Adverts

[Peter B]

sorry

[bendover]

[ so is it time now to start thinking about the impact such adverts are having, and acting upon it?

do you like using this site? do you want it to still be here?

will it be here without financial aid from advertisements?

answer these questions peter. then decide if you want to pay for the site to be here out of your own pocket, or whether you'd prefer to get it for free thanks to the Nope guys working hard to get advertisers in.

then think about whether or not you should be telling brooner what he should or shouldn't do with adverts on this site?

[Peter B]

Brooner is a nice guy. I'm only putting forward my arguments for or against usage of certain types of advertising in this scenario.
How does what I've just said mean that i'm telling Brooner that he MUST put a limit on it? (Which is what you're telling me)

[Kitch]

.....
I'm Peter B, i'm 17, i'm kind of like,
talking rubbish

and that doesn't just apply to the signature

[PorkyFatBoy]

.....
I'm Peter B, i'm 17, i'm kind of like,
talking rubbish

and that doesn't just apply to the signature

Ah! The return of the old sport of Peter B bashing.

[Kitch]

hey
I was much less polite in the first 3 edits

Is peter B the guy that used to have the labrador avatar then ?

[P2B]

So, to put the sheep amongst the wolves - is anyone else out there doing the rat race? I'm off to the Bristol one this weekend.

So far as transference of skills is concerned. The prologue is (like Edinburgh last year) a 3 hour score event. It is here that my team (all orienteers) is hoping to do best and make up the points. We've also been introduced to bike-o from foot-o and have taken this up quite seriously. (so much so that I spent 4 hours in a midgey Yorkshire forest last weekend hanging controls).

As for rope work and kayaking yada yada yada... If there are experts in those disciplines at the RR of course they'll whip our a*ses. But that won't win them the race. I think orienteers have a lot to prove to the AR fraternity. If you can move pretty swiftly and in the CORRECT direction - you'll save a lot of time.

(Please note, I'm writing this on a high of expectation BEFORE the event... will be a different story in the gloom of bottom position on Monday!)

The point is - I'm not going to move on from Orienteering completely. Orienteering gives me a totally different set of challenges to AR. AR is teamwork. O is an individual challenge. O is about delicate and fine navigation. AR navigation is much less of a technical navigational challenge. For me to enjoy a sport I need a mental challenge as well as physical. O delivers this straight to the spot. AR does to a lesser extent, by challenging me in disciplines that I don't normally do (like abseiling the Avon Gorge this weekend).

Good luck to any others in Bristol this weekend!

[brooner]

So, to put the sheep amongst the wolves - is anyone else out there doing the rat race? I'm off to the Bristol one this weekend.

i won't be doing it, but i'll be there. I would cheer you on but I wouldn't know who to look out for!
its going to be a loooonnnnnnngggggggg weekend...

[Toni]

Andy S is doing it too.

[Matt p]

Could anybody tell me when it actually starts tomorrow - had a quick look on the site and it mentions 7pm. Is there any races actually on saturday daytime or just the stuff around the arena.

[brooner]

race starts 7pm sunday so yes, just all the madness that is ensuing around the event village. weather forecast is looking good for a couple of days in the sun

[Matt p]

Cheers Brooner but 7pm sunday or 7pm saturday?

Pleased to report that currently in Bristol its clear blue skies and pretty warm. This could encourage spectators to spend much of saturday in the array of beer gardens and subsequently may lead to vocal support for the competitors in the evening.

[brooner]

7pm saturday, probably about 7am sunday! though i think it should thankfully be later than that.

you could even take part on saturday night if you aren't one of those enjoying the beer gardens, there's still some places left to just do the prologue on its own.

[rocky]

I guess the next figures to show the reduction in 20-40 year olds in the sport will be put down to nopesport allowing advertisements from adventure race events.

You've already mentioned that at the Rat Race you will be advertising orienteering in it's own right, which agreed is a good thing. And, also like you have now admitted, advertising adventure races to orienteers may not be so much of a good thing, so is it time now to start thinking about the impact such adverts are having, and acting upon it?

i think we need another sarcasm emoticon for this one....

[P2B]

Well, I've made it as far as my computer today... hobble, hobble, but Team P Brains held their heads up over the weekend at the Rat Race I'm pleased to say... just waiting for the final results to go up on the website...

But back to the subject... I noticed the BOF stand at the Rat Race on Saturday whilst registering. Please don't take this the wrong way if anyone reading this was involved in putting it together/manning it, but it lacked a certain amount of perzaz.

We went over and my team talked briefly to the very pleasant lady manning it at the time (from BOK I presume). But when you compared the BOF stand to the other stalls around, it was just some examples of maps and a bored looking (sorry) lady in green o-bums. Could there not have been a bit of inter-activity going on? There were refresher courses being run in kayaking and rope work on the Saturday. Could there not have been some kind of intro/refresher into orienteering. Compass work, what the different colours mean, something about contours. It only needed to be very basic as it was parks we were orienteering on. Judging by the pickles some of the teams were getting themselves in to during the race with their maps, it would have been very beneficial!

I appreciate that you've got to find club members willing to give up their valuable weekend to put this on, but I think adventure races are great places to advertise O. When talking to fellow competitors, they always had a great deal of respect for our team because of our orienteering background (we didn't mention our super rubbish fitness levels to them!).

The orienteering itself on the Sunday was fun I thought. We had two controls actually under bridges in a stream - one was knee deep for a little person like me! But I think it gave a favourable impression to the competitors of O in general, and certainly wasn't a boring walk in the woods.

To sum up. Navigation is a key part in most adventure races, be it 'pure' orienteering stages, or just navigating your way around the route. Adventure racers are quite a competative bunch and would view O as brilliant training for AR. They have the disposable income and transport to attend orienteering events. Why not tap in there?