Discussion: Urban and Park Series
in: Bristol
Jul 19, 2014 8:00 AM
#
BOK Urban and Park Series 2014
These personal reflections are aimed at promoting discussion and ideas. Others comments included
‘The standard of the races this year (with one notable exception) has been very high.’
‘I have really enjoyed visiting the different venues’
‘What am I going to do on Wednesdays now that the series has finished’
• A success – many thanks to the co-ordinator, organisers, permission officers, SI, first aiders and helpers who made it so.
• The series has developed a format, it’s length and timing were about right
• The new maps and venues were a great addition. (Mike made 3 and helped with others!)
• A number of the races were not organised by ‘old gits’ but by young and/or new folk which brought freshness.
• The guest organisers and trips to Cheddar and Chepstow added much to the variety of the series and good to see numbers of QO & NGOC running.
• We returned to only one venue we used in 2013. This race ran in the opposite sense, was well planned but did feel ‘samey’. We really need at least one fallow year
• Orienteering is only as good as it maps. The standard has just got better (LIDAR etc.) My usual beef about making alleys wider only caught me out at Cheddar –where I did not see them for the long leg. (Graham did however provide a cunning ‘sprint’ around the school to start). I also had some map interpretation issues at Chepstow – but what a great effort at a highly complex first map!
• 1: 4000 at Portishead and Chepstow can be justified by complexity but generally we should stay with 1: 5000 as this gives mores scope with planning. (c.f. The Long Ashton race was successful despite a small mapped area)
• Use of playing fields, school grounds, quarries, castles, commons and woods does add variety. If you are going to use a small bit of wood its mapping does need to be spot on and care taken with control sites so they are fair. If it doubt make easy.
• My thoughts on Penpole at the time and subsequently was that it was horrid – the race was spoiled by the summer vegetation. The organisers were right to hang the controls high. Most woods in the SW disappear under a blanket of grot –a rationale for a summer park and urban series. Let’s leave such venues for the winter.
• The Leigh Woods race was fine. This area is not particularly season dependent you spend quite a bit of time on the tracks and some blocks of wood have vegetation (avoid) and others not. Planner chose a slightly ‘Long Red’ style –ideal transition or introduction from urban to forest .
• I would suggest that a school/ community centre with toilet facilities/parking is pretty much a pre-requisite for an urban race. Stoke Gifford’s was off the map with a walk to start/ finish – was this the maximum tolerable?
• Alas I did not get to Bath and the Long Ashton race was also compromised by Bristol traffic chaos.
• Planners set legs to fences etc. where the route choice is dependent on which side the flag is hung – this can be clarified to the competitor by adding e.g. East side to the control description (e.g. fence inside corner and E. side) and/ or by slightly offsetting the circle.
• Putting a griple through the hole of an SI box is not the way the system was designed and compromises the ability to punch. (Red dibbers in particular –failure rate approx. 2%) When a runner says to the download …but I did got to that control –we should take his word and re-instate. Similarly if a runners has inadvertently crossed some feature then point out error of ways but don’t DQ. The object of the series should be fun, participation, banter, friendly rivalry –there is enough officiousness elsewhere in the sport.
• This is a potential gateway into the sport for beginners. Tim type fliers, Help from BO and some kind of link to the Park Run would work
• The club champs and BBQ really needs to be on a weekend (time). This is not incompatible with the Urban and Park series (Chris Johnson –Frenchay). Perhaps could double as a finale/ some kind of prize giving.
If anyone wants to add to face paint please do.
These personal reflections are aimed at promoting discussion and ideas. Others comments included
‘The standard of the races this year (with one notable exception) has been very high.’
‘I have really enjoyed visiting the different venues’
‘What am I going to do on Wednesdays now that the series has finished’
• A success – many thanks to the co-ordinator, organisers, permission officers, SI, first aiders and helpers who made it so.
• The series has developed a format, it’s length and timing were about right
• The new maps and venues were a great addition. (Mike made 3 and helped with others!)
• A number of the races were not organised by ‘old gits’ but by young and/or new folk which brought freshness.
• The guest organisers and trips to Cheddar and Chepstow added much to the variety of the series and good to see numbers of QO & NGOC running.
• We returned to only one venue we used in 2013. This race ran in the opposite sense, was well planned but did feel ‘samey’. We really need at least one fallow year
• Orienteering is only as good as it maps. The standard has just got better (LIDAR etc.) My usual beef about making alleys wider only caught me out at Cheddar –where I did not see them for the long leg. (Graham did however provide a cunning ‘sprint’ around the school to start). I also had some map interpretation issues at Chepstow – but what a great effort at a highly complex first map!
• 1: 4000 at Portishead and Chepstow can be justified by complexity but generally we should stay with 1: 5000 as this gives mores scope with planning. (c.f. The Long Ashton race was successful despite a small mapped area)
• Use of playing fields, school grounds, quarries, castles, commons and woods does add variety. If you are going to use a small bit of wood its mapping does need to be spot on and care taken with control sites so they are fair. If it doubt make easy.
• My thoughts on Penpole at the time and subsequently was that it was horrid – the race was spoiled by the summer vegetation. The organisers were right to hang the controls high. Most woods in the SW disappear under a blanket of grot –a rationale for a summer park and urban series. Let’s leave such venues for the winter.
• The Leigh Woods race was fine. This area is not particularly season dependent you spend quite a bit of time on the tracks and some blocks of wood have vegetation (avoid) and others not. Planner chose a slightly ‘Long Red’ style –ideal transition or introduction from urban to forest .
• I would suggest that a school/ community centre with toilet facilities/parking is pretty much a pre-requisite for an urban race. Stoke Gifford’s was off the map with a walk to start/ finish – was this the maximum tolerable?
• Alas I did not get to Bath and the Long Ashton race was also compromised by Bristol traffic chaos.
• Planners set legs to fences etc. where the route choice is dependent on which side the flag is hung – this can be clarified to the competitor by adding e.g. East side to the control description (e.g. fence inside corner and E. side) and/ or by slightly offsetting the circle.
• Putting a griple through the hole of an SI box is not the way the system was designed and compromises the ability to punch. (Red dibbers in particular –failure rate approx. 2%) When a runner says to the download …but I did got to that control –we should take his word and re-instate. Similarly if a runners has inadvertently crossed some feature then point out error of ways but don’t DQ. The object of the series should be fun, participation, banter, friendly rivalry –there is enough officiousness elsewhere in the sport.
• This is a potential gateway into the sport for beginners. Tim type fliers, Help from BO and some kind of link to the Park Run would work
• The club champs and BBQ really needs to be on a weekend (time). This is not incompatible with the Urban and Park series (Chris Johnson –Frenchay). Perhaps could double as a finale/ some kind of prize giving.
If anyone wants to add to face paint please do.
This discussion thread is closed.