Level A/B/C

NB This is not intended as a full guide to staging these events, rather as a repository of specific information relevant to how HH does things. 

Competitions

Our Saturday events are part of our Saturday Series, they have no effect on other competitions (except GLOSS, in July).

Many larger events are part of a regional or national competition. Please read the Rules for that competition very early on. There are hidden "gotchas" such as the fact that the event for parents etc for YBT Final must finish before the first YBT start time. Rules are available:

• For National competitions eg YBT, CSC, Southern Champs - https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/rules

• For SEOA competitions eg SE Long, Relays, SE League (including all Ace of Herts) - https://www.seoa.org.uk/info/orienteering-competitions-within-seoa

• Occasionally our event is part of another competition eg Interland, Inter-Services Championships. You'll just have to Google it.

• It's unlikely we will run a World Ranking Event, but that's a much bigger issue. Start at least 3 years beforehand and get BOF-level support.

What's different about larger events for the Organiser?

The obvious answer is that you can't do it all in the last couple of weeks! But specifically:

Fees

We have standard fees for Saturday Series. For larger events, you will need to prepare a  simple budget for agreement by the Treasurer and set fees accordingly. The Treasurer can provide budget examples from previous years. Guidelines on pricing:

• Entry through SI Entries allows tiers of prices depending on when people enter. Keep it simple - one tier for before map numbers are sent to printers about a week beforehand, one for after that including EOD (usually £2 higher).

• We should be seen to be reasonable value compared with similar nearby events, but budget to break even near the lower end of the expected number of entries. If that's difficult to reconcile, consult the Treasurer or even the committee.

• We offer discounts of £2 for BO members.

• Try to keep junior fees relatively low. Charge full-time undergraduates, and senior entrants on TD1-3 courses, junior rates.

• Don't budget on collecting cash per car for parking, fold it in to the entry price. A lot of people don't carry cash post-Covid and it can cause bottlenecks at the entrance to the parking. An option would be to collect a 'parking fee' in the SI Entries process -  we haven't tried it yet, it doesn't encourage people to car share after entering.

Making it a 'big' event

Appoint your team leaders early. They do most of the work! The teams you might need are: parking and marshalling, arena coordinator, enquiries & dibbers, SI, start, finish (may be planner), string course. The Events Coordinator or Chair will help you with who is suitable. If you appoint someone experienced they'll work out how many people they need. Don't wait for team leaders to volunteer, ask the people you want.

Brief team leaders in advance and/or at meeting(s). It is often worth an on-site meeting a couple of weekends beforehand. On site you can show them all where start, finish, event centre, parking are and discuss any issues. If you hold a meeting invite the Controller. 

Consider providing the following. Level A events will have almost all of these, level C events some of them:

• Flyer. If you do produce a printed flyer to leave at other events, make it "glossy" rather than information-dense text, you will include a web URL anyway. Don't bother producing a Word document for Final Details, we have a Print this Page button at the bottom of each event page on the website. Current practice is to declare the web details as Final with agreement from controller and planner, ideally a week or so beforehand, then highlight any subsequent changes in red.

• Publicity through Facebook. Consult the Publicity Officer, but organiser and/or planner will need to provide the input, preferably including photos.

• External first aid cover for level B and above.

• You must have toilets, even if they are portable ones hired in. Put a big pack of spare loo rolls in your car just in case.

• Traders and (especially) food outlets, who will probably only be interested if we're the biggest event in easy reach for them that day.

• A more structured arena - taped run-ins, kit dump / shelter, area for club tents, defined places for traders, marquee(s) rather than tents

• A more formal start layout. If you have someone on callup you may need a second clock.

• Contactless finish is strongly recommended for level C and above, it makes it more of a race (and gives good photos). If you do, there must be either a radio control at finish or a safety check box thereafter and someone on finish to ensure it is punched.

• Commentary for level A events, which means (more?) radio controls

• Don't bother with results boards. We make live results available on the web, subject to phone signal or WiFi being available.

• A string course (talk with Events Coordinator or Junior Coordinator to find volunteers)

• An explicitly documented Missing Runner Search Plan

• More signage - the ratio of runners to helpers is higher at bigger events, and some may be less used to the HH or even UK way of doing things

And afterwards ...

It's more important to ask if people have expenses than at a Saturday Series event, so mention it in your thank you email to helpers. You should ask an external controller separately. Our expenses policy is here.

Please write the event up for the results webpage and the newsletter (can be the same content). Photos are often worth more than words.

What's different about larger events for the Planner?

Courses

Level A/B events are normally part of the SE League so should have the courses as defined by SEOA.

Urban events probably have the 7 courses as in UKUL.

Regional forest events eg Jack of Herts should have Brown Blue Green ShortGreen LightGreen Orange Yellow White. VeryShortGreen is an option.

Planning for multiple courses

There are a few things you need to pay more attention to:

• Splitting up hordes of runners, especially early on. Even if all the technical courses go essentially the same way, you should have 2 or 3 options for each of the first 2 or 3 controls.

• Course lengths must be correct as in the Rules. Check Routegadget for a previous event on that area to see what is a good length for Black (or Brown) to achieve the Expected Winning Time. Apply the ratios as required to height-corrected lengths. Err on the shorter side for the shortest TD5 courses, unless their terrain is particularly easy.

• External controllers will normally be on the lookout for doglegs, contraflows, overloaded controls, adjacent similar control numbers ... all of which might be given a little more latitude on a Saturday Series.

Expect to have to start the planning earlier and to have more iterations of the courses.

Printing and Logistics

Talk with the printers maybe a month beforehand, to make sure they are expecting a biggish print run.

It's good to have courses tied down rather earlier than for Saturday Series, so that you and the Controller can review the PDF proofs carefully.

Start the conversation with Organiser and Entries Coordinator about numbers of maps in good time, minimum 14 days before the event.