Mountain Bike Orienteering Shake Up
Rob Howard / 12.01.2010
The new name brings the organisation into line with other national governing bodies, such as British Orienteering and British Cycling, and was felt to be a better indication of the activities they represent. So the TCA is no more, long live the BMBO!
The changeover will be gradual and the constitution will be amended later this year, but there is already a new website at www.bmbo.org.uk and the 2010 calendar does not use the separate descriptions of events as Trailquests, MTBO, Lanequests etc.
These have now all been replaced by the overall term of Mountain Bike Orienteering (MBO), though it will take some time to work through this change at event level. (There may also be some event organisers who are not keen to have a name change pushed upon them.)
The new classification will define a <b>Mountain Bike Orienteering Event</b> as a race where each competitor visits controls in a set order, with the winner recording the fastest time. Competitors will normally use a specially drawn, large scale, orienteering style map, preferably drawn to international MBO standards and there will usually be several courses of different lengths.
A <b>Mountain Bike Orienteering Score Event</b> will have a number of controls, of various score values, to be visited in any order within a set time limit, with the winner collecting the highest score. These events may use orienteering style maps, or use suitably modified OS maps. (These events are what would formally have been recognised as Trailquests, or Lanequests and will now be called Bike O.)
The new membership scheme has also been launched. You have to be a member to take part in BMBO events but associate membership is free. Full membership costs £15 per year, and offers reduced entry fees, so it’s worthwhile if you compete regularly.
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