ba-ba wrote:I have now learnt that keeping track of runners out on the hillside/mid-course is more important. Waiting until courses close and control boxes retrieved/interrogated to implement a search plan is, especially in cold scenarios, too late.
MORE important?? Prevention is better than cure. And no system will respond fast enough if somebody has inadequate clothing. ("There is no such thing as bad weather.......").
Whilst it's important to organise an event as safely as possible, one of the big strengths of orienteering as a sport is its development of self-responsibility: I see that every day working in school and a society where exactly the opposite is taught.
And don't think that we, or any organiser, are/were solely reliable on waiting for the end and checking boxes: I was involved in helping organise a search at the time the squall came in for an overdue individual (who fortunately turned up before searchers started sweeping).