MTB and orienteering event in Trossachs 25/9/10

[frog]

A non-orienteering member of my family asked me if I was doing the cycling and o event in the Trossachs, knowing I'd been there earlier in the year. I looked blank and they found me the link to it which is http://www.thechaserace.com/default.aspx

I'm surprised they seem to have made little attempt to sell it to orienteers, although these multi sport events always seem madly expensive to me and I suspect the orienteering will be a bit noddy.

Anyone planning to go? Have FVO been involved at all? Are they using their O map?

[mappingmum]

That clashes with the St Andrews urban-O.

[frog]

True, and must remember to watch out for that. I have a habit of planning to go to things months in advance and then missing the closing date. I'm probably too relient on the SOA website to remind me of stuff.
I was just surprised the club didn't receive any info on it as I'd have thought the organisers would target orienteers a bit.
The St Andrews weekend should be good. It is a pain of a place to get to though, even if you live in Fife.

[Darwin]

"a unique Orienteering challenge. Spanning around the shore and surrounding hillside are a series of checkpoints for you to locate. At key checkpoints you will carry out a themed Challenge at which you will gain time bonuses (or penalties if you miss)."

Er - I don't think so.

[smf]

True, and must remember to watch out for that. I have a habit of planning to go to things months in advance and then missing the closing date. I'm probably too relient on the SOA website to remind me of stuff.
I was just surprised the club didn't receive any info on it as I'd have thought the organisers would target orienteers a bit.
The St Andrews weekend should be good. It is a pain of a place to get to though, even if you live in Fife.

Entries are open at http://www.fabian4.co.uk/default.aspx?EventID=348 for the St Andrews Urban Event. Don't forget the SOL at Tentsmuir on the 26th Sept, entries also open at http://www.fabian4.co.uk/default.aspx?EventID=348.

[frog]

Sounds like hoop-la stalls and coconut shys hidden in the lay-bys.

[ryeland of doom]

Am I not the only one who gets annoyed by the misuse of the word "orienteering" by these people?

It takes a lot of explaining to folk, especially at school, that orienteering is an athletic sport, albeit open to the likes of myself. Not a treasure hunt or a geography lesson.

[mharky]

I don't think the mountain biking will be up to much either...

[frog]

Agree, hadn't looked at that in detail but it does seem to follow broad tracks for much of the route. It's a shame so little detail is given of the orienteering and challenges.
Some folk on here have been keen on an MTBO/O duathlon. This could have been a good area for that looking at the tracks in norther Achray forest. It'll be interesting to see how many entries they get and read any post race feedback they publish.
We're trying to work out how to get more adult members to increase our volunteer base. Not sure pretending orienteering is something it isn't is the way to go though.

[DanH]

I'm giving it a go so will report back!

[frog]

It'd be interesting to have an idea who the entrants are for this sort of event, how they found out about it and whether orienteering in the title is a plus or minus point.

We've just (well our mapping guy Dave has) developed new leaflets to go with our new permanent courses and I noticed the beautiful glossy leaflet didn't have the word "orienteering" anywhere in it. We ended up discussing whether lots of folk have a negative image of orienteering and whether enticing them into orienteering is one way of getting those who think they know what is is and don't like it but haven't really tried it.
This seems to be doing the opposite in using the word orienteering but not clarifying what sort of orienteering is involved, so they must think the word "orienteering" rather than "treasure hunt" or "map reading" has some advertising potential.

What made you decide to do it?

[frog]

What was it like then Dan?

[chepls]

I took part but only because I happened to be in the Trossachs that weekend.

100 odd people turned up.

The Chase consisted of;

a 40km cycle on dirt tracks out and back - the most enjoyable part of the race. Signage was however poor and I lost 3 minutes on just going the wrong way at junctions.

and a "orienteering" score event - which was planned worse than any orienteering event I've ever been to. We had 90 mins to find as many checkpoints as possible on an OS map with only 1 checkpoint (5 km run away on tarmac) being compulsory. Each checkpoint had a time bonus so if you thought you could deviate from the road and find the checkpoint before returning to the road in less time than the checkpoint was worth you would have been alright, however almost all the checkpoint were not worth the deviation. There were 5 odd checkpoints that had challenges but once again the challenges took longer than the alloted time bonus so once again not worth stopping for.

I had a bad ankle from the previous week so slowly jogged/walked out to compulsory point and back (10 km in 1h) punching only 4 checkpoint on the way.
These tactics did not seem bad as I ended up third but had I been fit a sprint out and back to the compulsory checkpoint will have earnt me a first.

quite amusing really as pennine events had £50,000 to spend on this race which they did on goody bags, media and hog roasts but somehow forgot to plan an event. Yes they had plenty of marshels but most of them just got in the way.

The good weather made the day worth while but wouldn't do it again unless they got some orienteers to plan the running section or just changed it to a simple run.

[frog]

Well done. Did you get a prize for coming third?
It's a shame that with all that money and a glossy website they couldn't get someone to post results and post race info on the website.

[andy]

Well done. Did you get a prize for coming third?
It's a shame that with all that money and a glossy website they couldn't get someone to post results and post race info on the website.

As I've read elsewhere the actual competition appears to have been an afterthought. This is why I love orienteering as our events tend to focus on perfecting the event first and foremost and the extras depend on other factors (location, attendance, status) - the way it should be.