Discussion: Slide Show for JROTC Team Orienteering Championships

One of the advantages of being the sole board member/official/event director of a regional orienteering organization is that I get to think up and try pretty well anything I want. Hence, two weeks ago the Suncoast Adventure Duathlon and Bike-O and this last weekend's Suncoast JROTC Team Orienteering Championships.
I had thought for a long time fitting the school based cadet competition in to a regular orienteering event was something like the square peg; round hole scenario. It did not make the best use of the students time while at an event and often leads to high quantities of DQ's as students are asked to 'run up' in a vain attempt to fill team spots.
Hence Team Orienteering: Two competitions - a team Score-O and a Relay in one day. I used to do similar type events for my gym classes when they had orienteering. My first JROTC go at it was last Saturday. The students and teachers say they loved it. You can see my report here.
I'll be glad to share the event details with any who are interested.

Excellent idea Gord.
Are you now a sun coaster ?

Enjoyed it, thanks!

Thanks for asking, Coach.
Snowbird / Suncoaster What's the difference?
Yes, for the last two years Lise and I have split out winter between the Orlando area (Nov&Dec) and the Suncoast of Florida, Bradenton to be specific.
Lise plays a great amount of golf and I've been splitting my time between golf and orienteering with an increasing lean toward the latter.
What started out as an agreement to help Florida Orienteering look for potential parks for orienteering in the area has grown in one year to a four-event mini series. By the time this 'season' ends I'll have made three maps and and put on six orienteering events along the suncoast and another three events in the Orlando area.
Next year I'll try to grow the series. We will be living all 5 1/2 months on the Suncoast, refining the existing maps and developing some new ones. The series will have more events, hopefully including an island map and perhaps some urban night orienteering.
My greatest success, I think, is in attracting a number of new school JROTC units to add orienteering to their schedule not that I'm a great salesman for the sport. The sport is now more accessible for them.
My biggest weakness is in promotion and getting local hikers, runners, cyclists and just the curious to know about ant come to try the sport. I'll have to work on that for next year.
My only shock came from one guy who described himself as a '25-year orienteering in Florida. He complained that my fees at $10 were too high compared to FLO's $6 and that obviously I was just in it for the profit. Explaining that I was voluntarily out of pocket over $1500 to make the maps and put on the series made no impression on him. I could have told him that two events didn't even take in enough revenue to cover the park costs but what the hell. I'm enjoying the experience and if I wasn't trying to grow the orienteering I'd be spending the same money with no return on a golf course.
My biggest pleasure: working with students in school JROTC units. They handle my registration and timing. They are great at it, very conscientious. America will be in great shape when they get to the helm.
#2 is seeing orienteers from afar make an effort to attend Suncoast events. Their presence is greatly appreciated. Thank you all.
Thank you for letting me vent. But now I've got to get back to finishing the map for the race in two weeks, The !st Suncoast Orienteering Championships.

This is great!

The complaining orienteer is so ridiculous it is just funny.

Ya know Gord, instead of going back to Ottawa for the warmer months, you could live here in Vermont. Make a few maps, put on a few events, play some golf, cheap air fare to/from Flordia. And, if you did want to go back to Ottawa for a visit, it's not all that far.

Hey Carl, we want him in Ohio :-) Great job, Gord!

The complaining orienteer would be funny if s/he didn't represent what the majority of orienteers think. Need proof? witness the entry fees for orienteering events just about anywhere, set by majority-supported boards of clubs! The majority of orienteers do not value the time, effort, and money that go into producing quality events.

My only shock came from one guy...

Yeah, I know that guy.

T/D is right, if I had to pay full value for A meets I could not afford them!
For us, paying around $100 for entry fees per weekend is a lot.
My local running club puts on a trail race for around $15.

And how many hours go in to produce that trail race, compared to an orienteering event? I bet there's at least a factor of 2 more labor for an orienteering event, with a nationwide price of about half of the $15 you quote, and I bet the trail race gets at least twice the attendance. That's a factor of 8 right there.

$15 fees would go a long ways towards sustainability!

I'm in favor of high meet fees and steep discounts for helpers.

Yep, that's how things keep on rolling in the trail-running world. There's never a shortage of volunteers! and those in restricted financial circumstances are never turned away as long as they contribute to producing the events. You contribute time and energy of your own, or else enough money that those who take the lead and assume the risks don't feel disrespected and underappreciated.

Hardly seems fair to compare orienteering with some bargain basement run. 5ks are often pushing $30 in my parts. In contrast, member rates at the local C meet are less than the gas to get there.

If A meet prices are too exorbitant, I hope you never fall in love with {any other hobby on earth}.

I like the way gordhun is using AP to advertise his project. I attended one of his meets this winter and found his work to be of a solid level, as a low-key local meet, and well worth $10 per race. Agree with posters here about the need to raise fees for local meets to make them minimally sustainable. I find it almost surreal when I see scouts or cadets in Birmingham marching to the forest after paying just $5 for the whole large group! (Should be at least $10 per person, IMO, with mandatory map handed to everyone). Yet the situation with fees is more complex than that simplistic picture presented here. On a recent A-meet they charged $30 per race already, yet both map and courses were as poor as ever. So there are other variables, not just financial, to make it work.

All (relatively) high fees should be discounted for juniors, the most common being near 50% (with one notable exception among upcoming A-events...)

We don't charge any less for juniors at our local events; a body is a body and it helps to be a member.

We have picked up on the 50% discount for juniors at A meets as it helps families.

fees should be discounted for juniors
I realize it is a sacred cow, yet I disagree with it. A club, and/or Orienteering Federation may, and probably “should”, support only those juniors who show genuine interest, promise and proven commitment to orienteering. Probably the best way to achieve this goal is to pick up (reimburse) entry fees and other expenses related to attending meets. Blindly give discount based on age is wrong. A small club should treat young scouts, cadets, adventure-racers, etc. mainly as it revenue base, to derive money for mapping, equipment purchases, maybe some support of the core club members. It is not a function or role of orienteering club to be a sponsor of all the young people in the community.
This is role of their parents, primarily, maybe schools. I am not touching here the marketing discounts, designed to entice and bring newcomers to their 1st meet. That can be justified, if done with care. But I see that for some here it’s personal agenda, which they impose on others.