Xplorer and Run Challenge

[Snail]

Another thread wrote:

BO requested that we supply (FOC) the OCAD file for Beddington and when asked to ensure that there was 1. the club logo, 2. an acknowledgement that the survey had been done by the club and 3. the the map was copyrighted to the club they said it was "not policy as the layout was done by a marketing company" (paraphrased).

BO are now paying for some other person to produce an Xplorer map, at the same time
as we are surveying for a new POC on the same area. Obviously a really good use of
resources and money by BO

Issues like this make me really frustrated, and occasionally disillusioned, with our governing body - it is almost as if they are deliberately undermining the efforts of local volunteers. If Xplorer had been a success the above stance might be understandable, but it clearly hasn't delivered the targets:
Mike's eNews - April 2014 wrote:

... which could equate to 6,000 new participants if we hit our target of introducing 60,000 people to Xplorer during the year

I have no idea if BO actually introduced Xplorer to that many people in 2014 - presumably there was SportEngland funding to do so - but even if they did I guess the number of new members delivered from that source was in the low hundreds at best.

It really isn't surprising that if you get non-orienteering staff engaging a non-orienteering marketing company to design a new version of the sport they will come up with something that really doesn't integrate well with the mainstream. Teachers / BSOA have found over many years that children can quickly learn to understand a simple standard park orienteering map. But a marketing company will want to place it's own stamp on it: "... there is a reason why grass is green on the [Xplorer] map ..." . This just adds an unnecessary barrier to getting any participants to transfer to the mainstream sport - it looks as though they are starting again. And it frustrates those clubs who are already running successful activities in conjunction with both local schools and local authorities - what are those bodies to think when the NGB and the local club are promoting different versions of the sport - possibly even to the same people at the same time! Quite apart from the NGB paying someone to produce an official 'Xplorer' map at the same time as a local volunteer might be mapping the same area for free!

And as for Run Challenge ... it would be hard to imagine a more negative / unhelpful recruitment tool for BO than the current website (still linked from the Xplorer website). I'm guessing it has died, because whatever location you enter it appears to produce no events, and the results show there haven't actually been any since 2013. But it is still closely associated with BO, so someone finding the sport via this website could reasonably conclude that UK orienteering has ceased to exist.

[SeanC]

I'm not defending the MV problem, or the RunChallenge website listing but...

My son did Xplorer a few months ago and I thought the concept was really good, though there were a couple of issues with the delivery. The same can be said for lots of white and yellow courses he does as well mind you.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the concept (of maps and courses with different symbols more suited for under 10's), and possibly the symbols themselves, had quite a bit of input from Ed Nicholas when he was BO development manager. Whatever you think of Ed - you can't deny he's an orienteer Perhaps he is reading this and wants to talk more?

Simplified maps for under 10's isn't a new concept - string courses? Xplorer belongs to this genre (more like off string).

I might write a review of my sons day out for CompassSport. But it really needs the map and unfortunately I haven't got it.

[DM]

If anyone wants to try our (MDOC) "Countryside Score" events this summer please come along. (these were around before Run Challenge and appear to have outlived it).

We choose areas that have a good path network, to keep people off roads and last year we started having issues with parking at the pubs we chose to use as a base - because of numbers.

We use OS map extracts and all controls are street/countryside furniture. We don't have a formal controller but controls are checked for accuracy of placement on maps.

We've been doing these for several years now and get a mix of orienteers/runners/locals joining in, and the pub managers love the extra business we bring mid week.

[maprun]

If Xplorer is carried out on existing O areas. One transition approach might be to provide participants a choice of an Xplorer map or the O map. Maybe use the Xplorer map first and move onto the O map for a later run the same day, or later in the series.

My son went to Run Challenge for a few months. Very well run, by a local orienteer. Some of the technical exercises after 10 weeks became demanding for me around the tennis courts on descriptions! Unfortunately the Sport England funding I believe, required it to be at the same location and even a 7 year old gets bored after ten weeks.

[Mrs H]

So what do Xplorer maps look like then?

There's a reason orienteering maps are the colours they are too and once you explain to anyone, adult or child, to think about how much sunlight is hitting the ground they instantly get it.

I've never understood why people think children need it to be simplified - they are far better than adults at understanding the map and grow up comprehending it like their native language unlike us who have to 'translate" it in our heads. It's like teaching a child baby words for things - a totally confusing and daft waste of time.

Similarly who ever thought that children needed written control descriptions - surely pictorial are far more intuitive - young children may actually struggle to read some of the words.

[maprun]

I agree Mrs H, after 10 weeks I left him to it. So much for 40 years O experience in forests, when it came down to the nitty gritty of detailed descriptions it came naturally to him.

Similarly who ever thought that children needed written control descriptions - surely pictorial are far more intuitive - young children may actually struggle to read some of the words.

He was two years behind with his reading skills, pictorial was far better!

[SeanC]

[quote="maprun"]My son went to Run Challenge for a few months. Very well run, by a local orienteer. Some of the technical exercises after 10 weeks became demanding for me around the tennis courts on descriptions! Unfortunately the Sport England funding I believe, required it to be at the same location and even a 7 year old gets bored after ten weeks.[/quote]

This sounds like club nights.

Full history of BO initiatives in the past 10 years in case anyone needs the history lesson.

1. Funding for Regional Development Officers. They were I think mainly promoting schools orienteering. These people were unfortunately made redundant about 5 years ago (not sure of the date).

2. 'Club nights'. Popular myth was that these had to be from the same location every week, and that's how many clubs implemented them, but other clubs (eg SO) made them more of a mix of local events and school hall exercises. Lots of club nights shut down after the funding ended about 2 (?) years ago, but many still continue. Part of the conditions of the funding was that the sporting initiatives were local.

3. RunChallenge - largely unsuccessful simple score/footpath orienteering similar to MDOC footpath orienteering described by DM. Possibly has ended, or at least rarely done now.

4. Xplorer - orienteering events and permanent courses using simplified maps aimed at the under 10's, delivered by 'partners' (eg local authorities, forestry commission) who want to get families to visit their areas.

[Snail]

I'm not complaining about the development initiatives per se - lack of new members has been an issue for some years - but more about the fact that it has been done independently, and in places even in conflict with, existing clubs and activities.

For area where a club has an existing map this must be the best starting point for an Xplorer map, even if it needs to be simplified. Most mappers could probably simplify to an agreed spec fairly quickly and easily - without BO commissioning someone else to do the work.

I can't see any reason why there shouldn't be a mention / logo for the existing club - wouldn't schools and local authority sport development officers welcome the chance to build relationships with their local club, particularly if they could get some voluntary help for the sessions? (Most local authorities are probably even more cash-strapped than BO).

Given that Xplorer has hardly been a roaring success, now might be a good time to tweak some of the original offering to keep existing members and clubs onside.

The mapping spec for Xplorer appears to have been kept a secret - I can't see any mention of it on the BO mapping page - but you can see an example on page 22 here:
https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/images/uploaded/downloads/marketing_focus_summer14.pdf

[RJ]

The thing about Xplorer is that it has been created as a 'brand' with particular logo, colours and advertising. I can see that this would work, much the same as Parkrun.

I really think there is a good opportunity to get involved with Xplorer, and run the sessions in your patch, according to Xplorer guidelines. Perhaps you can understand the 'participants' and guide them into your local O series without ramming it down their throats.

My local Parkrun has been organised by the local Athletic Club, not as an extension to their club..... but as a Parkrun. The club are visible with their jackets and running vests and that seems to have been enough to entice runners to do more with them. So, they are now at least four times more active, as a club, than they were when I joined the evening runs ten years ago. Symbiosis.

[SeanC]

The article in Focus shows a good example of how clubs can benefit from Xplorer. MDOC members have been working closely with local Xplorer events. As well as helping to raise quality it looks like it's generated some new members.

https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/ ... mmer14.pdf

[DM]

Sean, that article was back in 2014 and if you read it carefully it is talking about Xplorer AND the MDOC Intro events, 2 different styles aimed at beginners.
Both have been effective at getting more people having a go. The Intro events (O maps, SI etc) have got some new members, not sure about Xplorer but there will have been some.
But by far the greatest number of new members has come from working with schools and getting pupils joined up.

[Copepod]

I was employed by a council parks department to deliver Xplorer last summer. I do various ad hoc sessions with parks on various topics. One park had already agreed to put on Xplorer events, supported by the Friends of M Park, and I went to meet the park manager about other activities. While chatting, I mentioned orienteering, and he immediately asked me to run the Xplorer events. Although the maps were poor, I found people enjoyed the general principle of using maps to find symbols fixed on specific features. Children proudly took away their certificates, along with their answer sheets. So, if they were interested, I showed them some proper orienteering maps of other local parks and wrote the local club name and URL on the back. I'm not sure if any have turned up at orienteering races since then, but at least they have a chance of finding the club name and URL on the back if they ever think they'd like to try orienteering in the future.

[ifititches]

similar experience to Copepod. Our local Friends of the Parks forum tipped me off that one city centre park was taking up Xplorer last summer and I stayed closely involved, helping to run the events and handing out follow-up information. Because it was the park outside the science museum in Birmingham, many of the participants were from other areas of the country, so I supplied them with info about their local clubs too. It's about to take off big-time in other parks across the city, so lots more opportunities to get involved.

I have no problems with the maps. But then, I had just as much fun on a black and white copy of an OS map of Thetford Chase back at orienteering there in 1968/9 as i did on the wonderful Glen Affric maps last summer, so I may be a bit odd! Birmingham Xplorer ones are done by a member of the local club anyway and can readily be converted to orienteering colours once the mapping is done.

But yesterday I saw another version of how orienteering is being demonstrated to children, I was out with my Beatthestreets card trying to bag some extra controls in Sandwell Valley when I saw and heard an independent outdoor Ed instructor with a large school party (from either South Bham or N Worcs I think) gathering them round to introduce "orienteering". The entire class ran off together with a very professionally produced card. During a gap in the activity I asked him about the course. The cards had an aerial photograph of the area with some yellow dots on it. At each one there was another card with a "clue" which looked like an anagram. Given the choice between this or Xplorer as an introduction to the sport I'd personally choose Xplorer any time!

[maprun]

A suggestion for the standard format of Xplorer maps, a small area say at the bottom of the A4 sheet, with more information about orienteering, including the BOF and local club website URLs. Maybe a central BOF telephone number, to enquire about local orienteering opportunties, for a simple immediate link. From what I hear the scale of the map is dependent on whatever fits the borders. As for the back, our club uses it to list future events in our local league, photocopied on so it is up to date.

[roadrunner]

A suggestion for the standard format of Xplorer maps, a small area say at the bottom of the A4 sheet, with more information about orienteering, including the BOF and local club website URLs.

QR codes would be more 21st century!