Bibs

[andy]

The bib, with number and sponsors logo(s), not only gives a "professional" look
it gives "joe public" the "look, it's a race" feel as they see the numbers etc. This is
particularly true of urban races where the competitors are more in contact with
the public.

This is why we gave all runners in the public race at the Park World Tour in Perth a bib, it served no other purpose as we didn't take down numbers!

[PhilJ]

More than happy to see sponsors logos and start times printed of them so times can be checked in -1 at the start, so why aren't we doing this? This type of checking on day 2 and 3 of jk was not possible as no times were on the bibs.

Agree they can be used to disqualify people in sprints, but how often do we have the luxury of "spotters" lurking by olive green hedges? Possibly at park world tour events, but british sprints at keele? I know of some people that did take a olive green short cut toward the end of the jk sprint course, you cannot police all the course.

If we do not have a consistent baseline of a bib spec to show our sport in a professional way then a bib only acts as a bit of paper with a number on it.

Take an urban event, if we want to promote it while we run around a town centre, london sprint for example then shouldn't the world "orienteering" appear on the bib somewhere so joe public gets some idea what these nutters are doing racing around the place? Otherwise they will think it's just another fun run.

I am happy to wear a bib as long as it serves a purpose to me as a competitor, the organising club to help them, and promote to the sport, just not seen much evidence of this.

[andy]

I am happy to wear a bib as long as it serves a purpose to me as a competitor, the organising club to help them, and promote to the sport, just not seen much evidence of this.

For me it's 'or' instead of 'and' in that sentence. If there's a single decent enough reason for it, I'm happy.

[Glucosamine]

When was a bib last a bib in a domestic event? When it is a number, then why not call it a number? Or are we all messier eaters now that burgers are the preferred event food...?

[iainwp]

i'm a middle aged returned to orienteering and new to competitive sport in general, so at M45 at JK2013 I was wearing a number for the first time ever ... it was great.

[canol]

I have run at many events orienteering and non-orienteering with bibs. Sometimes they are to identify runners through a checkpoint or finish such as small fell races but more races now are using electronic timing.
I am aware of complaints from landowners when their land has been crossed without permission and they have reported the number to the event organiser resulting in the runner being disqualified.
Urban orienteering has a lot more responsibility than terrain events to abide by the rules as far as out of bounds goes because of the public profile. Until all orienteers know and follow the rules all the time then some way of identifying transgressors is needed and bibs is currently the only way.
How long before we all have personalised gps tracking at all events?

[Paul Frost]

Orienteers do seem to like naming things with words that aren't commonly recognised/used in other sports.

Bib = Race Number (sounds so much better)
Assembly = Arena
Di**er = Timing Device
Final Details = Bulletin, Event Programme, Race Briefing, Event Details
Dobs = Metal Studs
Colour Coded = No Equivalent (a random number of courses that vary in length and difficulty)

[Scott]

Bib = Race Number (sounds so much better)
Assembly = Arena
Di**er = Timing Device
Final Details = Bulletin, Event Programme, Race Briefing, Event Details
Dobs = Metal Studs
Colour Coded = No Equivalent (a random number of courses that vary in length and difficulty)

Event = Race

[Spookster]

Event = Race

and Badge Event = Bigger Race
and National Event = Bigger still Race

[Scott]

"Level C Colour-Coded Ranking Event"

[Scott]

Also, I like race numbers, particularly for urban races. If I'm wandering around town and I see somebody wearing a race number, I tend to think "Hey! They're doing a race!", which is a pretty positive impression.

[parallelerror]

Bib = Race Number (sounds so much better)
Assembly = Arena
Di**er = Timing Device
Final Details = Bulletin, Event Programme, Race Briefing, Event Details
Dobs = Metal Studs
Colour Coded = No Equivalent (a random number of courses that vary in length and difficulty)

Assembly is pretty intuitive, it is the area where people assemble. It's also often more accurate, since the race does not take place exclusively in the 'arena'. Indeed with remote starts, no spectator controls, and sometimes even remote finishes, sometimes the race never even visits the 'arena', and if it does, it's normally only for the finish control.
A watch is a timing device. An hourglass is a timing device. A d.i.b.b.e.r serves a specific function. Calling it a timing device would mean it might even be confused with an emit card
Final details is again pretty self explanatory, although the 3 versions at the JK admittedly stretched the credulity of the term somewhat.

Event = Race

Some people like to orienteer in a non-competitive manner, which Event encompasses (in the same way some runners 'race a 5k' and some 'do a 5k'). It would be interesting to see the split between people who feel they're racing when they orienteer and people who feel they are just 'going orienteering', but I think there are probably some recreational orienteers who would be turned off by using the term race for every event.

[Scott]

I think there are probably some recreational orienteers who would be turned off by using the term race for every event.

Really? I've done a few road/trail running events that have billed themselves as "races", and as far as I can tell the non-competitive/recreational runners have been in a significant majority at every one. And there doesn't seem to be a notable absence of recreational orienteers at all the "City Races" - one of the few really good bits of branding we have!

[Paul Frost]

I'd like to change my previous entry to:
Di**er = Timing Chip
It could then be described as "Timing Chip (SPORTident)" or "Timing Chip (Emit)" for those in the know.

[King Penguin]

reentrant = valley