The British TrailO League (BriTOL) aims to maximise participation in TrailO in the United Kingdom through a series of worthwhile and friendly competitions that are accessible to all.
Long term, the league aims to consist of about 20 competitions per year.
The league runs from 1st January to 31st December each year.
The league consists of “races” as defined in the TOP results system.
There are no restrictions on who may enter. Neither a BOF number nor an IOF ID is required.
Results must be uploaded to a race in TOP configured to be compatible with BriTOL.
All BriTOL competitors must compete on the same course.
The BriTOL course must be labelled elite (E).
Additional courses that do not score BriTOL points may be offered.
Results should be displayed online as soon as practical and must be closed in TOP within seven days of the race.
Races must be part of events registered with British Orienteering.
Races must take place within the United Kingdom or a Crown Dependency.
Races should be evenly distributed across the country.
Races must have the quality of at least a British FootO regional (level C) event but may be registered as a local (level D) event and need not comply with all regional requirements.
Courses must be checked in advance by either an experienced Trail Orienteer, or a controller or IOF event advisor who has a working knowledge of TrailO. Courses should also be checked on the day, which need not be by the advance course checker.
The most challenging BriTOL course should contain at least 15 PreO, PreO sprint or TempO tasks, or a mix thereof. Any task only used as a tiebreaker, e.g. a PreO timed control, is not included in this count. The volumes of any easier courses, if offered, are unconstrained.
A race may be spread over multiple parts.
Non-local competitors must be able to reasonably complete a race within a single trip. For example, parts of a race may be on consecutive days at the Scottish 6 Days.
When each part of a multi-part event could be a standalone league race, each part should count as a separate race, unless it might prevent another race from being included in the league.
Not all races of an event need to count towards BriTOL.
The rules for an event must not incentivise competitors to use different strategies depending on whether they wish to optimise their event result or league result.
The league coordinator is solely responsible for selecting races to include in the league. Factors of attractiveness include:
Being held as part of a multi-day TrailO competition.
Being held in conjunction with other types of orienteering, where it is feasible to compete in both.
Challenging terrain with high quality courses.
Inclusion of more than one discipline at the event.
Not clashing with other events, TrailO or otherwise, that would significantly reduce the entry.
BriTOL has open (O), physically challenged (P) and junior (J) classes.
Any competitor may compete in the open class.
Competitors in the P-class must satisfy qualification criteria under IOF rules at the time of the race. However, an IOF certificate is not required.
Juniors are determined by the IOF rules at the time of the race.
All competitors additionally compete within an overall league.
A competitor may win both an overall and a class prize.
The elite course must offer all classes at each race.
Competitors must not compete in more than one BriTOL class across the season.
Competitors must be eligible for their BriTOL class at all races they start on the elite course across the season.
Competitors must declare their chosen race class at the time of entry.
Entering is a self-declaration of eligibility for that class.
The organiser may prevent a competitor from changing class for a race.
A competitor’s BriTOL class matches their race class at the first race of the season in which they started an elite course.
Competitors may compete in different race classes at subsequent races during the season but will continue to score BriTOL points in their BriTOL class, i.e. changes of class between races are ignored.
Competitors must not change their BriTOL class once they have started their first elite course of the season unless they are not eligible or cease to be eligible in that class. Any change must be agreed with the league coordinator and will apply retrospectively for the whole season.
Competitors must inform the league coordinator once they are aware that they are ineligible for their current BriTOL class. If at a BriTOL race, this must be submitted in the same timeframe and through the same medium as a complaint to the organiser, who must either update the BriTOL series in TOP or inform the league coordinator before final results are announced. At all other times, notifications should be emailed to british.trailo.league@gmail.com. The league coordinator must then move the competitor to an eligible class as soon as reasonable.
The league coordinator may seek evidence of eligibility for a class. Organisers must cooperate with such requests. If the league coordinator cannot determine that a competitor is eligible in a class, the competitor is deemed to be ineligible in that class for the season.
Scores are calculated using the CHIS system using the implementation in TOP. For non-binding guidance, see https://www.trailo.it/Classifiche%20internazionali/Calcolo_CHIS.asp, which is paraphrased here:
The winner across all classes is awarded 100 points.
Each competitor gets proportionally less according to the ratio between their and the winner’s score.
For time-based formats, such as TempO and one-man relay, the score is the time including penalties. For PreO and PreO Sprint, the score is the number of correct answers after penalties plus the proportion of tiebreaker time in relation to the maximum time including penalties; for example, at a PreO timed control, zero time and all correct scores the same as someone who gave one more correct answer but got all timed controls wrong in maximum time.
Points are calculated to two decimal places.
There is no tiebreaker.
The best N/2 + 1, rounded down to the nearest integer, scores from N competitions in this year's league are summed to give a competitor's score for the league.
The highest overall score wins.
Competitors score points as individuals; the league is not a team competition.
Those who compete in groups must be marked as non-competitive.
Those who are non-competitive or are disqualified do not score points for that race.
Competitors who only complete part of a race still score points. Any missing answers are marked wrong. Their course/section time is the time spent until retirement. If they did not start a section (e.g. timed control), they are awarded maximum time without incurring lateness penalties (e.g. for a PreO section).
All competitors who have at least one score receive a position in the league.
The league programme and table must be published online.
Prospective organisers should email the league coordinator at british.trailo.league@gmail.com to apply for inclusion in the league. An outline of the format and scoring, results service, event details and up to 100 words on the attractiveness of the event should be submitted.
Races must be published in the online programme at least one month before the race and should be published as early as possible.
Prospective organisers should allow sufficient time for their application to be considered. Applying at least two months in advance is recommended.
For guaranteed consideration of inclusion in the league, prospective organisers should apply by 31st October the preceding year. After this deadline, the league coordinator must consider the applications received and publish an outline programme, which may be later amended, by 30th November. The coordinator may delay approval of some competitions if it is likely to improve the programme.
Organisers must agree the race scoring system, the results system and who will manage the results service with the league coordinator at least one month before the race. The league coordinator will need to see evidence that the proposed system has been tested successfully prior to approval. Formats and systems following BriTOL guidelines have already been tested successfully. One month should be allowed for approvals not following BriTOL guidelines.
An accepted competition must not be removed from the league unless there is a material change in the properties of the competition.
The spirit of fair play applies at all times.
Race organisers are responsible for the validity of their race’s results, including resolving disputes over the fairness of controls and the whole course.
In exceptional circumstances, the league coordinator may remove a race from the league after it has taken place if it is considered to have an adverse effect on the league.
Competitors in breach of the BriTOL rules may be disqualified from BriTOL for any length of time. Where appropriate, offenders may be reported to other relevant bodies such as British Orienteering or the police.
The league coordinator must respond to complaints about the league. The complainant may protest without charge to the coordinator against the response, who will convene a jury of three. Each member of the jury must be either a controller/IOF event adviser or an experienced trail orienteer, with at least one member of each type on the jury.
The British TrailO Steering Group appoints the league coordinator and may remove one. A new league coordinator may overturn a decision of a previous coordinator, although anyone may complain and protest about this action.
These rules may be changed without notice and applied retrospectively if unforeseen circumstances dictate.
The British TrailO League (BriTOL) aims to maximise participation in TrailO in the United Kingdom through a series of worthwhile and friendly competitions that are accessible to all.
The league runs from 1st January to 31st December each year.
Long term, the league aims to consist of about 20 competitions each year. The target for 2020 is 8 competitions.
Competitions shall have the quality of at least a British TrailO category 2 event. Any exemptions, including the use of non-standard formats, shall be authorised by the league coordinator and only with good justification.
The volume of the most challenging course should meet the guideline for the elite course at a category 2 event. The volumes of any easier courses, if offered, are unconstrained.
A competition may consist of multiple sections of different disciplines/formats, summing to give the required volume in rule 2.4. The overall scoring method shall be approved by the league coordinator.
A league competition may be the aggregate of several smaller events that individually do not satisfy rule 2.4. These events may be spread over several days, but shall be located and scheduled such that a non-local competitor reasonably completes the competition in a single journey from home.
An event that consists of several distinct parts, each of which could be a standalone league competition, should count as separate competitions in the league, unless it might prevent another worthy event from being included in the league.
Competitions should be evenly distributed across the country.
The league coordinator is solely responsible for selecting competitions to include in the league. Factors of attractiveness include:
Being held as part of a multi-day TrailO competition
Being held in conjunction with other types of orienteering, where it is feasible to compete in both
Challenging terrain with high quality courses
Inclusion of both PreO and TempO, perhaps as separate competitions, or other formats, such as Sprint PreO
Not clashing with other events, TrailO or otherwise, that would significantly reduce the entry
Competitors score points as individuals; the league is not a team competition.
To score in the league, competitors shall enter with their BOF number.
Those who compete in groups, do not have a BOF number, declare themselves non-competitive or are disqualified shall score no points and shall be excluded from the calculation of points for that competition.
Finishers of a competition are ranked according to the rules of that competition. Points are awarded according to the prevailing rules of the UK Urban League, except that disqualified competitors are not included (in accordance with rule 3.3) and class rules are different (see rule 4).
Where a competition includes separate courses of different technical difficulty, results across all courses should be collated into a single ranking list where the winner of the easier course is ranked one place behind the last finisher of the harder course.
Heats may be used to sort competitors into finals, with the scoring as follows:
The winner of a lower final is positioned one place lower than last place in a higher final.
If multiple heats are used, the ranking shall be solely determined by the scores of the finals.
Competitors who fail to qualify for any final are ranked behind the last finisher of all the finals, subject to rule 3.3, and all such competitors shall be ranked equally if multiple heats take place.
Competitors who qualify for a final but do not start shall be treated as though they failed to qualify.
The best N/2 + 1, rounded down to the nearest integer, scores from N competitions in this year's league are summed to give a competitor's score for the league. The highest score wins.
All competitors who have at least one score receive an overall ranking in the league.
There are four classes: open (O), physically challenged (P), junior (J) and physically challenged junior (PJ).
There is a single league table covering all classes.
All competitors are included in the open class. Competitors are also included in the other classes for which they are eligible.
Competitors may win multiple classes.
League tables for the other classes shall be extracted and published from the main table at the end of the league, and should be published after every competition.
Physically challenged class eligibility is determined by the IOF rules for TrailO. Athletes are asked to self-declare their eligibility. Doctor's certificates are not required, although the league coordinator reserves the right to ask for proof of eligibility, of which a certificate is a suitable means.
Juniors have IOF age class 20 or under: the athlete will be aged 20 or under on 31st December of the current year.
All classes shall complete the same course.
The league programme and table shall be published online.
Prospective competition organisers shall email the league coordinator at british.trailo.league@gmail.com to apply for inclusion in the league. An outline of the format and scoring, event details and up to 100 words on the attractiveness of the event should be submitted.
A league competition shall be published in the online programme at least one month before the date of the competition and should be published as early as possible.
Prospective organisers should allow sufficient time for their application to be considered. Applying at least two months in advance is recommended.
For guaranteed consideration of inclusion in the league, prospective organisers should apply by 31st October the preceding year. After this deadline, the league coordinator shall consider the applications received and publish an outline programme, which may be later amended, by 30th November. The coordinator may delay approval of some competitions if it is likely to improve the programme.
An accepted competition shall not be removed from the league unless there is a material change in the properties of the competition.
Competition results should be uploaded according to the instructions within 48 hours and shall be provided within 7 days.
Those not competitive in the league shall not be included in the league results file (see rule 3.3). Competition organisers may ask the league coordinator for technical assistance.
The spirit of fair play applies at all times.
Competition organisers are responsible for the validity of their competition's results, including resolving disputes over the fairness of controls and the whole course.
In exceptional circumstances, the league coordinator may remove a competition from the league after it has taken place if it is considered to have an adverse effect on the league.
The league coordinator shall respond to complaints about the league. The complainant may protest without charge to the coordinator against the response, who will convene a jury of three. Each member of the jury shall be either a controller/IOF event adviser or an experienced trail orienteer, with at least one member of each type on the jury.
The British TrailO Steering Group appoints the league coordinator and may remove one. A new league coordinator may overturn a decision of a previous coordinator, although rule 6.4 still applies to this action.
These rules may be changed without notice and applied retrospectively if unforeseen circumstances dictate.