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Is Orienteering boring?

Bryan Posted: 14 November 2006, 8:41 AM   Danielle, in the 'Queenstown AR' thread says: 'Orienteering is boring'. While it's not really polite to say to all Orienteers that your sport is boring and Greg's reply may have some merit, the statement bears some investigation. Is our sport really boring? Why are people leaving and not coming back - are there better sports/things to do? The last 3 WOA OY events only had 80, 65 and 100 competitors. Several years ago events regularly had 150-200 competitors. What can we do to bring life back into the sport? Is Adventure racing, rogaining, and mountain bike orienteering diluting or fragmenting the classic form of orienteering?   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 9:00 AM   No and Yes This message was edited by Ellmo1769 on 14 November 2006, 5:43 PM   Greg Posted: 14 November 2006, 10:25 AM   Come to Waitangi to see how orienteering is not boring! Everyone knows Danielle is the life of all orienteering parties This message was edited by Greg on 14 November 2006, 6:54 PM   :D Posted: 14 November 2006, 11:07 AM   Sorry, I shouldn't have written that, I was grumpy. After 2 unenjoyable WOCs and being overtrained twice in a year, I am taking a year off O to find my excitement again. One of the most exciting things I've seen in ages was Hanny's world champs win and our girls coming 4th in the relay. It was hardly boring and I was right in there with everyone else jumping up and down, nervous, excited and then elated!   Martin Posted: 14 November 2006, 12:10 PM   Like Ellmo - yes and no. Knowing that your going to the same map that's been used pretty much monthly, and having controls in the same place - yep that can be boring. A series of OYs that are all long distance - boring. As greg said - Waitangi definitely won't be boring! Nor will NZ Champs 07.   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 12:15 PM   No Martin if you read clearly I actually wrote no and yes therefore answering two questions in order I might add. 1. Is Orienteering boring? No. 2. Is Adventure racing, rogaining, and mountain bike orienteering diluting or fragmenting the classic form of orienteering? Yes. I can understand you may have been off put by me not answering all qusetions and I apologise for any confusion. Please refrain from including me in all future posts Martin as I may or may not agree with your point of view Regards Ellmo1769 This message was edited by Ellmo1769 on 14 November 2006, 8:15 PM This message was edited by Ellmo1769 on 14 November 2006, 8:16 PM   Rob G Posted: 14 November 2006, 12:52 PM   Auckland Oy'S aren't working either, and a heap of work goes into organising them. There is no reason to hang around at the finish and sometimes it's like a ghost town. Something more simple like 5 courses, you choose which and a restricted start interval would make less work and keep it more social. Alternatively the score series we ran for a few years and will ressurect this year had a lot of positives, was particularly social and excellent for newcomers. Unfortunately OY's are planned again for this year.   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 12:59 PM   Are you trying to say they are too much work to organise or do you mean they are not competitive? Cos if its the 2nd option I recall Simon and Thomas drawing the OY series last year (by the way the person that does the stats should recalculate because it was not a draw). I agree the start time spread means people can come and go before others have started and that does not make for a social aspect.   Greg Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:11 PM   Music and beer, solve 2 problems in one   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:17 PM   Yes. Free beer. This message was edited by Ellmo1769 on 14 November 2006, 9:17 PM   Greg Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:18 PM   Might even solve more than 2 problems for Neil   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:30 PM   Like pulling some women or do you mean hangover training?? This message was edited by Ellmo1769 on 14 November 2006, 9:32 PM   SimonB Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:32 PM   beer can't be free, because then no one would race...   Ellmo1769 Posted: 14 November 2006, 1:36 PM   Some of us would to get in practice for the world Beer O Champs.   jeffg Posted: 14 November 2006, 2:42 PM   Rob is absolutely right, the score series was excellent. Social, good for beginners, easy to set and control, a good stepping stone from street events into the forest for newbies, easy to get volunteers to collect controls, easy to set up informal coaching afterwards. Slight disadvantage for parents with young kids but carrying them or starting early are good options. The first NWOC score series in 2001 was what got me hooked on orienteering, possibly helped by an almost unprecedented run of success in the spot prize draws.   Michael Posted: 14 November 2006, 2:56 PM   The reality is that no recreation is going to maintain its excitement week in week out for a lifetime. A typical profile would be increasing enthusiasm as you find out about a sport, rising further with competitive success, reaching a plateau and tailing off. During the rise other recreations are pushed aside (so of course THEY beat their breasts about why they're losing numbers) and during the fall our orienteer discovers new activities which attract partly because there are new challenges and new people to meet. Ask Andrew McCarthy what he was doing during the OY last weekend:-)) Nothing is wrong except our failure to consider that (for the long distance type of orienteering) we might have as many people as we are ever going to get. I'm talking roughly here, there will be floods and droughts but basically there will be no ice age or global warming. I said "for the long distance". Now it seems to me that by changing the type of orienteering we have in the main accessed different parts of the population. Certainly this is the case for rogaining and MTBO in the Wellington area - hardly any come to any foot-o. I have heard it said that the majority of Auckland's park participants aren't interested in going to Woodhill, so they are different people too. Good. For orienteering as a whole we have enlarged the participation. Rogaining and MTBO are growing, but that's because they haven't yet reached their natural level (whatever that is). I think they will plateau and settle back. The important thing is not to worry about any lack of growth, but to make sure that the effort going in is in keeping with the people turning up. But back to the thread. Yes it has become boring for some, but at the same time new entrants are on the up and up.