Discussion: Relay Team Registration

I sent this message to all competitors via EventReg, but I'm not sure everyone got it.

It’s time to start forming relay teams for the September 8 Sprint Relay at the US National Orienteering Championships. The deadline for team submittals is 8:00 PM Saturday night before the event, but we’d appreciate it if you can get your submittals in earlier. Please reply to jeff.lanam@baoc.org with the following information:
Team Name:
Class: Open 0 Point, Club 0 Point, Open 4 Point, Club 4 Point, Open 8 Point, Club 8 Point
Leg 1 Runner:
Leg 2 Runner:
Leg 3 Runner:
To be in a Club class, all runners must be members of the same OUSA club.
Each runner is given a number of points depending on age and sex. The point values are shown on the table in page 14 of the event Bulletin 1.
http://baoc.org/wiki/images/0/09/2019_U.S._Nationa...
The team point value is the sum of the three runners’ points. You can run in a lower class, but not a higher one. That is, a six-point team can run in a 0- or 4-point class, but not an 8-point class.
For each class, the courses will be approximately the same length and technical difficulty. The technical difficulty of 8-point courses may be slightly less that the others. There will be forking.
If you need help forming or finding a team, please let me know. I’ll try to match you up.
Jeff Lanam
Cabrillo College Events Director

We can also use this thread to match up teams if you want.

I'm a 3-pointer looking for a team.

Just FYI, I am signed up for the relay, but have not gotten an email through EventReg, so you may want to resend.

Boris - It might be in your spam folder.

I thought I checked... when was it sent?

I sent it yesterday around 4:30 PDT. The EventReg window had stopped updating, but Ed said that he saw the messages queued up in the server. I haven't gotten it either, but some people have.

I'll try sending again this evening if it doesn't go through.

By the way, I sent a message to the BAOC email list 3 hours ago about volunteer signups, but that doesn't seem to be getting delivered either. We use Yahoo Groups, which is becoming increasingly unreliable. Does anyone have a recommendation for mailing list management?

origamiguy - sent you an email.

Got it, thanks. I'll look into that after Nationals are over.

Our club has 4 attendees that are either 4 or 6 pts. The lowest point club team we can assemble is 14 pts. We'll see if we can beat any of the 8 point teams, since there's no 12+ pt category.

I believe that EventReg can be configured for the list of registrants to include each individual's point value...

I sent a message to one of the organizers a couple of weeks ago, but haven't gotten a reply. Or I mistyped the address I sent my message to. Or it's in my spam folder, or I overlooked it in the flood of email I get each day. (Have you heard of the trend to seek the nirvana of "Inbox Zero"? Well, I am a good ways along on the path to "Inbox Infinity".) Or he's just super busy getting ready for all these great events that BAOC are cooking up for us.

Whatever. So I'll just ask the question here:

Are there any rules / guidelines (from the organizers, I guess, since OUSA no longer recognizes relays) around what club(s) a given person can run for?

Back in the day when there was a US Relay Champs, if I remember correctly, one had to run for one's "primary club" (at least, if one wanted to be on a team that counted). I would love to have a team with my "primary" clubmates, but as far as I can tell (by looking at EventReg and by polling my clubmates via email) I am the only one from the club making the 5000 km trip.

So I would be interested in seeing if any of the several other clubs I belong to need a runner to round out a team. But only if that does not violate the letter or spirit of any rules or guidelines or organizers' intentions. If it matters, I have some level of connection to all these clubs, from simply being a frequent attendee at their events, to having been a long time member and volunteer back before my current primary club even existed. I'm not proposing to jump in with any club that needs a runner; if it comes to that (which would be fine), we'll just be in one of the Open classes.

Steve, the top post in this thread, from the organizer, says:

To be in a Club class, all runners must be members of the same OUSA club.

What I'm puzzling over is this sentence:

The technical difficulty of 8-point courses may be slightly less that the others.

Since this is a campus sprint, does that imply that the 8-point (i.e. slower) teams will get more pavement/sidewalk running, and less weaving in and around buildings/walls/other obstacles?

Not all high-point runners are young, inexperienced orienteers.

Exactly why I'm puzzling over that sentence

Yeah, I'm currently on an eight-point team, but I don't want a dumbed-down course...if that's what the snippet above implies.

fossil> Steve, the top post in this thread, from the organizer, says:
fossil>
fossil>To be in a Club class, all runners must be members of the same OUSA club.

Yes I read that Mitch. I think you're suggesting that the lack of the word "primary" is the implicit answer to my question, right? I was just trying to get an explicit answer, especially since there is history to the contrary. The omission of "primary" could have been intentional or it could have been an editorial oversight.

I really really appreciate that BAOC are including relays both in this years Nationals and next year's NAOC. I want to encourage and support this by behaving in accord with the letter and the spirit of what they're trying to accomplish; I'm not trying to stir up trouble. Ok I suppose I am being nitpicking, I do have that tendency. But maybe they could humor with a statement of intent.

I"m quoting Bulletin 1, which has a table that shows four bullets for the 8-point row and five for the others. I haven't seen the courses, which are being designed by Erin Schirm. I don't think the course will be "dumbed down".

Since this isn't a US Champs, I think we have some leeway on the rules. I don't plan to query OUSA about club memberships. I'll check with Gavin and others, but my inclination is to be relaxed about the club classes. It's all for fun, anyway

I'm not authorized to speak for the relay ED, which is Jeff Lanam (origamiguy). But I will make an educated guess. I think we will probably be using whatever club a participant registered under as "their club". If a participant wishes to run for a different club than the one they registered under, and can make a convincing case to Jeff, I'm sure that will be OK.
The relay will be a fun event, but is also meant to be a test run for next year's relay at the California Orienteering Festival. We have already learned a lot, and hope to learn much more, what's good and what needs to be improved or revisited.

I've checked with Gavin. You do not have to run with your primary club, but you should be a member of the club you are running with. Again, we don't plan to check; but if someone from New Hampshire wants to run with a Massachusetts club and they're ok with it, we are. In general, though, we'd prefer to have that in the Open classes.

I checked with Erin about the technical difficulty. All the courses should be at the same level. No dumbing down. I got an early look at the map; Rex did a great job. Should be a lot of fun.