Which format do you prefer?

[graeme]

if you can do an advert so can I 2...
looking forward to getting 1 in Perth next year.

You're getting two in Perth ; Scone (Fri) and the city centre (Sat). Going to be exciting, but ad space in my signature's at a premium at the moment

[SAL]

For a variety of events in the same weekend, come to Edinburgh on 6/7 March 2010: Scottish Sprint Championships and British Night Championships on the Saturday, followed by a colour-coded event (South of Scotland Orienteering League) nearby on the Sunday.

[Knee Deep Mud!]

I'd happily do any of the formats, though they would all be prioritised differently against my other weekend activities. This year the city races have won the prioritisation battle, partly because they've all been on a Saturday (less clashes), and partly because they've all been good fun, well organised events.

City race like Oxford or London - 1 hours drive

The advantages of city races is not having to drive. I've done three this autumn (London, Cambridge, Oxford) and got to all by public transport. A big plus.

Classic orienteering/regional event in good forest area - 1 hours drive.
Middle distance/regional event in good forest area - 1 hours drive.
Sprint event on uni campus with qualification and finals - 1 hours drive

Would happily do any of these if I felt it was going to be a reasonable event, and there were no clashes with my other weekend activities.

Local event with white, light green and blue courses in average terrain. 5 minutes drive

Wish there was even some average terrain this close to my front door. For a midweek summer evening I'd definitely go, as they don't clash with anything else, so I've got no excuse not to do them. For a weekend event, less likely.

Relay event in good forest area - 1 hours drive

Would only really consider doing the big relays, and would travel a lot further to do these, but only because it was part of a multiday championship event.

Score event in good forest area - 1 hours drive.
Night event with white, light green and blue courses in good terrain - 1 hours drive

These would be further down the priority list, but would certainly be considered if it was closer, or on a really nice area.

[Copepod]

Any event I don't have to drive to - ie train to city, taking bike if required, or just bike locally (up to 5 miles). Or further afield if I can share driving and / or combine with visiting a friend, perhaps for overnight, so we can drink alcohol, as I don't feel it's right to drive just 1 person.

[SeanC]

Well, the results of this completely unscientific survey seem to be ..... most people want something different to regional events, but because the regional is by far the most popular format, this is what we get on the Sundays in the peak orienteering season. So variety is pushed to midweek, Saturday, christmas hols and summer. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Looking at the stats, maybe city race and campus sprint organisers could feel confident in putting these events on a Sunday if in late spring/summer/early autumn?

[seabird]

70% in this very self-selective poll do.

[Mrs H]

Seabird - replying to spambots is the new first sign of madness

[seabird]

Seabird - replying to spambots is the new first sign of madness

OMG!!!!!

[madmike]

Mrs H,
I thought already being mad was a prerequisite for joining NOPESPORT

baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

[SeanC]

I suspect Seabird might have fooled not by a spambot but by a real person as I think the response showed some analysis of the discussion.

In a previous company (travel agency) the "ecommerce marketing manager" told me that one of his tactics was to register for a forum, pretend to be genuinly interested in the forum, then think of some excuse to mention his product (eg "by the way I'm off to Paris this weekend, got a great deal with ....."

Idea: How many genuine new members does Nopesport get a week? If the number is low it might be easier to have an open ended question that no spambot, and no marketing imposters could answer (not without having to do some research anyway). Then the moderators read the answer and if the answer looks sensible then let them in. They might make entertaining reading and might be less work than battling against the spambots?

Eg

Easy/not that secure
- Tell me about how you started orienteering?
- Why do you orienteer?

Moderately hard/secure
- Why do orienteers wear O suits?
- Explain why some orienteering clubs are called Klubb?
- What is a galoppen?
- What is a score course?

Very Hard/very secure
- What is the difference between TD4 and TD5?
- What is the difference between a Light Green, Green and Short Green course?

[AndyC]

Easy/not that secure
- Tell me about how you started orienteering? seemed like a good idea at the time
- Why do you orienteer?I keep asking myself that

Moderately hard/secure
- Why do orienteers wear O suits? because they'd be naked otherwise
- Explain why some orienteering clubs are called Klubb?because orienteers are illiterate -that's why pictorial descriptions arrived
- What is a galoppen? I've never known that
- What is a score course?one where you "tear along the dotted line"?

Very Hard/very secure
- What is the difference between TD4 and TD5?
- What is the difference between a Light Green, Green and Short Green course? I've met planners who couldn't answer those two!

That sort of thing?

[Marco Polo]

Easy/not that secure
- Tell me about how you started orienteering? seemed like a good idea at the time
- Why do you orienteer?I keep asking myself that

Moderately hard/secure
- Why do orienteers wear O suits? because they'd be naked otherwise
- Explain why some orienteering clubs are called Klubb?because orienteers are illiterate -that's why pictorial descriptions arrived
- What is a galoppen? I've never known that
- What is a score course?one where you "tear along the dotted line"?

Very Hard/very secure
- What is the difference between TD4 and TD5?

How would I know, I live in the Midlands..

- What is the difference between a Light Green, Green and Short Green course? I've met planners who couldn't answer those two!

That sort of thing?