We currently have no bids for several championships in 2008, and for most championships in 2009.
For 2008 the open slots are the Classic, Middle, Relay, Night, Trail-O, and Ski-O.
Is there anything that can be done to get organizers for these events? The Classic, our main event by far if you judge by attendance and depth of field, has been held annually for almost 40 years, the Relay for over 20 years. I would hate to think that we failed to do whatever we could to try to find organizers for these championships next year.
There is not much time available, but there is still enough time.
Are there any clubs that might step up and organize any of these? Or are there any clubs that might step up and organize any of these if they could get a little bit of help? Are there any possibilities?
Randy's
championships calendar.
Peter
Carol's Team is a very small club (8 members) and is just now applying for USOF membership. Not the sort of organization that typically gets picked to run a championship meet. However, those members are very experienced both as competitors and meet organizers and I'm sure we could get some help from
SLOC. So, since this forum represents a large portion of the potential field, let me just throw it out: if Carol's Team was selected to host relays next year, would you not attend because a) you didn't think we could pull it off or b) it's too much of a hassle/too expensive to travel to St. Louis?
In regards to Carol's Team hosting the Relays I'd say that neither a.) nor b.) would keep most people away including me, especially if the organizers are experienced, dedicated and enthusiastic. Equipment is easilly loaned out so I don't see that as a problem either. I'd definitely attend!!
If you can stand a little advice from away, you may find a lot of interest if you could find a club near CNYO to put on say the 2008 Classic/ Sprint the weekend before or after the NAOC near Syracuse.
Then if you could get some other nearby clubs to host low-key mid week events between the two you could find a lot of orienteers coming from further afield, taking advantage of the multiple O opportunities. It could be particularly attractive to those seemingly insatiable European O-tourists and others who might want to see the Northeast (and Canada) in their best Fall colors (or colours).
How about it NEOC? CSU? HVO? Empire O? DVOA?
Why not make the NAOC also the US classic champs. Just need to renumber the results list and...voile'
Two birds with one stone. That leaves more clubs available to host the remaining unbid champs.
OME pulled off a championship as their first A meet. I don't know how big the club is, but I don't imagine it is that big. It was a fine meet.
I like coming to St. Louis. I'd come if I can. My only request is get it out there early so airfare (preferrably miles) can be gotten on the cheap. And whatever you do, don't get into 6 month sanctioning hell; apply at least 181 days in advance :)
Eric - As someone willing to travel a ways for these events I would have absolutely no hesitation going to a Carol's Team hosted relay champs. I don't think many people would.
Could SLOC be convinced to hold one of the others on the same weekend? Perhaps night-o? (though I'm not personally that interested...) Or are the core organizers for Carol's Team also the core organizers for SLOC?
And, as Eddie suggests, I'm for having NAOC double as a US champs if no one else is jumping to do it. Middle? I'd be all for Middle and Classic, but I'll leave Eddie to stave off the angry masses who want a 2-day combined time classic champs. Of course, if the choice is one-day or nothing....
i second gord on this. i remember in 2000 NA and US champs were a week apart. there were some ( don't remeber how many ) europeans and one -two days in between during the week
Gord and Nick >> This was also the way it was done a long time ago (70-ies and 80-ies, when I used to travel around in NA). North Americans one weekend and the COC´s the other plus a few other meets in the week between...
There weren´t any 'hordes' of European tourists in those days - except for the odd Swede or two...
Has anyone approached the Rochester club to see if they are willing to make their spring meet the US Champs? I _think_ they are planning a sprint, middle, long format; perhaps these could be one day Middle and Classic champs? Or just a one day Classic? The timing could be good for team members training for WOC (just a month before the Team Trials).
I still see no shortage of meets on, if not the official USOF calendar for 2008, Randy's planning calendar of events, that could become the middle or classic champs. Nor do I object to a one-day classic championship.
Regarding Carol's Team potentially hosting the relay champs, I'm happy to go to Missouri to race if conflicts with other must-do events are avoided and there's enough racing to justify the trip. In aid of which, either CT or SLOC hosting accompanying events on the same weekend, ideally including one or more of the other championships going begging, would help. A middle champs/night-O champs/relay champs weekend? Why not? Substitute a couple of sprints or a farsta or something for one of those if that many championships seem like too much to take on.
Well, I'm glad to see there is some interest here. It would be nice to see that interest actually get translated into some firm plans. And have them done sooner rather than later.
The reason is that some stuff needs to be done well in advance --
1. Get the event on the calendar, even if it is not yet sanctioned. So people can put it on their own individual calendars, and so clubs won't schedule stuff in conflict.
2. Get the event sanctioned (not that difficult, but it has to be done). And that usually includes getting permits.
3. Get the event approved by USOF as a championship. Simple, though may take a while.
I would normally say that the other big thing that needs to be done well in advance is the mapping. But many championship events have used maps that have been used before, just with a little updating.
One thing you probably don't want to do is offer to hold a one-day classic champs. I think the two-day format is our best-attended A meet most every year. If that battle is going to be fought, save it for another year.
Eric, if CT/SLOC wants to do the relay, great, I'd come. Package it with something else (Middle champs? Night Champs? both?) to attract more people. Use maps you already have. And make your decision soon.
For the Classic, one option (actually an OK one) is Eddie's idea, just call the NA Champs also the US Classic Champs. Score it on combined time for the Middle and the Classic, and I'm pretty sure complaints would be minimal. And attendance and strength of field should be even better.
Plan B? I've heard talk of a possible effort to do this at Surebridge in Harriman on the old WOC terrain, where DVOA has the southern 2/3 mapped at 10,000 and HVO the northern 2/3 mapped at 10:000. I don't know if there is any chance of that actually happening.
Plan C? Something a week before or a week after the NA Champs and in the same part of the world. Not sure who would organize that, or where. And if it would include a mid-week event or two to make a 9-day package, then the organizational burden for something just 11 months away would be quite high, perhaps too high?
Plan D? Other ideas?
One thing seems clear -- the USOF Board seems unlikely to be pro-active here. Clare has stated that if clubs don't bid for events, then we just won't have them, no problem.
So we need to take the initiative.
I don't know how pro-active the new VP Comp might be. Although Peter has effectively quoted me correctly, it doesn't mean that I don't think we should look for bids, just that I would prefer to cancel an event than to settle for an extremely late bid which results in a small field anyway. I was pro-active in getting a bid in place for the intercollegiates on the calendar before the school year started.
"One thing seems clear -- the USOF Board seems unlikely to be pro-active here. Clare has stated that if clubs don't bid for events, then we just won't have them, no problem."
This worries me a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can Orienteering as a sport hope to advance in this country if our own national association isn't pro-active in ensuring that key annual events actually take place.
Read Clare's response - I don't think you're understanding Peter's point or Clare's position. If a club has to be coerced into hosting a championship, it is not reasonable to expect them to do a good job.
As for CT plans, I had expected to put on a weekend of sprints next year that would be sufficient to draw an out of town field. Did people like the combination of sprints and relays, or was that not enough "real" orienteering for most? We have a bunch of new sprint maps, and several more on the way. Some are pretty good venues (Forest Park, the Arch, St. Louis University are three nice ones). For the relay, I was thinking that an updated Creve Coeur Lake map would work well. It's very different terrain from what people expect from St. Louis. One could set a course with absolutely no climb at all (although I would probably use some of the ridge as well as the flood plain). CC Lake has the benefit of being able to set some technical spectator controls near the edge of the lake where runners would approach them perpendicular to the shoreline and spectators could see them coming from across the lake.
An alternative to the sprints would be to run a middle event at Cliff Cave (same as Intercollegiates in 2005) or host the night event (lots of good venues for that).
I don't usually use a forum like this to get event planning feedback but, as Peter points out, time is tight, so a plan needs to be formed quickly.
I see your point about coercing a club into hosting a championship, but if the USOF board isn't even approaching clubs in the first place, aka not being pro-active, that's what I'm worried about.
As for CT plans, I think that Sprints and Relays work very well together. Maybe you'd even be willing to host the Sprint Series Finals...? or is that incompatible with the US Sprint Champs?
but if the USOF board isn't even approaching clubs in the first place
Again, reread Clare's post. That's not what's happening, here.
Thanks for the feedback on format.
There is some discussion going on within ROC also; I suggested Mendon Ponds would be an ideal relay venue, but the discussion is going on off this list. It would be a shame to allocate events as a fait accompli in people's minds at this point. Give it a few days for ideas to be tossed around off the list.
It would be a shame to allocate events as a fait accompli in people's minds at this point. Give it a few days for ideas to be tossed around off the list.
There's also an almost totally open championships calendar for 2009 to think about too. The recommended planning schedule would be for bids for those events to be in by the end of this year. Lots of events that need hosts.
Eric, would Babler work for the night-o?
Just about any of our parks would work fine for Night-O.
Just a note on CTOC future plans. We recently mapped very interesting area near Idaho City that includes marvelous gold hydromined areas and trully fast white woods. We plan to host 2009 Western States Champs there as part of 2009 PNWOF. We planned for something like urban sprint-middle-long format. We might bid for Middle Champs if my club mates would agree. I hope that other NW clubs would add to the PNWOF week with more events and even some champs bids.
This is planned for summer of 2009. We will try to avoid conflicts with JWOC and WOC.
Speaking selfishly, I think it's time for Alaska to do something again.....
Looking at
Randy's calendar, I see that Rochester is interested in hosting the 2008 Middle and Relay Champs as part of its already sanctioned A meet April 19-20.
And Laramie Range Orienteering has applied for sanctioning for 2 days of A meets as part of the Laramie Daze (the latest incarnation of the 1000-Day) August 4-12, and is interested in hosting the 2008 Classic Champs.
I don't know what else might be percolating out there. Note that no championship is set until the Board approves the bid.
And there is still a mostly open championship calendar for 2009. There's no reason these events can't get some interest now, when there is still plenty of time to do planning and PR.
But this is progress!
go Rochester go.. there will be some teams from Canada there ..that's for sure !!!
The Tucson club is considering bidding to host the 2009 Relay Champs in the ~Feb time frame, at a location east of Tombstone. What would make the event attractive enough for people to come all the way out there? Another champs event? A couple of sprints? Night-O? Mtn bike-O? Free gun fights at the OK Corral?
Sprints or Night O would be great for me...
Relay on saturday and a very long race (long champs or goat) on sunday.
Canceling your February A meet in 2008 so that I don't have to choose between them? ;)
Sprint Friday PM, Relay Champs Saturday AM, party Saturday PM, ultra long (Champs?) Sunday AM
Well, I can certainly take care of the party Saturday PM part. For the rest I'll have to consult my conspirators.
Update 11/7/07
Some real progress to report, but still more to do.
Rochester OC (NY) has bid to host the 2008 Middle and Relay Champs at its A meet April 19-20. And Laramie Range OC (WY) has bid to host the 2008 Classic Champs as part of Laramie Daze August 4-10. The Sanctioning Committee has approved both. I had thought the Board might also approve both bids at its meeting last weekend at the Classic Champs in Virginia, but it decided to take no action and passed the decision on to its Executive Committee.
I'm hopeful that this EC decision will be done in the very near future -- there are no other bids for the three events and these are excellent ones -- so that both individuals and clubs can make their plans in setting up their 2008 schedules.
Meanwhile, no bids yet for the Night Champs. The Trail-O has some possibilities. And Ski-O is only held every other year and 2008 is an off year.
So, as I said, progress, but more to do.
And the 2009 calendar is still wide open, with lots of championships waiting for clubs interested in hosting them. It would be nice to see some progress here too.
Peter
Kevin Teschendorf was talking about some dream terrain (open, fast, complicated) that he is mapping in the northern kettle moraine of Wisconsin for a US Champs in 2009. He said he counted over 200 depressions in one square kilometer! We need to get him a lot of help and encouragement!
It's called the "Cat's Meow" and is everything he says - glacial, a lot like Telemark but more open with fewer trails. I can muster some CAOC troops to help during his meet (e.g. ePunch) so we just need the encouragement Jeff. I did not know that he was angling for US Champs 2009 and will see what we can do to assist.
Get professional mapper with good reputation first.
Yeah, we sure wouldn't want to have a championship event that used a crappy map. That would definitely suck.
(Umm... does Kevin not have a good reputation?)
People in glass houses...
We did learn hard not to go on our own in mapping :(
Getting a good professional mapper and producing high quality map is vital for the success of an event.
JMHO
Got the following e-mail. Excellent. Now, how about 2009?
---------------------
The Executive Committee has voted to approve the following Championships for 2008:
2008 Classic Champs at the Laramie Daze, August 9-10, 2008
2008 Middle and Relay Champs for ROC's A-meet, April 19-20, 2008
Clare Durand
USOF President
This discussion thread is closed.