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Please rate physical difficulty (roughness of terrain, general runability, obstacles and steepness of slope) and technical difficulty (navigational and route choice) for your normal colour course
#Response DateComments
1.4/27/2008 8:51:00 PMVaries between events
2.4/27/2008 9:44:00 PMSometimes there are inconsistencies in planning and controlling and this leads to differences in physical and technical standards
3.4/27/2008 10:31:00 PMSee comments above. We need to focus on the selection of quality terrain for mapping. The physical difficulty of a course is often constrained by the quality of terrain available. Local forests and mountains tend to be tougher underfoot than my ideal. Could we import a few hundred sq. kilometeres of Scandanavia?
4.4/28/2008 12:43:00 PMUse of some inferior areas in past few years has compromised physical and technical difficulty
5.4/28/2008 4:29:00 PMMy comments reflect my overall opinion of NI orienteering terrain which is hardly something NIOA can influence! There are however a few notable exceptions to areas in the above classes - runnable, technical areas which are a joy to run on. It is perhaps more important to note that maps should be up to date so that 'local knowledge' about undergrowth/windblown does not give unfair advantage to some.
6.4/28/2008 8:54:00 PMThe events in NW seem harder but probably due to the terrain
7.4/28/2008 9:13:00 PMMaybe not enough technical areas in NI
8.4/29/2008 10:39:00 AMThere is little TD5+ terrain available.
9.4/29/2008 11:16:00 AMI often find ditches and fences difficult to cross.
10.4/29/2008 10:45:00 PMPossibly have a long technical course (9km-12km)and short technical course (5km-8km).
11.5/2/2008 8:10:00 AMHowever, technical difficulty depends on the available maps, and on easier maps, a range of leg lengths and route choices is important to give technical challenge.
12.5/2/2008 8:16:00 AMAlthough I have ticked about right it does depend on the area and some have been too easy.
13.5/3/2008 7:13:00 PMCourses have becoming too short in recent years.
14.5/4/2008 10:42:00 AMIt depends on venue and planners. Don't think forests with lots of brambles should be used until winter and open mountain should be for summer events. Would like to go back to 9 events. Should be from Sept - June, not Jan - Dec. Not on same weekends(Sat) as National events (Sun). There are plenty of free weekends in between the national championships. Bit more fairness needed with age differences et 21 year olds should be running brown. Penalties for people who run out of standard or be declared non-competitive.
15.5/4/2008 10:54:00 AMWinning times are more important than course lengths.
16.5/6/2008 12:10:00 PMThe brown courses can sometimes resemble a physica rather than teshnical challenge, both from height climbed, heather crossed, and brambles etc on the ground.
17.5/6/2008 3:47:00 PMDepends a lot on the area being used - some areas are by nature less technical than others and the same for physical difficulty
18.5/6/2008 4:33:00 PMMore effort is required to raise the difficulty of these events (for those in TD4 or TD5) to ensure that they are able to compete successfully at international events and to help improve the orienteering capabilities of all NIOA members.
19.5/6/2008 4:58:00 PMI think the difficulty of each course is about right, but i think for people who do orienteering at a higher level the technical level should be harder!
20.5/7/2008 4:55:00 PMBrown courses are sometime too short. Mostly about right. Comment above about unnecessary use of bad/poor terrain applies. Often complete a course and have to ask what was the planner and controller dreaming of in taking the course through a particularly thick area. Also, general comment on planning - in many cases seems to be little planning of the overall route, just a concentration on dashing back and forward.
21.5/7/2008 9:27:00 PMInconsistent on both due to areas used and course planning
22.5/8/2008 7:49:00 PMcourses here are of an easier standard to those across the water.
23.5/9/2008 2:20:00 PMWould like to see more longer distance Rogaine type events.