Tio First Leg

[andy]

Thought this was an excellent write up and very well put together post about running at the sharp end of 1000 teams in a major relay, well worth a read: http://www.project2015.co.uk/1/post/201 ... jones.html

[andypat]

Thats excellent Andy. Thanks for pointing it out. Its linked on the SOA facebook page now.

[Big Jon]

Superb race reports, both. Had me sweating just reading it and remembering previous races..........

[graeme]

Excellent article, exciting just to read it. Proper racing, proper result, a classic orienteering event' just superb.

What's interesting is the punchline "Kris was 3rd at Tio". And sure enough he was, every sane person can see that. Nobody is saying "fastest on the gaffle" or "its not a proper race if they didn't run the same course". The planners at Tio know what they're doing and they make a fair race on the leg, as well as overall.

Sadly, only a week goes by before elite people start whinging about essentially the same type of race. PELOTON (I mean big group of sportsmen going together) doesn't belongs to orienteering! and people line up to denigrate it. Well bollox to them, Tio first leg is tremendous sport, it belongs to orienteering, and long may it remain. And 3rd back is 3rd place.

Once long ago I started at the back of Jukola, passed 1000 people, binned 5-6 mins visiting all the first controls, then passed most of the again. Most enjoyable run ever.

[Adrian]

I think Tomas is right to complain about the chasing start format. Lots of us enjoy it and it's good entertainment (Watching Tranchard win from 52nd place was entertaining) but it isn't the kind of orienteering you want to be giving out too many medals for. His article is a bit over the top but I guess he feels he needs to use a bit of hyperbole so that the powers that be get the message. Cases of Following have spoiled several big individual events over the years, so it does seem odd if orienteering becomes a Following sport.

Relays are different, because of the gaffling, and because the effort's spread over teams of several runners. Relays are partly about Following, but individual orienteering isn't, usually.