Orienteering in London Olympics

[awk]

This is a joke, right?

I did wonder. Really hope so!

[Ant W]

FATBB's suggestion is OK as far as it goes, but the problem with the track is that it doesn't represent well enough orienteering terrain. Some sort of obstacle, maybe featuring water, could be put in to rectify this.

[AndyC]

and maybe some little fences to jump over? - standardise at a sprint distance of 3k?

[Nimby]

A one-hour mass-start Score event might make good television - you could see real-time scores and the start and finish would be quite dramatic.
Not sure it would appeal to the elites though.

[andypat]

Thats not a bad idea. Although I wonder if it might end up a procession if the controls were set up like a normal score. Maybe if there were more controls than usual it might offer more route choice?

[Sunlit Forres]

You might be right AP. A start area in a big open area and a dozen or so easy controls within 200 metres or so of the start kite would soon split them up. A good experiment to try at the next Scottish Score Champs?

[andypat]

Ha yes! I'm up for that. Last years Scottish Score champs had a bit of a trick with some of the higher pointed controls being close to but just behind the start area. Your idea also might be quite attractive to beginners. (Although I guess the smart move would be to ignore the massed controls till the end!)

[Becks]

Eurgh score.

I hate scores, which should be said first. But I think you have to have the same course for anything, otherwise it's nonsense. Ticking up points is pretty dull if people are flying everywhere, see the points race in the omnium - difficult to understand for the beginner and not necessarily spectator friendly, even with the guys in view the whole time. It's instantly comprehensible and riveting counterpart was the elimination race.

So, traditional forest O, mass start (I know, not great), with the back two being pulled out of the woods every five controls? Leads to those at the back potentially taking risky route choices in a bid to get out of the elimination zone? Ends in an finish arena of some kind with only two people jousting it out side by side?

[SeanC]

I agree, score is good for beginners but it's not a format that's going to work well at the olympics. I think Joe Public likes to see athletes showing courage and determination. People want to see heros. When sports get technical it gets in the way of that... so for orienteering a straight race format would work better.

I do like Becks's format. It could work well on TV. There could be some interesting team tactics. Perhaps you could share that idea with IOF Becks? A final 3 if there's going to be a bronze medal, unless there's going to be a bronze medal runoff?

I'm also thinking that classic/long orienteering could look better on TV than sprint if the right area is chosen. Somewhere with no public access but with plenty of open areas (eg Eridge). 100 minutes running fast across terrain could impress the public a lot more than 15 minutes in Greenwich Park, even though the latter is easier to televise.

Or maybe if IOC allow some tough open hillside further afield.. S.Wales, Yorkshire etc? This would also be a chance for countries to show off their best scenery to boost tourism.

If technology improves, headcams with a live feed would also help. Fast running through forest could look impressive, but pretty difficult to show any other way. Tracking might be helpful of course, especially for the on the day specators. The public will respect and be impressed by the running side of the sport. I think they are less interested in the maps and navigation which takes time to understand and relate to.

[Becks]

Been thinking about this while out running, don't think it is a bad plan. The one thing it does need is normal staggered qualis though, otherwise you get awesome 10km runners who are not quite good enough switching and then sprinting past Thierry in the run in.

[greywolf]

The individual time trial format (with top seeds starting last) is used by plenty of sports, from road cycling to downhill skiing; it is easy to grasp for viewers, and familiar to commentators (and gives them the chance to give some background / personal info on each competitor), so I’m not sure why you would want to mess with that. GPS and intermediate split times make it possible to track the relative positions (space & time) of all competitors, which again makes it easier for the commentators and the audience to understand what’s going on.

Some of the other aspects of racing might need a few tweaks, as none of the 3 current specifications are really optimised for TV / spectators. IMHO an Olympic spec O-race should have a mix of terrain types: parkland (allowing chase cameras on quad bikes), urban or campus, with spectator areas, and if possible, some technical forest areas, with fixed camera points. It would also have a greater variation in leg lengths and types: from 1km+ legs with multiple route choices (which makes the most of the GPS) to micro sections in artificial mazes in front of the grandstand.

To accommodate this variety you’d need a race of 30 mins or so, maybe 2 mins or 90 secs start interval, and a select field to keep it all in a relatively small window – IIRC the womens’ time trial only had 24 or so starters. Yes it would be a bit of a compromise, but the fundamental “individual race with map and compass” would be retained.

[Copepod]

As an orienteer currently volunteering at Olympics, it's become obvious that it's a shame an orienteer didn't produce the Olympic Park map, including instructing staff how to give location descriptions involving north / south / east / west, instead of left / right! Would love to return for a race if Olympic Park is mapped for public / club use.

[andypat]

It looks fantastic from the air. Cant make London this year, but it looks ripe for a supporting sprint race to London city race 2013!

[paul]

It looks fantastic from the air. Cant make London this year, but it looks ripe for a supporting sprint race to London city race 2013!

Some parts of the park will reopen to the public in 2013, but the full area isn't due to reopen until 2014... and it will look quite different I suspect as they're remove a lot of the widened bridges and a lot of the temporary buildings.

[Copepod]

Sue that all the medical tents, workforce welfare rooms, concession stands, even 3 story blocks control rooms etc will be taken down. Can't see the point of removing wide bridges or replacing with narrow ones, so hope they don't do that.

Even now, visitors are climbing over rope barriers and walking into meadow flower beds to get nice photos, trampling on plants on way.