Discussion: significance

>>State championships certainly don't carry the significance they once did (although the increasing strength of the NOL has a bit to do with this).

This is something we are acutely aware of - and is displayed even more so in the "regular" SL series.

I wonder if the diminished state champs and state level events will prove to be a broken link in junior development (and the future of the sport). Picture a junior who is progressing beyond the city parks into the forest, they attend a state champs and there's hardly anyone there, including elites who may be role models and give the sport some life and status (from the junior's perspective). The next step for them involves significant travel and money but does the state level experience compel them make this commitment? Are the schools and junior squad programs sufficient? (I don't have an opinion on this and I don't know any specifics of the NSW development path but I'm curious about what others see happening).

Two reasons for the declining attendances at State Champs. The first is the obvious decline in participation at State events in general. Its about halved in Victoria over 20 years. State Champs reflect this trend. They won't be saved by interstate supplementation. Blair drove almost 900 kilometres each way for this Championship. Not many are going to do that, and I seriously doubt that we should encourage such behaviour.
NOL events provide a reasonable chance of a significant depth of field for weekends in March, Easter, May and October. The easiest way for States to get a strong State field for some of their championships would be to allocate them on these weekends when they host them and where the required race formats are compatible.

Agree you're not going to get much 'remote' state participation at a normal state championship, nor should you expect it, but there are 16 NSW- or Canberra-based M21Es entered for the Australian Long Champs and I'm surprised we didn't get more than two to Lithgow (although obviously many of the individuals have their reasons).

On a related matter which may have been discussed elsewhere - NSW now doesn't have a recognised relay event of significance having "lost" the State Relays and the formerly inclusive QBIII Day 3. But times change and we need to react to our clientele.
Agree with InvisLog - have thought recently about "reorganising" or rebadging NOL weekends to incorporate some relevent State Champs as currently they (rightfully?) lead into Aus Champs and are a culmination of the bush season.

Trouble is, NOL weekends don't lead into Aus Champs, but into WOC. State Champs leading into the Oz Champs season is unlikely today.

Generally the majority of states still have their long champs in the Aug-Sept time window, but of course there are now also middle and sprint championships, often held at other times throughout the season.

We used to get 300 to the SA long champs and also to events held in Belair National Park on Adelaide's doorstep; now anything over 100 is considered semi-successful - and I note that it's not the same people who come to the minor/local events and to the championships.

I suppose that is what I meant in my obtuse and hurried comment. I suspect the choice to have State Champs leading into oz long champs could be seen as a strategy that suited a different world but may not be as well suited to today. The irregular appearance of Oz Middle Champs in the early part of the year is perhaps a sign of broader changes to fixturing that need to be considered by States. Some flexibility in the Easter rules my be needed.

Invisible, what do you mean by "flexibility in the Easter rules"?

Aust champs week is now intended to contain the championships for sprint, middle, long and relay, which it did in 2008/9/10. This year, because of Oceania and also in order to get more people to WA, sprint and middle champs were shifted to the Easter week. We already know that the Oceania relays have bumped the Aust relays into insignificance (but it does make my job as SA teams coordinator easier, having only 4 South Aussies entered in the Aust relays - not that there are many more who won't already be driving back to SA during the Oceania relays).