The first OS Outdoors Show was so popular that the organisers were forced to announce a sell-out on Sunday, but for those who got in, the experience was crowded but positive
Too popular for its own good? That was one way of looking at the
first Ordnance Survey Outdoors show at the weekend.
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Saturday's queue has far to go...
Some show-goers queued for an hour or more to get
in...
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For those that got in okay, it was an enjoyable, if crowded
experience, but after a reasonable 6500 people had squeezed in on
Friday, double that number, 13,000 turned up for the Saturday. The
result were huge queues and a wait of over an hour outside for many
showgoers, despite having pre-booked tickets. Sunday was looking just
as busy despite the organisers announcing that the show had sold
out.
Quite a few showgoers simply gave up and went home. We'll have a
photo gallery and show report up later today, but inside there was a
great if massively crowded atmosphere - at one point the organisers
simply had to stop allowing people in for safety reasons.
Highlights included the strange spectacle of indoor adventure
racing including Keith Byrne from The North Face UK, doing a Freddie
Ljundberg and dying his hair red, or was it pink, for the final; the
ongoing bouldering competition; the styrofoam 'try it yourself' ice
climbing wall; the indefatigable lads and lasses from Patterdale MRT
demonstrating their stretcher-lowering techniques on the Berghaus
stand and the chance to meet staff from the various outdoor
magazines, some with beards, some not...
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Meanwhile it was raining inside
on the
Berghaus stand...
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And of course, there was always the odd celebrity to gawp at with
Chris Bonington, Ray Mears, Doug Scott, Aland Hinkes - who used the
show to announce that he's off to Annapurna in the spring.
Response from the exhibitors we spoke to was overwhelmingly
positive with Chris Lines from Berghaus commenting that he was both
glad that the company had decided to do something slightly different
with the mountain rescue display and a demonstration rain tent and
saying how great it was to be able to speak to consumers (that's us)
at first hand.
There was a general disappointment at the lack of show bargains
from retailers, but the sheer popularity of the show was extremely
positive and Brand Events were already gung ho about putting together
a bigger, better experience for next year. Hopefully the success of
this year's show will attract more of the major outdoor brands, and
who knows, you might even see an OUTDOORSmagic stand there.
What did you make of it? Check the forum thread below.
