World Games

[Gross]

Scott was going for the alternative route out of split 3 but swung round again

[Nottinghamshire outlaw]

GB 7th

Well done Elise for bringing Norway up to 3rd and holding off Australia

[Gross]

Overall I'd say a reasonable outing for GB.... the girls did well with good positions, maybe the lads were slightly down on expectations.

Someone wrote earlier that the girls wasn't a very strong field... but you can only race against who was there... and top 10 placings stand in the results, not who wasn't there

[EddieH]

Agreed Gross. and the relay wasn't bad either - really very close (I suppose the area was pretty poor)

Shame that the day I got up for it the presentation was so poor. I never got the TV working, and tracking worked with yesterday's names until bigger numbers meant they were using new tracking devices. I.e. leg 3 only had 4 teams, and leg 4 no-one that I could see!

[EddieH]

I see that Sarah has been disqualified - because she wasn't wearing her tracker. AND Live tracking didn't even work

Rather sad that - but hopefully a lesson learnt that will never be repeated.

[Gross]

I see that Sarah has been disqualified - because she wasn't wearing her tracker.

Hope that's not the real reason!!!!

If it was then why wasn't she wearing it????

And anyhow.... the little Union Flag was scotting round on the tracking on TV.... and from bulletin 4:

The use of the tracking devices is compulsory. It means that the device must be worn during the
entire race. Should an athlete due to his/her own fault finish the race without a device he/she shall be
disqualified.

[srollins]

I wasn't wearing my Trac Trac and I was disqualified.
Sorry to all. Otherwise I had a pretty perfect run.
It happened because there was no pre-starting pen check in and I came into the box from the other side where I had been standing in the shade. This meant I didn't walk past the GPS pick up point.
Very disappointed and of course feel bad for the team. It was a fantastic event. It was also extremely hot and humid and dealing with this pre-start with extra preparations to make sure I stayed cool for as long as possible, meant that I probably was distracted from the other important preparations.
Again, very sorry to all.
And the team ran fantastically, we all had solid runs and nobody made any big mistakes, unlike some other teams....
The gaffling was not 'fair' though, by the way, with some girls running the long gaffle which other teams had had their guys run.

[EddieH]

Well everyone makes a really silly mistake sometimes, and that aside you had a really impressive weekend.

I am sure your DQ will concentrate team managers' minds on this detail in future.

[Big Jon]

Kind of ironic isn't it - IOF bans the wearing of some types of GPS tracking on pain of disqualification and makes the wearing of other types compulsory on pain of disqualification!

[LostOldTimer]

From the British orienteering site:
"World Games ends in disappointment for Team GB
The World Games ended in disappointment for team GB as they were disqualified for sending their last leg runner out on the course without their GPS unit.
All four runners in the team had solid if not spectacular runs to keep the team in the mix for a top 6 result before crossing the line in 7th spot before being disqualified
Both the fourth leg runner and team management failed to pick up the mistake, with Sarah Rollins entering the changeover area from the entry point on the opposite side to the one with the waiting GPS units."

Yes, it was a very silly mistake, and sums up our so-called 'Elite' team, and hope they enjoyed their freebie, worthless trip.

[Homer]

and hope they enjoyed their freebie, worthless trip.

I'm looking forward to responses to that!!!

[Spookster]

Yes, it was a very silly mistake, and sums up our so-called 'Elite' team, and hope they enjoyed their freebie, worthless trip.

Oh dear. That might just have significantly reduced your chances of getting a lift from Sheffield to London.

[rebbid]

Maybe one way only?

[Meat Market]

I feel sorry for Sarah and the team because the aim of orienteering is to get round the control points in the fastest time. People who gain an unfair advantage to do that should be disqualified - for things like not punching a control correctly, visiting the area beforehand, destroying control points...

Not wearing a gps is not gaining an unfair advantage over other competitors. Therefore I believe the ethos behind the rule is flawed. Yes Sarah probably knew the rule beforehand but it is impossible for a person to remember everything all of the time- we all make mistakes. Athletes should be able to focus on getting round the course in the fastest time rather than worrying about the layout of the start and whether they're wearing a piece of equipment which is absolutely no use to their navigation, fitness or safety.

I've always found orienteering quite refreshing because there is a great deal of goodwill between competitors and officials right the way to the top. Even the elites have avoided obvious ways of cheating (like for example visiting the area prior to events, paying officials to release details of maps/courses, deliberately crossing out of bounds areas). Cheating by using gps is not the easiest or most obvious way of cheating for the top athletes and I believe the recent ban on gps watches with displays portrays a lack of trust in the athletes.

Orienteering is lucky to have this goodwill and I'm just concerned that by inventing rules which take the focus away from completing the course in the fastest time we create situations where athletes feel hard done by the system. We take the goodwill for granted and it certainly doesn't exist in other sports - off the top of my head see chess for:

a) Bobby Fischer - US world champion who refused to turn up for games to double the available prize fund/poor lighting/Soviet collusion/wrong day of the week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

b) 2006 Toiletgate scandal - top two players in the world play each other for the world title. An argument as to how often one of the players visits the toilets due to a health condition escalates into a scenario where one of the players is defaulted for one game and players refuse to shake hands for the rest of the match. Noone watching the match knows the current results until the last game is played since they don't know if the default will stand.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/sep/30/chess.gdnsport31

[gg]

So lostoldtimer is the whole elite program a waste of time and money, or just when the team doesn't win a medal?