Chris Wright

blog, I'm afraid. Too busy with other things! Planning short races, organising a 1ok race, organising and planning a series of Bike-O Lanequests, coaching juniors (and taking a coaching certificate course), club committee's (main and mapping), learning how to use OCAD and Purple Pen (and that's without work and operating Dad's Taxi Services Inc!) And now I've been pointed in the direction of Attackpoint! Follow my progress at: http://www.attackpoint.org/log.jsp/user_6450

So the planning of courses 1 to 3 at the JK Sprint 2009 in Newcastle City didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked! During the 'last minute' planning process for courses 1 to 3, various 'options' were created. The decision as to the option which was eventually to be used was only made at 8.30am on the Tuesday before the Friday!! Option B above was in the frame right up to the last minute - I particularly liked leg 2-3 (at least 5 alternative routes), but leg 6-7 was thought to contain too much dead running. Aside is the first part of Course 1 we 'lost' one week before the event - after the maps had been printed! And below is the first part of the 'lost' Course 2, which has a slightly different start. In the event's final details, I advised competitors not to expect another 'Guildford' race - the area was never going to be as technical - but did it make for a good sprint race? After looking at other recent events on websites and in ...

Some thoughts from over here. Perhaps the days of the Colour Coded/District event as an 'all things to all men' are numbered. Having more local events, with a smaller target audience (perhaps even a niche market), might be the way forward, and could provide the progression (particularly for juniors) that we currently try and offer within one event type - the standard white-to-brown CC/District event. So for instance, we have the schools events and park based sprint races catering for the youngsters and inexperienced, the terrain based sprint races and permanent course summer series events for the next level, the terrain based summer series events for the next level etc (the series of middle distance races followed by 'junior squad'-type junior training could be the next level after that). I like the idea of a variety of people each taking 'ownership' over a 'series' of similar events for which they have a particular affinity, drawing in like minded indiv...

I do like the fact that the JK moves around the country each Easter - it takes you to parts of the country you may not normally travel to for a holiday. I like to make the most of the non-orienteering time by visiting places. With only a short time available each day, it's not worth paying lots of money for a fleeting visit to somewhere which deserves a full day. Being members of both English Heritage and the National Trust, we can drop into places for a quick taster, without feeling the need to get 'value for money'. I look out for free attractions too - visitor centres, churches, that sort of thing - but I do have a tendancy to blow the cheap visit with a visit to the tea room for a coffee and a cake!! If I was travelling to the North East for JK2009, my list of 'to dos' would be rather long!! Starting on Friday, I would certainly divert off the A1 to go and stand at the foot of the 'Angel of the North', to marvel at this immense sculpture. The Gateshead Q...