TRAIL O

[Gross]

Just seen the BTOC Elite Results on the BOF website... interesting reading... particularly the bit in red telling you how to sort the 'answers'!!!

Makes it sound more like a pub quiz than an attempt at a sport.... totally contradicts the term 'elite'

[kedge]

It would have been more meaningful if the results had been published nationally in the same format as they appear on the NATO website http://www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk/evres/0809/toe.html
rather than as a download of the standard Excel spreadsheet we use for calculating the results.(The bit in red is merely the instructions for sorting the raw results once they have been input)

Still, it provides Gross with yet another chance for a cheap jibe at an innocent target - Happy Christmas, Gross!

[Gross]

Actually it wasn't a cheap jibe but an accurate observation... I've nothing against Trail O as such... each to thier own.... but to present the results based on the number of 'correct' or 'incorrect' answers does nothing to support the view of Trail O as an Elite Sport.

There is plenty of discussion going on just now about terminology in mainstream orienteering so it's obviously an area of interest to readers of Nopesport........

[kedge]

Gross wrote

an accurate observation... I've nothing against Trail O as such... each to thier own.... but to present the results based on the number of 'correct' or 'incorrect' answers does nothing to support the view of Trail O as an Elite Sport.

Hardly an accurate observation - this is the recognised method of scoring the results at Trail-O competitions as defined in the IOF Trail-O rules, section 25.

In Trail-O,at each control around the course, there are a number of flags on display, only one of which is at the centre of the the circle marked on the map. The competitor, who is not allowed to leave the path (or Trail) to examine the cluster of flags, has to decide which is the correct flag, the winning competitor being the one with the most correct answers. There may also be a few timed controls, where a competitor has up to 60 seconds to decide on an answer: an incorrect answer gets a 60 second penalty added to a competitors time. In the event of several people getting identical score, the winner is the one with fewer time faults.

In the Elite variant, which is used for elite standard or international competitions, there is also the option that at a control site, none of the flags on display is at the centre of the circle, which adds a greater degree of difficulty to the course.

Trail orienteers may be able bodied elite runners (Thierry Georgiou competed for France in the 2007 European Championships), wheelchair users, or people like Dave Gittus (GB Gold medallist at WTOC2006), ex-foot orienteers who have physical conditions which prevent them competing in foot-o any more. The Elite courses are very difficult such that the most skilled or 'Elite', competitors finish at the top of the leader board

Trail-O may not be to everyone's taste. But it is a recognised IOF orienteering discipline, and one in which the GB team has punched well above its weight over the years, regularly winning medals at World and European championships.

[Tatty]

Well said Kedge. A true picture of the discipline

[EddieH]

I'll no doubt raise a few hackles here but whilst I have no problem with Trail O if it is what people want, but I cannot understand in what conceivable way it is a "sport"

[graeme]

Plenty of people round here see the olympic recognition as a key aim of our sport.

So it seems to me that trail-O is a sport in much the same way IOC-recognised sports such as bridge and chess are.

Like you said, each to his own sport, and each to his own definition.

[Trailman]

For health reasons I have had to move to trail O and have found it very rewarding. In order to succeed you have to have very good map reading skills and lets face it that is the backbone of mainstream orienteering.

Orienteering has its fast runners and plodders alike and whilst the definition of sport may be different through your eyes to people who can do longer whiz round an O course Trail O represents an outlet through which they can compete.

All I can say is why not try it.

There is Trail O at the JK in Northumberland and it can be fitted around your run. See how you measure up.

Trail O is called Precision O in the Scandinavian countries and whilst the precise definition is slightly different its aims are the same.

In other countries their top elite take part in the sport of Trail O. Lets see our elite competing - it will test their map reading skills if nothing else.

The challenge is there for all.

Be happy

[Big Jon]

Trail O has a different set of "rules" or "jargon" to put it another way - having tried the Trail O at BOC 2008 at Culbin I realised that it isn't just a slightly different version of orienteering - but a DIFFERENT sport (I got 7or 8 out of ?15). Discussing it quickly after my attempt I found out that various things are very different to normal O - eg control descriptions use combinations that I have never seen in normal O and probably wouldn't be allowed. So if you want to excel at Trail O you will need to invest time and effort to learn its tricks -as with all sports.