Urban Races in Britain 2010

[epocian]

Have AIRE finalised their dates for the Bradford/Otley weekend yet?
It's shown in both Sep and Oct

[seabird]

On BOF Fixtures at 9/10 October and there it will stay.

Moved from September to fill a yawning gap in YHOA Fixtures List.

[Roger]

My workload seems to have just increased by 50%... but so have my urban racing opportunities.

Out of the 13 Nopesport races, how many scores to count...?

By my previous formula (50%, rounded down if necessary), six to score. That still means a southerner has to get at least as far north as Lincoln to complete a set. (Yes, and Greywolf would have to get at least as far south as York.)

Sheffield would appear to be the centre of the universe.

[epocian]

Roger said

Sheffield would appear to be the centre of the universe.

I thought everyone knew that

[LostOldTimer]

6, or 7 races should count I hope - more incentive to travel and compete in more urban events; plus rewards those that do make the effort.

As there are plenty in the North - Yorkshire , can we have a Yorkshire&Humberside League? IS YHOA still active?

[seabird]

Have written to YHOA proposing just that.

There are 8 YHOA urban events in 2008.

Sheffield certainly isn't the centre of the Yorkshire Universe - a southern extremity.

[seabird]

And if you count historic Yorkshire (pre-1972) you could add Saltburn to a Yorkshire Urban League.

[SYO Member]

LOT, yes YHOA is still active and consists of a committee of club reps or individuals co-opted in for specific tasks, and all these volunteers deal with things such as Regional courses, Junior Squad, periodic big events such as JK/BOC, SI kit management and fixtures (which includes Seabird) to share out dates and ensure there are aren't multiple events of clubs in the region on the same day.

Why don't you volunteer to take on the co-ordination of a Yorkshire Urban League? Just get in touch with your club's regional rep.

[Paul T]

Saltburn still considers itself to be in Yorkshire and we'd be keen for that event to be in a series.

Either way, its a really varied area which will make for great courses - formal gardens and parkland in a steep valley, seafront with pier and bandstand and the like, a few dunes, a wooded valley, a 40m climb up to a variety of unsymmetrical residential areas
No underpasses though.

[awk]

Mega disapointment in these parts.
AIRE have a weekend of urban racing on 9/10 October at Thornton, Haworth and Otley.
And I believe EPOC have an event lined up in Holmfirth and CLARO in Ripon.
How do you get the Nope gods to smile on you?

Difficult decisions to make, with so many potentially good races to choose from. I'd have thought the programme was already overbiased towards YH already, and eastern parts too. It does seem that the west side of the country is desperately short of representation - just Carlisle really. So, disappointing for Aire/EPOC perhaps, but for YH runners there's plenty to go for relatively locally. And, Nopesport League or not, the Aire weekend looks very promising - I'm enjoying drawing the Otley map; its looking really interesting (depending on permissions!).

Actually, I'm really surprised that two events on two separate weekends have gone to one club, especially as surrounded in fairly close proximity by 3 other races.

Any reason why, of those on Mike's list, Birmingham didn't get one of the slots? That seems the blindingly obvious one missing out, so assume there's a reason. Equally, any reason why so few events listed in the southern half of England?

[The Loofa]

I hear there's a Guildford Urban Race planned for July 10 (or possibly 11)

[King Penguin]

Any reason why, of those on Mike's list, Birmingham didn't get one of the slots? That seems the blindingly obvious one missing out, so assume there's a reason. Equally, any reason why so few events listed in the southern half of England?

We did request Birmingham Uni be included in the 2010 league, but this was declined. Apparantly the intention for 2010 is to concentrate on longer-distance town/city centre events with maximum public exposure. A campus setting was considered not to offer sufficient exposure to the public. It seems we're one year too late.
The non-inclusion of the event in the Nopesport League won't affect course quality though, so please do come. It is easily accessible by public transport. Trains to University station run approx every 12 mins from Birmingham New Street. Busses 61, 62 & 63 run regularly down the Bristol Road and there are other services past the other side of campus, but I can't remember the numbers without checking.
More details soon.
For anyone who wants to make a weekend of it WCH have an event on Cannock Chase (not the area embargoed for the British) on the Sunday.

[DavidJ]

A campus setting was considered not to offer sufficient exposure to the public. It seems we're one year too late.

The obvious solution to this is to initiate a Campus-O Series with the focus on university clubs - preferably run by the univeristy clubs but with an open club running it if no uni club exists. The events could be open to non-uni members (to help with the economics) but a uni-league could be the major objective. That way there will be maximum 'exposure' to students who many people think is an area that is getting less attention than it needs. If you have the events on a Saturday afternoon and Link them to major regional events locally on the Sunday you should get a good turnout of both students and non-students and I am sure the students could arrange a good social for the Satudary night and floor space if required for the visiting students.

[Mrs H]

I think that is a really good idea David - isn't there a university development officer now - or do you think the whiff of officialdom would be the kiss of death to it? I don't know what the set up is but perhaps its something that could be done under the BUSA/BUCS auspiceses.

[Tatty]

I think it's Josh Jenner