Course ID on the back of maps

[Slowtochide]

"Pick up your map, step over the line, check that you have the right course"

How many times have we all heard that and how many times do we actually check? Not often in my case. And so if there has been a cock up and you get the wrong map and don't realise until you are at #1... Or #2...or #3... And then the organiser/controller/jury has a problem to sort out (witness the Sprint Champs)

I don't want to get into the rights and wrongs of what to do when this has happened but just how to prevent the problem in the first place. The answer is surely to print the course ID on the back of the maps so that competitors can check at -1 . Is this realistic cost wise? Does anyone out there have a handle on how much it would add to printing costs? Laser? Offset litho?

[andy]

How many times have we all heard that and how many times do we actually check?

Maybe I'm the only one, but... every single time

It's too much of a problem (for both you and organiser) if you move away from the start with the wrong map.

[Tatty]

Always check. I imagine the cist of printing anything on the back of the map would prohibit this.

[NeilC]

The onus has to be on the organising team to ensure that the correct map is presented to the competitor. I can't accept any suggestion that it's the competitor's fault if they start off with a wrongly allocated map - i.e. didn't check that it was the correct one. Different matter of course if they pick up their map from the wrong box.

I wasn't on the judging panel on Saturday. What happened?

[Marco Polo]

My concern would be not just the cost, but time; but it would be another thing for the organising team to check and get right; and the computer software can't help you if you have to run the paper through the printer twice (rather than a double sided print).
(The same applies to printing control descriptions on the back of maps of course.)

I'd agree that it's the organisers responsibility to present the correct map- but you may be increasing the number of possibilities for getting it wrong?

[andy]

I think organisers usually do check.. but things can obviously be missed. What's wrong with assuming a glance at the course (it's always at the same point of the control descriptions, so you know where to look) as you pick the map up. If it's wrong you should be allowed to restart your time.

[graeme]

I can't accept any suggestion that it's the competitor's fault if they start off with a wrongly allocated map. Different matter of course if they pick up their map from the wrong box.

But what in fact happens is that the competitor comes back from #1, where the map didn't match the loose descriptions, and asks for a new time with the right map. There's no way to tell what went wrong. What do you do?

We weren't we invited to "check we had the right course" before starting on Sat/Sun.

[DM]

The O Ringen did it very well, with the course number printed on the FRONT of the maps in one of the bottom corners. Maps were face up in a tray with a well sized piece of board covering up all but the number. The number was large enough to bend over, to check you only had one map as well.

The competitor stands next to the correct numbered box, checks the number matches on the map, and then waits.

Worked very well

[DJM]

I wasn't on the judging panel on Saturday. What happened?

The competitor returned, was given a new start time and the correct map ... and then won the course!

No complaint/protest as far as I know - I believe it was all handled by the Start team

[Glucosamine]

Which course ID? Recognising that it can be an issue when many courses are combined onto a single course, but if all much other competition information is keyed to class (e.g. W35) then it can be disconcerting when the only course ID on the descriptions is a course number (e.g. 7) which is not uppermost in the mind. That can apply equally to the labels on the map issue boxes, and indeed labels on start lanes. Am I the only one who can find it difficult to remember a course number when there is not an obvious key at the start?

PS Looking now at RG for the middle, the course number (as opposed to class) issue strikes again. Hard enough to remember if you were at the event (though the map should be a prompt), downright cryptic as an interested spectator.
http://www.walton.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#52

[Tatty]

I think it is important that both course number / name AND class name if appropriate are on both map and description sheets. As has been said previously it is hard enough to remember and many of us need our memory jogging!
I was under the impression that if you picked up the wrong map in error, started your course and then went back to get the correct map your start time should not be adjusted. Is this right? I am sure Graeme will know the rule that covers it!

[graeme]

Since you ask...

6.1 The spirit of fairness and good fellowship is to be the guiding principle in all aspects of the sport,
10.4 Each competitor is responsible for checking that they have the correct map for their course.

Doesn't actually say when you have to check, so as long as there's no unfairness associated with giving you the right map its all good

After 15 years on course 1, I picked up the wrong map on my M35 debut. Although the nice people at MDOC let me have another go. I learned my lesson and went straight back to M21 for another 15 years

[Snail]

The question of whether there is unfairness can be difficult to judge...

Where there are a lot of courses, so some control sharing, you may not realise you have the wrong map until control 2 or 3. Should you then be allowed to go back and restart with the correct map, even if the organiser's fault, with the advantage of knowing exactly where your first few controls are?

And I recall one event where a competitor came back after around half an hour, complaining (correctly) that they had the wrong map, but not having checked any codes or descriptions on the first half of the course. They had by that time seen quite a few sites that were on their correct course...

[NeilC]

There are so many scenarios in our sport for which the answer is not at all obvious.

6.1 is a great rule especially when considered alongside the realisation that absolute fairness cannot exist.

10.1 can cover instances when the competitor takes their map from the wrong box or even goes round an entire wrong course (though in the latter case most organisers would reassign their course post-run if appropriate for that event).

If a competitor is given the wrong map and realises at the start, or on the way to the first control, then clearly they should be given a new start time and allowed to re-start.

The first grey area if when there is doubt whether the competitor was given the wrong map or took the map from the wrong box. Without an eye witness or a portable polygraph, probably best to trust the competitor.

A second grey area is the one discussed above where the competitor gets significantly into their course. I would still tend to leniency - any advantage gained could be offset by the loss of race focus as a result of the incident.

There are almost certainly other grey areas.

The best solution is prevention. Doing things like having both age classes and course number on CDs, having competitors stand by their map box at -1 minute, having the course number visible at this stage (either on the back or as the o-ringen example) all help to minimise errors. I'm not convinced that giving competitors 5-10 seconds to look at the map before starting helps - the focus will generally be on finding the first control and starting to plan legs.

[PhilJ]

At this year's JK sprint we had about 4 people who returned to the start after picking up the wrong map from the map box, or rather going to the wrong map box. I can be pretty sure of that as the maps were checked and placed in the map boxes 1 week before the event by the planner, then re-checked by the controller, then re-checked by me the day before the event, then re-checked by the start team on the morning of the event, then checked by the start helper when they put the map under the map box. So there were no misplaced maps in any map box.

All but one competitor returned to the start and picked up a new map and carried on, the exception was the 1 competitor who returned to the start, cleared their SI card then demanded a new start time! I relented and gave them a new start time 1 hour later!

The layout was not the best as even though you were lined up with the map box in your start lane, you then had to veer off that line to punch the start SI unit before returning to the "line". This was down in the main to only having 4 pre-programmed timed start units (so the commentary team knew that actual start time of runners).

My main beef though is why do we have course numbers at all, I run M45S but at some events that could be course 7 or course 10 or whatever, all I want is to have a map box that says M45S (and the other course combination) on it. Why do we over complicate it by using course numbers? Also this would mean that the age class could be printed on the map as a visual check in big font, rather that looking again for a course number and possibly the age class in the over printed control descriptions. Is there any good reason why we have course numbers? Who do they aid? To me it's just another added level of confusion, especially if you think of a newcomer who first of all needs to consider that they maybe e.g 27 - so that means I am in the M21 category OK, and that means I will be running course number 3 arghhh