Nopesport Urban League 2011

[Gonzo]

Jegor - very well said. It is quite sad that some people have to cheat when they obviously know better. The newcomers who may not know the rules - fair enoughish, but really even they should make it their business to understand the rules (but they are unlikely to be vying for podium (mug) places anyway). The weekend was great and using different parts of Edinburgh each year maintains interest.
Regarding map colours/overprint colours I believe that if you use a professional map company then they should amend the colours to suit their own printers anyway - not just print regardless! You are paying them for a complete service after all.

[Spookster]

Right, as a newbie when it comes to urban races I'd like to clarify a couple of things, although reading this thread I'm pretty sure what the answer to the first is.

a) Climbing over 'uncrossable' walls/fences results in disqualification (I've never been a climber-of-fences and I'm not going to start now, but I did notice the odd competitor doing so - a general ignorance of the rules?).

b) When you come across a control on the wrong side of an uncrossable fence, would sticking your dibbered finger/hand/arm through the fence to punch the control also result in disqualification? Whilst a) isn't really an option to me, the thought/temptation did occur to me at one control - it was quite clear that I couldn't have reached it anyway!

Both (a) and (b) should result in disqualification, because doing so is forbidden in a race on a "sprint spec" map (which also is used for urban races that are not "sprint").

Does anyone have a link to the specific rules for urban races?

It's actually the mapping specification, rather than the rules, that you need in this case. They are here: IOF Mapping Specs

In very simple terms, sprint maps (to ISSOM standard) contain features that are "impassable (forbidden to cross)", and normal maps (to ISOM standard) contain features that are "uncrossable" or "high", but in those cases it is not forbidden to cross them. On both map specs the features are marked as thicker lines, but the meaning of that is different according to which map spec you are using.

All of which is undoubtedly difficult to understand and remember for beginners, which is why it's good to have an explanation (or reminder) of the rules at the start of races using ISSOM maps.

[ryeland of doom]

How on earth do you manage to keep getting such good weather?

Luck and a genuinely dry climate. The event will get caught one day, ice on those steps. Hopefully not for a long time.

Now I have seen some action on routegadget, the course looks even more awesome than it did at the time. I have a lot to learn, even on (almost ) home ground.

I am beginning to struggle with fine mapreading (eyesight), even so, I found the map very clear and with the exception of picking out the overprint in the first few minutes, very easy to read. A lovely piece of paper.

[AlanB]

Spookster - thanks for that.

[Tessa]

Jegor- thanks so much. It was great race, great planning. Definitely reduced speed to read the map/decide on route choice. Thought I was fairly pleased with my choices until I found a whole load more options when I looked at the map on the train home. Thank you for all the many hours you must have spent on it.

And thanks Sunday's planners, missed a few tricks there and ended up rock climbing. Thanks to all of EUOC, great weekend.

[graeme]

So, it is strange that Grame complains about possibility to see gaps, but was able to see that gap (and not to see olive on other side!)

You sent me the map last night, and I blew it up here.
http://www2.ph.ed.ac.uk/~gja/Edcity.pdf
You can see that the (in bounds) crossable fence to the west touches the (in bounds) paved area to the east. I hear people got DQed for going through there, which seems mighty harsh.
I completely agree with you about doglegs, but it's not a won argument, so its still important to make the case.
We had problems with angry men before, in 2009. In both cases they were in the wrong and we were in the right, but getting it resolved in time is difficult. If you resolve a problem without it affecting anyone's run, thats a big success.

Anyway, your planning was brilliant, again, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11088

[awk]

As this thread was about Nopesport Urban League, I left off mentioning the Sunday race, but as it's now part of the discussion, just to say I thought the Blue course was outstanding, especially leg 3-4, which is already a prime candidate for the best leg of the year, and where I am still cursing at changing my mind at the last minute, costing me a couple of minutes at least. Leg 14-15 was interesting too; I was happy with my route, but the planner thinks that the round route was quicker. Hmmmmm. So, two legs at least that I would like to run the variants again to test for myself - not often I can say that.
I loved the inclusion of the urban element at the end - inspired thinking.

[Tatty]

I have to disagree with Graeme - I think it shows that the crossable fence doesn't touch the paved area to the east. Anyway shouldn't he be Non competitive as he drew the map

[madmike]

See what you mean Tatty, but surely if Graeme ran along on top of the crossable fence keeping to the left side of it he could drop off in bounds

[andypat]

I'm for letting Graeme off with that one on the basis that its not clear from the map whats right or wrong. Interesting if the controller has a point of view?

As for sticking your hand through the fence, we'd the last control on the inside of a fence round a basketball court at our small Houston Urban event last year (me as planner). More or less the first finisher was a (I think) W12 or so who slipped her hand through easily and dibbed from the outside. This led to some interesting discussion and in the end we let people do either and put it down to bad planning (mine) in the broader sense of the word. I made it far to easy to do this and would have had to dq half the field including almost all the juniors!
Next time I plan to put this sort of control on a trestle or put up a couple of boards to avoid the temptation.

[mappingmum]

To the Russian Planner:

I thought the section 12-14 on middle was absolutely bl00dy brilliant. Thought it at the time (whilst scratching my head on the wrong side of the wall at 12) and still think it now.

The runners I was with said it was cheeky. But it wasn't. It was a thorough test of your o skills.

No Calton Hill next year please. It's boring.

[Angry Haggis]

No Calton Hill next year please. It's boring.

On the contrary, bring it on - it's my favourite part of the race! As long as you are going slowly enough to enjoy the amazing views.

[Arnold]

Regarding map printing quality

At the London City Race last year, the mapper insisted on having 3 different proofs and used them to make some very geeky looking changes on colour densities and similar things.

I (as planner) thought it was all a bit over the top at the time but maybe he actually had a point as the map ended up being very readable

[andy]

No Calton Hill next year please. It's boring.

On the contrary, bring it on - it's my favourite part of the race! As long as you are going slowly enough to enjoy the amazing views.

Quite agree, I walked up the hill to our 14 and as a result got the lovely view North to Fife, awesome! (and I see the same view from along the road every day!)

[EddieH]

In Graeme's defence he has mapped loads of the city, but I am pretty sure that he had neither made nor seen the map of that part before the race. Utterly amazing that he spotted there was a gap at all.