Racing/Navigation Chalenges

[Miner]

Does anyone know when these new incentive schemes will be up and running? I know several juniors who were enjoying working through their badges at JM1, JM2 etc. and now have no scheme to continue with. It is especially encouraging for the older novice juniors who might be competing on colour courses below those recommended for their age group.

[Spookster]

Does anyone know when these new incentive schemes will be up and running?

The new Navigation and Racing Challenge schemes have been agreed and will start in January 2010

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/d ... _09_09.pdf

I expect those responsible will be making further announcements and putting out more publicity soon.

[distracted]

You will be able to find out about the awards through logging in to the British Orienteering website, as they will be based on results uploaded to the new results system. I presume there is a bit of programming to be done first to get things up and running, so don't know exactly when things are going live -- keep a look out for an announcement in the coming weeks.

[Red Adder]

From my experience of 6 events so far this year it could be harder to get some of the badges as in nearly every case someone has "run-down" and beaten the rest of the field by up to 10 minutes and so potentially reduced the par time up to 15 minutes. For a junior moving up the colours once they get to TD3/4 this could start to be a disincentive - if you know you are running-down should not be declaring yourself non-competitive ?

[DJM]

From Development Committee minutes of Sep 2009, re Racing Challenge:

Agreed change of criteria from time after an ‘expected winning time’ to Course length in KM x 12.5 mins for Gold; x 15 mins for Silver and x 20 mins for Bronze.

So it doesn't matter who runs the course, the Gold, Silver and Bronze standards depend only on course length. The winning time, expected or otherwise, is no longer a factor.

[Red Adder]

Bargain - if its flat and not too rough under foot I can walk at quicker than 12.5 min/km

[ba-ba]

You'd have to take into account terrain/climb, so it'd be different for every race...
It could be left up to the discretion of the planner/controller etc. to decide after the race...

[EddieH]

So if you want te award, don't bother to go to places like Cambus O'May, Achingarrich etc.

[Adrian]

Good grief

[distracted]

Here we go again...

The racing and navigation challenges are designed as incentives for newcomers and improving orienteers.

They are NOT intended for experienced orienteers.

Comprende?

[andypat]

Here we go again...

The racing and navigation challenges are designed as incentives for newcomers and improving orienteers.

They are NOT intended for experienced orienteers.

Comprende?

damn - I reckon I might just about have scraped a bronze at the Scottish nights!

[Spookster]

There was discussion about this just a couple of months ago.

[NeilC]

I thought that these had died a quiet death (given that they were meant to start in Jan 2010) but note from the new website that they will be lauched (sic) in 2011. Has anyone seen more details anywhere?

[sketchweppers]

The racing and navigation challenges are designed as incentives for newcomers and improving orienteers.

They are NOT intended for experienced orienteers.

But surely experienced orienteers can still be 'improving'. Why can't we have incentives too?
I think it is ludicrous to use a fixed min/km for the challenges - even I can manage 12.5 min/km here in East Anglia, and there is no way I should be a 'Gold' standard.

[distracted]

Sketchweppers - I stand by what was written previously - the awards are primarily designed as an encouragement for those new into the sport/junior orienteers to continue to participate, gain recognition for completing courses at the various difficulties and encouraging them to race. Once 'gold level' has been reached at the highest navigational difficulty, that person is probably competing against more than just the course. And to clarify, the new 'Gold' is in no way comparable to the old 'gold badge standard' - I would expect the majority of the experienced orienteers should be able to obtain a 'gold' Racing Challenge should they so wish...

When you say "why can't we have incentives too?" then what are you actually after? An incentive to compete more often, or a measure so you can view your improvement as an orienteer? There are currently things that can act as both to the experienced orienteer:

- The ranking list is one, but it seems many don't care about that/don't see it as an incentive, or can't get to/won't go to ranking events.
- The colour award standards for the more difficult (blue, brown etc) courses - would you aim for/claim such an award? - evidence suggests very few do the latter.
- Competition in the form of local/regional leagues. Though that's for your club/region to rectify if they don't exist.

But if that's not enough, and people feel there is a need for another incentive for the experienced orienteer for whatever reasons, then development committee would be interested to hear your ideas.