Southern Night Championships

[Barny of Blandford]

It is the Southern Night Championships this Saturday 27th November at Washers Pit near Shaftesbury in Dorset (quick access from A303).
At present we have only 39 entries which is rather dismal
In view of this we have extended entries on Fabian until Wednesday midnight 24th November.
In addition we will take entries on the day for all courses - both championship and the eod courses of red and yellow.
For the non-championship courses (red and yellow) entry on the day will be senior £5 and junior/student £2 - so if you have never night orienteered or done very little why not come along and have a go
Final details on both Fabian and WIM website
Hopefully we will see you there

[mappingmum]

...... if you have never night orienteered or done very little why not come along and have a go

I recently took the plunge and tried night-o for the first time and I fully endorse this approach! Night-o is not as scary as you might think! I finished my course thinking "must do that again".

[Arnold]

I'm going but can't say I'm surprised about low entry numbers.

Night O popularity has been declining for years with the exception of easy-to-do local series like the Kent Night Cup and the one in Scotland (Deeside?)

Plus this one really is in the middle of nowhere making it even harder to attract punters. People just aren't prepared to travel for night o.

Maybe the name of the area didn't help either?

[Gnitworp]

Do brighter and brighter and increasingly expensive lamps have anything to do with the decline? I certainly know several formerly keen exponents who have packed it in for this very reason.

Maybe it's time for a lumens limit, so night orienteering doesn't become floodlit orienteering?

About 25 years ago I wrote the following about a well known fellow club member of mine:

An orienteer named Boyt
Went orienteering at noyt,
But his halogen light
Was excessively bright,
Scarcely different from O in dayloyt.

It was a pinprick of light compared with modern leds.

BTW, he's running in the Southerns and so am I

[Zokko!]

Do brighter and brighter and increasingly expensive lamps have anything to do with the decline? I certainly know several formerly keen exponents who have packed it in for this very reason.

But the current runaway favourite lamp, as advertised on this page, is noticeably cheaper than the lamps which most people were using up to last year.

This better ratio of lumens per pound has encouraged some of our club members to get into night orienteering for the first time, after moaning for many years that a good lamp is too expensive!

It's too soon to be sure since we have only had one event in the North West Night League so far this season, but turnout there was 50% up on average for last winter. Numbers have been stagnant for several years, so an increase has got to be good news.

[mappingmum]

http://www.brightbikelights.com

This better ratio of lumens per pound has encouraged some ..... to get into night orienteering for the first time

exactly

[DaveK]

I'm going but can't say I'm surprised about low entry numbers.

Night O popularity has been declining for years with the exception of easy-to-do local series like the Kent Night Cup and the one in Scotland (Deeside?)

Plus this one really is in the middle of nowhere making it even harder to attract punters. People just aren't prepared to travel for night o.

Maybe the name of the area didn't help either?

Yes, our Thursday Kent Night Cup event in the depths of East Kent (the end of nowhere, let alone the middle) this week had 45 runners (including a number of pairs). Perhaps it is the 'easy-to-do' format (60 minute score and pub afterwards ) ; and the fact that it runs weekly through the winter so attracts a fairly regular crowd?

[SeanC]

Night championships were always a bit niche. I wonder if part of the problem is that the events don't stand out in the calendar like they used to. They used to have an N label, now without this, and with so many different ways of viewing events it's maybe harder for these events to get noticed above the (increasing number of) day events?

It's probably a bit late for this season, but a preview article in Compass Sport discussing / hyping the major night events might pull in more punters? Or maybe a UK night league/cup (is there one?) which might formalise such publicity?

[ifor]

I think the people that are keen on Night O are prepared to travel for it I know I am.

Having the Night champs eligable for ranking would not do any harm but most courses would fall foule of the 10 person rule.

A potential problem has come up with the MagicShine lights batteries. People may want to read the following http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=666617
You should be monitoring the chargeing and doing it in a none flamable enviroment.

I will see people on Saturday night.

[Zokko!]

Having just tried to search the BOF fixture list for night events I see that you are right, they don't show up so easily. If you use the map facility, clicking on individual map flags does actually show which are the night events, e.g.

"15th Jan 2011 (Saturday) (Night - Cross Country)
SROC Northern night champs
Lancaster
Traitors Gill "

However, the word Night does not show in the main fixture list table, nor is it an option when searching by event type. Is BOF still accepting suggestions for improvement to the fixture list?

[SeanC]

Just to add some detail on that suggestion, there is an event type field which could be used for searching, however the fields overlap as they serve two purposes. There are course types (eg score, cross - country, relay) and event types (eg. night, urban, mountain bike). An extra field would be needed, rather in the same way that we had the codes that used to be on the list (eg NS2 .. night score level 2).

I don't know if this would cheese off fixtures secretaries as it would give them another box to fill?

I think if I was organising a night championship next season (ie late 2011/ early 2012) I would be looking to submit an article promoting night orienteering to Nick Barrable in time for an October/November 2011 issue. Even if the fixture list was improved in time, there are lots of day orienteers need to be persuaded to do night championships instead of (a likely nearer) regional event the following morning, and lots of day orienteers who could be persuaded to try night O.

[denzil53]

Night O popularity has been declining for years with the exception of easy-to-do local series like the Kent Night Cup and the one in Scotland (Deeside?)

Harlequin's Winter Evening Event last Thursday at Kinver Edge had a very healthy attendance, perhaps even a record, with competitors coming from HOC, WCH, WRE, OD, BOK and SWOC. There is a hardcore of enthusiasm for such low-key night events, even midweek, within reasonable travelling distance.

[Zokko!]

There are course types (eg score, cross - country, relay) and event types (eg. night, urban, mountain bike). An extra field would be needed, rather in the same way that we had the codes that used to be on the list (eg NS2 .. night score level 2).

I don't know if this would cheese off fixtures secretaries as it would give them another box to fill?

Asn Assistant Fixtures Secretary I agree that there should be two fields to describe events. The odd thing is that "Night" is currently a tick box separate to the other field (where you choose between sprint, middle, long, relay, cross country, urban, score, trail-O and closed event), so that extra snippet of information is already captured. Unfortunately it is then not used anywhere, unless you click the flags on the event map.

[Clive Coles]

Is BOF still accepting suggestions for improvement to the fixture list?

Who knows Zokko,

But if you don't keep asking you will not get the problem recognised. Does no harm to let BOF know what you want done ~ they are not mind readers.

[mharky]

Do brighter and brighter and increasingly expensive lamps have anything to do with the decline? I certainly know several formerly keen exponents who have packed it in for this very reason.

No. Not at all.

Firstly, brighter lights make night-o more accessible to people as it's a little bit easier now.

Secondly, lights have been getting increasingly cheaper. Something twice as bright as the old Mila/Silva headlamps is now half the price and lasts twice as long.

Thirdly, if people think these lights are too bright then they can use a less powerful ones, or put them onto a lower setting, i.e. Oleg Chepelin at the British Nights this year went round with a tiny Petzl to get better night training.

In Scotland there are night leagues in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Deeside. I'm not sure if there is anything up in Spey/Moray/Ness