Cost of Orienteering
Wed, 25/02/2009 - 20:56 — Steve Pullen
I hope that this isn't too contentious. Today I took part in the BAOC event at Camberley. I've done quite a few of these events during my work lunch hour. They have all been very good and excellent value for money - just £2 to enter plus £1 EMIT hire. Over the past year or so, I've noticed that O events are getting really expensive - around £9 / £10 - this allied to the cost of travel must put people off. For my event in December, we charged £5 plus £1 for EMIT hire and still made a profit. Are some clubs making excessive profits on their events to the detriment of encouraging newcomers to the sport?
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Reducing Orienteering Inequalities the North South Divide
Just to show what can be done to increase participation through having a more affordable event costing that might bring back more of the 21 to 35 year olds struggling to find a job and initially on low incomes.
We entered a regional event two weeks ago on the day on Ilkely Moor for £5.50 each. No £1 for the car park, no card hire fee ( if I needed to hire it would have cost 50p). The whole event cost me £22 as I paid for 4 adults including two 21 to 35 year olds.
Contrast that with what I'm going to pay tomorrow at Bovington £25 for two adults.
So you see down South we really seem to work hard to price our 21 to 35 year olds out of competing whilst up North they do things differently - up there you can enter two for the price of one down South.
Can any one tell me why the North can charge so much less than the South?
http://www.orienteering.ilkley.org/events/archiveresults/2010/IlkleyMoor...
Neil
Event fees
It is noticeable that the events cited are not ours.
SOC keeps its event costs down by doing our own mapping.
A lot of other clubs are not as lucky, and have to use professional mappers, or amateur mappers who charge near to commercial rates. As an example we will revise the area for this year's Classic for less than £400, whereas professionally it could cost up to £1000.
SOC also benefits financially from the prestigous November Classic which attracts a large entry.
Even WIM and WSX who put on regional events in the New Forest do not get the same level of entry.
So as a club we plough back the money gained from the Classic, into doing our own mapping, and supporting our smaller events.
I guess other clubs do not have that luxury and as a consequence have to charge high entry fees for their regional events, in order to keep their club's afloat.
Remember as a member you can orienteer in the New Forest on Saturday for £3 (adult) £1 (junior) and no EMIT fee
Cost of Orienteering
I know it is not the only component of the cost of a major event, but I do find it hard to justify the BOF levy. I am sure that BOF provide some benefit, but my perception from their website is that all they do is foster the promising youngsters hoping to win for international competitions. That is a worthy aim but I challenge whether most orienteers wish to help fund it.
Can someone please defend the BOF levy?
Cost of orienteering events
Where does the money go?
An event Organiser will tell you: levy fees for BO (about 2.40 per adult, less for juniors), levy for the region (10p per person), land use fees (anything from 25 to 1,000, depending on the event size and location), toilets (about 75 per unit and we have about 1 per 100 people = 75p each for the convenience!), maps (now costing 42-85p each, depending on size), first aid (100+), travel expenses of the main event officials. Add that lot up and you soon see why we can no longer charge 3 pounds per head.
It would be interesting to know the costs of staging an RR10 or CC6, to make a fair comparison.
Where are the 21-35 year olds? An increasing number are doing Adventure Races, 2-3 hours drive away, at anything from 30-100 pounds per person! These events are organised by professionals, not volunteers.
So maybe the cost has nothing to do with participation.
Cost of orienteering
A number of things are contributing to higher costs.The cost of loos has increased almost on a yearly basis. That cost is mandatory as we cannot dig trenches and put up a screen as we did years ago!
Land usage charges - as we are siting BKO, a number of their areas are Crown Estates who have put up charges more than once in recent years.Clubs like to charge for EMIT or SI cards as an insurance that the competitor doesn't just take it home. But for local events it could be a refundable deposit. Most local events are not relying on the £1 per EMIT or SI unit to make that event an economic success.
Some clubs charge junior rates for full-time students. Then the registration team has to see evidence to support that.
Perhaps a better idea on a charging policy is to charge by course.A low cost for non technical courses - white, yellow, orange and red. A higher cost for the remainder up to black.This would work nicely with increasing participation as currently novice adults get charged the same if they do an orange course or a brown one.
Now with OCAD quite often the map is at A4 for the shorter courses and at A3 for the loinger ones.
This is an interesting topic,
This is an interesting topic, but I dont think its quite as simple as reducing fees will increase participation. I do agree that yesterdays event (run by Berkshire Orienteers) is too expensive for new people. For a Non BOF, EMIT hiring person, the cost was 10 quid. BKO seemed to have fixed at this level as their last C4 event I attended (West Woods) was simililarly priced. The price at Dibden for the same quality of event was 8 quid.
Although Bracken updates were made for yesterdays event, neither event required additional mapping. Whilst SOC can discuss what price to set for various events, if you feel strongly, get in touch with the event organisers from other clubs.
The EMIT hire fee I believe goes to the EMIT provider as part of the fees for the service.
In my short term O career, I can definitely see the advantage of bagless waterproof maps, electronic timing, prompt results service etc. and there is a small price to pay for that development. The BOF levy, land costs, surverying (and much more) also have to be considered.
There could be options available for permitting people to enter their first 3 events at half price, or cheaper prices for Adults on Orange, Yellow and White....
Is it really expensive though?
On Sunday I went to the very well attended 10k at Hursley where they were charging £12 for affiliated runners and £14 for unaffiliated for which you got a medal and a free banana.
And ...
... there was no string course to keep the younger spectators amused. The free entertainment for the under tens at orienteering definitely beats that at running races every time. This may not impact on the majority of orienteers but is certainly something we would take into account when adding up the costs and benefits.
Cost of Orienteering a real barrier to participation
Well done Steve for opening up the debate on this one. I wholeheartedly agree that fees are becoming prohibitive. When we began orienteering as a family we could enter the colour coded events which were the entry level for £2 per adult and £1 for the children there was no additional £1 for the car park or additional £1 for the emit card, all v affordable.
Yesterday Mary & I went to the Southdowns event at Bracknell the fees were: £9.00 Seniors (less a £2.00 discount for British Orienteering members), £2.00 for Juniors plus a £1 for the car park and £1 for the emit hire.
For us the cost was £17 for an event which 10 years ago would have cost £4 now even allowing for inflation ( & I thought we were now in a period of deflation!) represents a pretty sizeable increase.
As a club I am aware we have a pretty sizeable reserve and therefore we could afford to limit our reduce our fees.
I've heard it said that we are competiive in our fee structure compared to other running clubs. Well I pay £20 a year for Romsey Road Runners and for that I get free entry into all the RR10 & CC6 events. So no contest there.
In order to increase particpation in our sport I would therefore propose that we limit the overall entry fees for colour coded events to something like £4 per person , £2 for juniors. Could we give this a go for the next fee events for a trial period. If it looks like that this is unsustainable and we that we are going to go broke we can always up the increase fees for the next few events (but not too much I hope).
Ever wondered why we don't see that many 21 to 35 year olds competeing anymore? I've heard many of them complain about the cost. Think about it suddenly Mum & Dad not paying the entry fees. have to pay for your own transport. Not earning that much in your early 20s and still needing to pay off your student loan.
So lets see if we can increase participation in that key demographic we're missing. Reduce fees now.
Neil Adams
Is Orienteering getting too expensive
Today I took part in Sarum's event at Grovely Woods. It was a very enjoyable morning's exercise in bright sunshine. Unfortunately what annoyed me was the cost to compete - £11 plus £1 for Emit card hire. Add to this about £10 for fuel to travel to the event and orienteering is becoming very expensive. Why can the Army host their Wednesday events for a cost of £2.50 plus £1 for Emit hire whereas other clubs are charging much more?
Is it really very expensive?
How much would it cost you to play a round of golf if you weren't a member of a club? Even just a plain running race could cost you that amount, or 2-3 times as much for a big race. As for the Army events, I suspect they are either directly or indirectly subsidised. They are not, for example, having to pay land access fees on Army areas.
David
Golf Costs
A round of golf at Southampton Municipal golf course is £16.35 on weekdays and £22.50 at weekends. Good value for money for 4 hours of sport. Local pay and play courses charge ~ £10 a round after 3pm during the summer months.
Slower
Is that not the equivalent of a Level 3 event in orienteering though? Would you not pay more for a competition or a better course? Maybe you just need to go round your orienteering course more slowly!