southern champs

[graeme]

As I already said, my course was excellent and perfectly suited to the terrain, so I was surprised to see...

I felt under pressure to plan courses more in line with current expectations of many shorter legs and fine navigation

Pressure from whom? Expectations of whom?

[EddieH]

Long legs do seem to split opinion. I once planned a badge event W43 couse which had 14 legs but 2 of them were over 1km.

There were 14 runners and every one spoke to me. 7 were so delighted to have longe legs for a change and 7 complained how boring the long legs were

[IanD]

I would refer to British Orienteering Rules Appendix B, which defines 3 types of event:

2.1.2 Long Distance Orienteering (normal cross-country, often called “classic”)
• Emphasis on route choice to test a variety of techniques to include long legs, variety of legs and direction.

2.1.3 Middle Distance
• Emphasis should be on continuous map reading in the terrain, technical difficulty, a relatively high density of controls, changes in direction and micro rather than macro route choices.

2.1.4 Sprint Distance
• Normally in urban or semi urban areas and parkland of technical difficult 3 as the
technical standard is enhanced by the high rate of decision making. Emphasis on
continued thinking, fair controls, map reading, map interpretation and route choice rather than finding controls.

(as DJM pointed out to me a while back, this section of our rules is lifted from IOF rules)

People might validly campaign for the Area Championships to be changed to a different style, or for Area Championships in each style, but it seemed to me that the Hambleden planner came up with excellent examples of the style of course that he was required to produce.

[seabird]

Only wish I had realised earlier that I would be in the south last weekend.

The planning I've seen on Routegadget would have made a very attractive reason for an early departure from the East Sussex coast.

The long legs looked brilliant. We don't get enough quality long legs these days. Probably down to planners planning on computer screens rather than on the full map.

[EddieH]

[quote]We don't get enough quality long legs these days. Probably down to planners planning on computer screens rather than on the full map.

I think you have a point there - but so is the huge number of events nowadays that run on 1:10000 on A4 maps.

I really miss the big areas.

[Steve]

I felt under pressure to plan courses more in line with current expectations of many shorter legs and fine navigation

Pressure from whom? Expectations of whom?

I felt the long route choice legs would make best use of the terrain (and as IanD has pointed out are supposed to be part of 'long distance' courses) but the tendency in recent years is for shorter legs with the emphasis on maintaining a high level of intensity. Therefore I felt under pressure to adapt my normal style of planning to meet the expectations of orienteers used to running these more 'middle' style courses. That's not to say I didn't want to plan shorter legs - variety in leg length is all part of it obviously.

[awk]

Therefore I felt under pressure to adapt my normal style of planning to meet the expectations of orienteers used to running these more 'middle' style courses. That's not to say I didn't want to plan shorter legs - variety in leg length is all part of it obviously.

I love the shorter distance styles, and am used to running them, but this wasn't a middle or sprint, so am delighted you resisted the lure of planning in those ways. Was there actually pressure, i.e. people expressing a desire for the other styles, or is it because other planners have gone down that route? You seem to indicate that it was the second, but just wondered).

On Eddie's 50-50 split - I suspect that regular short legs are primarily of interest to the less fit - to sustain interest. I know that I am enjoying longer legs a lot more again, now I am a bit fitter.

[Steve]

Was there actually pressure, i.e. people expressing a desire for the other styles, or is it because other planners have gone down that route? You seem to indicate that it was the second, but just wondered).

It was partly a concern I felt because my courses were not typical of what is planned in the south of the country at least. Also my controller expressed concern that I had put too much emphasis on the physical aspects of orienteering (i.e. running) and not enough on the technical.

I don't want to give the wrong impression about Peter's input - I always appreciated his advice e.g. because my understanding of what the older competitors want is limited, and his comments did contribute to the variety of leg lengths in the final courses. On the other hand I also had the input of the elite adviser, who e.g. encouraged me to keep the long leg in course 2, and not to split 5-6 on course 1 (2-3 on course 2).

The comments I've received (including yours, thanks awk), have been very positive and I was glad I kept the longer legs in.

[King Penguin]

I think it's good to have a long leg in a long course.
I haven't yet spotted anyone on RouteGadget on my course who took the same route as me - though it's fair to say I tried to minimise the climb as following illness the previous weekend I was OK (but not at peak) on the flat but struggling on the uphills. Had I been fully fit I would have gone a different way.

[Brian Hughes]

Long legs are my favorite aspect of this great sport. Should be a couple on every classic distance course. 100% short legs may be necessary on some path-ridden terrain south of the border, but such terrain is only suited to the Middle and Short disciplines.

Steve's course had everything, physicality, route choice, sensible course length for a Classic and a mix of short legs up to the technicality that the terrain permitted.

Brian Hughes (M60 HOC)

[Gnitworp]

Keep calling it 'Classic', Brian, and perhaps the 'powers that be' will eventually drop that silly 'long' tag!

[graeme]

Keep calling it 'Classic', Brian, and perhaps the 'powers that be' will eventually drop that silly 'long' tag!

OK. So henceforth the four WOC disciplines are to be...
Classic, Green, Orange, Chasing Sprint.

[awk]

I haven't yet spotted anyone on RouteGadget on my course who took the same route as me - though it's fair to say I tried to minimise the climb as following illness the previous weekend I was OK (but not at peak) on the flat but struggling on the uphills. Had I been fully fit I would have gone a different way.

I looked at the route that you took, and would have taken it a few months ago. However, I made a decision, with recent gains in fitness, to be a bit more aggressive/direct with hills, especially in runnable terrain - I've been too keen to go round rather than straighter in recent years - so went for the straighter route both here and on a couple of other occsions. I think, in other words, we were thinking along similar lines but, with different circumstances, just came to a different decision. You still gained time on me on that leg, so there's still room for improvement in the fitness department on my part!!