OMM on the BBC Adventure Show

[Duncan]

The OMM 2011 is being covered on the BBC Adventure Show, on 14th Feb 2012, 7pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0121nv1/episodes/guide. What better way to spend Valentine's Day than watching footage of the OMM?! Sadly only on BBC2 Scotland, so those outside Scotland will have to wait till it is on iPlayer.

[AndyC]

Sky viewers (and probably Virgin) can get it in England - I just went to set th record function but won't be able to do it until this evening

[Red Adder]

I remember many years ago a MM was featured on the Beeb - and included reference to somebody who completed day 2 on a broken ankle - surely that makes it a tough enough event for the M21 would be macho-men.

[jac]

The OMM 2011 is being covered on the BBC Adventure Show, on 14th Feb 2012, 7pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0121nv1/episodes/guide. What better way to spend Valentine's Day than watching footage of the OMM?! Sadly only on BBC2 Scotland, so those outside Scotland will have to wait till it is on iPlayer.

BBC2 Scotland is on FreeSat channel 970, available gratis furth of Scotland.

[frog]

I thought this was very good. It's a shame they didn't describe Colin as an orienteer as well as a fellrunner though. It gave a good overview of the event. It's now on iplayer which is good as our TV has died.

[andypat]

I thought this was very good. It's a shame they didn't describe Colin as an orienteer as well as a fellrunner though.

Yes I thought that was a bit strange but i suppose he had some input into how he was described. Doug and JR did mention O though.

Interesting insight into the work of the controller with the lead pair mp on Day 1 but being reinstated with a 30min pen. I bet they were a bit relieved when they didnt actually win! Wouldnt happen like that in "proper" orienteering.

[mappingmum]

Interesting insight into the work of the controller with the lead pair mp on Day 1 but being reinstated with a 30min pen. I bet they were a bit relieved when they didnt actually win! Wouldnt happen like that in "proper" orienteering.

Yes, I agree. I didn't understand the official's dilemna at all. Nor his reasoning. I believe they were DQ originally then re-instated on appeal. Depends what the rules/guidelines state . . . . .

[andypat]

Yeah - interestingly the link to the rules isnt working!

Looks like they simply missed a control (10). I thought Robin Sloan (planner) was suggesting there were two controls close together and they punched the wrong one, but I cant see any others on RG other than 9 which is similar. When he (or the controller) said he was uncomfortable I can see why.


http://www.omm.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=31&kieli=

http://www.theomm.com/event-series/omm/omm-2011/omm-2011-results

[frog]

I agree, they were obviously fast runners but their navigation wasn't as good if they went to the wrong control and didn't check the code. I saw on attackpoint there was some debate as to why it happened and the 2 controls were on similar but different (stream v re-entrant which was probably a stream in the rain) and were just over the minimally allowed distance apart. Others also mispunched. Looking at the OMM routegadget it looks as though it was probably control 10 on the elite course and they punched control 9 on the D course which was lower down on the ?same feature. I presume the controller felt it was too tricky/ borderline in the rules.

[madmike]

Yeah - interestingly the link to the rules isnt working!

Looks like they simply missed a control (10). I thought Robin Sloan (planner) was suggesting there were two controls close together and they punched the wrong one, but I cant see any others on RG other than 9 which is similar. When he (or the controller) said he was uncomfortable I can see why.


http://www.omm.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=31&kieli=

http://www.theomm.com/event-series/omm/omm-2011/omm-2011-results

There where indeed 2 controls as I recall one in a rentrant the other on a stream (that was in a renetrant) but lower down by 40m or something like that. The point was that the 2 control sites looked similar, gusting identical, on the ground despite being correctly described differently, hence the DQ and then reinstatment of a number of teams.
Difficult decision for the officials but the right call imho

Edit: Frog is exactly right!

[andypat]

I take it all back - the controls were so close i didnt pick on RG they were different. I'm with you on that now - good call to reinstate as there must be some doubt whether that was a fair control placement- see they werent the only ones who did it.

[frog]

When planning or putting out controls for longOs I generally dislike water features for this sort of reason. The position of the top of the stream on the OS map often bears only a vague resemblance to where the stream really starts, which may vary with the weather. Do you put the control on the right position on the map or where the stream really starts? Stream junctions and bends are a bit more reliable.

[madmike]

No not just them: it was easier for D class runners to spot the mistake as they descend past correct one on way out - elite at maxi chat spots a control, feature looks Ok, punches and descends to hoof along track to last control and finish very unlikely to notice if number not checked.

3 D class teams in front of us went high by mindlessly following an elite team who passed us all - fortunately I was trusting my friend mr compass at the time and we ignored everyone else and hit the correct control bang on!

As you say correct decision

[david_rosen]

Correct decision to reinstate as the two controls should never have been so close together on the same feature. A curious lapse in the planning/controlling. However, a 30 minute time penalty was excessive in the circumstances and destroyed the leading team's chance of victory. Unfortunately, this was only one of several dodgy decisions at last year's OMM....

[Jon Brooke]

I don't know if you were there David, but I don't think it was as clear cut as you seem to think.

Here's what I posted on nopesport when it was discussed imediately after the event:

The penultimate control situation for Steve and Jethro was very odd and I'm still not sure what the right outcome was.

Essentially there were 2 controls, placed about 100 meters apart on a small stream running down the side of a valley - the top one was at the stream source and very near an obvious fence, the bottom one was just on the stream, but a bit lower - maybe 30 meters vertical drop. People were all approaching from below and the elite course went to the top control.

Personally I think it was a pretty poor bit of control placement.

Steve and Jethro were doing an awsome run. They started 8 minutes behind us and overtook us heading into the 2nd control going like the clappers. If they'd not mispunched they would have finished in 5.39 - 20 minutes up on the field.

However, we came into the control the same way as Steve and Jethro, thought it seemed a bit low and not on the fence, checked the control code and then went up to the right control.

To start with they were listed as mp in the results but later on they were reinstated with a 30 minute penalty. At that point, and having seen how fast they were going earlier I thought that they would still win on day 2 and that whoever came second might be a bit pissed off. But as it happens I think (Steve said) that they had some nav issues on day 2, which is probably just as well, and maybe overall things turned out fair.

OTOH I think prizes go down to 6th place and Steve and Jethro ended up 4th, so maybe the OMM organisers should (if they haven't already) make up the prizes of 5th, 6th and 7th to one place higher.

Pity really, as there was no need for the controls to be like that. There were plenty of other sites available nearby that could have worked and on the whole we thought that the control placement was really good elsewhere in terms of technicality with pretty good representation on the map.