AIRE Summer in the City

[rf_fozzy]

Hope everyone enjoyed the events.

Results should now be all up on the AIRE website, along with Routegadget. Please do upload your routes as it does help the planners with feedback.

https://www.aire.org.uk/events/beeston-2024-07-06
https://www.aire.org.uk/events/leedsuni-2024-07-07

Speaking of which, if you also have any constructive feedback, please do let us know. There were a few things we got wrong and it's always helpful.

I'll put my hand up and say we should have had a very short green on Sunday for WHV given it was a UK Urban League race - that's my fault for not thinking about it sooner and planning an extra course. I could have done a 3.5km course relatively easily with no extra controls and not horrendous climb.

Sorry to those competitors.

Unfortunately not a lot we could do about the 2 late changes (the slightly moved control) and the roadworks on campus. The university only told us on Friday not to put any controls in front of the union (we were fortunate that was the only one I'd planned) -there had been a protest on the precinct until v recently and it was a condition of permissions.
The roadworks disappearing we discovered at 7.30am on Sunday - they appeared as I was doing my final control checks and completely blocked the road (which was completely dug up), so I hurriedly added them to the map before printing, only for them to disappear in time for Sunday. The usual hazards of orienteering on a university campus!

[King Penguin]

Thanks to all involved - great weekend, mine were good courses.
Will you be loading Holbeck results to BOF website ?
Not sure how they get onto UKOL.

[rf_fozzy]

Yes, but we need some assistance from BOF behind the scenes I believe as Beeston and Holbeck are listed as one event and the results are separate.

Ukol points are based on Beeston only
Yorkshire urban league are the based on the combined time.
Sunday was ukol, ukul and yul.

(I didn't make the decision about what was in what league!)

[graeme]

https://www.aire.org.uk/events/beeston-2024-07-06
Speaking of which, if you also have any constructive feedback, please do let us know.

We've found in Edinburgh that artificial barriers are transformative for increasing the difficulty levels in areas like Beeston. We haven't quite got past the insistence on manning them (more accurately "we cant use barriers,we haven't got the manpower"), but we're getting there. See for example SprintScotland and Big Weekend.

Maybe even this weekend, but that would be telling

[awk]

Great weekend - thoroughly enjoyed both days and all courses, and thought the format on Saturday (first sprint for Yorks Champs, two together for YUL) was just the way it should be, unlike some previous years where other formats (eg 2 runs cumulative, reverse chasing sprint etc) have been used, even if it would have been better for me, at least for the Yorks Champs, if the cumulative time had been taken!

On the issue with the OOB actually becoming goable on Sunday morning, I personally think there were a number of other solutions which I would have preferred as a competitor. As it was, the notice in the start lane (the OOB to the east of assembly is now goable) was rather too ambiguous and forgettable, not least because the OOB wan't directly east of assembly but more NE (even if one could remember where t he assembly area was when part of the way round the course!), and there was a different OOB marked that did run east of assembly. My suggestions as alternative solutions:

1. If necessary put the starts back, and manually cross out the OOB on maps (one quick cross). Then show this crossed out map correction in the start lanes. I remember SYO doing something similar for a Sheffield urban a few years ago when (IIRC), marking on a roadworks that suddenly appeared on Sunday morning.

2. If deemed not viable to do all the above, just put maps in the start lanes with the map correction shown.

3. If no maps available at the start to do that, then have a more precise description (eg the OOB to the east of leg 20-21 on Green, etc...). I don't favour this though except in absolute extremis!

4. Leave the OOB as non-goable. Ideally, if the tapes have moved, have a marshal (manpower!!), but not necessary.

Hope that helps, but don't want to detract from the positive vibes - not an enviable position to be in and didn't spoil the enjoyment (aside from the added time!).

[rf_fozzy]

Thanks.

Just for clarification on the OOB - we considered most of these options:

1. We didn't have the manpower to manually cross out the OOB on nearly 300 maps in half an hour. By the time we had the controls out and checked and everything set up, it was after 10am. I appreciate the point about putting the starts back - yes, that would have been an option, but as always, we were asked by several competitors if they could start early.

2. We (just about) could have shown a map correction in the start lanes, but it would have been very tight on time, because I would have had to generate and print it off and then get it to the start in < 15mins. The controller decided that a note was sufficient.

4. This was not possible - the road was open to traffic and so could not be taped and we did not have the manpower to enforce it on the ground. We decided therefore that that opened us to the opposite issue - people running through -either deliberately or accidentally - and gaining an advantage and we would not be in a position to clearly identify and adjudicate these.

This left us with the note in the start lanes - I thought that "Roadworks on campus to the East of Assembly have gone - you may run through this area" was sufficiently clear, but in hindsight I could have been more specific, although I'm not quite sure what wording

[King Penguin]

Not a complaint (although I completely forgot about the removed OOB when on the run and went round the long way), but perhaps "OOB SE of control xxx (the number on green) / E of control yyy (the number on short green)" might have enabled runners to more easily remember where on their course it was.

[rf_fozzy]

Yep, I considered that - unfortunately there was no one control which was on all courses that would have been a good identifier - Black and Blue had the one to the E on the steps, Brown and Orange had the one NE on the south of the building, Green had the one NW on the fence and S Green had one to the West (although the best route was not through this area on that course).
Only Yellow was unaffected.

That's why I decided that since the everyone pretty much would have gone to assembly, that was the best descriptor location.

[awk]

Come back to this late, having been away....

All fair comment from rf_fozzy. Just a couple of push backs to try and pin things down. Suggestion (2) was made assuming that a handful of blank maps was available (as a planner or controller, I always ask for/expect to have half a dozen printed off for just such and other similar situations). Then would just need manually drawing on - easier to relate to and retain in the mind than a written description.

Under (4), I appreciate that there will have been different controls on different courses. Each course would have needed a separate note.

I've seen both of these procedures implemented (successfully) at events.

On the wording itself - I would suggest that a relatively small alteration to 'NE of assembly' or 'X hundred metres NE of assembly' would have 'helped. The go-able OOB wasn't (precisely!) E of assembly, yet there was another one that was, which is what caused the confusion. Describing them as 'OOB roadworks' or 'OOB roadway' might have helped as well, as that would have helped distinguised them from the alternative.

But I do appreciate the challenges in such a tight time limit; it's much easier in the cool light of day! TBH, this is as much my trying to learn from it for my own future planning/controlling!