Scottish Urban League proposal - comments solicited

[AlanB]

Attract newcomers..... ???? Joke, joke, joke.... Mickey Mouse stuff.... come and compete in our nice Urban League, you can get to the races using public transport.... ohhh... but you can't compete because you have not joined BOF...

SOA should NOT BE MAKING BOF MEMBERSHIP a requirement for anything.... devise your own scoring system... for a position based competition it won't be very difficult!!!

I wouldn't expect to compete in an athletics championship without being a member of an affiliated club. Newcomers will be attracted to the race initially, the idea of competing in a league competition will follow.

[andypat]

Just to be clear to Gross (before anyone else jumps to this conclusion)- the SOA isnt making any requirements for BOF numbers - I am.

The trigger for proposing this league was Roger's offer to make avaialble for use of others his pre-existing system for submitting and automatically calculating the points and positions in the Nopesport league. Without this system, which requires a unique identifier (in this case a BOF number) I would not have been in a position to offer to coordinate a Scottish Urban League as I do not have the IT expertise or confidence to develop anything like that.

As I said at the start if there is anyone better qualified.....

[Roger]

If the last-placed finisher in a given class scores fewer than 10 points, then all scores in that class will be increased by 10 points so that the last-placed finisher scores between 10 and 19 points.

Hmm. That's what we said at the start of 2008, but in trying to avoid disenchanting the bottom end of the field we made it unfair at the top, after the unprecedentedly huge turnout at that year's JK sprint race at Surrey University. The system was dropped mid-year (under the rule "organisers' perogative to do the right thing") and hasn't been seen since. Points now stop at 94th place.

As others have said, the requirement for a BOF number is really one for a unique identifier. Whisper it, but if SOA decides to include fake (but consistent) numbers in the 'BOF number' field for its Urban League uploads, the scoring program won't notice. However, that would break the simplicity of being able to use the same file for the upload to the BOF site.

[Gross]

This proposals differs from that on the SOA website. SOA site says you must be a member of a Scottish club to compete & it is a requirement to have a local or national BOF number to participate in the league.... must admit I didn't know there were local BOF numbers... but if they exist then this overides the requirement to be a full member of BOF.

[andypat]

If the last-placed finisher in a given class scores fewer than 10 points, then all scores in that class will be increased by 10 points so that the last-placed finisher scores between 10 and 19 points.

Hmm. That's what we said at the start of 2008, but in trying to avoid disenchanting the bottom end of the field we made it unfair at the top, after the unprecedentedly huge turnout at that year's JK sprint race at Surrey University. The system was dropped mid-year (under the rule "organisers' perogative to do the right thing") and hasn't been seen since. Points now stop at 94th place.

Roger - I have to admit I shamelessly copied this from "How the scoring works" on the Nopesport Urban League page. So if it was dropped it hasnt been changed on the website. I dont have an issue with amending our proposed scoring if what you say is correct. I think its the same wording on the Yorkshire one too.

[Roger]

Roger - I have to admit I shamelessly copied this from "How the scoring works" on the Nopesport Urban League page. So if it was dropped it hasnt been changed on the website.

Yes, those words had a familiar ring to them! My fault for not asking the Cartel to update the page.

[andypat]

I'll amend our draft guidelines for the final version to remove this - cheers

[andypat]

Scottish Urban League events announced as follows:

Edinburgh City Race Sat 21 Jan

St Andrew's Urban Race Sun 4 March

Banchory Sprint Race Mon 4 June

STAG event tbc Aug/Sep (provisional)

Dunblane Urban Race Sat 20 Oct

INT event tbc Nov (provisional)

Still 1 event to find so any Scottish clubs with plans for a suitable urban event in 2012 please let me know. Be nice to have another event up North. I've amended the guidelines to remove the restriction to Scottish clubs. Hopefully this will mean the 3 or 4 events which arent Nopesport events will be more attractive to point hunters thus increasing their profile!

[AlanB]

Scottish Urban League events announced as follows:

Edinburgh City Race Sat 21 Jan

St Andrew's Urban Race Sun 4 March

Banchory Sprint Race Mon 4 June

STAG event tbc Aug/Sep (provisional)

Dunblane Urban Race Sat 20 Oct

INT event tbc Nov (provisional)

Still 1 event to find so any Scottish clubs with plans for a suitable urban event in 2012 please let me know. Be nice to have another event up North. I've amended the guidelines to remove the restriction to Scottish clubs. Hopefully this will mean the 3 or 4 events which arent Nopesport events will be more attractive to point hunters thus increasing their profile!

How many scores to count (apologies if this has been announced and I have missed this)?

Is the STAG event likely to be run in conjunction with the SOL5 (ie on Saturday)?

Note to any potential organisers of the seventh event - holding it on a Sunday, particularly if it is up north, will make this Perthshire postman very happy.

Seriously, I am very excited by these plans and am going to agitate for some leave or early finishes on the relevant Saturdays.

Well done on your efforts so far - thanks.

[andypat]

Alan
SOUL series is best 4 from 7 same as the SOLs - and no I think I missed this from the guidelines so it will be added in.

The final details for the Stag event are unconfirmed as yet. I believe there are a couple of options but will leave this to Terry to update once a decision is made.

Paul has made us a nifty logo which you can see here
http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/

[frog]

Sounds excellent but why a Monday race? School hockey matches have priority on Sat ams but I'll get to as many as I can.

[Big Jon]

I assume the question about a Monday event is about the Banchory race - this day will be a holiday for many - and race is part of the JubileeFive weekend in Deeside. We couldn't fit a sprint race in on the weekend and seeing as the holiday weekend adds two days we decided to hold 3 extra events.

[AlanB]

Alan
SOUL series is best 4 from 7 same as the SOLs - and no I think I missed this from the guidelines so it will be added in.

The final details for the Stag event are unconfirmed as yet. I believe there are a couple of options but will leave this to Terry to update once a decision is made.

Paul has made us a nifty logo which you can see here
http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/

I like the name 'Soul Series'.