British Champs

[Scott]

I had very much the opposite experience: with my chronically weak ankles, I found the small, unyielding tussocks at Knipe Scar and Angle Tarn Pikes - every footstep a lottery of not knowing which way your foot is going to be yanked or twisted - much rougher going than anything Grizedale had to offer.

If you don't mind being scratched a bit, much of the plantation at Grizedale is actually really rather pleasant running - there's often nothing more than a soft cushion of pine needles on the ground.

I suspect many of the complaints about Grizedale come from folk who struggled with the combination of low visibility and a not over-detailed map, which tested a rather different set of navigational skills than the standard UK event

[King Penguin]

Just shows we do need the variety we get, as different venues appeal to different people.

[Scott]

I couldn't agree more! One of the real strength of orienteering in this country is the sheer variety of terrain on offer in such a (relatively) small area.

(I also suspect, KP, that the scratchiness at Grizedale is rather more unpleasant at your height than it is at mine...)

[King Penguin]

... and the bigger one which someone just in front of me let go and gave me a cut and lump on the forehead would have missed you completely !

[ryeland of doom]

Was at Grizedale BOC1999. Excellent and most enjoyable. Wish I could have returned this year.

I remember the late 1980s. There was a lot of excitement at the prospect of a BOC on the Black Mountain in 1990 or soon after. It fell through and we got Ewden which was interesting (disqualified automatically as my start time was earlier than the first train into Sheffield). Still got run and I won a Soviet Paul McCartney album in a draw hosted by an Estonian team.

2025 and 26 look like using areas (unlike Ewden) very much fit for a National Championship.

[graeme]

Was at Grizedale BOC1999. Excellent and most enjoyable. Wish I could have returned this year.

I think this was a different area, further west (formerly Breasty Haw). Inter alia, there was a Harvester there back in the day...

[Homer]

Was at Grizedale BOC1999. Excellent and most enjoyable. Wish I could have returned this year.

I think this was a different area, further west (formerly Breasty Haw). Inter alia, there was a Harvester there back in the day...

BOC 1999 was at Graythwaite. First used for a World Cup in 1998.
BOC 2025 was in the bit of Grizedale originally known as Breasty Haw. Probably christened by Bilbo when he first mapped it...

2025 and 26 look like using areas (unlike Ewden) very much fit for a National Championship.

My memory of Ewden in 1990 isn't too bad. Some bits of featureless moorland but also some interesting land slip and some forest. Certainly much variety. It's a shame we don't seem to have access any more...

[Big Jon]

My abiding memory of mapping Ewden Valley was being shouted at by a gamekeeper as I was plodding through some heather. I grudgingly went across to him through the deep stuff and explained what I was doing. "thats OK" he said, and broke his shotgun and removed the cartridges... I often wonder if he would have fired if I'd ignored him.
I think it was also an area where Dark Peak runners had their car tyres slashed when they were having a night run over the moors.

[buzz]

If I recall from the Welsh 6 days last year there isn't a tree on the map,

Presumably everyone who was there last July will have to declare themselves non-competitive

(2.6.1 For Championship classes, competitors must declare themselves non-competitive if their acquaintance with the terrain would give them substantial advantage over other
competitors. Nothing that occurred more than 24 months before the date of the event will be taken into account.)

Quite a few ran on Grizedale 18 months before the British. https://www.loc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#254
I wonder how many declared themselves non-competitive?

[forest grump]

Quite a few ran on Grizedale 18 months before the British. https://www.loc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#254
I wonder how many declared themselves non-competitive?

What is the point of rules if people and/or clubs don't abide by them? How were LOC allowed to organise an event on the same area only 18 months beforehand, as surely this would give people who attended an advantage?

[SJC]

How were LOC allowed to organise an event on the same area only 18 months beforehand, as surely this would give people who attended an advantage?

At the time of the event (December 2023) there was no host for the 2025 British Championships so not unreasonable for LOC to stage an event on Grizedale. If the choice then became to use Grizedale, and accept that some people will have run on it within the previous 24 months, or not have a British Championships then I am sure most people would opt for ignoring the rules and having a great event there. We should be thanking LOC for taking it on, not criticising them.

[DM]

Agree we should be thanking LOC.

It's not the first time a Lakes area has been used because another region decides they can't stage a major event, according to the accepted rotation through the regions.

Maybe the rotation is what needs looking at. What shouldn't be compromised is that BOC and JK need to be a technical challenge.

[Lard]

Agree we should be thanking LOC.
Maybe the rotation is what needs looking at. What shouldn't be compromised is that BOC and JK need to be a technical challenge.

Here, here !!! Please don't stage a British Champs Long or Middle on areas that are not technically challenging. These two events are meant to be at the pinnacle of our sport.

The JK is a festival so may have a different approach....although why the sprint isn't included in the overall results is another weird scenario....don't get me started...

[SeanC]

With the region rotation system, it's tougher for the southern and eastern regions to find such terrain. Impossible for some regions perhaps?

How would people feel about these (wacky, for orienteering) ideas?

1) Southern and Eastern regions/clubs to 'own' the rights to hold big events in technical areas outside of their regions in places like the Lakes, North Wales, Scotland, with local clubs owning the rights to hold local and regional events in such areas.

2) Professionalise the British Champs (and maybe the JK too) with a major events company free to negociate access to wherever they think will work - leading to a rotation around the North and West of the UK (rather like the OMM).

[greywolf]

At the time of the event (December 2023) there was no host for the 2025 British Championships

so what's the excuse for next year?