan]

We've travelled around the North to INVOC, Moravian, BASOC and Gramp events this year. I'm not sure if a league would have been an added incentive. It might be over the winter though.
Greywolfs comments about travelling times are very significant.
Jons comments about local events are valid. Its really interesting to see how successful the Moravian junior/ sprint events are, with minimal planning and good turnouts they look an efficient and attractive formula for local participation, (but really sometimes I cant justify the travelling for a short run.) There are certainly some really strong/ active clubs in the North just now, and I suspect some other clubs closer to the nadir of that cyclical process of activity within clubs with a rather limited amount of people to rely on and hoping for a fresh influx of enthusiastic people sooner rather than later. Perhaps a north League based on the current events would strengthen the connections between clubs, stabilising out this cycle of activity.

[Sunlit Forres]

Funnily enough Campervan, regular local events like the Moravian sprint O/junior races can act as a disincentive to travel, at least in the first couple of years for people joining the club. For a club like ours with quite a wide geographic spread,these monthly events were devised to create a club identity, where people taking up the sport can compete reasonably often, in familiar environments against familiar faces without emptying the fuel tank or taking up the whole day. They go away knowing when the next one is, and invariably come back. We hope that in another year or so, some of these people will be ready to seek greater challenges further afield (as we're just starting to see now). Clubs need to be doing more than saying "the next event is in 2 weeks time and it's 100 miles away - see you there".

I don't think saying "it's not worth travelling for a short run" is valid. There are supermen who travel the length of country to run 10K road races in 30 minutes! I think the opposite - it's not worth travelling a long way to an event where you don't know anyone, the area is unfamiliar, you might end up taking ages out on the course and you might not enjoy yourself. Events are so much more than just the run - they're a chance to meet, socialise, learn from other people and hence improve your orienteering.

If a north league were to be created, I'd prefer to see it as a league where people take part as a club member, not as an individual. Something like the Jamie Stevenson Trophy where runners on each course earn points for their club. The Scottish 11-person relay is a great example of the cameraderie and atmosphere that can be created when we do things as a team. Perhaps have compulsory pairs classes (for adults as well as kids) - this might prompt a decent orienteer to drag along one of his road-running mates to make up the a pair, or some of the youngsters to take along their mates from school (where they can show off how good they are at map reading in front of them!).

And by the way, our next sprint/junior event is at Culbin on Sat 24th Oct.