CompassSport Cup and Trophy finals 2012

[DaveR]

One question: is there such a thing as course length guidelines any more? I didn't mind running 7.8k with 300 climb, even in those conditions, but that does equate to a 10.8k race, which does sound rather long for a Blue course.

Yes but it was a fast open area, brown won in 52 even seems fast for guidelines

Probably about 3-4 minutes too short, not a great difference, and definitely on the right side for this event. The Blue trophy course was won in 42, and the distance seems pretty much spot on from my reading of the guidelines.

Anyway, minor details which I'd argue were right on the day anyway.

Congratulations to the team putting on a great race under rather challenging conditions.

[graeme]

For some reason I feel compelled to follow DaveR's post with my own congratulations. RR is a tiny club and this was a tremendous effort. It was indeed strangely fun being on the one hand easy running, and the other epic outdoor adventure.

Beautiful blue skies for those who waited for the prizegiving, and not a midge in sight.

[awk]

I'd like to add my appreciation of, and thanks for, the outstanding efforts of the organising team: a great event in very difficult conditions for them. From a personal point of view as a competitor, it was wild, but good fun and thoroughly exhilarating. Loved every second of it once out on the course, even if I wasn't as technically clean as I would like to have been, especially through the first two (both novice type mistakes!).

[greywolf]

One question: is there such a thing as course length guidelines any more? I didn't mind running 7.8k with 300 climb, even in those conditions, but that does equate to a 10.8k race, which does sound rather long for a Blue course.

The guidelines are exactly the same as the last time you asked

[SJC]

The guidelines are exactly the same as the last time you asked

Blue / Brown ratio in the Guidelines is 0.56 / 0.85 = 0.65.

Blue Cup / Brown ratio today was 7.8 / 10.7 = 0.73.
or 10.85 / 14.6 = 0.74 if you include the height climb.

So Adrian has a point.

[Jethro]

Blue / Brown ratio in the Guidelines is 0.56 / 0.85 = 0.65.

Blue Cup / Brown ratio today was 7.8 / 10.7 = 0.73.
or 10.85 / 14.6 = 0.74 if you include the height climb

In defence of RR's apparent flouting of the Guidelines. As a Category A event - which when we started organising and planning was a BO sanctioned event but no longer is although that is another story which has already been well aired on this forum - the guidelines recommend that the courses have a spectator control. This we managed to do for the Brown and Blue courses but this has its consequences. In our case it compromised the technical difficulty of the courses involved and in the case of the Blues compromised their length slightly. I personally think it was preferable to have technically meaningful courses even if they did perhaps stray over the guideline lengths. In the case of the shorter courses this balance of compromises would have made them drastically too long, hence no spectator control for Green's and Oranges. In my opinion planning is an art rather than a science and as such the guidelines have to be treated for what they are .... guidelines!

[Supersaint82]

Personally, I enjoy orienteering, so I would rather courses would be on the longer side and have good courses and be out a bit longer, than have sub-standard courses.

Thanks to RR for a great event, and for battling through some trying weather conditions - definitely worth the trip over the border. Also, great to hear commentary concentrating on every course and coping with the difficulties at the prize-giving.

[SeanC]

So who won?

[King Penguin]

The clue is in the title - "Guidelines".
Every area has its own constraints and it is impossible to achieve exact uniformity - and if we did the sport would be the worse for it.
Focus on the positive - a great event, very well run in testing conditions, and a really enjoyable area to be out and running on despite the conditions.

[mharky]

So who won?

Airienteers won the Cup with Lakeland in 2nd and South Yorkshire down in 3rd. Forth Valley won the trophy for the 6th consecutive year, Interlopers were a very close 2nd and East Penine in 3rd.

Full results are available HERE thanks to some very hard work by Robin Strain and Andrew Dalgleish trying to sort out problems in the system.

It was an excellent performance from AIRE to win the cup, winning all 4 junior courses and dominating the Cup Brown course as well.

[graeme]

Congratulations to FVO on winning again
Without detracting from that (and not having any smart ideas), I note that the scores on the six shortest courses were...

FVO -INT
100-0
98-0
0-188
100-0
0-196
192-0

Which suggests that INT weren't actually competing directly against FVO, but rather by proxy through the rules via the demographics of other clubs. It would be easy to rewrite the rules in a way that we won (e.g. the 2009 version).
I was certainly motivated by a racing directly against the FVO guys on my well-planned, spectator-friendly, and appropriately-lengthed course. but for the decision
to depend so little on actual competition is disappointing.

[andy]

It would be easy to rewrite the rules in a way that we won (e.g. the 2009 version).

If it's any consolation my napkin maths yesterday had Interlopers down as winning and you almost got the trophy. Thankfully someone else did a recalc!

[Klebe]

Thanks to everybody who put on and organised the CompassSport Cup Final. You had to admire the start teams' happy disposition despite being in one of the most exposed windswept and rain battered locations possible!
The pit props for tent pegs to stop the marquee blowing away made me smile too.
In a perverse kind of way I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks again for your efforts.

[Adrian]

The guidelines are exactly the same as the last time you asked

I'll get it eventually.

[awk]

I see that there's still nothing on the British Orienteering website. I do wonder sometimes if BOF central is actually involved in the same sport as me.