Trail-O

[NFKleanne]

Would have loved to have gone to the event in WAOC land, enjoyed trail O at White Rose last year, but didn't do very well as I didn't really understand what I was meant to do!

[kedge]

There are 3 permanent Trail-O courses in Greater Manchester.
Bowlee, Strinesdale and Dove Stone.

There is also a permanent TrailO course around Tarn Hows in the Lake District.

As other contributors have noted, there are all too few TrailO courses in the UK at the moment, other than those at major events like the JK and the British and its something the TrailO Committee/Development Group are hoping to improve on in the future.

Getting more clubs to go down the preO/IntrO route with a few fairly easy TrailO controls on the walk between the car park and the start at FootO events is one way to go, and this has been done with some success at events in Scotland and N Ireland over the last year or so.

The numbers competing at the recent British TrailO Champs at Newlands Corner was really very encouraging too, which shows there is a demand for TrailO in the UK.

But what we really need is for a few more brave souls to take the plunge and plan TrailO courses at their club's events/training evenings etc. The TrailO Committee will provide technical help and assistance where possible.

Dick Keighley
Chair, TrailO Committee

[AndyC]

retweeted by British Orienteering
PFO‏@pendleorienteer
Marsden Pk Sat18th orienteering -sprint courses + Intro course for wheelchair users and other disabled athletes http://tinyurl.com/cl77o7h
might well be Trail O?

[kedge]

Intro course for wheelchair users and other disabled athletes:might well be Trail O?

Almost certainly not: it sounds like SprintO for wheelchair users, including EMIT timing, around a White/Yellow type course on forest tracks.

TrailO isn't timed (other than the tie-breaking timed controls), apart from the fact that there is a maximum time allowance for the course to be completed.

And a TrailO course should be set so that the control flags at the clusters should be visible from a wheelchair positioned at the decision point, so that in theory, it is possible for anyone, whether a wheelchair user, a disabled competitor or able bodied, to be able to compete against each other on an equal basis.

[JK]

There are some good points here.

@Jayne: agreed, you need a geeky/maths, puzzle loving brain to fully appreciate Trail-O as a competitive sport. But @EveryoneElse: I believe it is good technical training nonetheless for all levels of orienteer.

Now then, back to the question of why there aren't more events.

1. We have a policy that "proper" events have to be wheelchair friendly, this means that many events aren't suitable for Trail-O courses. Then again that still leaves plenty that can be. The alternative Intr-O (formerly Pre-O) format of having a few Trail-O controls on the way to the start do not have that restriction.

2. Lack of Planners: so few people have done it in the past that the only ones who put on events were a close circle. We must expand this circle. If you want to put on an event, then speak to Dick, myself or any team/committee members who can give some advice.

3. Lack of interest: it has been hard in the past to persuade people to put on Trail-O for often less than 20 people as it can be seen to drag valuable volunteer resources away from "the main event". Trail-O itself does need a few helpers, but not that many.
It does however need a huge investment of time and effort in mapping/planning. Maybe a few hours per control for an Elite quality course on a quality map.

Now that there is more interest in Trail-O (WTOC 2012, CompassSport articles,
FOCUS articles, equal prizes for Trail-O at major events and the excellent
courses we have had so far this year) then I'd like to see everyone who has enjoyed
Trail-O trying to put on small events in their regions, gain some planning experience and lobby your major events guys to ensure that future BOC, JK, 6-days, etc all offer Trail-O in some form.

If there is sufficient interest in people learning how to Plan quality Trail-O events then I'd be happy to put on a training course sometime if that would be of interest.

In summary - it is down to you. We need more events so we need more planners!

Cheers

JK

[AndyC]

John Crosby - who JK will vouch is well versed in this variant of the sport- is holding a Trail O session at the NATO Club Night this week (@ Prudhoe Communty High School on Wednesday) - anyone welcome to come along -just let me know (or not) so we can be ready for massive numbers!
It will be rather bsic as a school grounds don't allow many opportunities for highly technical controls but based on one he did there previously interesting all the same.

[duncan b]

We've held off advertising it too much until now as we haven't been sure we'd pull it off - but the University of Bristol OC is running a IntrO Trail-O at Bristol OK's event at Stoke Park Estate TODAY.

The assembly area we're using has a nice variety of features and a flat, if probably over-sloped, path.

We've read the guidelines, made a map and planned a course. This is our first attempt and we're not sure how good it is, but we've had fun making it and hope some people will want to have a go!

The event is the final round of the BOK Saturday Winter Series. It's at Stoke Park, Bristol, BS16 1WN. Registration for cross-country courses is from 11.30 to 1pm but I expect the IntrO will be available until 2pm or a little later. The IntrO has five problems.

More info is available in this nice email, here and and on facebook

Duncan