OMM 2010

[madmike]

My regular partner for the KIMM/OMM has got himself double-booked with a family wedding. Does anyone want to partner a short, fat, middle-aged bloke with dodgy ankles on the short or medium score or, alternatively the C or D course?

More details of the event are here:

http://www.theomm.com/event/aboutTheEvent.html

Event is somewhere in SW, (smart money is on Dartmoor) and Event is on weekend of 30/31 Oct 2010. i am happy to go with a novice who fancies giving mountain marathons a try as I have all the kit needed and won't be moving fast. Alternatively if you are incredibly fit and want to carry all the kit...........

[Scott]

(smart money is on Dartmoor)

Given the evidence, I think you'd be pretty silly to put money on anywhere else .

[madmike]

good spot Scott

[Scott]

I just wish I had a better way to spend my evenings than idly browsing National Park Authority minutes .
Although I can't actually take credit for the original spot on this one.

[Scott]

On a slightly more serious note, it's good to see the Dartmoor NPA giving permission for this (and for the rescheduled Dartmoor MM in July) - definitely a softening of attitudes from a few years ago, and hopefully one from which orienteering will benefit.

[Steve]

I see the organisers have offered to make good any significant damage to the moor. Given last year's wholesale ploughing of the Elan Valley area, I think they will have their work cut out.

[seabird]

If it were SW England, Dartmoor would be the only guess - but it is SW Britain!

OMM/KIMMs in Wales have been termed as being in SW Britain before now.

There again, if I had bothered to read Scott's NPA minutes, I would have realised there is no point in creating a smokescreen.

[Scott]

Actually, I reckon you could have a pretty decent two-day MM on Exmoor, although maybe not on the scale of the OMM.

[graeme]

If it were SW England, Dartmoor would be the only guess - but it is SW Britain!

Macgillycuddy Reeks or Wickham Heights then...

[madmike]

Graeme,
I may be missing something but one of those is in Ireland and the other is on a British Overseas Territory - neither of them are in SW Britain

[madmike]

I now have a partner

[lucy]

On a slightly more serious note, it's good to see the Dartmoor NPA giving permission for this (and for the rescheduled Dartmoor MM in July) - definitely a softening of attitudes from a few years ago, and hopefully one from which orienteering will benefit.

I disagree, there doesn't seem to be a softening of attitudes, both these events are outside the Bird nesting season end of Feb - mid July, and therefore have been granted permission (or not) on that basis. DMM didn't get permission last year because 1 I believe they didn't ask for any! and two the event was planned for June. Orienteering has not benefited in anyway and is still treated differently to many other events on the moor as Brian Parkers reports indicates. We are still restricted in our activities unlike other pastime and events.

[seabird]

Possibly not a good idea to liken the OMM too closely to Orienteering. Much as I love the OMM, the sheer numbers and tendency to follow the routes of others leads to, at the least, considerable short-term visual damage to areas that are soft underfoot.

From a PR view it never looks good.

I have no idea how long it takes areas trampled through to recover.

Never really see anything on the same scale at orienteering events.

[Scott]

Yes, it will be interesting to see whether the NPA have anything to say about either MM after they've taken place. Here's hoping for a (relatively) dry OMM weekend... That said, the moor was in a right state after (eg.) Ten Tors 2005 - great swathes of muddy paths all over the place - but I haven't heard of any lasting damage. I can't imagine that OMM competitors (lightly-laden and in pairs) will be any more destructive to the ground than TT teams (heavily-laden and in groups of six, and with possibly an even worse tendency to form trains). But then TT has always been a bit of a special case.

Lucy - I do think there has been a some sort of shift in attitudes. I find it hard to believe that the NPA of five years ago would have approved a similar event on the scale of the OMM (they have permission for up to 2800 competitors) even outside of the GNB season - Ten Tors excepted, obviously . But I expect that you will know better than I do whether their attitudes to orienteering have changed.

[lucy]

I agree it will be interesting to see what the opinion will be after the one (maybe two) mountain Marathons, and how that will effect permissions for other activities in the coming years. I think the OMM has moved on since I did my first one in 94 and is much more in tune with the environment, with more controls more score classes etc etc. Lets hope it doesn't push opinion regarding orienteering the other way.