Congratulations

[Taybank]

Congratulations to Scottish 6 Day ....... nomination for Scottish Sports Awards - Event of the year.
http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/soa/page/scottish-6-days-up-for-award/

[Paul Frost]

It will be an interesting challenge for the judges, what criteria do you use to compare the three events.

You have two massive professional events, the Walker Cup and the Davis Cup Tennis, that have thousands of spectators, TV and national newspaper coverage, but a very small number of participants.

Then you have the Scottish 6 Days, with one part-time employed person and a large number of volunteers, no TV or national newspaper coverage, but with 3200 participants and perhaps 200 spectators.

Forget that you are an orienteer, how would you compare/decide?

[DeerTick]

It will be an interesting challenge for the judges, what criteria do you use to compare the three events.

You have two massive professional events, the Walker Cup and the Davis Cup Tennis, that have thousands of spectators, TV and national newspaper coverage, but a very small number of participants.

Then you have the Scottish 6 Days, with one part-time employed person and a large number of volunteers, no TV or national newspaper coverage, but with 3200 participants and perhaps 200 spectators.

Forget that you are an orienteer, how would you compare/decide?

Your post might help sway me in the direction of the Scottish 6 Days, Paul.

AP

[andypat]

Whatever the result (it would be fantastic publicity if the 6 days won) I guess the big success for the event is getting in there ahead of other "bigger" mass participation events such as the great scottish run and possibly the International children's games (held in Lanarkshire over the summer).

[kofols]

I would say that only criteria which is important (for me) in these crisis times is how much event can contribute (now and in the future) to the local/regional economy. Maybe also tourist promotion of the region should be one of the factors but as orienteering mostly rely on mouth to mouth promotion it is hard that others will see this potential.

Interesting comparision for me could be how much revenues those two events made from thousands of spectators (tickets and nights) vs. participants (entry fee and nights). In my country tickets and newspaper coverage would win no matter how many volunteers and participants you have.

It is also important to know if judges are connected somehow with other two events or not.

FYI
Not exactly connected with the thread but still. International children's games idea originate from Slovenia and Orienteering was part of the games in 1980 (Suisse), 1983 (Slovenia), 2003 (Austria). My idea a few years ago was that we should push orienteering to become a regular sport on ICG. Maybe IOF should do a campaign next year with Lausanne - Switzerland as it is one of the Members (Towns) of the General Assembly of ICG. To do this we also need to find/communicate/push first one of these guys from Slovenia/Germany/Suisse who are part of ICG organizational structure to become a member of IOF Council board.

[andypat]

Its a shame the big event clashes with Ecko's Night O training as I am sure Paul et al would have liked to have gone....

[graeme]

Took a bit of rummaging, but previous winners seem to all be elite events.
Should be a shoo in for 2015!

2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
2009 The Open Golf Championship
2008 World Cross Country Championships

2006 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

[SIman]

TheWalkerCup is Scottish event of the year 2011! Rain and wind didn’t stop 7,000 fans a day watch the home victory at Balgownie!

but for the nomination.
Hope you enjoyed the evening.

[andypat]

Agree with those sentiments - well done to everyone involved in getting nominated. I wonder if there's a clue in that tweet as to what clinched it for the Walker cup? Engaging non-O spectators (tourists) is something that maybe we could work on for the WOC?

[Gross]

Engaging non-O spectators (tourists) is something that maybe we could work on for the WOC?

Ever tried watching a WOC ? It's boring enough for orienteers never mind Joe Bloggs Tourist!

If WOC 2015 spectator races are held directly after the WOC races the assembly will empty towards the end as the punters go to prepare for their own run.... even if a GBR runner is coming in in front of the Micky Mouse Maze Urban Sprint Terrain Final

[SeanC]

Rather than expecting Joe Bloggs to watch it might be better to get them to compete by putting on on a "tourist course" (eg an easy score course or something) and distribute publicity via tourist board, websites and hotels/b and b's etc. I see that 2013 is in Moray and clicking on the local tourist websites Moray is selling itself tourists as an outdoor activity type place so there might be quite a few interested if the marketing was right.

Maybe this happens anyway at Scottish 6 days or there are enough participants already?

[AlanB]

It is a shame that a the 6 day lost out but I fear that is always going to be the case when there are high profile events such as the golf. Still, great recognition for the sport in Scotland.

On a happier theme, I notice that the school my children attended - Perth Grammar - won the schools award. Does anyone know why they were nominated/selected? It certainly wasn't for publicising their efforts.

[andypat]

Engaging non-O spectators (tourists) is something that maybe we could work on for the WOC?

Ever tried watching a WOC ? It's boring enough for orienteers never mind Joe Bloggs Tourist!

If WOC 2015 spectator races are held directly after the WOC races the assembly will empty towards the end as the punters go to prepare for their own run.... even if a GBR runner is coming in in front of the Micky Mouse Maze Urban Sprint Terrain Final

Not sure how you managed to atribute my quite to SIman, Gross! but anyway, no I havent had the pleasure, but as I understand it more and more IT and AV options are becoming avaialble that may make spectating a more interesting spectacle. And anyway - Joe public doesnt know its boring until he tries!

I recently spoke to someone who was involved in the Lanarkshire 2011 International children's games, held over the summer near where I work. This is quite a high profile event with teams from over the world competing.

http://www.icg-lanarkshire2011.com/

I'd intended to take my kids along to watch something, but I could not find anything on their website aimed at spectators. I ended up not bothering as I didnt want to take the kids on spec as its about an hour drive from home.

It turns out on speaking to the person involved that the spectating was free and the expectation was that people would just turn up and watch the events.

I think for events like this while its a good idea to make it free for spectators, you still have to treat them as if they were paying customers in terms of information, possibly even giving out free tickets, and certainly giving adequate instructions on the web!

[King Penguin]

watching the womens WOC relay gps tracks was pretty entertaining.

[Freefall]

It was a very glitzy evening packed with loads of sports celebs. Everybody received a glossy brochure that described why individuals/teams/events had been shortlisted as finalists. I still don't know for sure who nominated us but this is what appeared in the brochure and what was paraphrased in front of the audience:

Scottish Six Days of Orienteering

A dry run in Oban for the hosting of the World Championships in 2015, the event attracted 3700 competitors from across the globe in early August.
As well as a competition over the six days for the elites, the event also enabled everyone from kids under 10 to OAPs over 75 to compete on their own courses.
New technology - GPS tracking and large screen display to all in the event arena - was trialled for potential use at the World Orienteering Championships in Scotland in 2015.
A core of 28 volunteers formed the Central Organising Team, with another 36 involved in planning and organising the competition on behalf of all Scottish orienteering clubs.
A large volunteer team of 500 was supported by ONE (their capitals) paid employee whose work included obtaining land access and building infrastructure. It is estimated that the event brought an additional £1.3 million to the local economy.

A great night for orienteering, and a fine turnout from Ross Lilley,Stewart Durham, Paul Frost and yours truly in kilts; Kenny Milton in tartan trews and Anne Hickling and Lynne Walker in best frocks.

Dead cert to win in 2015?