WM relays

[Stodgetta]

My legs esp still kill, almost ended up going to A and E.
But im still off school today - threw up in the night twice and got about 3 1/2 hours sleep from 7pm till 7 am, it just hurt SO much. Going to have another bath and see what happens.

And that was on top of antihistamine cream at the event and tablets in the middle of the night. And she's not a big girls blouse, either.

Yes, there were problems with controls in the wrong place, reinstatements of disqualified runners and not taking account of time lost by some finding the correct control, moving controls mid-race, but at the end of the day, the W Mids relays are not the most prestigious races to win on the O calender and I am not complaining about these problems (although they are all avoidable and the event has suffered as a result).

However, putting juniors thru this sort of pain is just not on. Had it been an individual event, most first leg runners I spoke to would have retired, but they carried on because of their team mates.

[Jayne]

I realised last week how much nettle stings hurt too. Thanks to one indistinct "footpath" at Kedleston - it wasn't just indistinct it was invisible and covered in nettles. Persevered for 10 metres thinking it'd clear and it didn't, had to give up and go back (more nettles). Took three days for them to stop hurting. Ouch

[Guest]

, the W Mids relays are not the most prestigious races to win on the O calender.

that's as may be - but what kind of message is this sending out to the 3 junior girls who struggled round and completed the Ad Hoc course correctly - for one of them it was one of her very first relays - it says "why bother? correctness and perserverance don't pay off"!

[Tessa]

ouch ouch ouch. if that had been my first ever event i would never orienteer again. i didn't sleep at all on sunday night because it was so painful (probably not great start to my A level week!). Since then I have got through industrial amounts of anthisan and have been icing my legs as it cools them down. surely someone would have realised beforehand that this was not suitable for an event? it seems like many people have been there before at this time of year and had problems. why did it still go ahead?

[Guest]

and why is there nothing on the OD website explaining the event and the decisions made - not even the results - they are only on the BOF website.

[Klebe]

Yes, there were problems with controls in the wrong place,
reinstatements of disqualified runners and not taking account of time lost by some finding the correct control
moving controls mid-race,


putting juniors thru this sort of pain is just not on. Had it been an individual event, most first leg runners I spoke to would have retired, but they carried on because of their team mates.

I am not complaining about these problems

Well if you are not complaining then someone bl**dy well should be !!
I'd say starting at club level, going up to regional and finally all the way to the top.

We are an amateur sport run by amateurs, but this is just TOO AMATEURISH.

As Tess said, what does this do for newcomers to the sport.
Thankfully? my girls are in the middle of exams so missed this debacle.

[Guest]

What the problems at this event, the Scottish Championships, and numerous others seem to be showing is just how difficult it is getting volunteers to organise, plan and control events at the moment. It appears to me that clubs are having to accept anyone that they can get just to make sure the event even takes place. Never mind the quality - at least there's an event to go to.

The major concern I would have over any BOF centred bureaucracy deciding who can or can't be an event official is that there just wouldn't be enough officials to stage the number of events we now have. Do people want quantity or quality ? Because you can't have both.

[NeilC]

Do people want quantity or quality ? Because you can't have both.

Says who? I can think of a number of clubs who could rightly claim that they put on a lot of quality events.

[Guest]

Anonymous wrote:
Do people want quantity or quality ? Because you can't have both.


Says who? I can think of a number of clubs who could rightly claim that they put on a lot of quality events.

Yes - and one of those clubs is OD, normally a very reliable club with good events - albeit on crap areas!

[bendover]

kingsbury water park is the closest 'orienteering' terrain to my family home. i tried to avoid training there, as it is (for orienteering) completely unsuitable for anything above an orange at best.

why this area was chosen for a WM relay event (with or without nettles) is beyond me when there is so much better terrain in the region.

there's so many issues with the area - bottomless smelly swamps, the aformentioned nettles, loads of public users and competing activities going on concurrently. not the best decision really.

plus its dull dull dull. path run after path run after path run. yawn.

[Stodgetta]

Klebe,

I think you've misquoted me - the bit where I said "I am not complaining about these problems" has been moved to after the juniors pain bit.

I was very much complaining about putting particularly the juniors thru' the pain. What I was trying to say was that the other problems were very apparent and should not have happened, but from my point of view were not as significant as the fact that the event was run on that terrain full stop.

[Guest]

There may be better terrain in the region, but they aren't OD areas. With the exception of Sutton Park the club has nowhere to stage a reasonable event at this time of year - and Sutton Park is so public the chances of the control sites surviving the morning are non-existent.
So take your pick - Kingsbury or nothing.

[bendover]

that's bollocks, and not a good excuse.

kingsbury water park is just as public as sutton park.

what about tile hill. coombe park. bentley woods. hopwas, or hay wood.

or what about OD saying, sorry, we haven't got a suitable area, but can we run an event on someone elses map?

[HOCOLITE]

Was a risk analysis done? Was there suitable first aid provision?

The intermediate juniors were the first out in the nettley terrain, fortunately there were no entrants in the Intermediate girls relay, or there would have been more young girls in distress. Em was first leg in the mens. I suspect she was more vulnerable due to style of trousers, the thin ones favoured these days would not have offered much resistance to nettles. However the conditons were still bad when the Vet women went out. A 60+ lady is probably just as vulnerable as a young girl.

[Jo]

Well I still enjoyed the event if noone else did!I thought there were good route choice legs and the nettles weren't everywhere.