Lakes 5 Days

[Homer]

Funny you should mention it. I passed a group of lads in tutus being helped across a stream one by one as I jumped it slightly further downstream. I saw quite a few of the 'Total Warriors' but didn't see one running.
My impression was that what we were doing was more hardcore than what they were doing.

[misterblister]

So where are today's results then?? Are the computers all waterlogged or are the organisers all warching the Commonwealth Games highlights?

in the field today, the wireless results worked fine if you stood in the rain near enough to the download tent. However they were 30 mins out of date when I looked. Not exactly "live results". I thought Autodownload could be set up to update the wifi results autmatically every minute?

[DM]

Funny you should mention it. I passed a group of lads in tutus being helped across a stream one by one as I jumped it slightly further downstream. I saw quite a few of the 'Total Warriors' but didn't see one running.
My impression was that what we were doing was more hardcore than what they were doing.

Tend to agree with you.

Depends what the definition of hardcore is, our courses lacked the fire, electric shocks and climbing up greasy plywood. We had ample water, mud, and in my case waist deep water.

Nicely planned by Karen and Dan Parker, who had the pleasure of collecting controls after we had all finished. Pity about the weather as it's such a nice area to run on when drier.

[DM]

So where are today's results then?? Are the computers all waterlogged or are the organisers all warching the Commonwealth Games highlights?

in the field today, the wireless results worked fine if you stood in the rain near enough to the download tent. However they were 30 mins out of date when I looked. Not exactly "live results".

Depends when the last runners got back as to when they can pack up and then drive to their accommodation. They might then want a shower having been out for much longer than you in the conditions today. Knowing the people concerned they will be doing their best to get the results posted ASAP. Oh and then they might get something to eat.

Thanks to all the helpers that allowed it to happen today.

[RichardE]

There was a delay at the end of the event- one competitor was very late back- so the computer team was still on site well after 5.30pm.

However, where will the results be posted? There is no link or menu option that I can find on the 5 days website.

Richard E

[DM]

results will be on the lakes 5 website on a link that will appear once the results are posted, no point having a load of menu options with nothing hanging off them. Looking at how the site is built there will probably be a news item pointing us all towards the results.

[RichardE]

no point having a load of menu options with nothing hanging off them.

Got to disagree there. A holding page- "results will be posted here when available"- is very useful. Saves a lot of time trawling around looking for something that isn't there.

[m4rk]

Some slight guesswork gives a holding page:

http://www.lakes5.org.uk/2014/results/day1/

[misterblister]

I don't doubt the dedication and hard work of volunteers who are preparing the results. But we have reasonable expectations and if these are not met, then people will be disappointed and may not return to Lakes5 in 2018.

I'm off to bed now.

[Paul Frost]

no point having a load of menu options with nothing hanging off them.

Got to disagree there. A holding page- "results will be posted here when available"- is very useful. Saves a lot of time trawling around looking for something that isn't there.

I gave a lot of thought to this when building the site. The problem with having a holding page (or just a link) is that people have to keep clicking it to see if it's been updated. This results in frustration and a load of wasted hits to the server.
There can also be problems with some browser/device combinations that cache the page to save processing, data usage and potentially speed up browsing. So you keep refreshing the page but it's the cached page you keep seeing even though the page has been updated on the server.
By only having the link viewable & clickable when there is something to see solves most of the problems. But I accept that there is still the need to refresh the homepage to see if the link has appeared, so it's not perfect. But at least if anything else has been added to the website you will see that when you refresh the homepage, whereas if you were just refreshing the results holding page you wouldn't.

[Paul Frost]

I don't doubt the dedication and hard work of volunteers who are preparing the results. But we have reasonable expectations and if these are not met, then people will be disappointed and may not return to Lakes5 in 2018.

I'm off to bed now.

Perhaps the solution is to say up front that results will not be posted before 8pm (or whatever time you calculate to be the best achievable). That avoids any expectations that they might be there at 4pm.

Sometimes you know that you will not be able to publish results until late due to the location, potentially late finishers, lack of internet connection etc. There may be problems outside of your plans, but at least it manages expectations.

[RJ]

Sometimes you know that you will not be able to publish results until late due to the location, potentially late finishers, lack of internet connection etc. There may be problems outside of your plans, but at least it manages expectations.

You really shouldn't have to explain yourself, Paul, or the NON 'shortcomings' of the system!! misterblister perhaps had a wet and cold run on Swindale and is taking it out on the event. I have total confidence in the event, and the results team, and the computing team to publish the results AS SOON AS THEY CAN. Why would they sit and twiddle their thumbs and make everyone wait?

misterblister may consider not turning up to the next Lakes5..... but it is much more important that the volunteers at every level don't consider NOT helping next time because they are sick of the 'silly and senseless' criticism.... which the whole of the above two pages adequately illustrates!!

[andy]

I don't doubt the dedication and hard work of volunteers who are preparing the results. But we have reasonable expectations and if these are not met, then people will be disappointed and may not return to Lakes5 in 2018.

I'm off to bed now.

You serious? Surely 'results posted within a few hours' isn't top of your list of must-haves for a holiday event.

Orienteering is the only volunteer led sport I know of that has ridiculously high expectations for posting results. It's our own fault. The problem is that most of us IT types get frustrated when results aren't posted in a timely manner so we strive to post them ASAP after a race. If you run an XC race, expect an excel spreadsheet within a few days if you're lucky, possibly after emailing the organiser to ask them if there were in fact any results produced for that race.

As far as where to put them.... for me holding pages are a big big no-no, plenty of good reasons listed above. The problem for a lot of clubs seems to be they don't post them in the most likely place, or there are several places where they could go so you don't know for sure where they will be. Have a 'results' section and make sure when you post some results they appear there. I've seen most of the following, and sometimes they get posted here instead of a results section: home page, event page, region website, series standings page, email(?)...

[Tatty]

Well said RJ Wonder how many events the person moaning has organised/done the results?

[DaveK]

misterblister may consider not turning up to the next Lakes5..... but it is much more important that the volunteers at every level don't consider NOT helping next time because they are sick of the 'silly and senseless' criticism.... which the whole of the above two pages adequately illustrates!!

Agree entirely. Really good event today and thanks to all the volunteers again!