Variety of Formats

[geomorph]

So, have we ended up with two camps?
Excluding TD for clarity, and accepting that distance is infact a transform of estimated winning time wrt to terrain involved
1. The base for determining colour is the elite distance in a long/classic race. A course is given a colour based on the pre-defined ratios wrt to this event's elite distance

Advantage: consistent use of colour to decribe a narrow range of distance
Disadvantage: makes it difficult to use colour in this way for the shorter formats - middle, sprint without adding quite a few more sub-classes of Green. We would need to expand colour definitions in the Light green-orange range to suit Urban (predominantly TD 4 or lower)

2. The colour is a relative indicator of distance wrt the elite distance for race type being undertaken.
Advantage: the hard work is done by the planner, you run the same colour for your skill/age regardless of format.
Disadvantage: not great for newcomers trying diffenent formats unless supported by well phrased explanations describing the winning time basis of race formats. Does not overcome the need for more colour sub-classes in the TD2/3/4 range for Urban races

So, Urban format causes issues to using colour consistently (either 1 or 2) without introducing lots of new colour classes eg long LG, short orange etc to cover the fact that TD is implicit in the colour coding system, and Urban is unlikely to be TD5, which is where we have reasonable current capabilities to discriminate courses by distance within a TD (orange/red/long orange being the exception in TD3).

Should Urban be consistent with the rest?

In marketing terms it is perfectly possible to have a brand that is standalone but still recognisably part of a family. The best example of this is the BMW Mini. It is quintessentially a Mini along the lines of the classic, but it is also clearly a BMW, with all the drving experience and quality that entails.

Can we do similar with Urban?

[seabird]

I'm a very firm advocate of using colours for Middle Distance Races and am pleased to see that SYO are using this system for the forthcoming Middle Distance Event at Beeley.

The Colour format seems to fit cross country terrain events.

However I think we already have a broad age-class format that is clearly understood by competitors for urban and sprint races.

Urban and most park or campus based sprint events are essentially TD3 events - however complex they may feel. This in itself would make the use of colours inappropriate. (I accept the slight flaw in this argument that many cross country events can only produce TD4 courses for Green - Black.)

Primarily we want systems that are understandable to punters, both old and new. If it works - use it and stick with it - even if it defies absolute logic.

[awk]

Trying to equate colours across urban and terrain based orienteering doesn't really work: urban orienteering generally has very different technical demands, and trying to use criteria developed for terrain to describe urban orienteering is a waste of time, and gives an inaccurate assessment. A good urban course is as technically difficult as a good terrain course, but in a different way. To describe urban courses as never being more than TD3 would do them an injustice that simply panders to misconception. Some of the most technically demanding races I've ever done have been urban.

[Tatty]

I agree with awk. The urban races at Surrey University come to mind particularly. I've never stood wtill in the middle of a race shouting "I've lost the plot" before