Southern Champs weekend - Forest of Dean

[DJM]

Apologies for the delay but the following are now published:-

Results with ranking points on the BOF website: http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/event/eventresults.php?eday=53788&course=1&

Officials' comments: http://www.ngocweb.com/schamps2010/comments.pdf

Splitsbrowser analysis: http://www.splitsbrowser.org.uk/splitsgraph.php?eventId=3814

[EricH]

The Northern Championship Weekend had a Level 2 Middle Race. The Southern Championship Weekend Middle Race was Level 3. I know it is up to clubs to register events as they think fit and I didnt go to the Northern Champs but I doubt, as far as the competitor was concerned, that there was any difference

[Spookster]

The Northern Championship Weekend had a Level 2 Middle Race. The Southern Championship Weekend Middle Race was Level 3. I know it is up to clubs to register events as they think fit and I didnt go to the Northern Champs but I doubt, as far as the competitor was concerned, that there was any difference

The NGOC Middle had 400 people running 8 different courses. It was on a good area, and I'm sure had experienced officials and good organisation. It should certainly have been Level 2.

I guess the only difference competitors will have seen is a lack of ranking points at Mallards Pike.

[Mrs H]

Except that it wasn't a NGOC Middle distance race - it was staged by and on behalf of the Welsh Junior Squad - which is an interesting dimension isn't it? being out of region I mean!

[Spookster]

Except that it wasn't a NGOC Middle distance race - it was staged by and on behalf of the Welsh Junior Squad - which is an interesting dimension isn't it? being out of region I mean!

In which case congratulations to the Welsh juniors, and I hope they made a decent surplus to re-invest into whatever they plan to do. At least it being "only" a Level 3 didn't reduce the number of people who took part - they got slightly more than our Level 2 Middle.

[PhilJ]

Hi,
The middle race was the big fund raiser for the WJS as we no longer get any funding from WOA or Sports Council for Wales, so for example the cost to get the team to the JHI's in Scotland this year will be substantial, we are hosting this years JIRCS at Sennybridge plus we are having a post JK tour in and around Penhale.

Taking up Mrs H point I believe it will be the largest Welsh participation event not held in Wales, not by a Welsh club this year, (or for many years come to think of it) if that makes sense. For the planner, Hannah, my daughter it was the first ever event she has planned (and she made great use of the planner's course notes that David May put on recently). All the juniors helped in every aspect of the day, supervised by the mum's and dad's.

Thanks for coming.

[Tatty]

It was a great event. Really enjoyed the courses. Good job as Lydney was a disaster for me

[Homer]

It was a great event. Really enjoyed the courses.

Agreed. Shame about those ranking points though...

[mark2]

Congratulations to Homer on his excellent run and apologies if he missed out on some ranking points.

I confess that we never really conceived of it as anything other than a Level 3 event. This is what I wrote to NGOC when I first suggested holding the event

"I was wondering whether it would be OK for the Welsh Junior Squad to put on an event - perhaps a middle race - somewhere in the Forest then. For us it would serve two purposes - an opportunity for some of our Juniors to put something back in to the sport, a bit of practice in planning, organising etc. and a chance for a bit of fund raising. I would have thought, some orienteers from further afield might also welcome the opportunity to make a weekend of it and take part in a not too taxing warm up before the Southern Champs. I note it coincides with half term week for much of the UK."

As it turned out we had a much bigger entry than we originally expected. What this does confirm I think, is that type of slot - the day before a classic length championship - is an ideal one for a level 2 middle race or sprint race - just as SYO did at the Northerns and POW and Interlopers are doing this coming weekend. It just didn't fit our particular circumstances.

Many thanks to you all for turning up and your kind comments - it certainly has helped with our fund raising. Also a big thank you to NGOC for loaning us one of their areas and promoting the event as part of a combined "weekend".