High fences

[NFKleanne]

Are high fences crossable? Having looked at a routegadget fro a recent event I went to several people have crossed a high fence, with double tags which I thought was uncrossable. I hadn't planned to cross fence, but 'run' parallel to it, but just wanted clarification as to whether I could have crossed it if I had wanted to?

[roadrunner]

Isn't this something that's been debated a lot recently (and covered in the last CompassSport). If I remember correctly:

On a normal map, "uncrossable" means probably very difficult to cross but not against the rules if you do (unless overprinted in purple)

On a sprint map, "uncrossable" means forbidden to cross and you should be disqualified if you do

[Scott]

The short answer is that you are not allowed to cross double-tagged fences at sprint events (or any events using a sprint/urban map), but that at events on a normal map you are welcome to try crossing them (at your own peril!).

In fact, at normal events you can basically (attempt to) cross anything unless it is overprinted with a purple line, marked with the purple or black "out-of-bounds" stripes, marked with the olive-green "settlement" colour, or would require you to swim.

On sprint/urban maps the rules are a bit different, and there are a number of extra symbols that you are not allowed to cross, even if you think you would be physically able to. The double-tagged fence is one of these.

I would recommend studying Simon Errington's handy maps keys for normal and urban events and working out what the differences are. There was also an article on this very subject in the recent CompassSport.

[Scott]

roadrunner managed to be admirably more concise than I did

Here is the North American article which was reprinted in the latest CompassSport.

[andypat]

Probably also worth mentioning that routegadget doesnt always seem to show overprinted crossing points etc so sometimes it looks like competitors are crossing an uncrossable fence or wall, but on the paper copy of the map there may be a crossing point over print eg a temporary stile.

[NFKleanne]

Haven't read mine yet - its at my mothers house!!! Arrived Saturday, when i was there friday, blast!

[Adventure Racer]

On a normal map, "uncrossable" means probably very difficult to cross but not against the rules if you do (unless overprinted in purple)

or unless it says in the final details that you'll be disqualified if you cross it.

[LostAgain]

In fact, at normal events you can basically (attempt to) cross anything unless it ....., or would require you to swim.

Is that true?
I understand it may not be desirable and certainly not recommended and highly probable that it is not the ideal route , but not allowed and DQ offence?

[Scott]

Bit of a grey area, I think. Personally, if you started swimming I would say it was a bit dubious whether you were still "taking part on foot", although as far as I'm aware swimming isn't specifically forbidden anywhere. It would be interesting to see what would happen if somebody swam across a lake at a British Champs...

[geomorph]

In fact, at normal events you can basically (attempt to) cross anything unless it ....., or would require you to swim.

Is that true?
I understand it may not be desirable and certainly not recommended and highly probable that it is not the ideal route , but not allowed and DQ offence?

Scott - Is the critical word 'require', meaning 'the only way to get there is to swim'?

Admittedly I've not been on events recently where swimming is a planned route choice, but in the distant past.....

[LostAgain]

I have certainly been to a few events where there is a deep stream/river that is crossed. There is usually a bridge, but route choice options could include "fording/swimming" particularly after heavy rain!!!

[madmike]

Plan the course and i'll do the swimming

[Scott]

Scott - Is the critical word 'require', meaning 'the only way to get there is to swim'?

I didn't put that much thought into my wording, although as far as I'm aware wading is okay - I've certainly waded some pretty deep water at orienteering events before, albeit not always intentionally .

I did once swim whilst on an orienteering course - at an informal score event that had a control on a boat moored out to sea. In hindsight it wasn't worth the 50 points.

[Spookster]

On a normal map, "uncrossable" means probably very difficult to cross but not against the rules if you do (unless overprinted in purple)

or unless it says in the final details that you'll be disqualified if you cross it.

Not everyone will read final details before running, though they should. The Harvester was an example of an event where the high fences were made "illegal" to cross, but this wasn't shown on the maps (for good reason, which was also described in the final details).

[roadrunner]

On a normal map, "uncrossable" means probably very difficult to cross but not against the rules if you do (unless overprinted in purple)

or unless it says in the final details that you'll be disqualified if you cross it.

or (according to the CompassSport article) if you're competing in USA/Canada and it isn't an IOF event