Junior Inter-Regional Championships - final details

[Deaf Old Gorilla]

I can't post in the Juniors fourm, so I have placed a link to the JIRC final details here.

Our apologies for the late notification of the final details - several late-breaking problems had to be overcome.

Final details are on the SCOA web site at: http://www.scoa-orienteering.org.uk/?q=node/61

[Axel]

Any idea when Start list are being provided?

[eagh]

The regional squad managers have to declare the order of their runners in the preallocated start slots and if all the regions have not submitted their lists then start list cannot be produced. So I'm guessing not all the squads have submitted their list.

[Deaf Old Gorilla]

Start lists are now on the web site as well.

[m4rk]

randomly, why aren't there senior inter regional champs (or, i suppose, SIRCs)? why do regions stop competing after junior age?

[Tatty]

It's been tried before. Don't know why it stopped. Perhaps David May or Simon Errington can enlighten us?

[Gnitworp]

Chris Morris NGOC, formerly SLOW, and myself tried to get Senior Inter-regional Championships going in 1976 and 1977 and encountered a singular lack of enthusiasm for it.

We were told by the former editor of 'The Orienteer', Roger Smith, after the events and defending our ideas and efforts in the magazine (Jan 1978 Issue), that 'it was a stillborn baby, and carrying it around was a gruesome task; better to give it a quiet burial and forget all about it', he said. (April 1978 Issue).

Maybe we'd got the format wrong; times of nominated team runners were simply extracted from normal age class results at a Badge Event and aggregated.

In the same April 1978 edition, Gareth Bryan-Jones of FVO wrote recommending an 'individual relay' competition, which would give 'spectator interest combined with close and exciting competition similar to the excellent Scotland v Ireland International' held the previous May. I suspect, however, that Scots and Irishmen identify with their 'regions' more than say a South Centraler identifies with the South Central, wherever that is, and we do presently have Senior and Veteran Home Internationals.

The Junior IRC probably works because of regional squad 'spirit'.

[King Penguin]

I suspect there's sufficient cross-communication and aquaintance between members of the West Midlands clubs for it to be workable.
The challenge may be finding a suitable weekend amongst everything else. It would maybe need to offer junior / other courses as well. There have been plenty of posts stressing the "family" appeal of orienteering, so taking parent's away for a weekend and leaving kids uncatered for could be an issue for some.

[Gnitworp]

I think it was Chris's idea originally. He was a big 'ideas man' in the mid 70's. He saw it as providing a level of representation between club and nation for seniors to strive for. Pity it floundered.

[m4rk]

The challenge may be finding a suitable weekend amongst everything else

combine it with jircs maybe? and have one massive regional competition...

[Nev]

Sorry, can't agree with that one.

As Gnitworp suggested, the JIRC's works very well because of the regional junior squad spirit and it is a competition for the juniors.

If you were to add in seniors ( and then why not vets. ), the junior competition would be devalued AND, more importantly, I am not sure the juniors would let them hijack this one.

Leave well alone.

[awk]

Have to agree with Nev - that idea has to be a non-starter.

I think the explanation of the format immediately goes a long way to explain the failure of an SIRC to get off the ground: just extracting results from a bigger event will do nothing to engender any sense of team competition. It needs to be a special event. I don't agree that accompanying courses for non-team members are needed either. What it does need is for regions to go for it in terms of support, and take a team properly, and also for post-18 squads to get started. JIRCs helped stimulate squad development, rather than just being the result of them.