The loneliness of the (not so) long distance runner

[SJC]

So which upcoming badge event will be brave enough and only offer the 4 courses that Scott suggests? Come on, somebody!!

If there are only enough competitors to justify four courses then the question has to be asked as to why it is a badge / Level B event in the first place.

[PKJ]

As an AIRE member, though not involved in this event, the key question for me is why there were only around 200 at the event, compared with 320 at the Ilkley Moor event in Nov 2014 and over 500 in Feb 2010. Given the numbers at previous events on the area, it doesn't seem unreasonable to plan the wider range of courses this time aswell.
(Infact there were no ranking points on VS Green either)

I've done a quick count, and the 20-40 age group numbers were the only ones which held up well - 45 of 199 in 2017 compared with 43 of 321 in 2014. Also, the 'local' numbers* held up reasonably well - about 95-100 of 199 in 2017 compared with 120-125 of 321 in 2014.
Speculating wildly - are long-standing (and ageing) orienteers now less inclined to travel to the tougher terrain events? Numbers at our Dales event last June were also poor.

*AIRE, Leeds Universities, CLARO and others who I know are local

[greywolf]

the key question for me is why there were only around 200 at the event, compared with 320 at the Ilkley Moor event in Nov 2014

maybe because the 2014 event was a level B / regional / badge event while the one last week was level C / district?

[mharky]

Speculating wildly - are long-standing (and ageing) orienteers now less inclined to travel to the tougher terrain events?

Edited

[Karen]

Just less inclined to travel full stop.
It needs to be a very good event (and that doesn't exclude "tough" areas), to tempt me to drive further than I have to these days.
But the main reason is that there was a level C event on a lovely area in the north-east of the Lake District, much easier for me and about 200 other orienteers to access.

[ianandmonika]

Would have liked to have done Ilkley Moor event but I did not because:-
a) I realised from final details that not only was it 65 miles/100 mins to get to parking but there was then quite a bit of additional time needed to get to the start
b) weather forecast was rain and cold and, at 70, Ilkley is a bit exposed.
c) so I chose NOC's event - only 30 minutes drive and although rain and cold, and reached Nottinghanshire's highest point, it was a lot less exposed than Ilkley.

A great pity as I like Ilkley and have not run there in a while, but it just looked like it had the potential to be pretty grim.

[Mr D]

Ive run here before, a nice area. I didnt go as it was 102 miles away (one way).

Probably 1hr 40 - 2hrs driving time, then the hassle of getting to the start (3hrs in total).

[Homer]

The train to the start and point to point course was all part of the attraction for me. That said I only went after the fell race i had planned on doing was cancelled.
Lots of good events at this time of year and sometimes you just need to do something different for a break from orienteering.
Ilkley Moor was much preferable to the area we to drive 100 miles to next weekend for CompassSport Cup.

[Strider]

Ilkley Moor was much preferable to the area we to drive 100 miles to next weekend for CompassSport Cup.

You may be surprised at what delights the Wolds have to offer you, Charlie, my friend

[Homer]

I hope so.

[PG]

As I've said on here before, the default set of TD5 courses (with min/max lengths from the current guidelines) should be

• Black (10-14km)
• Short Brown (7-10km)
• Short Blue (4.5-6.5km)
• Very Short Green (3-4km)

That gives something of a suitable length for everybody. You should only introduce additional courses if you think you're going to run out of start slots on one of those.

I think this is a great idea. Maybe we should also use the opportunity of a guideline change to rationalise the colour list to get rid of the number of green courses, which must be baffling to a newcomer. We'd do this by changing brown to be short black, Short brown to be blue etc. Neater if the default short course was old short green.

Basic set

• Black (10-14km)
• Brown (7-10km)
• Blue (4.5-6.5km)
• Green (3.5-4.5km)

Add Short Black, Short Brown, Short Blue and Short Green for bigger events. While doing this amendment change Light Green to Red.

[SJC]

Colour Coded event guidelines from ten years ago before all the extra colours were introduced:

Green 3.5 ­- 5.0 km
Blue 5.0 ­- 7.5 km
Brown 7.5 ­- 10.0 km
Black >10.0 km

Time to go back to basics.

[Arnold]

Indeed, looking at next week's SAX event the courses from Brown downwards are:
8.7 / 7.6 / 6.6 / 5.7 / 4.7 / 3.7 / 3.2 Light Green

Surely 3 courses of 8.0 / 6.0 / 4.0km would do? Plus Orange and Yellow.

Maybe we could even think of better names than Brown / Blue / Green for them...

Bit too late for next weekend but would be great if a planner / organiser for May or June picked this up!

[DaveK]

Indeed, looking at next week's SAX event the courses from Brown downwards are:
8.7 / 7.6 / 6.6 / 5.7 / 4.7 / 3.7 / 3.2 Light Green

Surely 3 courses of 8.0 / 6.0 / 4.0km would do? Plus Orange and Yellow.

Maybe we could even think of better names than Brown / Blue / Green for them...

Bit too late for next weekend but would be great if a planner / organiser for May or June picked this up!

Presumably the courses on offer are planned in accordance with the guidelines for SEOA league events and not something the club can therefore change. Nice area though - should be a good event.

[Arnold]

I realised that the "straightforward event" already exists - it's called a midweek Army event in the South.

3 hard courses typically 9/7/5k (on easy terrain) + an orange of 4k. 50-100 people on each course. If you want to appeal to families add a Yellow.

Fairly barebones organisation with 1 person on start and 0 on finish, EOD only, turn up and go. The only thing that needs a few people (ideally) is the download.

Simples.