Discussion: US Champs Registration!

US Champs registration is now open! See this discussion topic:
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

I posted it last night under "General Discussion", feeling that it would certainly qualify as an item of general interest, but this morning I found it had disappeared from there and appeared on the "Racing" page. I have no idea how or why it migrated like that, but I will guess it was Ken's decision, and, if so, it's his site and he gets to make the call.

I'm not a fan of the changes that mean some discussion show up on the front page but other items in other places. I'd guess that lots of people only look at the front page for discussion and will miss the other stuff.

Others have said the same to me.

I´m not too concerned about the 'racing info' since it´s a long way to travel for me anyways - I´ll stay on this side of the pond for now - but I have the same thoughts about the 'invisible' discussions.
It could be that we´re not quite used to it yet, but I tend to just look at the front page too.

I'm retraining myself to look at the tabs. If there's a * on the Racing tab then I know to look there for something new. It took me a while to even notice this, and now I'm still getting used to remembering to look there. What would be even more helpful would be for the * to appear on any discussion thread that has new posts in it since I last looked. It's hard to remember what the number of items in each thread was when I last looked.

Good point - and I agree on the last suggestion too.

I agree -- I've tried really hard to get used to the new Discussion Group structure over the past few weeks, but I'm just not loving it...

My main difficulties are the same as those others have mentioned: (a) I can't tell which topics on the home page have new comments added (without remembering the comment count -- which is something I don't want to dedicate my brain cells to...). And (b) I think the race-related dicussions are too buried (even though they're just one click behind the home page) -- which is problematic to me both as a meet participant AND as a meet organizer who wants the announcements for our event to be as prominent as possible. If other people visit the Racing page as infrequently as I do, then they'll never see the event updates that are posted...

Sorry, I know this is a problem, and am experimenting with improvements. I didn't mean for things to be left in the current state for so long. Expect improvements this weekend, and until all the pain is worked out you may consider the event discussion "rules" relaxed, and I'll leave things where people post them ;-)

The current plan is to make the front page the central place to look for indications of "new" stuff. A problem with *'s on tabs is that they are recomputed on all page loads, and that can make things slow. I think these will be phased out.

So is there a dicrepancy in that one part of the US Champs site says Day 2 will be on the "Nortwest Corner" map; and both triangles for Day 1 and 2 are somewhere south of "Diamond Bay"?

I posted this thread here in the News section for the exact reasons that Swampfox noted...

Yes (to upnorthguy.) That reflects a recent decision to move to a different area for Day 2; the triangles (approximately located) are correct. The original area (NW Corner) is quite good, but the new location is a very special, extraordinary, and unique area.

...and I've just updated the web site descriptions to match Swampfox's new Day 2 location (you may have to click Shift-Reload in your browser to see the updated pages).

The only thing that will not be updated immediately is the preview map order form in the online registration system -- because I'm reluctant to bug Kent Shaw with yet another nit-picky change request at the moment. :-)

(Right now, the order form lists Telephone Song as the preview map that's closest to the Day 2 venue; but, with the Day 2 venue change, Diamond Bay and Pelican Bay are the closest preview maps. Swampfox, correct me if I'm wrong about that.)

That's about right; the closest, most relevant preview maps are Pelican Bay, First With the Mostest, Diamond Bay (most of which is embargoed), and Twin Boulders. East Pelican Bay, which isn't available for sale in advance but which will be used for the Aug 8 morning race, is the single most relevant map for the Day 2 area.

Since those that would know are hanging out in this thread - the Laramie Daze events leading up to the Champs weekend look to be pretty low key events - race AM, train PM - will there be beginner level courses (White/Yellow) on these days, or is it limited course offerings? Thanks...

Also, how many of the Laramie Daze days have A-meet (US ranking) status? Looking forward to visiting the lair of the Fox once again!

The Monday-through-Friday events are not A-meets.

Saturday and Sunday are sanctioned as A-meets and as the US Classic-Distance Championships.

I'll let Swampfox answer the question about beginner courses on Monday through Friday. But, I think the plans are to only offer Intermediate and Advanced courses on those days. The full range of USOF courses and classes will be offered on Saturday and Sunday.

The main thrust behind Laramie Daze is to offer a chance to do a whole lot of high quality orienteering in a very low key atmosphere with a minimum amount of manpower needed to set it up. Part of that necessarily means a limited number of courses each day. While nobody is being discouraged from taking part, Daze really isn't geared for beginners.

However, that's not to say if there was demand for a very easy course and one or more volunteers stepped forward, that we couldn't make it happen.

Thanks for the clarification Mikell. I was considering the possibility of coming out with one of the boys (age 9) and whether there would be a course where he could do his own navigating with me shadowing. But I understand the premise of a low manpower meet as well, so if we come out, we'll just create ourselves a shortened version of one of the advanced courses to do together...

Clint, I imagine you'd find that would work better than might be guessed. We had some folks out last summer that did that sort of thing, and I think they had a pretty good time. And it helps that our terrain is more friendly and visual--on most of our maps for most of any course, you're going to be able to see real good, and there are lots of things to see. Compare that with a typical second growth eastern forest back east, where you routinely might not be able to see 50 yards, and where all you can see are leaves and tree trunks. Even an orange course in those kind of conditions might well feel a lot more difficult (navigationally) than a Red course out here.