British Champs.

[andy]

Well... that was fun, I (despite the weather) had a thoroubly enjoyable day. The walk/run to the start wasn't as long/steep as I thought it would be, the course was excellent (wind behind most of the way ) and so was my run.
I think the unfortunate helpers on 'car park' duty should get an honourable mention also as it was very cold, wet and muddy and one of them slipped and fell into the mud while trying to push a car out. I found myself helping them while waiting for my mum to finish her run and it wasn't terribly pleasant. I hope everyone got out of the field before it got too bad.
I feel I should also mention a discussion I had while driving home too: we all thought (sorry it's this arguement again), why not put all the British championships together into one event (BOC, BEOC, BJOC) sometime in June (after all the exams but before the main holiday season gets into full swing) and hold it in 'quality terrain'. The Simonside terrain (I thought) was pretty good (mix of terrain, open/forest, could maybe have used the forest a bit more) though I feel some may have complained had the BEOC been there. I'm sure if the elite's demand this 'quality terrain' then why shouldn't everyone else get it too? The chances of the weather being more consistent are far greater in June, hence less chance of the weather problems had this weekend. BOF should really think about this because the BOC deserves to be a showcase event, on the same scale (if not greater than) as the JK. The only way we can achieve this is to combine all the 'classes' into one event.

last point: well done to the NEOA, who despite some bad circumstances have made a good job of this years BOC!

andy.

[m]

yeh good call there, well done to NEOA. I thought the event went pretty well considering the weather, it could have been much worse. The set up of the finish and commentary with the visible last few controls was really good, it is just a shame that the rain meant everyone was hiding away. The run in should be longer though, it should be made into something people can see. There was opportunity for a total beast up the hill today...

[PeterG]

On the face of things there were a number of quite serious problems with the event but most of them could be attributed to the weather. The one major failing was that maps were not collected at the finish. I understand that this would allow people to leave earlier but, despite feeling like just another a UK cup race, it was the British Championships and should really have been taken more seriously.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my run today and congratulations to Lord Fred for his long overdue victory over me.

[andy]

peter, we seem to have both been disqualified (along with ed, niall and jason), after being told at download that it would be fine and they had put number 182 out instead of 181. even though the WUKCup course people who were downloading have had the same problem rectified. grr. it's been sorted on the other courses it was a problem on too.

[eddie]

are we in or are we out those uk cup points are damn precoius to me. i didn't really want to press the issue with the whole tent falling on top of them.

and cheers peter g i don't thing we'll be racing aginst each other again this year thanks for being an able rival.

[andy]

also, do the M/W 20s get UK cup points as well as FCC points?

[eddie]

yeah they will also those people who are not native to great britain who wanted to sample britains climate.

[graeme]

It went pretty well, given the weather. Great credit to those involved. I dont think it was a great area, but the planning was very good (on my course at least).

But it does raise the question of why the event is so early (maybe NEOA can only use their areas in March - if so wouldn't it be better for them to use another region's areas - its not so far to travel to the Lakes or Yorkshire). Of course, I might be biassed having [nope]d up two of my first three competitive controls of the year.

Since its easy to be right with hindsight, here's a view which may be wrong with hindsight - wouldn't the area have been great for the relay they couldn't find an area for? In case nobody noticed - the planner had included some excellent spectator legs at the end.

Graeme

[Becks]

I can't personally believe this talk of good planning. Yes, the spectator legs at the end were a good idea. But two immense legs with very little route choice??! Even with the driving rain it was simple a case of setting your sights on the hillside over a km a way and getting there through thick heather. We're orienteers, not fell runners. The hillside was not featureless over the far side and could have provided some interesting navigational legs. But what we got instead was over half a course of bland slogging across heather. I felt cheated by the amount of money I'd paid for a top quality ORIENTEERING event and my parents and the rest of people I've spoken to from myclub generally said the same.

As for route choice, our first long leg had only one choice unless you were a super quick runner (did anyone take the path route round to the west? I'd be interested to know), and with the trackgoing most of the way along the second long leg there was no real other option.

That was poor. And even had the weather been good I'd have felt cheated.

[Pinches]

But it does raise the question of why the event is so early (maybe NEOA can only use their areas in March...

I seem to recall from an earlier discussion that the weekend was planned so earlier to ensure that permission for both individual and relay events could be guaranteed.

[andy]

I seem to recall from an earlier discussion that the weekend was planned so earlier to ensure that permission for both individual and relay events could be guaranteed.

erm, that backfired then didn't it?

[Lil' God'rs]

I dont think it was a great area, but the planning was very good (on my course at least).

But not on the Mens UKCup course. Thought it was shocking myself. I was completely bored with it - may have been different if I had been racing hard but on an easy run round for a bloke with a cold it was an incredibly dull course. EVEN WORSE the fact that any navigational challange on the final slope was completely taken away by the visibility of the controls. Two controls were visible from the previous one, another could be seen from 400 metres away, a further one from a good 100 metres away, another had a huge fenced enclosure on the same contour a hundred metres before it AND we had already run past the final two controls. Don't even get me started on that 3km leg - 20 minutes running on a path isn't what I pay to go orienteering for. Perhaps I should stick to triathlon's in the future..... oh yeah, they're even more expensive

Thank goodness we have separate BEOC these days - that would have been a shocker.

Chris

[Becks]

Hmm....a BEOC that's even more inaccessible to those of us who are poor and in the middle of term. There was nothing wrong with using that area for a British Elite Champs...the courses were just badly planned.

[andy]

just found out it was a mix up with the UKCup mens course, we are getting reinstated.

[andy L]

I like the "winner" on the M45L course who achieved 4.7mins/km- i think the fact he took minus35 minutes to get to the first control helped him somewhat!!!