Area Champs 2010

[frog]

No, I think to be Scottish champion you have to be in some way Scottish, otherwise it's just an orienteering event that happens to be held in Scotland.
On the other hand I don't see any reason to exclude nonScots who fancy competing because they are in the area/ like the sound of the terrain etc. As long as they know they can't win a pot I don't see the problem. Their name will still feature on the results list.
If I was in Wales whilst the welsh champs was on I'd like to think I could compete and for many orienteers the pot winning is irrelevent as we're doing well if we're in the top half of the results.

[mharky]

I've never heard English people complaining about not being able to win a trophy at the Scottish championships. They aint Scottish.

The elite has 3 trophies, 1st on the course, 1st SOA Member, 1st Scot

Why should we make Scottish trophies open to English people, or why should we close the event to English people. The event is fine as it is, just like all orienteering in Scotland.

I don't know what level of event a SOL is on the BOF scheme, all I know is that it is a SOL, and will be on a good area, with good competition and good banter.

[Scott]

but this is going to change in 2011, when the British Championships becomes open to members of other IOF countries to take part in as well. However you can only become the British Champion if you are British. i.e. an open event with a closed championship.

I think (although I could be wrong) that that change is being brought in so the British Champs can be put forward as a World-Ranking Event - "closed" events generally aren't eligible for WRE status.

[madmike]

Here was my 2009 solution for Southern Area Champs (SC1,2,3 are podium places):

M21E (43) 15.0 km 35 C

1 Graham Gristwood ENG 73:53
2 Fabien Pasquasy FRSO 75:12
3 Matt Crane ENG 77:44
4 Duncan Archer CLOK 78:03
5 Nick Barrable ENG 78:43
6 Frank Buytaert VVO 82:25
7 Erik Martinsson LinköpingsOK 82:49
8 Nicolas Sillien FRSO 83:02
9 Tuomas Tala TVOC 83:09 SC1
10 Matt Speake EBOR 84:21
11 Peter Aronsson LinköpingsOK 85:37
12 Fredrik Pettersson LinköpingsOK 85:42
13 Ian Nixon AIRE 86:06
14 Dave Schorah SHUOC 88:28
15 Ben Stevens CUOC 89:15
16 Mark Bown BOK 89:18 SC2
17 Genar Jeremy VVO 90:24
18 Anthony Squire INT 91:23
19 Wouter Foppen NOLB 92:43
20 Joost Talloen VVO 93:21
21 Tim Britton BOK 95:32 SC3
22 Ken Peeters VVO 97:37

on M18E 17th finisher was area champion - can't see a problem personally. open race which contains a closed championship - inclusive and closed in one go

[SeanC]

It doesn't seem a problem to me either, and presumably give some who dont normally win an opportunity to do so, and something to motivate them. Also it's good publicity material for clubs.

I guess where it doesnt work so well is where there are so few runners you just have to turn up to guarentee a prize, so people might not value the prize or take it seriously*

*SeanC, M15 GLC champion 1985

[greywolf]

*SeanC, M15 GLC champion 1985

Goldie Lookin' Chain?
"Guns don't kill people, mappers do...."

[SeanC]

Keep guessing.

[frog]

The Ken Livingston special champs? Must have been just before the GLC was abolished.

[Neil M40]

ok, I don't have a problem with closed champs within open races, but I do think that the open races held in conjunction with the closed champs should carry some prestige in their own right. How do you describe the person that won the Scottish Champs open race? Scottish Open Champion? The person who won the Scottish Champs but wasn't Scottish? according to Mharky there is a trophy for it (not that I ever saw it when I won half of it) - what does it say?

[frog]

I don't think you could have a prize for everyone who wins a category at the Scottish champs who isn't Scottish otherwise the prizegiving would go on forever and more trophies would disappear to people who don't live anywhere handy to return them.
Having trophies for the elite seems sensible. I presume that was a trophy not returned, or the other person (if there were 2 of you) hung on to it.

[mharky]

Madmike >>>

Is GG not southern then? Nick Barrable and Ian Nixon are considerably more southern English than Tuomas "has changed over in 1st place at Jukola" Tala. Possibly Duncan Archer too.

[greywolf]

it's about club, not place of residence, isn't it?
Nick B runs for SYO, Duncan for CLOK etc
If you're English and you want to be eligible to be Scottish Champion you just have to join a Scottish club...

[AndyC]

This isn't going to happen because I'm nowhere near good enough but what if I won a Midlands Championship?
I'm a NATO member (so not a member of WMOA or EMOA) but I was born in Birmingham and currently live there during the week(the majority of my time) so I would qualify from "place of origin" and "place of residence" criteria and I could take a club only membership of OD or LEIOC (well I've done more events last year with each of those clubs that I have ones arranged by NATO -and HOC isn't far behind) if I wished.
What combinations would make me eligible?

Later edit -my parents are/were both Midlanders as well but it looks like I should have persuaded them to each declare Welsh or Scottish ancestry to give me the best options!

[greywolf]

Graeme posted the link to the Scottish eligibility rules earlier in this thread, and they allow birth and parentage (but not residence) qualifications as well as SOA membership
the Welsh eligibility rules http://www.woa.org.uk/welsh_champs.htm allow birth, parentage & residence qualifications as well as WOA membership
but the English Area Champs qualifications are based on club/region affiliation:
• Southern = SWOA, SCOA, SEOA
• Midland = WMOA, EMOA, EAOA
• Northern = NEOA, YHOA, NWOA

[SeanC]

The GLC champs was the Greater London Championships. If my memory is right you had to either live or have been born in Greater London to qualify. As the GLC champs were held as part of a small event such as a district event at Hampstead Heath, few people qualified for prizes. There were lots of prizes. A sheild for the winners, and medals for 2nd and 3rd in each age class I think. It seemed a bit silly to have so many prizes for such a small number of competitors, but maybe this was because there were few/no prizes at regional events where the competition was quite reasonable in the junior classes (maybe 10 - 15 in M15...)

Looking back, perhaps the problem was really too few prizes at the big events and the difficulty in having prizegivings where everyone finishes at different times. That at least is the same now.*

I'm guessing the GLC stumped up the cash for the GLC champs prizes. That kind of waste/generosity/big government/sports development (delete according to your politics) didn't go down well with Mrs. T and the GLC was abolished soon after....

*unless you go to Kent Night Cup events where you can get quite a decent prize for being the best placed orienteer still in the pub.