Urban race classes

[gg]

What do people think is optimal balance of classes?

Is this acceptable for most people?

1 Mens open
2 Womens open, M40+
3 W40+, M55+
4 M/W 14 (not crossing roads - or should it be M/W16?)

Do W55+ feel hard done by that they have to compete with W40s?

[EddieH]

It all depends upon what the competition is. Basically outside of major Championships, a club can provide exactly what it wants - if it is not what some punters want then they won't go.

I had quite a conversation with my other half last weekend. I was surprised at the strength of her opinion that the new colour coded regional events made the whole thing pointless to her as she sees that as a W60 she's bound to come bottom of a large colour coded list and "who wants to enter a competition if you are inevitably going to be at the bottom". The fact that age classes are acknowledged within a course was irrelevant to her if the results are only published in course order.

I wonder how many people feel like her.

[Spookster]

You certainly need W55+ (as the Nopesport League has already). You perhaps also need classes for 65+ (or else go for 40/50/60+) because of the increasingly large numbers of people in the 50-70 age groups in the sport.

York is using a different class/course combination from what you've suggested. They have the 40s on the same course as the open (21) classes, which I think is fine. However, with M55+ on course 2, that means there's nothing shorter than 5km for the men's classes, which is too long for most M70/75s.

[Homer]

Have a look at Guideline E:

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

5 courses are recommended in the table, but for smaller events your 3 may suffice.

[EddieH]

It's not actually difficult to plan more courses and with people doing different legs it can become more interesting with less following. The counter to that is that very small classes lack the satisfaction that can be gained in a large class.

[jab]

Most M/W 16s will want to run with the 18s unless your permission explicitly excludes this.

[Mrs H]

Speaking as a very keen W55 urban racer I think it's fine to run the same course as the W40s as long as it remains a separate class. In fact I prefer it 'cos then I can see if I'm whooping Wendles' and Mrs Awk's asses Just tack the W55+ onto course 3 and then we can see how many of the old men we can beat too

[graeme]

What do people think is optimal balance of classes?

A/ Decide the desired length of your start block, in minutes.
B/ Decide how many competitors you expect.

Optimal number of courses is B/A, rounded up.

You may need to take juniors out of the equation for a non-road-crossing course. I've seen no evidence that orange-standard juniors (i.e. 10 and over) have any problem with the most technical street courses.

Ignore guideline E lengths. Plan the best courses you can.

[Tatty]

W55+ running with W40 is a possibility, but separate results needed and not too far. Some of us are not that fit and find going too far a bit challenging. would prefer a separate class honestly.
At the recent BAOC event we ran with the M14-

[HOCOLITE]

I'm awaiting reaching W55 so I can take part in more of these events as I find most of the current urban lengths too long for me particularly when they are on firm terrain.

I really struggled to reach the end of Stafford I would have preferred not to have the extra loop after the spectator control which seemed pretty pointless, no real route choice just extra running.

[IanD]

I don't think there are any hard-and-fast rules. Most urban races follow the Nopesport Urban League convention for which the adults classes are Open, 40/45/50, and 55+.

Personally, as a last year M50, I find I am not competitive in M40/45/50 and do not go out of my way to take in these races - I'll do them if convenient but not otherwise. Next year, as a first year M55, I intend to make a real effort to do a lot more. So for people who think like me, more classes is likely to lead to more people coming.

I am aware that some take a different view, prefer to run in larger classes, and may not come to an event with lots of classes.

You can't please all of the people all of the time!

[IanD]

PS having re-read this thread, I think you meant to ask about "courses" not "classes".

So my answer probably isn't very relevant (some would say this is normal )

[madmike]

For me - it depends on the distance. Don't forget urban does not necessarily equal sprint. I certainly don't think it's just about start blocks Graeme. At Edinburgh (which was great btw) the distance on course 1 was a bit much for the older and/or less athletic M40-54s. Whereas at other shorter urban races mixing us older blokes with the FRYBs is fine.

As broad guidelines I think GG has it about right!

[gg]

courses / classes - whichever

I meant to have W55 combined with W40

[Tatty]

Don't make it too long then .