CSC Eyeballs out.

[grubby]

. . . . . . . and to think, all these years I've managed to avoid 'Park O' - until the Compass Sport Cup final !! ('Pseud O ??)

. . . yes, yes,. . .I'll get my coat !

[Barny of Blandford]

Yes but what a fantastic day it was
The three of us ran as non-counters after 2pm and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves
Thank you to Mr Emit and all his helpers for a fantastic day - it was all about a team of people working really hard to give us all an excellent day

[Gnitworp]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Green Men's Course, but don't we deserve at least 250 gauge map cases at the CompassSport Cup Final? (see BOF Appendix below).

3.1.14 If pre-marked maps are not printed on waterproof material they should be protected by
a sealed plastic covering of at least 250 gauge (or a heavier gauge if the map unit size
exceeds A4) prior to issue to competitors.

[awk]

. . . . . . . and to think, all these years I've managed to avoid 'Park O' - until the Compass Sport Cup final !! ('Pseud O ??)

. . . yes, yes,. . .I'll get my coat !

Anything but pseud-O: it was certainly very fast, but it was fascinating watching some speed merchants around me completely blowing controls once off the airfield and into the woods - all the 'rules' (attack points, change of pace) etc. broken in the mad rush. I was anything but in contention, being far too slow for this stuff, but thoroughly enjoyed it and had a really enjoyable and challenging race.

Anyway, Park-O has a rather higher density of controls: we had 15 in 8k. In the last Park race I did, there were 23 or so in 3k. You've still yet to experience the real joys of park racing grubby - your loss!

I also have to take back some of what I said about Emit previously: this was an enjoyable experience of it. The version 3 cards make a big difference: swiping is so much more reliable and quicker now with the visual check.

[wonderboy]

It ain't gonna get any better next year - the final is on Sherwood Pines!
In fact the last 4 finals have been on easy, fast areas:
Greenham, Clowbirdge, Pillar Woods, Shouldham.
The last moderately technical one was Titterstone in 2002.

[Mrs H.]

Never mind - you can all enjoy Titterstone again at the first day of SinS next year. It promises to be

moderately technical

and just part of the best weekend's orienteering holiday you will have enjoyed in years - I can personally guarentee it

[Neil M35]

It ain't gonna get any better next year - the final is on Sherwood Pines!
In fact the last 4 finals have been on easy, fast areas:
Greenham, Clowbirdge, Pillar Woods, Shouldham.
The last moderately technical one was Titterstone in 2002.

Sherwood Pines is being used for a Regional Event in January, so it can't possibly be used for the Compass Sport Cup final in the same year, can it???.

The CSC final has a guaranteed high entry whatever the area is like so it is not in a clubs interest to use their best areas. These are saved for events which actually need to be high quality to attract runners. Having said that I have enjoyed all the finals I have run in (Titterstone, Pillar Wood, Clowbridge, Greenham) but that has been because of the atmosphere of the event rather than the quality of the orienteering.

[johnloguk]

I thought the final next year is at Blidworth, which admittedly is a similar type of area to Sherwood Pines. It isn't ultra-technical, but few areas are, and as Neil says the atmosphere can more than make up for it at an event like the CSC.

Get the club tents lined up, people who normally don't think of themselves as competitive getting cheered on by club mates because their run really counts for something, some poor soul trying to work out their rapidly changing club score on the back of an old piece of paper in the rain, great stuff.

[wonderboy]

Neil, you are quite correct, the final will be at Blidworth as the regional is at Sherwood Pines. This also confirms your thoughts, as Sherwood Pines is bad but Blidworth is dreadful, hence saving the better area to try and attract runners!
I'm probably being a bit pessimistic, Sherwood is not too bad I suppose, especially by January.

[Rich R]

Nothing wrong with the Pines. Especially if you get the right planner.

[wonderboy]

Can't be one of our potential scorers though can it!

[Klebe]

Interesting to see a couple of the comments on this thread.
It looks like people are happy to accept poor orienteering areas so long as there is a good club atmosphere.

Quote
The CSC final has a guaranteed high entry whatever the area is like so it is not in a clubs interest to use their best areas. These are saved for events which actually need to be high quality to attract runners. Having said that I have enjoyed all the finals I have run in (Titterstone, Pillar Wood, Clowbridge, Greenham) but that has been because of the atmosphere of the event rather than the quality of the orienteering.


Get the club tents lined up, people who normally don't think of themselves as competitive getting cheered on by club mates because their run really counts for something, some poor soul trying to work out their rapidly changing club score on the back of an old piece of paper in the rain, great stuff

This is not a criticism of Sundays event, more of a general question.

If the Compass Sport Cup is a Club orienteering competition, presumably as a ‘test’ to identify that club with the ‘best’ / ‘all round strength in depth’ at orienteering then shouldn’t the competition make use of the best Orienteering areas available.
Most clubs have travelled long distances, with club members taking a long day up just to be there and to compete. Is the viewpoint that because they will turn up anyway so we do not have to use quality orienteering areas not selling these clubs down the river.

I fully understand clubs protecting their own interests and areas, I just wonder why we are not using challenging areas for the main club competition of the year.
Wherever the event is held there will be a good atmosphere, wouldn’t it also be good to give the clubs some good orienteering too.

[Peter]

Well .... the CompassSport Cup/Trophy Final in 2009 and beyond is up for bids .... so find a challenging area that is available in October, the second or third weekend, but not what might be half term and via your club fixture secretary submit a bid.

That would be great

Peter Guillaume (2 hats)
CompassSport Cup/Trophy Coordinator (would some one else like the job ?)
Fixtures Chairman

[johnloguk]

Klebe I don't think anyone was advocating using poor orienteering areas for the CSC or any other event. Comments were made that maybe Sherwood Pines/Blidworth etc weren't stunning technically, but no one could claim that they are poor areas. Generally they aren't TD5, but as I said in my post there are few genuine TD5 areas anywhere in most of our regions.

If someone decreed that our premier club competition should only be held on the best terrain, like BEOC, then that would mean many clubs travelling even bigger distances, which would also disadvantage many of us. None of the areas used recently are poor, or even easy, they just aren't TD5.

Week in week out most of us orienteer on areas that aren't TD5, and generally we have a good time thanks to good planning. Although it is laudable to try and get something like the CSC final on the best areas, I think it would be impossible to do that and also share it around the regions, much like JK and BOC. But then that is another argument I guess.

As for clubs saving their best areas for other events I wouldn't know. We're hosting the regional heat in 2007 on our best area, but surprise surprise it ain't TD5

[awk]

It looks like people are happy to accept poor orienteering areas so long as there is a good club atmosphere.

There seems to be an equation that easy/fast = poor here. However, for example, the Spring Cup is usually on easy and fast terrain, but it's certainly not poor terrain. I thought Sunday's terrain was fine. Certainly, far more preferable to some genuinely poor terrain I've had to run on!