in: GHO Canada GHO;
| # Posted 2007-09-29 07:43:46 | |
| Hammer: | ext year's Navstock format was discussed briefly at the GHO meeting the other night. We discussed the idea of having a bigger event as an 'anchor' to the weekend. Something longer than long.
A 'goat' type race on Sunday An adventure run on Sunday A 6 hour rogaine (6pm to midnight on Saturday)? I personally like the Rogaine idea since we are seeing more AR crossover into Rogaine. It would replace the night O and long race (essentially merging them together). But if we did that how could we still have the fun family stuff, BBQ, etc. Or could a rogaine start at 6am to noon, then an afternoon by the water, sprint and BBQ that evening and a middle distance on Sunday?? Ideas, preferences? |
| # Posted 2007-10-01 01:25:21 | |
| Bash: | Interesting ideas. I think we should decide the audience we are targeting, then build NavStock around that.
The majority of NavStock attendees have been active orienteers from southern Ontario and further afield. A few newbies also attended this year. Some adventure racers have participated in NavStock night races and long races as individual training events, but the folks who come for the weekend have mostly been those who would describe orienteering as their primary sport. It is an appealing family weekend for orienteers, since they can get their O fix without leaving the kids behind! This year's NavStock had Night-O, Sprint, Medium and Long, which is already more than a typical orienteering A meet, and we succeeded in attracting some attendees from outside the area. When you talked about the idea of an "anchor" event, was the idea that GHO would like NavStock to have a different twist from standard O meets and thus attract more orienteers from a longer distance? (Hudson Highlander and Billygoat come to mind as examples.) Assuming that you want to keep the traditional NavStock attendees happy, it seems wise to keep the things that attract them (including the family BBQ and games on Sat. evening), and offer different degrees of difficulty for the new "longer than long" event, so you don't scare them away. It should probably take place on Sunday to avoid physical overload. You'd probably need child care, since kids probably couldn't participate - at least not for the full length of time. Maybe a 3-hr and 6-hr rogaine (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.?) or a 5/10/15K adventure run that can optionally be done in teams? A goat event would be fun and new for most people in southern Ontario. Perhaps it doesn't have to be the same thing every year, e.g. "This year at NavStock, our Special Long event is..." |
| # Posted 2007-10-03 19:18:59 | |
| Tiny: | Don't you tend to see the adventure racers more favor the 24-hour rogaines though? In the middle of the summer with a full adventure racing calendar I'm not sure you'd see extra adventure racers coming for only a 6-hour rogaine. I'd lean towards what Barb was thinking with a longer orienteering race like an Adventure Run or a Goat. Although I have to admit I don't know what a Goat is. But I would think that something like this might draw more orienteers to come up for the weekend. |
| # Posted 2007-10-03 23:26:57 | |
| Bash: | Hammer can correct me if there's more to it, but as I understand it, a Goat is a relatively long individual O race where participants are permitted to skip a control (or perhaps it could be more than one?). So if you meet a competitor, you may not know if he or she has the same number of controls remaining that you do. It's got some interesting strategy, and Hammer can share a great finish line story where he and Nick had a tight battle in the Billygoat. |
| # Posted 2007-10-03 23:34:10 | |
| Bash: | I agree with Tiny that adventure racers prefer the longer rogaines, but for a "day trip" location like Horseshoe, we might attract some folks for a 6-hr event. (But we have to be careful, because that length will be too much for some of the O crowd.) There were adventure racers who only attended the 90-minute NavStock Night-O race this year, just because it was different and fun. I don't think they want to go away for a weekend in the middle of AR season, but if we offer an interesting 1-day event, I think we can attract some people. |
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