REPORT ON THE BASOC QUIZ-O SESSION

HELD IN NETHY BRIDGE ON SUNDAY 6^TH APRIL 2008

Quiz Orienteering is an attempt to adapt orienteering so as to make it always available at anytime to anyone who wants to do the activity – perhaps without attending an “event”. It avoids putting out control marker flags or permanent course posts by simply circling on the map a series of features which can be clearly found on the ground. So the the feature itself IS the “control”. On the back of the map is a list of very simple questions (like “What colour is this gate?”). The answer to each question is only likely to be correct if you have navigated to the correct place.

Allan Goodall would like to thank all 29 people who attended the “trial run” of the first BASOC village quiz-O – adults & children – club members and local residents – and especially all those who offered comments, suggestions and questions to try to improve the map pack for publication.

SUGGESTIONS INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING:

• Swap the 3 columns of printing on the back of the map, so that the list of controls and questions comes at the right side of the page and we don’t have to unfold our maps to see the questions. Done.
• Have “boxes” to write the answers into. Done.
• Is it suitable for wheelchairs & buggies? Much of each course would be – and it now says that on the back of each map.
• Should the legend or key be printed onto the map? Yes, by editing the size of the legend down and losing some of the land area shown on the A4 map.
• Shouldn’t we try to credit the funding agencies who contributed to making the original Nethy Bridge Map? Yes – they are now mentioned on the back of the map.

Most of the suggestions have now been incorporated into the Nethy Bridge Quiz Orienteering Pack which is expected to be available from sale points in the village by the last week of April. The Grantown Quiz-O Pack is also ready now too and should be on sale about the same time. Work has started on a Quiz-O pack for Kingussie.

HOW DID THEY GET ON? We should thank Hilary Scott for her efforts in boosting numbers and encouraging more people to take part. As we hoped, the 29 people who attended represented a wide cross section – from regular orienteering club members to individuals and families who had not orienteered much before, if at all. This was reflected in the informal “results”. Everybody found at least 6 controls – and 9 or 15 was a more typical number (between the snow showers!). The total number of controls on the map is 26 (A to Z) and Callum Scott, our club chairman, found all of them, covering at least 7 Kilometres in 49 minutes, 26 seconds. That’s an average of 7 minutes per Kilometre! Reiss MacEwan (aged 11) put in a very creditable performance too. He set out on a loop of 6 controls. Not only was he first back, but he got all six right at 16 minutes per kilometre and was 3 minutes faster than his granddad. Beth Rutledge and her mum did 15 controls together at 18 minutes and 45 seconds per kilometre. We were encouraged by the participation of a number of local people and by the support of the Explore Abernethy Ranger, Lindsay Buchanan.

CAN ANYONE HAVE A GO? The Quiz-O packs are aimed mostly at visitors, tourists and newcomers to orienteering, but we hope that regular orienteers will enjoy them too and perhaps get non orienteering friends to try this activity. The packs are priced £2 each from local shops or suppliers of tourist information. In case of difficulty you could obtain your map from Allan Goodall (Tel.01479 821716).