Oxford City Race

[sgb]

It has come to our attention that there have been several questions asked on the thread about the latest edition of Focus about the clash between the forthcoming Oxford City Race and the British Squad Inaugural Weekend in November.

The Oxford City Race was initially planned as an evening Sprint Event as part of the 2005 World Cup Series and had to be cancelled after the World Cup Series was cut back due to a lack of entries. It was then reincarnated as a middle race which would have been held in May but had to be postponed because of problems with permissions.

At the time when we rescheduled the race, we needed to find a free date in the orienteering calendar and wanted people to be able to combine the event with another high profile event in the South of England. The day before SOC's November Classic was deemed to be the best option.

The Oxford City Race will take place on Saturday 4 November and will be a middle distance event in the centre of Oxford and in some of the Oxford colleges with start times between 1130 and 1330.

OUOC has now been looking forward to holding this event for more than two years, and our objective is to provide courses which are enjoyable for everybody who attends. We do not wish to become involved in a debate concerning the relative importance of the GBR elites' priorities and orienteering's profile in the UK; and are focussing on providing a high quality event for all those who shall be competing.

We have communicated with Derek Allison and understand that a decision not to attend the City Race was made with the Squad's interests in mind. Whilst this is disappointing for us, we do not expect it to detract from the event, and do not seek to criticise the squad managers.

SGB
OUOC President 2006-7

[Oldman]

Well said SGB! Your contribution was a model of carefully worded diplomacy.

Not often you get posts like this here

[Blanka]

Hi SGB,

any chance you could let us know when the online entry system will be open for the event?

Many thanks,
Blanka

[sgb]

We are planning to open the online entry system next weekend (ie. end of September).

[CHS]

SGB,off topic, but I saw your nice plug for OUOC in one of the magazine's I've been sent as a fresher from UCAS/The Independant. A good advert for oreinteering.

[sgb]

And entries are now open. We hope it's been worth waiting for!

http://www.jok.org.uk/cityrace/

[GML]

SGB - Please could we have an indication of the length of the various courses (in particular Course 1 vs Course 4)?

Thanks

[Roger]

As controller, I'm in the privileged position of having seen the draft courses -- and the race is going to be fantastic! OUOC has done a great job in getting permission to enter all sorts of places 'behind the gates': despite the fact that I spent five years in Oxford, there are controls in places I've never been to (yet!). I recommend giving yourself enough time to jog round your course for a second time after you've finished, so that you can drink in the sights (and in the King's Arms) that you were too busy to appreciate the first time round.

Provisional course lengths are
course 1 - 6.84 km - men
course 2 - 5.35 km - women, vet men
course 3 - 3.82 km - supervet men, vet women
course 4 - 2.83 km - supervet women, junior City race
course 5 - 3.05 km - M/W 14/16 (no road crossings)
course 6 - 1.80 km - M/W 10/12 (no road crossings)

[sgb]

Quick note for people entering: please be aware that as we are using contact-free EMIT competitors must use V3 EMIT cards. Thus if you already own a V2 card you'll need to hire one.

Sorry - we know it's a pain for those with the V2 cards, but it should make the event far more enjoyable on the day!

[distracted]

Just a reminder that the first closing date for entries for the Oxford City Race is midnight at the end of Friday. Details and online entries can be found at:

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ouoc/events/cityrace.shtml

Late entries will be guaranteed until midnight on Sunday, and after that will be limited dependent on the availability of maps and start times - we've a restricted start block which can't be extended by much. The courses are filling up quickly, especially the Men's Open, so if you're intending to come to what will be a fantastic race then don't leave your entry too late!

We look forward to seeing you in Oxford