When is a sprint not a sprint?

[EddieH]

I wish clubs would get the use of "sprint" and "urban" right.

The White Rose had a sprint event, and utterly brilliant it was. There was no tarmac, and there were no paths, just a tiny bit of shelter belt forest and a corner of a field.

The upcoming St Andrews avent is advertised as sprint, but is 6.4km will definitely not be a sprint and is highly unlikely to be "Sprint" in style" or they'd need a heck of a lot of controls.

I do think that the inability of people to use the correct terms is another barrier to getting established orienteers to try different formats.

[madmike]

Eddie, absolutely right.

Only time we sprint is down the run in!

Distance=
Short, Middle, Long (Classic?)

Terrain=
Forest, Urban, Moorland.....

Not difficult to understand and not off-putting lke term sprint can be.

[andy]

it's called 'Urban' in most places, mainly Fabian4 and on the ESOC site.

there are some references to 'Urban Sprint' on the website but that's not for the longer course

[seabird]

Although apparently a misnomer, we have found the term "Sprint " used in our midweek park summer and spring series, works very well for attracting and retaining many young adult runnners, many of whom do not otherwise orienteer - yet!

But it needs to be applied to winning times for a notional GG of 12-15 minutes with lots of controls and change of direction - and no traffic.

[graeme]

Oh dear, we have traffic and a real GG at PWT. I guess that doesn't count then

[andypat]

I wish clubs would get the use of "sprint" and "urban" right.

The White Rose had a sprint event, and utterly brilliant it was. There was no tarmac, and there were no paths, just a tiny bit of shelter belt forest and a corner of a field.

The upcoming St Andrews avent is advertised as sprint, but is 6.4km will definitely not be a sprint and is highly unlikely to be "Sprint" in style" or they'd need a heck of a lot of controls.

I do think that the inability of people to use the correct terms is another barrier to getting established orienteers to try different formats.

http://www.esoc.org.uk/home/event-details/st-andrews-urban-and-park-races

Think you are being hard on ESOC there Eddie - unless they have recently amended their website following your criticism

[DJM]

EddieH wrote:

I wish clubs would get the use of "sprint" and "urban" right.

Why not consult BOF Guidelines instead!

Event Guidelines D (Sprint Events) and E (Urban Events) explain the difference well and give an extensive amount of support to organisers and planners of these events too.

See http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/downloads/documents/events_guideline_d.pdf
and http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/downloads/documents/events_guideline_e.pdf

[EddieH]

Yes it would appear that the ESOC site has changed - at least all the stuff about "urban sprint" has gone.

[andypat]

When Eddie talks the world listens!

[andy]

Yes it would appear that the ESOC site has changed - at least all the stuff about "urban sprint" has gone.

umm, it was correct from the start... honest!