Discussion: Flying Pig

I noticed the US Relay Champs are part of the Flying Pig this year. Have the rules for the US Relay Champs changed since these rules in 2006?

http://www.ocin.org/flying_pig/pigX/relay.html

flying pig? now i have seen everything

Not that I am aware of. In addition, there is now a rule forbidding relay rules changes within something like 6 months of the event, so at this point, no rules changes are allowed.

thanks

I'm pretty sure there have not been any changes. Certainly nothing affecting ages, points, number of runners on a team.

Pig website is not up yet. I expect to have pretty complete information posted by the end of January. Events will be at Mt Airy Forest (and McFarlan Woods) which is only 5 or 6 miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati, immediately off I-74. Most lodging real close to the sites is in the budget motel category. You'll probably want to go out to the 275 beltway for a wide availability of middle and higher end lodgings.

The event plan is Middle on Friday, US Relay Champs on Saturday, and Long on Sunday.

Several people have asked about adding a sprint on Saturday morning before the Relay. Because of the heavy logistics in setting up the relay and the limited number of OCIN volunteers, I have been apprehensive about adding a sprint and can't commit any OCIN volunteer resources to an additional event. We do have plenty of equipment available, if volunteers can be found to run an event. I would certainly consider a US Team or US Junior Team fundraiser, if these groups could commit to running the day-of-event portion entirely. I would be willing to consult/control courses, or maybe even do course design or advance vetting. But I would need a full committment to 100% day-of-event management. The sprint would probably need to be in a different park a few miles away, although we could possibly have a lower key "fun" sprint within Mt. Airy. So, if folks want a sprint (and I'd love to have one), please put your heads together & send me a proposal.

A sprint could be a great fundraiser for both teams to help cover the cost of their team uniforms. I working on seeing if the senior team is interested in doing it together with a juniors for this purpose. It would be a good option for those people that wouldn't have a enough club members in attendence for a relay team. Please keep the option open and we will get back to you shortly.

Hi Mike/Janet, yes let's talk about the fundraiser; what can we use as far as maps/areas? I don't recally any of the McFarlan/Mt. Airy being particularly sprinty.

Vlad, I can work on man power for the sprint. If you can work on a course. I don't really know OH that well and being in PA I'm not much help before that friday. I left a message for Wytt to call me but as of yet he hasn't. I'll send him an email so that he can send out an email message to the senior team aboiut it.

If the middle is on Friday, do you know if it will be late in the day so those traveling on Friday can make it?

Yeah, looks like we got things started on a Saturday fundraiser Sprint, maps have been found, stand by for more details. Junior Team volunteers should contact me at some point.

Sue, fridays's meet usually has starts til late afternoon for most of us arrive there sometime in the afternoon.

With daylight savings starting earlier, we can probably keep Friday starts open until around 5 pm.

Janet,
Where'd you leave a message for me. I just came across this thread by chance. I likely can't help much Saturday, with the relay and the kids.

Mike,
Is there a Jr., Jr. relay planned for this year? A simple ~5-10 control, 0.5-1.5km White course trail loop, run twice, would suffice, and the under-12 kids (ours and a dozen or so others) have really enjoyed this in the past 2 years.
A start 10 minutes after the regular mass start worked well in the past, and I'll volunteer for creating the awards if that helps...

I haven't discussed that with Mike, but I was planning to design a Jr. Jr. as a part of the relay courses. I'd sure like to see other Jr. Jr. designs. It's been done at least twice, right?

The fundraiser Sprint is getting volunteers... anyone else? e-mail me and let's get excited about it!

Here's the first Jr. Jr., from the 2007 relays. Same course for both legs. Seemed to take about 10 minutes and was just about right, though it took a couple of revisions to make sure it was easy enough.

Peter---Thanks for posting that.

feet just emailed me the 2008 Jr. Jr. Relay ---Thanks!

(I thought I'd post about it, just in case anyone was duplicating effort.)

As Event Director for the Flying Pig, I am delighted that tundra/desert and orienteeringmom are stepping forward to organize a sprint for this year's Pig. I hope to have a proposal from them soon so that I can submit for "A" sanctioning.

Any ideas on where the best lodging accommodations might be for this meet? At least please provide the most convenient suburb for those unfamiliar with the area. Is there a meet headquarters planned?

The AP event page doesn't say, and the OCIN site doesn't have MacFarlane Woods to even get an idea of what side of Cincinnati it's on.

Janet, McFarlan Woods is part of Mt. Airy Forest on the west side of Cincinnati. It has a different name for the map because it's seperated from the main part of Mt. Airy by I-74.

I'm not certain if there's a designated event headquarters, but other lodging options in the area I'd recommend are Clifton, Downtown Cincinnati, and Sharonville/Springdale area (listed in the order from closest to furthest from Mt. Airy).

Thanks for the help!

Harrison, OH (west side) has several motels near I-74. Web site is currently under review for errors, etc, and should be public within a few days.

The sprint will be a fundraiser for the US Team and US Junior Team, and will be at Burnet Woods near Univ. of Cincinnati.

To give an idea of event locations, Mt Airy / McFarlan can be reached from I-74, exits 14 and 18. Burnet from I-74, exit 20 or I-75 exit 3. Lodging nearest to the event sites tends to be of the "budget" variety. If you are looking for more upscale accomodations, you probably need to go 15-20 minutes out to Harrison, Sharonville, etc.

For anyone looking at airfares for the Pig, Delta just announced last Friday that it has slashed prices out of its CVG hub.
Here's an excerpt of the announcement:

... According to Delta, the price cuts will range from 5 percent to 60 percent, and will affect 80 percent of the travelers flying into or out of CVG. The reductions will apply to advance-purchase business and leisure fares, as well as walk-up fares, and will include cities in Florida, the Northeast and along the West Coast.

A sampling of the cuts reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer based on a 21-day advance purchase, show reductions of 12 percent for a one-way trip to Hartford, Conn. (from $180 to $159) to 58 percent to Los Angeles ($310 one-way to $130)."

CVG is the nearest airport to all the events during the Flying Pig weekend. It will take about 20mi and 25min to the event center.

CVG is the Cincinnati-Nortehrn Kentucky International Airport. Other choices: DAY (Dayton) is about 1 hour away (a little more on Friday afternoon), CMH (Columbus), IND (Indianapolis), and SDF (Louisville) are all right about 2 hours away.