TD5 course lengths

[mharky]

The majority of Black courses in the UK are just 65 minute middle courses. There really very much long style planning done in the UK.

A very notable exception to this, ESOC Scottish O League on Craig a' Barns 2014. The Brown course had 10 controls. Compare that to their 2013 SOL on Clunie, where the Brown course had 26 controls.

EDIT:
This is not a criticism of planners. I think most of our terrain doesn't suit the Scandinavian style of classic orienteering. We have very few maps that are large enough to allow this style of planning. Most of our terrain is quite patchy. I'd rather have a course that maintained a high technical challenge than one that met the 'style' guidelines for that discipline. I think it's far more important to get close to the winning time guidelines.

I (probably) won't complain about a black course if it has 10 controls or 30, but I will complain if I can do it in 50 minutes...

[graeme]

Another part of the original question is whether there is an interest in more variation in courses - both in type (longO, middle) and in length.

The billygoat format (mass start long-O) in the US has always been popular. The basic idea is to see if you can run a proper 21E long in 3 hours. By focusing on the par time (T-shirts awarded!), rather than the winning time, they persuade people who wouldn't consider doing a black course that this event is for them. The mass start makes the whole thing a more social experience The US has many fewer orienteers than we do.

Does it work? Well, the name "37th Annual Billygoat Run" should give you a clue to that one!

[pete.owens]

Is our sport getting too bland? Whenever a course significantly breaches the time / length guidelines some people think the planner / controller have "failed" and there needs to be an inquest / explanation.

This is confusing two separate issues.
It would be good to see more variety - especially in multidays. Six consecutive long courses sometimes gets a bit of a drag so throwing in a couple of middles or even a 45 minute wining time event and finish of with a serious championship length course can make it more interesting.

But that variety should be advertised in advance so you know what to expect. If someone enters the short course for their age class because they think they are not quite up to several consecutive long courses they might be a bit disapointed to discover that all the courses were already underplanned. Just as they would had they decided to go for it anyway and found themselves out for 3 hours every day on overplanned courses.

Would the sport be better if courses in good terrain were occasionally - or even frequently - on the long side?

Unless you always run the longest course at an event then you will usually have the choice to run something longer. However, if on the day you decide to push yourself to the limits and choose to run the black course, you might not thank a planner who has decided to add an extra 25%.

Should multi-day events have "long" as well as "middle race" days?

Absolutely.

Should we rule out a good area for BOC just because courses will be slightly short?

That should certainly rule out the area for the British LONG DISTANCE Championships (the clue is in the name). The area might well be sutiable for the British Middle Distance Championships, or the British Relay Championships or possibly The British Night Championships.

Does it matter, provided we let competitors know what to expect? Etc

That is the key issue.
The whole point of the sticking to the guidelines is so the competitors know what to expect.

[roadrunner]

As far as the TD5 courses at colour coded events are concerned, there are 8 options defined in the guidelines; surely that's enough that whatever courses are planned can be defined reasonably accurately? The ratio between adjacent courses is around 15-25%, so ideally no course need be more than 12% short or long. (I'm surprised that the lengths haven't been chosen to give a consistent ratio between adjacent courses, but I guess that might be a result of making them fit specific age classes.) Non-TD5 courses and age-class courses are a different matter.

[pete.owens]

If I am considering entering a half marathon that I haven't run before I don't necessarily expect to be told "this is a hard course, you might want to drop back to a 10 mile race".

You certainly wouldn''t expect to discover 13 miles into your course that there are still 3 miles to go.

[andypat]

Possibly a useful new function for Condes. Input your calculations for speed/dist etc to get your black course dist and you automatically get a line the right length for the other courses with a flag to tell you if they are under or over long.

[Gross]

Input your calculations for speed/dist etc to get your black course dist

Alternatively make certain the planner is good and you automatically get the correct length / time & good courses

[jac]

Input your calculations for speed/dist etc to get your black course dist

Alternatively make certain the planner is good and you automatically get the correct length / time & good courses

Assuming that the Controller / SEA doesn't then intervene