EYOC 2013

[Dave]

Think about what you are comparing though: Cycling, which receives £32m Sport England funding + £30.6m UK Sport funding, and Orienteering, which receives £2.3m Sport England funding and no UK Sport funding. Not really the same league are they?

It's sad if there has been miscomunication here but a lot of the debate and concern seems to be around participation, and maintaining it in the teenagers. I agree this is an important issue but not one that International competitions are there to address.

I knew the comparison in funding was going to come up sooner or later. It's not just about the money, it's the interest and passion that is shown in a large number of juniors that inspires them.

I fully agree but without the money in place a lot of that needs to be provided by volunteers, which is why it's great to see all the good work and good opportunities being created by the JROS group.

[aiming off]

"If you want British Orienteering to take note, or alarm bells to go off at board level, then I suggest you let your concerns known to British Orienteering and the board".

It appears to fall on deaf ears at BO. The need for a Junior Cup to replace FCC was specifically recognised at the April Events and Competitions Committee.

Its now time to think about the juniors seasons plans for 2014, and there is still no hint of a decent domestic competitive framework for next season.

[greywolf]

Its now time to think about the juniors seasons plans for 2014, and there is still no hint of a decent domestic competitive framework for next season.

Rubbish! There are dozens of Run Challenge events to choose from

[aiming off]

Great Idea.

150 Run Challenge events to date, leading to only 236 competitors on the national Run Challenge rankings.

Should be easy to do well at these events: only have to beat the other half a competitor.

[greywolf]

Great Idea.

150 Run Challenge events to date, leading to only 236 competitors on the national Run Challenge rankings.

Should be easy to do well at these events: only have to beat the other half a competitor.

did you need a </sarcasm> tag?
i was suggesting that that's where BO's interest and energy is going...

[aiming off]

No, I needed an apoplectic with anger tag, which has not yet been provided on this forum.

So much wasted effort, when there are major, unaddressed, issues with providing for existing, committed juniors.

[RS]

"The need for a Junior Cup to replace FCC was specifically recognised at the April Events and Competitions Committee"

Seem to recollect there was something being organised by a poster on the forum. What happened about it?

[andypat]

Maybe WOC got in his way?

[Tatty]

More likely that BO weren't listening

[mharky]

Dave Peel was adamant that the UKOL was the best way forward for junior orienteering. The response from the board was a masterclass in a bureaucracy.

This year there has so far been 15 UKOLs, 7 of those were at major events where attendance is due to the event itself, not UKOL status (i.e. JK x 2, BOC x 3, 6-days x2). The remaining 8 events should, in theory, have benefited from the UKOL status (BNC doesn't have pull of the other BOCs in my opinion). These 8 events were over 4 weekends: SYO's BNC, FVO 's Trossachs weekend, WRE/HOC's SINS, and EPOC's Northern Champs weekend.

UKOL 1: W18 = 4, W20 = 1, M18 = 11, M20 = 4, Total = 20
UKOL 2: W18 = 4, W20 = 3, M18 = 12, M20 = 6, Total = 25
UKOL 3: W18 = 3, W20 = 3, M18 = 5, M20 = 2, Total = 13
UKOL 4: W18 = 7, W20 = 4, M18 = 6, M20 = 2, Total = 19
UKOL 10: W18 = 4, W20 = 0, M18 = 6, M20 = 2, Total = 12
UKOL 11: W18 = 4, W20 = 0, M18 = 9, M20 = 2 Total = 15
UKOL 12: W18 = 3, W20 = 1, M18 = 3, M20 = 2, Total = 9
UKOL 13: W18 = 6, W20 = 2, M18 = 9, M20 = 3, Total = 20

That is embarrassing.

Let's compare that to my 2nd ever FCC race, WCH's Beaudesert National 2 Event on 11/02/2001. This had a middle distance on the Saturday's (results not on winsplits), so was very similar to the 4 weekends listed above.

NE 2 (2001): W 18 = 24, W20 = 17, M18 = 26, M20 = 23, Total = 90

Wow, we had a UKOL race that is an order of magnitude smaller than that!!!

[SJC]

UKOL is fine for us old men. A lot of events spread throughout the year.
However it just doesn't have the focus that the Juniors need.

If the UKOL events are to be used as the basis for an FCC then just use the ones at the start of the year. But to really get this going again it needs to go back to having a final, with the winners guaranteed a place at JWOC. Until such time as this happens the non-Championship events will simply not have any attraction for the juniors.

[buzz]

I have read all the posts with interest but see the problem of lack of encouragement as being a real problem for the future.....

It looks like JROS at least picks up on this with this quote attributed to Jon Duncan on their front page:

“‘Getting on tour’ was the most important achievement of the orienteering season when I was a junior. Yes it was nice to do well in events but the summer training tours were what counted.
Why? Quite simple really; it was history, tradition. There were so many stories about previous tours….and the great thing is, it was all true!
The travel, friends, maps, terrain, games, races.”

Jon Duncan,
2008, Men’s Relay World Champion
as quoted to The 'O' Foundation (2009)

I had the privilege of coaching on some of the tours that Jon and several other of his WOC medal winning friends attended and motivation was right at the top of the list of our goals. OK, we offered plenty of ideas and provided opportunities for practice and feedback, but the main aim was to motivate the youngsters to stay in the sport, work together as group, and train and practice hard when they went back home.

The current BO performance regime seems intent on demotivating athletes and coaches alike and losing the history and tradition that was so important to Jon.

[Oldman]

The current BO performance regime seems intent on demotivating athletes and coaches alike and losing the history and tradition that was so important to Jon.

You are entitled to your opinion that the regime demotivates athletes, but I doubt (as you assert) that this is its intent.

[Mrs H]

That's all right then!

[buzz]

The current BO performance regime seems intent on demotivating athletes and coaches alike and losing the history and tradition that was so important to Jon.

You are entitled to your opinion that the regime demotivates athletes, but I doubt (as you assert) that this is its intent.

Its a fact that this regime is demotivating some athletes and coaches not just my opinion, although I agree that its not necessarily their intent.

They may not be intent on demotivating, but from my perspective the type of motivation that Jon described isn't high on the agenda and they have certainly been intent on distancing themselves from JROS.