Sprint distance measurement

[denbydale]

[quote="graeme"]Surrey Uni would be OK, but I'd be rather certain that Portugese terrain would be vetoed for WOC. I didn't see much sprinting or even running in the video, and I don't think it should be called a sprint, /quote]

I reckon a certain Mr Gueorgiou must have been running rather quickly to get round that course in 18m17s!

[Dave]

Zermat, WMOC in Portugal, Uni of Surrey, Scarborough, and the first St Andrews come to mind.

They are all fast urban areas, so what is your point?

[DJM]

Eddie, if the course lengths were measured according to the IOF clarification (i.e. round all obstacles and including height climb) all of the areas you mention (bar Portugal I suppose) should be won in around 3.4 min/km (or whatever the accepted figure is).

That is one reason for measuring this way. As Graeme implied, in his humourously obfuscating way, you could work backwards from 3.4 min/km and multiply it by the "IOF" course length to check that it gave the expected winning time.

I'm still looking for a handy way of doing this in OCAD - using its Ruler seems to be the best way I can think of so far ...

[NeilC]

I'm still looking for a handy way of doing this in OCAD - using its Ruler seems to be the best way I can think of so far ...

I may have missed the point of this query but I always measure optimal routes in OCAD by drawing a marked route (overprint symbol 705) along the route and then use the measure tool. I can't see that there can be an easier way since one would have to manually define the route anyway.

[graeme]

humourously obfuscating

I'll take that as a compliment. But I do have a serious point.
My method takes a few seconds: all the other methods suggested here are extremely time consuming.
If the optimal route distance was important it would be worth investing time measuring it, but if the planning is correct competitors have all the information they need - it's runnable and and it will be won in 12-15mins. As I pointed out, this rule was written long before ISSOM or sprint racing began. It is obsolete, and a distraction from more important planning tasks and more useful information (like optimal footwear, child-friendliness and walks to the start).

[greywolf]

Eddie, if the course lengths were measured according to the IOF clarification (i.e. round all obstacles and including height climb) all of the areas you mention (bar Portugal I suppose) should be won in around 3.4 min/km (or whatever the accepted figure is).

Except that that's not the case is it? The IOF "clarification" is nothing of the sort and (if Neil C's right) courses aren't measured around all obstacles, only those that are mapped as impassable...so it doesn't necessarily bear any relation to the likely distance that runners will cover....so the PWT elite prologue a couple of years back had a straight line distance of 2.6km, and an "IOF distance" of 2.7km (detouring to find gaps in walls but straight through all the rhodies ) and was won in 13.49, i.e. just outside 5 mins/km...