A Capital Weekend - City Race & Southern Champs

[alanbrett]

Entries open tomorrow Monday 30 April 2012 on Fabian4 for the Capital Weekend events - the London City Race on Saturday 22 September and the Southern Championships on Sunday 23 September.

On Friday 21 September there will also be a training event at High Beach in Epping Forest.

Southern Championship event details are now available on the event webpage http://www.chig.org.uk/sc2012

Southern Championships entries are capped according to the requirements of the Conservators of Epping Forest at 1,200. Early entry is therefore advised.

[alanbrett]

Six weeks to go and entries have passed the 450 mark for the Southern Champs with more still entered for the City Race. Don't leave your entries to the last minute!
It will be a great weekend of orienteering in greater London.

[DaveK]

My fault for missing the early entry closing date(s), but at £18 now for the Southern Champs, I think I'll give it a miss thanks.

[King Penguin]

I too was surprised at the Southern Champs entry fees when I finally got round to looking. I though I could easily leave it until after Croeso.... Now I am reconsidering, esp. as domestic arrangements mean I will have to travel hone after London on the Saturday and then back again.
I guess its the "Level A" badge and BOF involvement that ups the fees.

[Jayne]

I don't imagine the organising club for the Southern Champs are in it for profit, which must mean that their costs justify those fees. Be useful to see a breakdown and the reason behind it, at least I think it might encourage some to enter who might not have otherwise.

[madmike]

but at £18 now for the Southern Champs,

was £17 in 2009 so hardly runaway inflation is it

[HarryO]

No mention of pre-entry for colour coded courses at Epping - for the non-competitive members of the family. So i'm going to have to pay £18 for a Light Green if I want to pre-enter

[RS]

You can't enter colour coded. When I tried, the system defaulted to age group and when I queried it I was told there will only be colour coded available if they don't reach their 1200 quota. (Just seen that on their info now, but no mention of cost).

[alanbrett]

I'll pass this feedback on to the organiser. There is a meeting on Monday evening, and I can get something posted as a response after that.

[HarryO]

Thanks Alan. Perhaps the organising team could be persuaded to change their stance if numbers are looking lower than expected.

On a general note about pre-entries for colour courses at bigger events - we are a mixed family where two of us are keen orienteers who will enter our age class at such events - and the rest of the famly are recreational orienteers who will do colour courses. I find it very frustrating when I cannot pre-enter the whole family - thus avoiding tedious queuing, worries about running out of maps, etc.

In my experience this is on the increase recently - dont know why. I always think it must be useful to the organiser to have more accurate map numbers, less queuing, less risk of disappointing runners by running out of maps. The event might even gain financially by the odd pre-entry not turning up!

[andypat]

I think you are right. The issue of cost/value for money also comes into it. For the SOL series in Scotland the guidance is that adults on TD1-4 should pay the same price as juniors. This hasnt always been adhered to, but my wife will not pay £12 for an orange course so simply doesnt go/run if that happens.

[DaveK]

but at £18 now for the Southern Champs,

was £17 in 2009 so hardly runaway inflation is it

Don't say I paid £17 then? £18 just seems rather a lot to me I'm afraid.

[alanbrett]

Thanks Alan. Perhaps the organising team could be persuaded to change their stance if numbers are looking lower than expected.

On a general note about pre-entries for colour courses at bigger events - we are a mixed family where two of us are keen orienteers who will enter our age class at such events - and the rest of the famly are recreational orienteers who will do colour courses. I find it very frustrating when I cannot pre-enter the whole family - thus avoiding tedious queuing, worries about running out of maps, etc.

If you wish to guarantee a map for a colour coded entry on the day, CHIG will operate a map reservation system. We have operated this previously for our normal Level C & D events. We will guarantee the map until 30 minutes before the last start time.

With various levies/access fees running to circa £5.00 per entry, the EOD entry fees for these colour coded courses (L Green, Orange, Yellow, White) will be £10 adult, £6 junior. These will not be Championship courses. We will try to arrange for an "express" lane for those who have reserved maps in advance.

If you are entering and want to guarantee an EOD map for a junior or less competitive member of your household or traveling party, email entries@chig.org.uk. Please include the competitor name, age class, BOF number (if relevant), SI card number or hire and a contact number.

It would be helpful if you would identify any Championship entry, so that we can identify if there are late starts in your traveling party (and thus would hold your map till the very end).

The final details are at draft stage and should be released in circa 2 weeks.

[alanbrett]

but at £18 now for the Southern Champs,

was £17 in 2009 so hardly runaway inflation is it

Don't say I paid £17 then? £18 just seems rather a lot to me I'm afraid.

Fixed costs for an event of this nature are significant and levies/access fees come to circa £5 per entry. The "profit" the club will make from the event is not significant and will probably be less than 10% of an entry fee per person if entries hit the forest-imposed cap.

The work involved is of a vastly different scale than the event we are holding tonight in Fairlop Waters as part of the "Join In" initiative, which will be free entry to all!

[HarryO]

What a lot of foreign clubs entering the Southern Champs. Is this normal? Or is it due to the proximity to London? Or the London City Race?