This comment from another thread is worthy of its own:
HEY NORTH AMERICA WHY DO WE HANG OUT AT OUR CARS ONLY?
This phenomenom is common in New Zealand too. Although a number of event planners who have travelled widely have tried to create an atmosphere by (a) the layout of the event centre and (b) having parking a little way away. These moves have not been hugely successful. Perhaps because possible event centres have to be created from tents and bunting (rarely are there any buildings in the right place) and NZ orienteers' reluctance to load the neccessary gear into a bag and forget about the car for the duration of the event.
There's a fairly strong puritan streak which calls for bringing food for a DIY lunch rather than patronising a food-stall; and hence another reason to go back to the car after running. But the increasing availability of good coffee from a mobile vendor is helping to overcome this:-))
One thing that has helped the atmosphere is running two (short) races from the same event centre - people hang around in between. When the middle distance was first introduced, NZ typically ran two in one day. (The puritan streak again - "I'm not driving all that way for only 30 minutes running!) When one club announced it only had the resources for ONE middle race, the rot set in, and single races became the norm. This trend has been reversed a bit by the emergence of the sprint distance which can be run on the same day as a middle. But it doesn't help the atmosphere problem, because we usually have to de-camp and move to a different venue.
Aside: You may not be surprised to hear, "I'm not driving all that way for TWELVE minutes running!"
Does the weather have something to do with it? Here in sunny Perth, its only on the rare wet day that we get the stay-in-the-car phenomenon.
The solution is obvious. Traditional American "Circle the wagons" style of parking and arena set up. It worked yesterday, with all the event facilities (other than the finish) surrounded by the cars....
BC did it right back in '98 here in Canada. Beer garden at the finish line.
Surrey Five O /World Cup in UK did it even better .. within 20 meters of the finish line there was a) TEA (traditional English ale) or b) real dairy ice cream in many flavours to choose from. Route choice was very difficult at that point.
Should of been at the Big Blue O fest, we all went to the Bar out of the rain. Oh the beer tents in 98 in BC were awesome.
How did that bar qualify as "out of the rain?" The roof was leaking on us all night!
On a more serious note, I think the best way to keep people in the finish area is to provide refreshments that are both good (beer and ice cream certainly qualify) and free. Roll it into the entry fee. If people have to find money after the event, they have to go back to their cars and then they might as well bust out their own food.
...The puritan streak again - "I'm not driving all that way for only 30 minutes running!...
C'mon guys! Why waste hours in a parking lot, or even an event center? Why not make that 30 minutes just part of an interesting 48 hours?
O events are usually held in some pretty awesome natural areas. Speaking as an older guy, after my run I like to do some exploring, perhaps a second activity such as canoeing, hiking, golf. Or if nearby, go downtown and explore a new city and get a decent meal.
Back before electronic punching, you would hang around waiting to see results cards slowly appear on strings after pin punches were verified. It was always tense to see if a late-starter was going to knock you out of medal contention. But now results are almost instantaneous...so why hang around?
I'd love to have some company tho. I'd like to see more effort made by meet organizers to suggest some afternoon/evening activities at various attractions at designated times. Do it in advance as part of the registration process so that start times can be coordinated; provide contact info, and let whomever signs up take it from there.
Back before electronic punching, you would hang around waiting to see results cards slowly appear on strings after pin punches were verified. It was always tense to see if a late-starter was going to knock you out of medal contention. But now results are almost instantaneous...so why hang around?
Yes, it's so nice now that electronic punching can give us the results for people who haven't finished yet.
And if you think to check the results board, chances are there'll be some results posted even before you yourself start! So as you run you'll have those numbers working for you, in the back of your mind.
But my point remains: why not use the remaining 4-5 hours of daylight on Saturday to enjoy something completely different, with other orienteers? It would only take a small effort on the part of the host club to suggest a few options such as (1) Meet at Green Acres Golf Club ready to tee off at 2:25pm, (2) Hang Gliding demonstration at 3pm at the top of Mt Sugarloaf, and (3) screening of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" at 7:45pm at Northampton Cineplex followed by discussion.
Unlike Europe, national orienteering in the US is predominantly an older folks sport. Why not recognize that when planning an A-meet? Not too many older folks that I know want to spend the rest of the day hanging around an event center.
So why put it on the event organizers? Why not just coordinate it with those who are interested here on AP, or some other site? We've had some good success doing that already with Parents of young children looking to camp together. At the team trials meet last spring the kids got together on Saturday afternoon and, believe it or not, made rudimentary maps of the campground, set courses, and then traded and ran each others' courses. All with no adult assistance. These were kids roughly 5 to 9 years old!
Maybe there's hope for the future of USOF yet...
So why put it on the event organizers?
Why not? They've got the "bully pulpit" in the form of the meet website and meet invitation. And they have the local knowledge necessary to select a few good activities.
Before coming I usually do an evening's worth of web searches, trying to work out some things to do myself. But it is strictly firing shots in the dark.
Last spring I took some of my club members who attended the Flying Pig to the
Hofbrauhaus and an Italian restaurant across the river in Kentucky. Most thought it was great; the Hofbrauhaus is unique. But without that effort I'm afraid everyone would have ended Saturday drinking beers in their room on the beltway, and going out to Hooters in the mall...which they could have done at home.
At last years Xmas 5-day we offered a Gaol tour (commercial enterprise) , Petanque tournament (only $5 each through a club) and a street event ($5 per entry with money going to Junior squad). Orienteering events are held very early in the morning to beat the Australian summer heat,leaving ample time to do other stuff.
It did take a lot of extra work added on top of the other carnival tasks so maybe we should have been less hands-on.
We did get a decent turn-out for all three and considered them a success (all the participants seemed to enjoy themselves) but prior to it was touch and go as to whether we should drop them as everyone was late in committing themselves (a very Australian Orienteering tradition) and at the closing date we didn't quite have the numbers. We decided to go ahead and the club would cover any shortfall but eventually we had enough people phone and ask to be included.
I think extra activities depends where the event is centred. In this instance we were basically in Newcastle, a fairly large city (by Australian Stds) with beaches and vineyards and lots of other activities readily available. People were also spread widely in terms of accommodation. If it's a smaller place offering less alternatives then some organised activity is probably well worth it.
Of course this is not really replying to the original post of keeping people at the event site (more like taking them away)
This discussion thread is closed.