JK2010

[mharky]

Back onto JK entry fees... £24 a day does seem a little excessive for a person who could be new to the sport next year.

[Rockaldo]

It cost us £95 to enter the OMM this year. How much does it cost to enter Jukola (not that i've ever paid)? How much does it cost to run a rat race? For the best events you have to pay the most money.

[Scott]

How much does it cost to enter Jukola (not that i've ever paid)?

If you get in before the first entry deadline it's about £21 per person, excluding accommodation.

[awk]

For the best events you have to pay the most money.

Not always. We've had some superb racing this year for under a tenner each.

Given the distances etc., we'll need to think hard about going to the JK this year; it's certainly close to the tipping point.

[lucy]

For me the JK should be about getting the Orienteering community together to celebrate, It is the festival of Orienteering after all. The fees do seem a little high, and I guess that will put a lot of people off especially those who have to travel a fair distance, which is most of you. On the other hand from the rumblings I have heard from down here, everyone is excited about what could prove to be a classic JK can you afford to miss it?

[jab]

oops. I wasn't moaning about the cost of shoes. I could, if I wanted, refuse to pay for them and offspring would have to squeeze into cheaper ill-fitting shoes and risk long term problems. I don't do that because money spent on appropriate footwear is not money I begrudge spending. Likewise, if it is going to cost the South West that much money to put on an excellent JK then that's what it costs. They shouldn't have to make a loss on the event any more than shoe manufacturers should be expected to sell me shoes below cost.

[mharky]

People always say this sports is expensive. That's only because you make it expensive. People travel for hundreds of miles to run in races. Why not travel tens of miles and run on training maps that cost a couple of quid...

What is this obsession with racing? Why do people always have to go to races, why do clubs always have to hold races. Lots of other spots do training for a large part of the year, with small amounts of competition...

[frog]

Agree with mharky re the training. I don't think our club do enough training events and think that for local events we probably should have training exercises at each event, maybe concentrating on something different each time. That might be more useful to develop new orienteers and improve the existing ones.
Most runners after all spend most of their time training and just do a few races.
The competitions are fun though.

[roadrunner]

Agree with mharky re the training. I don't think our club do enough training events and think that for local events we probably should have training exercises at each event, maybe concentrating on something different each time. That might be more useful to develop new orienteers and improve the existing ones.
Most runners after all spend most of their time training and just do a few races.
The competitions are fun though.

I always felt the same way, but this is what my club used to do on evenings in the summer a few years back and the turnout was very poor. It seems as if established orienteers, in the main, aren't very interested in training - or maybe it's just those around here.

[Mrs H]

Okay - I'm bored with shoes and think the last two pages should be relegated to Reviews - it only has Nails' and Mharky's invective make it worth reading and even Mharky behaving himself too well for my liking - so can we talk a bit about the JK - accommodation could be tricky given the spread of events - anyone any ideas about camp sites etc?

[andypat]

I assume the answer to this is "Its too cold for camping at Easter" but anyone know why the JK doesnt have an event centre?

[frog]

I agree some sort of an event centre would be nice.
I went this year for the first time and found it all a bit fragmented.
I enjoyed the runs but it felt a bit like just turning up to a couple of SOLs but with much fewer familiar faces.
The Newcastle sprint o was great.
The white rose the previous year (it was too late in the year for us to go this year but still in school hols last year) had more of a big event feel to it, even if we camped in a bog. Lots of bathing in streams and children climbing trees.

Agree Easter too cold for camping though as we tried it last year but stayed in gypsy caravans with wood stoves and hot water bottles. If we were in a tent we'd have frozen.

Maybe having the event centre at a holiday park with rental caravans/ wooden chalets and encouraging folk to go there would work. Maybe it just makes the event too much hassle and creates another layer of jobs for volunteers and would put the price up more.

[Mrs H]

Not necessarily - the event centre and camp site I ran at JK05 had loads going on and it was really early in the year too - but I think people enjoyed it (well I did anyway) and I don't think it was a major expense - we put it on because we were concerned that people might feel that a Midlands based JK was less attractive and so needed some EVO - and I think it did the job. the following year at Yorkshire was also very good and great efforts were made two years ago - that was a fab event centre and camp site - but it was very cold (and early) that year As for volunteer effort there was Mr and Mr H and the little hs full time and three other key couples plus loads of other volunteers who also had to do their bit at the events during the day because I actually think they enjoyed being part of the event centre buzz - so the events themselves only really lost us 2 from the manpower.

[graeme]

So this is where I was brought up, but assuming you can't stay with your parents...

It's seldom cold in West Devon. But it does rain, a lot. You probably want to stay on the coast, e.g. Westward Ho! - it was a wonderfully run down resort in the 60s & 70s, and it has hardly changed. It does have the most fantastic beach, as do many places along there. Bideford is a lovely spot, but somehow fails to capitalize on it. There are a zillion cheap B&Bs around.

Travel: whenever I've tried it took forever to get through Barnstaple.

Really looking forward to it. I've never orienteered on any of the areas before - its been a long time since that happened at the JK!

[frog]

It's a shame I hadn't checked earlier where the JK is this year as my brother lives just near Exeter. As it is he's coming to stay with us the second week of the school hols and son is off skiing the first week, so me travelling down to see brother easter weekend would be daft, plus son would be unimpressed at me going to JK without him.
Must be more organised.
It sounds good, and we visited Westward Ho last time with brother, I seem to recall a good pub with a pig theme somewhere nearby- gets out Good beer guide - the Pig on the Hill. They have holiday cottages, I'd stay there.