'BUCS' University Champs, 13-14th March

[Mrs H]

I had no idea half those people were still students - they seem to have been around for ever - in my day in was 3 years and you were out in the real world

[Strider]

Any results anywhere? Keen to see how our sole representative did...

[mark2]

Don't know when the results will go online. I expect partying will be a higher priority at the moment.

However top 3 in the A courses as follows

1. Scott Fraser 55.23
2. Graham Gristwood 58.18
3. Oleg Cheplin 60.37


1. Hollie Orr 54.46
2. Rebecca Harding 57.48
3. Anne Edwards 59.03

[mharky]

Relay

Men
1) Edinburgh (Tullie, Chepelin, Fraser)
2) Edinburgh (Coombs, Haines, McLeod)
3) Sheffield
4) Sheffield

Women
1) Edinburgh (Halliday, Harding, H. Orr)
2) Oxford
3) Sheffield
4) Edinburgh

So, just to clear things up for all those Sheffield fans in the west midlands...

Mens individual - Scott Fraser, Edinburgh
mens individual team - Edinburgh (1, 3, 4)
womens individual - Hollie Orr, Edinburgh
womens individual team - Edinburgh (1, 2, 4)
individual day - Edinburgh (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4)
mens relay - Edinburgh
womens relay - Edinburgh
relay day - Edinburgh
overall - Edinburgh

[SIman]

Girls 1Ed, 2Ox, 3Sh, 4Ed, 5Ed. Boys 1Ed, 2Ed, 3Ed, 4Sh. Overall 1Ed, 2Sh, 3Ox

[andy]

but, more importantly, who won the beer race?

[mharky]

EDINBURGH!!!

ha ha, the only thing they even have a chance in and they still get put in their place...

[Mrs H]

Your right Mharky it's so one sided you have to wonder how long it will be before no one bothers with BUSA/BUCS any more.

On a serious note can this be good for the future of inter university competition with Edinburgh's infrastructure looking set to become and even bigger magnet for talented youngsters. The Scottish educational system seems to require at least one extra year at university level - which is such an advantage that I'm surprised there are not more Scottish universities in the mix - and when you consider the superiority of terrain it is not surprising that so many of our young elite choose Edinburgh. Is it something that Josh Jenner should or even could be addressing.

Mharky - I find it a bit sad that you feel so compelled to put us West Midland Shuoc supporters in our place all the time - you need to understand that in our eyes our kids are still the best - and mercifully we don't just mean at orienteering.

[mharky]

Anyone who has sat a-levels or advanced highers is only required to read for 3 years to achieve a BA or BSc. Of all the top finishers, the oldest male is at Sheffield Hallam and the oldest female at Sheffield...

Have you ever seen the results from BUCS athletics, or indeed the BUCS overall competition?

Perhaps you are also forgetting that Sheffield is also a centre of excellence for orienteering. Would you rather Britain's top young athletes not to be centrally located, with the resources spread thinly about the country???

It was Hocolite who suggested that if everyone ran for their uni's then Sheffield's men would come out on top...

Mind you, with such awesome terrain in the Lothians it's no wonder Edinburgh win...

[gg]

Everybody knows its all about the eating competition anyway....

[RS]

You seem to forget that Sheffield were winners when they had lots of elite postgrads such as Drs Elder, Crane, Middleditch, Johnson etc with 1st degree back up like Hargreaves, Little, Sellens, Findlay-Robinson etc.
The FCC competition shows which uni might win if the competition was for those on 1st degrees only.
Anyhow, congrats to everyone who I'm sure had a brill weekend and would not be interested in the wind-up merchants on Nopesport.
Mrs H. Perhaps this centre of excellence is not producing the goods

[Mrs H]

Jeeze ! I was asking the question I wasn't trying to be clever, score points or wind anyone up - is it better or isn't it for one place to be so far ahead (at orienteering - which ever place that might be)?

Anyway gg - who did win the eating competition - you or Pingu?

[HOCOLITE]

[quote="mharky"]
It was Hocolite who suggested that if everyone ran for their uni's then Sheffield's men would come out on top...

[quote]
Misquote. Not on top I said that you might be wrong at the JK stating that the JK relay was a two horse race, between SYO and EUOC. I never said on top. I believe that GG is elegible for SHOUC at JK, whether he chooses to run for them is his decision, and if students want to run for their clubs at JK it shows respect for the development input and support they received pre Uni. However many wish to run with their fellow students and I don't think any clubs feel aggrieved by this decision as most may not have 3 M21's or equivalent runners to field a JK relay team.

I think the SHUOC team enjoy the competition and the fact that they are able to take students who did not do orienteering pre uni. In fact I believe there are at least two in their ranks who have shown tremendous improvement since they joined the club. Team spirit certainly was high before the event and will I'm sure still be high afterwards. To keep any O club going you need to grow membership and you need people willing to devote a lot of time to planning and organisation. These are generally not the 'elite' runners due to their committments to squads and training schedules.

[HOCOLITE]

On a separate note.

I was pleased to see competitors from a larger number of Unis as I believe the more Uni's with clubs means the more students who have the opportunity to try O and discover the pleasures. It was great that UBOC held it this year as they are a small club with some of the above mentioned students. I was pleased to see a number of entrants from Bath, and Imperial taking part again. It was sad however that Pingu was the only BUOC competitor. But I'm sure he made up for the fact in the eating competition. Did they have a dance off too

[ER]

Totally agree with the "mum's" posts. At the present Edinburgh is dominant, Sheffield a force to be reckoned with; the rest may have just managed to put together a relay team. Compare that to number of Uni teams represented at the BUCs Cross Country Champs - nearly every university was represented. Orienteering is a tiny sport in this country by comparison and according to those graphs in the last edition of Compass Sport seems to be on a downward spiral where young people are concerned. So to ALL those who were competing yesterday who travelled from far and wide and to those who made the competition possible congratulations for ensuring there is such an event as BUCS; there is no competition where there is only one winner.