First of all, a big thank you to all those Challengers who took part in the TGOC24 Survey: we had a total of 190 responses, which represents just over 60% of the 316 TGOC24 participants – a great turnout!
TGOC24 numbers
Just so you have a feel for the overall numbers of TGOC24 itself, the following tables gives some of the basic information for this year’s event.
For TGOC24, we had 427 applicants, but these gradually reduced prior to the actual start of the event due to reasons various. The numbers as the first Challengers dipped their toes on the west coast on 9th May 2024 and the subsequent completions were:
This gave us a retirement rate of 19%, which is high in comparison to most years, where it generally runs between 12% to 15%; with the exception of 2022, where it reached an unprecedented 22%! The driving factor this year seems to have been the hot, dry weather as many Challengers retired with foot problems and blisters. The TGOC Control reveals the following on retirements:
The breakdown of the experience levels for the event was:
From hereon in, all the comments, percentages, figures and diagrams are taken from the survey, so should be read with the phase “Of those who took part in the survey” in mind; it does not reflect all of the Challengers who took part in the event.
Team sizes and previous experience
The first couple of questions asked if Challengers were solo or in a team; and what the experience levels were. The results of these 2 questions were :
We had a good response from all the experience levels, which was broadly in line with the event itself, which would indicate that the survey is fairly representative. Unless a contact email was supplied in the survey, the results are also anonymous.
Resources supplied and applicability
The next couple of questions were about the usefulness of the TGOC resources provided, and how easy it was to find the relevant data.
The documentation seems to have been useful to all (bar 2 respondents who didn’t find it useful at all), with the Vetters’ Comments being the most useful and relevant. It appears that the TGO Challenge website needs some work on it to improve on the ease of finding data; and the newly introduced TGOC YouTube, although not scoring highly, appears to have been popular mainly with first timers (from other feedback we have received). They were also only produced part way through the route vetting period.
Route planning tools
The question of which resources are used in route planning produced a plethora or responses (perhaps too many to name here) with the digital Ordnance Survey maps being the clear leader with over 75% of responders. This also ties in with the fact that nearly 95% of Challengers used a digital mapping platform to plot at least part of their route.
GPX file submission
We asked those Challengers using digital mapping to submit gpx files along with their Route Sheet as they are very useful to the Vetters and allows them to cross check against the written description in the Route Sheet. Most Challengers who used digital mapping managed to do this (over 70%).
However, of those who did not submit their gpx files (22%), almost half of them were unsure how to do this. We recommend looking at the TGO Challenge YouTube videos that describe how to do this – it’s quite straightforward, but if you need any further advice, just drop us an email and we’ll try to help.
We’d like to see more Challengers submit their gpx files as we are investigating the possibility of reducing the amount detail needed in the route description element of the Route Sheet provided it is accompanied by a gpx file. More on this in future news…
Mapping type used during the crossing
During the event, the vast majority (nearly 93%) of Challengers now solely use a digital form of mapping (either as their primary or secondary options) in place of the purely paper maps. It is somewhat disconcerting that nearly 10% of Challengers stated that they carry no form of backup mapping (either paper or digital), which clearly goes against the advice given. All Challengers should be carrying their own set of maps (be it digital or physical) to mitigate the risks of losing your primary facility or becoming separated from the group (if you are relying on others providing your back up facility).
Compass type used
Most Challengers (91%) still carry a physical compass, with a significant number also having a digital compass (56%). Four Challengers reported not carrying any form of compass at all! We assume that they were either part of a group (and thus relying on someone else for navigation) or have done their route so many times that they feel that they don’t need one. As a reminder, it is a requirement of the event that Challengers know how to navigate and carry the appropriate equipment. We cannot, and have no intention of, testing Challengers on this, furthermore, we rely upon the honesty in the declarations in the TGOC application form. We thanks those who answered the question honestly, but ask them please to abide by the requirement of the event.
Contacting Challenge Control
The Challenge safety process relies heavily on the Phone-In system, and the great majority of Challengers phoned-in on the right date and at the right place – a big thank you to you all. This year, Challenge Control didn’t have any sleepless nights worrying about missing Challengers. There were a few reminders sent out each evening, which were answered quickly. There were only one or two occasions when Challengers had no phone signal and couldn’t check in, but fortuitously, they were using trackers, which allowed Challenge Control to establish very quickly that they were at their Phone-In point.
Although the phone signal coverage is improving year-on-year in Scotland, there are still issues with Challenges not being able to call in from their nominated Phone-In point, even though they were at a recognised Phone-In location. We think this is down to the phone coverage not being available with all phone providers.
Nevertheless, most Challengers (98%) didn’t experience any great issues with contacting Challenge Control by either voice or text, with only a handful (2%) finding it difficult or very difficult, but they did manage to get through in the end. There are, understandably, naturally busy periods on the phones at Challenge Control, generally at the times when most Challengers are stopping for lunch, reach their overnight halt or after their evening meal. As we didn’t have any circumstances of Challengers failing to contact Challenge Control on consecutive Phone-In points, we assume that this reported difficulty was on an isolated basis.
Information provided during the event
We, the Coordinators, Vetters and Challenge Control, try very hard to provide useful and timely information to Challengers and have been implementing some changes to improve the service still further, which we think is reflected in the 98% of Challengers rating us at 3-Star and above (over 90% gave us a 5-star rating); however, 4 Challengers gave us a 1-star rating.
As the survey is done anonymously and there were no adverse comments given, we have no idea who these Challengers are or what was the cause of this poor rating. If it was you and you have a particular, valid reason for this, we would greatly appreciate letting us know by email what the issues were that caused this rating, so we can carry out some appropriate, corrective action.
Footwear
As mentioned early, this year we had a high number of Challengers drop out during the event due to foot issues, so we thought we’d include within the survey a few questions on footwear and footcare.
Around 60% of Challengers wore some form of waterproof footwear (be it boots or trail shoes), and just over 30% wore non-waterproof trail shoes. There has been some discussion and comment on the TGO Challenge Facebook page, about some Challengers being “too lightweight” as well as some Challengers carrying “too much”. Footwear comes into this argument too, with a ‘boots VS trail shoes’ philosophy.
As we couldn’t link the ‘shoes used’ question with the following ‘foot issue’ question, we cannot draw any correlated conclusions nor make any inferences. This may have been inadvertently fortunate for us, as it means we don’t have to enter into the “argument”; however, we are firmly in the camp of “it’s your choice but you should make sure that your footwear is appropriate for the task”… nothing like sitting on the fence!
Footcare.
On the footcare questions, nearly 40% experienced foot problems during the event; however, only 10% of these were forced to retire because of it. Of the remainder, most (nearly 80%) continued on with no effect, and the remaining 10% made some alteration to their plans in order to cope with the problem.
Interestingly… or perhaps not, the footcare regimes used by both those who had foot problems and those who didn’t, look spookily similar, so there’s nothing that would point to any specific regime that would avoid foot issues. If anything having no particular care regime appeared to result in less blisters . . . We guess that if we could pinpoint a reason, we would be able to solve the problems where all others have failed! The bottom line is that your feet need care and attention during the event and we’d recommend a goodly proportion of preparation beforehand, but it appears to be the luck of the draw if you get blisters.
Nevertheless, we are looking at marketing some TGO Challenge Footcare Snake Oil, which will guarantee a blister-free crossing. It comes with the following caveat: if you do experience any problems, we will re-imburse 50% of the price of the Snake Oil, providing you arrive at Challenge Control to pick it up!
TGO Challenge YouTube videos
We’ll review all the suggestions made for additional videos. There were quite a few requests for videos on topics that would, by their very nature, be very subjective such as best equipment, best footwear, top 10 things to do/see, so we’ll probably avoid these. However, there were others (some of which we have already in the pipeline) that we will be looking at:
- What is the TGO Challenge
- Tips on planning a route
- Weather and terrain
- OMN and gpx files on a Mac computer
- Challenge Control
We will look at these and do what we can in the time available, so some may be available for TGOC25. Our next one to do, and our number one priority, is the “Filling in your Online Route Sheet”.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many thanks, once again, to all those who took the time to complete the survey – we do appreciate your efforts. We will be implementing changes based on your feedback and it’s good to know that we continue to provide a good service.
