Nordic O-Tour

[Domhnull Mor]

Just read in this morning's newspaper about plans for a "Nordic O-Tour", akin to the existing Tour de Ski for cross-country skiing, which it is says is being planned for 2010.

According to the article (source isn't given) it is hoped to attract the world elite to the event which would involve 8 races in 10 days in June with an estimated prize-pot of about 1 million kronor. The article also adds that all four Nordic capital cities will host events during the "Tour".

This is quite an ambitious project (if it is indeed true) but is it worthwhile? The Tour de Ski has only really become popular here in Sweden because of Swedish success this year, otherwise it has not attracted that much more attention than normal races. Is this form of competition / profiling of the sport something we should be putting our efforts into?

[Adventure Racer]

The Tour de Ski might not have been that big in Sweden before Kalla won, but it certainly appears to be very big in mainland Europe, and gets a much higher profile than the normal XC ski events - just a shame the mens competition was quite so one sided this year. I'd suspect that is at least partly down to the very traditional nature of XC skiing in Scandanavia, where the most prestigious events still tend to be classic and/or time trial format, whilst mainland Europe has much more embraced the more spectator friendly mass start / pursuit formats. Hence a certain resistance to a new concept like this.

Back on to the orienteering, I can see a similar concept in orienteering, with spectator friendly events working really well, and helping to raise the profile of athletes. Presumably they will be doing something similar to the TdS, with chasing starts and sprints with bonus seconds available to make it more interesting to spectators than the normal time trial around a forest - I think this can only help to raise the profile of orienteering. Of course at this point we re-awaken the debate between those who think the only proper form of orienteering is a long race in a forest, and those who are happy that any competition running with a map with a significant degree of navigational skill counts. The question then is which mountain will they climb for the final stage?

[Gross]

Back on to the orienteering, I can see a similar concept in orienteering, with spectator friendly events working really well, and helping to raise the profile of athletes.

Not a new idea.... never heard of PWT?

[Adventure Racer]

Not a new idea.... never heard of PWT?

Heard of it, though it's before my time, hence I don't know whether they had "proper" orineteering events included as well, which will be the difference between the two (apart from the TdO being concentrated into a short space of time as an entity in itself).

[brooner]

Not a new idea.... never heard of PWT?

Not recently!

although I think they might be back with some things this year.