British Schools Orienteering

[Simon]

Results from the selection race

Photos from the selection race
Sorry that the photos are not great - the light level was too low at the finish meaning that many are blurry.
Also I will rotate all the photos when I have a few spare minutes - which means at some stage next week!

Photos of some of the equipment being used tomorrow

[Tatty]

Spent today out at Bovington in heavy rain all day. Such a shame for the kids and their teachers. However I must say we were amazed at the poor standard of dress of a lot of the competitors One of the first to start , a member of OD Junior Squad, arrived already in tears as he was cold, had on only a short sleeved O top which was soaked through. He did not really want to be there, but his Dad had said he had to go out What that is going to do for that lads moral I dread to think. Very few of them had gloves or hats. A lot only had thin tops. St. Andrew's School from Pangbourne, and St Andrews School from Wokingham had all their kids suitably dressed - hoodies or coats with their O top over them, gloves and in many cases hats as well. Kings College, Cambridge were almost as good. I'm afraid I disagreed with the Controller who hadn't wanted to inforce cagoules as "The established orienteers don't like running in them". I only hope that there weren't too many retirals from kids who had got too cold to think straight. After 4 hours standing in the wind and rain, soaked through all 5 layers of clothes I was wearing to the skin, we didn't go back to the Assembly area, just jumped in the car and came back home.
We were equally amazed that so few of the children, Year 5 and 6 Boys had compasses with them or knew how to orientate their maps. BSOA still need to do a lot of teacher input for those not orienteers thenselves.

[Sue C]

That must have been almost the worst possible combination of cold, wind and rain for a Schools Champs. There were some very cold and wet people, especially at the south start where the tent had blown down. A really difficult day for all the helpers, so many thanks to all of them. It was a pity that we could not have prize-giving but in my view entirely the right decision. Once both of our children were finished all we wanted to do was change out of wet things, get in the car and drive home.

[Mrs H]

Yes it was a tough day for everyone - i really think in an event of this nature - particularly with remote parking - you have to have some public shelter provision. I only thought about taking a tent when I saw the forecast on Friday - and as I was taking one boy with a dislocated shoulder and one wimpy girl and knowing I was going to have to dump them with it I did not know if the tent would get put up - fortunately there was enough people wanting to get in it that it was not a problem - we even had people shetering in the lea of it.

i think every child who turned out deserved a medal and the helpers and organisers deserve sainthoods - sadly i think it's probably put a lot of kids off the sport for life - but what's the answer? change the time of year? there's no guarrantee you'd get better weather in May (as I know to my cost )

edit monday morning - just seen in the paper that Bournmouth was the wettest place in the country with 1.66 inches of rain

[King Penguin]

It was certainly the worst weather for a British Schools I can remember, from the last 8.
The delays at the South start did not help. Even with people to carry extra coats back to the start its difficult to get the balance right between kit to run in and kit to go to the start in, especially if when you get there you are faced with an unexpected 30 minute queue out in the elements to get your SI card.
I also believe everyone who took part deserves a medal. I was pleasantly surprised how cheerful all my lot were when they finshed, even those who were out somewhat longer than expected.
I (and the lads) were really, really glad I borrowed a club tent for the event.

I did have a comment from one of my lot that about 2 controls from the end he was "directed" a certain way by someone looking and sounding official, only to discover it was totally the wrong way for his control, costing him about 2 minutes.
I think it is appropriate to have officials around the course for an event such as this, and particularly in those conditions, but I do believe they should not "help" the competitors unless either they are asked for help or the competitor is clearly having difficulty.

[RJ]

What an awful day..... many of those kids showed more resilience than I could have mustered in those conditions. Superb strength of character 'stick-at-ers' all the way through the event. There were many brilliant performances as well.

Everyone had to contend with very trying conditions, getting the right ecard, being on the start line at the right time, dealing with extra clothing. The organisation creaked.... but held together, with everyone sensitive to how close to catastrophe it almost was. One competitor picked up a blank map and was over 100m down the track before they realised there was no course..... definitely not an effect of the weather!! A two minute forced error in a seventeen minute race time.... no, not good. And before you say that it was the responsibility of the competitor to check.... THINK!!

Thanks to all those who stuck at their posts and did the job, it can't have been easy to keep smiling! I don't think juniors will have been put off. They will have seen it as a challenge they are pleased to have survived. All of ours want to know where it is next year. And the adults will probably feel exactly the same.

Not having a prizegiving is also a disappointment, but there is nothing that can be done about that. However, since a large number of competitors can't hang about till mid afternoon and have six plus odd hours of travel to complete, it needs a rethink. Do we need a full scale prizegiving? Should trophies be sent to schools for presentation at assemblies? Is a display of winners on the website or on a paper bulletin sent to all schools a better alternative? Should there be an indoor facility made available? As a sport we have a very poor track record with prizegivings.... should we just not bother?

[Gross]

Do we need a full scale prizegiving? Should trophies be sent to schools for presentation at assemblies? Is a display of winners on the website or on a paper bulletin sent to all schools a better alternative? Should there be an indoor facility made available? As a sport we have a very poor track record with prizegivings.... should we just not bother?

How about arranging the start list so that classes run together? Then a class winner will be known sooner & there can be a series of rolling prizegivings.

[EddieH]

Just like the Finns had at WMOC this year Gross - quite the most unatmospheric meaningless prize givings I have ever seen!

[DM]

One competitor picked up a blank map and was over 100m down the track before they realised there was no course..... definitely not an effect of the weather!! A two minute forced error in a seventeen minute race time.... no, not good. And before you say that it was the responsibility of the competitor to check.... THINK!!

Not again! This happened to one of our runners at the Peter Palmers, where the "maps" were placed face down for a mini mass start. Competitor should not need to check as this is something that should have been checked extremely carefully beforehand and should simply not happen.

We chose not to go this year, mainly due to the distance which I know is the same issue for people in Dorset/Devon coming North. We did not escape the rain though, Linacre Woods were wet, slippery and cold but probably not as bad as at the schools.

Regarding presentations, the best I have seen was at Temple Newsam which had an amphitheatre shaped area which was ideal. Smooth organisation of the presentation can cut down the time involved.

[SJC]

One competitor picked up a blank map and was over 100m down the track before they realised there was no course..... definitely not an effect of the weather!! A two minute forced error in a seventeen minute race time.... no, not good. And before you say that it was the responsibility of the competitor to check.... THINK!!

Presumably the child had to go back to get a new map - which is where the officials running the start should have done the thinking for him. He/she could have had their SI Card cleared and been put through the start again - at the half minute if necessary to avoid any waiting around. If it wasn't the competitor's fault then they shouldn't have been penalised.

[Rookie]

Well done Ulverston and everyone who finished, even braved starting from the reports of the weather. Real shame, British Schools was always fun when I ran them.

And congrats to Kenilworth in 4th, great work (not sure if I can bring myself to say congrats Henry VIIIs, but maybe I should say commiserations )

[Gonzo]

Are Kenilworth School and King Henry VIII School both competing through Octavian Droober's development? A number of their competitor's names are familiar but well done to a club that can get two teams in the top four at the British Schools.
Ulverston - what can you say apart from well done again.

[kedge]

There were one or two familiar names missing this year - Walton High School, for example, who used to win the large schools section regularly, and Anfield.

Well done to Ulverston, and also to Clayesmore, who have maintained something of a stranglehold on the Small Schools title since first winning in '94. Having trekked all round the country over the years its good that they could win again in their own back yard, at an event put on by their local club.

[Stodgetta]

There are still loads of orienteers at Walton High (20 of them have been invited along to run for us at the YBT final), but unfortunately there's no teacher at the school who's willing to grab hold of the sport and promote it, encourage newbies or do anything under the school name beyond sending out letters to parents of established orienteers and say "this event is on, if you would like to take your child to Devon (or wherever) to run for our school, we don't mind". They are members of Walton Chasers who happen to go to Walton High (primarily because of some committed and hardworking orienteers on the teaching staff and supportive head teacher of a feeder primary), rather than the other way around.

[Rookie]

Droobers have worked with Henry's for ages, and Kenilworth (secondary and the primary schools) were coached by gg last year, I think Iain E has taken over some of it now. Hopefully with the primary work Kenilworth can stay up there (as long as they don't oust Ulverston!)