Seeding for major events

[Homer]

Does anyone know the latest requirements for seeding of start times?

It was obviously done for BOC, with seeded runners separated by at least 4 mins. They even had the word 'seed' printed on bibs for the avoidance of any doubt.

Is the same still required for the area Championships? I ask because it's pretty obviously not been done for the Northern Champs on Sunday.
I note that area Champs have recently been downgraded from Level A to Level B and that generally seeding only applies to Level A events(ref: Appendix A). Does that mean that seeding is no longer required for the Northern/Southern/Scottish Champs?

IMHO it's a big retrograde step if so.

[LostAgain]

It obviously was not done at the Compass Sport Cup Qualifier as Charlie Adams was allowed to start 1 minute behind me....... Clearly a distinct advantage for him, knowing which way not to go to the 1st control

[rf_fozzy]

Does anyone know the latest requirements for seeding of start times?

It was obviously done for BOC, with seeded runners separated by at least 4 mins. They even had the word 'seed' printed on bibs for the avoidance of any doubt.

Is the same still required for the area Championships? I ask because it's pretty obviously not been done for the Northern Champs on Sunday.
I note that area Champs have recently been downgraded from Level A to Level B and that generally seeding only applies to Level A events(ref: Appendix A). Does that mean that seeding is no longer required for the Northern/Southern/Scottish Champs?

IMHO it's a big retrograde step if so.

According to Appendix A, 3.1.1:

The principles described below apply to the following level A competitions:
•British Long-distanceChampionships
•British Middle-distanceChampionships
•British Sprint Championships
•BritishNight Championships
•JK Sprint Championships
•JK Individual Championships
•Area Championships

So unless there are specific conditions, seeding should have been done for the Northern champs.

Appendix A of the rules does need some work, but that part is at least clear.

If area champs have been downgraded (why?) to level B (still not sure what the clear difference between a level B & C event is btw), then seeding may not be required.

[Spookster]

The top 4 ranked runners on the course do appear to be at 12:02, 12:04, 12:05 and 12:08!

Please make every effort to start at your allocated start time. If you are late, we will fit you into the next available start slot. Some courses are very busy so you may have to wait a while.

[Homer]

Start could be quite busy at 1230

Although shouldn't there also be a timed start?

[rf_fozzy]

Although shouldn't there also be a timed start?

Not if it's a level B.

If it were a level A. Yes. In theory.

The reason it may not be a Level A event might be because of this, found on the NATO event page:

"After the loss of Simonside, this event has been created in just two weeks to ensure that a full weekend of orienteering was available as promised. It should be understood that the area was used for an event as recently as October 2021, and that a handful of competitors will have in effect broken the normal 12 months embargo by taking part in that event. In the spirit of fairness and good fellowship, it must therefore not be seen that their breach of any embargo was their fault, and consequently no protests will be upheld regarding ‘substantial advantage’ (Rule I ¶2.6.1)"

Which is fair enough IMO.

[graeme]

It was obviously done for BOC, with seeded runners separated by at least 4 mins.

Except on elite, where they're separated by at most 3 mins.

IMHO it's a big retrograde step if so.

Definitely.
To be precise, back to WOC 2009 where the top competitors started with a 2 min start interval.
Anyway, what's not to like?

[Nottinghamshire outlaw]

I was the organiser of the Midland Champs in January. When I heard that Area Champs had been moved to Level B I was really pleased re the organisation of the starts - timed starts or punching starts? Previous experience in Sherwood Forest showed that a number of orienteers are not capable of working out how long it will take them to get to the start and the start team are then faced with late-comers. I assumed that the area champs would now be punching starts but then discovered that the rules aren't quite so obvious and although Level B for registration the area champs are level A for everything else! I had to send a carefully worded request for waivers to the timed start and re seeding - the latter because, although we intended separating highly ranked runners we knew that the rankings were not up to date. I said that we would do our best to separate high-ranked runners and waivers were granted. Checking the start lists manually is a bit time consuming but we didn't have any adverse comments.

[Homer]

I e-mailed the Organiser and got this response:

Thanks for spotting this. I will see if we can get this changed.

So the published start list is subject to possible change...

[buzz]

Please make every effort to start at your allocated start time. If you are late, we will fit you into the next available start slot. Some courses are very busy so you may have to wait a while.

Not sure the Northern Champs organisers need to worry too much about a bunch of old geezers like Homer and Spookster , but I hope that seeding is respected for junior classes as its a GB selection race.

[graeme]

Not sure the Northern Champs organisers need to worry too much about a bunch of old geezers like Homer and Spookster , but I hope that seeding is respected for junior classes as its a GB selection race.

Looks like the juniors have a 3 min start interval, and have each been allocated a top 55/60 starting a minute ahead of them...