YBT Qualifiers

[Stodgetta]

Sadly not; under rule 4.3.3 (http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/i ... rule_l.pdf), the "extra place" only applies if three or more complete teams are competing in the heat. As I understand, there were only two.

What a shame, but it's what I understood would be the outcome on the day

Our juniors ran well & had anticipated that finishing second to OD would get them through to the final. When we arrived to find there were no other teams running, it was always going to be a battle against the odds.
Hopefully there will be more competitive W Mids teams in 5 months, as, even with as much coaching & development as possible, it will be a tough call to beat OD again, & travelling out of regioln in an attempt to qualify (especially when we are organising the regional qualifier!) just seems daft!
Good luck to OD in the final, a nice high finishing position would be good

[awk]

But the actual dates selected for both the Qualifier round and the Final seem to be a week after many schools break up for school holidays !
This just seems to either daft or bl**dy minded on behalf of the powers that be. Perhaps they live on a different planet.

Or just in East Anglia? YHOA, NEOA and WMOA, for instance, have their qualifiers on 14th April.

[Clive Coles]

In may be just EA who have caused a problem for themselves over the scheduling of their qualifier. If the will to change was there it could be rearranged at a different date.

But the real scheduling damage was done when they fixed the date of the final when some schools will have broken up for the summer holidays. We face the prospect of some smaller clubs who qualify being unable to send a full team to the final. That doesn't make sense to me.

[Scott]

...but if you held the Final earlier in the summer it would be during the GCSE/A-level exam period, and everybody would lose their 16/18s.

[Clive Coles]

Agree Scott ~ that's the problem with holding the competion final at this particular time of the year. Just one weekend earlier next year would have made all the difference for our juniors but of course next year that date clashes with the Harvester (and JWOC).

But please , when the Events and Competitions committee come to schedule dates for YBT finals for 2014 and beyond can you avoid school holidays. I would hate to think that the second Sunday in July is automatically earmarked for YBT in future years.

The YBT in our area at least has become a very well contested competition for our Juniors. SOS, NOR and SUFFOC all came within a point of each other at this years qualifyer.

It would be a shame to see the YBT die a death. But if the timetabling of the final prevents small clubs from fielding their strongest team interest in the competition will not be sustained.

[sketchweppers]

But please , when the Events and Competitions committee come to schedule dates for YBT finals for 2014 and beyond can you avoid school holidays. I would hate to think that the second Sunday in July is automatically earmarked for YBT in future years.

Whatever date is picked; some people will not be able to make it. I wasn't really complaining in my previous post - just stating my observations. I can hardly say that the previous two years' final dates have been convenient for me anyway! We got through to the final for the first time in 2010 - when it had to be postponed to a date in February 2011 which I couldn't make. Then in December 2012 we went to the final again - I did make it this time - but only because I managed to find another host for a Japanese exchange student and travel up very early on the Sunday morning as I had a meeting the day before.
I am happy that a date has been picked - it is just now we have to work round it.
I am not sure that December was ideal, but then neither is July. As someone else said, the vegetation will be high and any earlier it would clash with public exams - any later in the summer and everyone would be on holiday. I am not sure I wan't the job of choosing the best date, but someone has got to do it. Why not let it run for a couple of years in July and see what happens.

[Happy]

But please , when the Events and Competitions committee come to schedule dates for YBT finals for 2014 and beyond can you avoid school holidays. I would hate to think that the second Sunday in July is automatically earmarked for YBT in future years.

It is down on the fixtures list for 6th July in 2014 in SCOA region.

[awk]

Agree Scott ~ that's the problem with holding the competion final at this particular time of the year.

Other sports manage: that was the weekend of the ESAA Schools Champs this year.

It's not even all independent schools - we don't break up till the 11th. Some people go on holiday, some don't.

Personally, I think the vegetation is more of an issue, but I recognise that the short daylight hours and the temperature don't make December exactly ideal. I'd suggest giving it a go and seeing how it works out.

[RichT]

I don't mind giving the new date a go, but Lakeland are just wrestling with the logistics of travelling for 5hours to the final in SCOA this year.

Doesn't fill me with joy that I may have to sell the same trip to the kids again in 2014 if its back in SCOA.

[awk]

Oonce upon a time, we had a rule that said the final needed to be held within the M4-M5-M6-M62-A1 box. It seems to have gone by the wayside some years ago. Hopefully the move to a July date will make the journey somewhat less arduous than trying to do much of it in the dark!

[Top cat]

Rich T beat me to it. My heart sank when I read Happy's post.

When did the YBT final last head to the 'real' north?
Even YHOA let us down by choosing an event in the far south of their region.

Distances & time from Kendal for the past/future few years is as follows:

2009 SEOA SO 300 miles 5 hours
2010 WMOA HOC 165 .. 3 ..
2011 YHOA Halo 170 .. 3 ..
2012 SCOA Sarum 250 .. 41/2 ..
2013 EMOA LOG 175 ..? 31/4 ..?
2014 SCOA ? 250 ..? 41/2 ..?

Obviously, with Scotland holding the Jamie Stevenson Trophy, there are more regions involved from the south. And it depends on NWOA, NEOA & YHOA offering to put it on.

But, how do you persuade a junior to travel 5 hours, sleep on a floor overnight, run for 20 mins on a yellow course and then travel for another 5 hours?
Juniors cannot be expected to travel for 3+ hours on the day and still run to their best ability after a very early start. So you then have the additional cost of accommodation.

For some years LOC didn't enter the YBT for this reason and comments were made about them not supporting junior competitions. Is it any wonder?

Hopefully, someone from NWOA or NEOA will read this and put an offer in. Thankfully WCOC are holding the PPR in Keswick next year. It will be interesting to see how many clubs make the journey north.

[Happy]

2012 SCOA Sarum 250 .. 41/2 ..

I believe strictly speaking that the Sarum event is deemed a SWOA regional event, although it is very close to the SCOA boundary, just in case you thought it was down in the SCOA region 2 out of the next 3 finals. The good thing from a transport point of view is that Devon arn't hosting it for SWOA!

[Top cat]

Yes, I was going to put SWOA until I realised that Sarum are part os SCOA so I changed it.

And you are right, we could be making our way to Penhale etc!

[Tatty]

SARUM is a SWOA club, but also belongs to SCOA. They are not a designated SCOA Club. Also they offered to put it on. The events happen where clubs volunteer. Perhaps the post should be directed at clubs in the northern part of the country who have not offered to put the YBT on, in preference to those that have offered (Speaking as a former club captain who traveeled many miles to YBT finals)

[RichT]

Well when I was on Fixtures Committee I felt that the M6/M1/A1 etc box favoured the midlands clubs through shorter commuting distances to finals.

And with there being 3 major junior competitions in the autumn in British Schools Score, British Schools Champs and YBT, I argued that they should rotate around North (NWOA,NEOA,YHOA), Midlands (WMOA,EMOA,EAOA) & South (SWOA,SCOA,SEOA) year on year. That would mean that each area hosted a junior competition each year, but each region only one every three, to try and even out the long commutes.

Rather than just looking for volunteer clubs it was also a way to try and encourage all regions to host these types of competitions.

It doesn't sound as though this is still being applied.