Great Tower Time Trial

[Lard]

So the talented athletes undertook the Old Time Trial at Great Tower at the weekend.

Hope we get to see the results. How are the new athletes comparing against those of 5 years ago...

Old results and maps from 2009 can be found here:
http://www.janineandjase.plus.com/timetrial.html

[parallelerror]

A quick nosy round attackpoint suggests the fastest man was 26:01: http://www.attackpoint.org/log.jsp/user_8667 whilst I couldn't find the fastest woman. The athletes appear to have run the time trial as a morning session the day after a full day's training, with athletes told to take it easy down the hill.

Notable absentees of JWOC age (presumably partly due to some JWOC athletes being Elite Development) include: Blomquist, Galloway, Potter, Smith, Butt, Carter Davies, Harding, Haines, Reynolds,

Apologies if I missed out any other notable absentees- just searched Attackpoint and POM results for EYOC, JWOC and JEC athletes from last year, and noted those who weren't at Great Tower.

[Lard]

Back in the day this physical (orienteering relevant) time trial was used in conjunction with other selection races.

Back in Foot and Mouth year we hosted 3 orienteering races and a hill race on Arthur's Seat to determine the JWOC team.

As there's soooo much time being invested in teaching our younger athletes how to (physically) train better I'm surprised there's no TT or running-related (3k time) criteria in current selection policy. No point running a sprint or mixed sprint relay if your foot speed isn't within 1/2 min/k of the fastest...

[Roger]

Back in the day those athletes were proper quick.

The juniors weren't bad either.

I don't deny that a time trial like this was and is a good test, but variable ground conditions mean that I'm always sceptical about comparing times over off-road courses on different days, never mind different years and with different things (JWOC selection!) riding on it. So for anyone who ran last weekend, tried their hardest but was still slower than Lard's heroes -- don't be downhearted.

And anyway, I have plenty of personal evidence that the mud is getting deeper and the hills ever steeper.

[tomtom]

Tough course!

We didn't tape any of the route, just used the 5 controls. So I'm sure there were deviations from the original route. The one we weren't sure about - did the route go on the straight line up the hill from control 1-2? Or was contouring around into 2 allowed?

[King Penguin]

Straight up as I recall, deliberately designed that way by Lard.

[buzz]

As there's soooo much time being invested in teaching our younger athletes how to (physically) train better I'm surprised there's no TT or running-related (3k time) criteria in current selection policy. No point running a sprint or mixed sprint relay if your foot speed isn't within 1/2 min/k of the fastest...

Lard - do you really think this, or were you being ironic?!

At junior level talented athletes are starting from all sorts of different base points physically, technically and mentally and all should be developing each aspect of the sport. Some will be stronger runners than others but its perfectly possible to see more than 1/2 min/k difference in running speed between two athletes without seeing any difference in orienteering speed. Why focus on one aspect of the sport in selections, they can all be improved.

I suspect the current squad find it much easier to 'teach' physical training than the technical and mental aspects of orienteering so if they were thinking long term it might be in their interest to pick the slower runners who have more natural orienteering ability. That wouldn't be my approach though I'd prefer to see a mix of talents all learning from each other.

In reality the current squad management are measured on short term results rather than long term development so you could see an argument for picking the fastest runners and hope they get lucky and win a medal on the day. Clearly not a recipe for long term development though.

For me, time trials are an essential way for squads and individuals to monitor progress as part of their development but if an athlete can consistently deliver orienteering performances in selection races and competitions then that should suffice for selection.

Disappointing to see so many missing from the Lakes training - I think all the JWOC aged squaddies are still in the Talent Squad.

[Lard]

Buzz,
Glad you chanced the irony. You know me, old school guy who thinks to be a good orienteer you need to be a good orienteer.....

I wouldn't diss any athlete who's trying to better themselves, but heed my words...we're simply not doing enough map time. Scandis think nothing of 4-5+ o sessions a week. Us Brits struggle to average two (explains why in the majority we're better at the simpler part of the sport).

Technical training (2 sessions) available in the Scottish central belt this Saturday if anyone is interested (planned by GG!).

[gaw]

Tough course!

We didn't tape any of the route, just used the 5 controls. So I'm sure there were deviations from the original route. The one we weren't sure about - did the route go on the straight line up the hill from control 1-2? Or was contouring around into 2 allowed?

And straight down through the crag to 3 as I remember.

[Homer]

Technical training (2 sessions) available in the Scottish central belt this Saturday if anyone is interested (planned by GG!).

Lard, is this an open offer?
Lisa is in Scotland at the weekend and is interested. Please can you pm me the details?

Cheers.

[Lard]

Training in Sauchie near Stirling 10am onwards.

Email jason.inman (AT) Wirepost.co.uk for more details.