Darnaway 13th Feb

[Sunlit Forres]

This is just an appeal to anyone thinking about coming to Moravian's ranking event at Darnaway next Sunday but hasn't entered yet. The maps are being printed on Tuesday and map numbers will be based on the level of pre-entries and attendance at previous years' events. We won't be wasting money on extra maps 'just in case' so anyone wanting to to guarantee their choice of course needs to make their way to Fabian4 and enter by Monday night.

For a ranking event on a previous World Champs area with indoor registration and refreshments, we're a bit disappointed at only having 59 pre-entries with a week to go.

[andypat]

Thats a shame about the numbers SF.

If its any consolation I've already persuaded the family to come up for your weekend of events in June. Really looking forward to it.

Combination of finances and my wife's marathon training schedule means I'm stuck with baby sitting duties next Sunday, sorry.

[Paul Frost]

I had considered entering this, as it's a good area and Moravian put on good events. But it's hard to justify 8-9 hours driving for a single run.

What surprises me is the lack of entries from the nearby clubs who wouldn't have to spend hours on the road to get there like me.

When EckO put on events on classic areas like Creag Mhic we don't expect people to travel, as it's probably at least 3 hours from the nearest non-EckO orienteers, but Darnaway is a reasonable distance from a lot of non-Moravian orienteers

[EddieH]

I'd be surprised if our numbers on Sunday will be down significantly UNLESS the weather is bad.

My club have gone for the "please enter" ploy with no financial incentive to do so.

My belief is that is the weather is good I will be proved right and we'll hae a huge entry on the day. If it is poor the experiment will appear to have worked.

I think that if you are asking for pre entry without any financial incentive you need to do it on a pay on the day basis, merely asking for intent to come.

We'll see.

[Sunlit Forres]

Well entries have shot up to 89. Must be the magic of Nopesport... or just coincidence.

I can see the merit of your 'enter in advance pay on the day' suggestion Eddie, but really I'm trying to make it as easy as possible on the day for our entries team. We tend to get a lot of newcomers at our events these days and the less time we have to dedicate to the regular O crowd, the more time we can take with the first-timers to make them feel welcome. Having to take payments on the day from pre-entries is just one more job to have to deal with.

Here's hoping for a huge entry on the day ... BOF needs the levy income.

[lindseyk]

Roxburgh Reivers are trialling a pre-entry/pay on the day system for their South Of Scotland O League event on 20 February at Lanton, near Jedburgh. There's no penalty for not turning up and no EOD cost penalty either but at A3-size we'll not be printing a huge amount of extra maps so pre-entering is very much encouraged.

We're an easy 1 hour drive from the Edinburgh by-pass or 1 hour 15 mins from Newcastle, so the fuel costs aren't bad plus it's only £6 for a BOF member senior entry.
Link here: http://www.roxburghreivers.org.uk

[Freefall]

Not really hijacking this post but I have been trying to get a W or M Elite for filming (BBC Adventure Show) near Glenmore on Friday - anyone fancy coming up early on the way to Darnaway. Chance of fame (but maybe not fortune).

[graeme]

I have been trying to get a W or M Elite

Sadly, there's only one M21 and no W21s entered...

Must be the magic of Nopesport

Must admit, it never occured to me it would be "enter online" until I saw it here
(Can we borrow some of that magic for the night champs

[Freefall]

Looks like I am closer to getting a star runner for Friday. I'll be at the Night Champs by the way - playing a round I imagine.

[Sunlit Forres]

Thanks to everyone who responded to our appeal and got their entries in. The total has shot up to 140 and this now looks set to be our best-attended Darnaway 'colour coded' event ever, with possibly over 200 runners on the day.

We've significantly increased the map order as a result; on our initial estimate we'd definitely have run out of maps on some courses. There should be a handful of entries on the day available for the longer courses, and plenty for the novice courses, but to guarantee your choice of course please make sure you enter by Thursday.

[AlanB]

Sunlit Forres

It is good to see that your event is now getting the numbers it deserves. It was definitely on my list of 'possibles' when looking at the fixtures at the beginning of the year, but a number of things 'got in the way'. Spending six hours in the car at this time of the year didn't really appeal, I'm working on Saturday thus ruling out making a weekend of it, plus the fact that I'm having to justify to my better half the expense of financing the Six Days and four SOL trips 'up north' (although overnight stays will certainly help there!), and it all meant that the STAG event in Cumbernauld won the day.

I will be there at Culbin in June but, in the meantime, I hope everything goes well!

[EddieH]

Alan, I hope you'll be at Lossiemouth as well as Culbin that weekend.

[Sunlit Forres]

Thanks for the comment Alan. I've just spent the last 5 hours allocating start times, brikke numbers and stuffing envelopes... a lot longer than I was bargaining for. Sometimes being on night shift has its uses, especially this time of year when work's fairly quiet! Pre entries alone have now almost reached the record attendance for this annual event so it's all looking rather encouraging after such a slow start.

There are very few spare maps left for the longer courses so we'll be phoning Stirling Surveys tomorrow for an emergency extra map order to cope with EODs. Pre-entries are open til Thursday night for any last-minute pre-entries. Although we 'll to be able to cope with a reasonable number of EODs I have to emphasise that map availability can't be guaranteed.

[AlanB]

Alan, I hope you'll be at Lossiemouth as well as Culbin that weekend.

If work permits...

[AlanB]

Alan, I hope you'll be at Lossiemouth as well as Culbin that weekend.

If work permits...

Work does permit!!! Persuaded the manager to give me the day off in return for covering the royal wedding Friday. I'll be at both days!!!