Leg of death

[graeme]

JK day 2 1-2 on M14A/16B. Ouch!

[greywolf]

nice! and the catching feature is...?? result: total carnage as seen in the splits.
AFAICS that was the only course which visited that control

[ifor]

It dose not look too hard on the map (course 24.) keep left hit the ride, big knoll, over to the depresion then carry on a bit to make it a dog leg and in you go. If you have to try from the other side then the long thin clearing in the green at the bottom of the big slope should be unmissable, up the the knoll and in you go.

From the splits I would assume there is somthing not right in there.

[GML]

My youngest son was one of those who had a problem with this leg. According to him there was an unmapped vegetation change somewhere before the ride which he mistook for the edge of the green. If the vegetation mapping isn't reliable in this area then this is a pretty tough control for M14A (albeit some obviously managed OK).

[Big Jon]

As mapper I can respond to this question in the same way as I did to the first time I heard it on Saturday.
The vegetation boundary was between birch and pine, the map was made in late June last year, therefore the birch trees were in full leaf, the boundary was there but not obvious enough for me to map.

In April this year the birch trees were not in leaf and boundary was (apparently, as I never went to check) more obvious.

The planner and controller never asked for any map check in this area.

Several elite runners who I spoke to mentioned seeing this boundary but ignoring it due to the contours being fine to navigate by and the distance being wrong.

[andy]

Someone took 1hr17 to find it, ouch!

Can totally see what Jon is saying about that 'veg boundary', even though it threw me off line. I guess a lot of us (me!) need to learn how to use a compass and not rely on vegetation

[andypat]

Someone took 1hr17 to find it, ouch!

Can totally see what Jon is saying about that 'veg boundary', even though it threw me off line. I guess a lot of us (me!) need to learn how to use a compass and not rely on vegetation

Me too on the leg 2-3 on course 18 - but not by as much as the two guys on course 24 who have put up their routegadget - well done to both for sticking at it. I dont suppose anyone can come up with a similar explanation for my number 1 on Sunday...

[Electrocuted]

I got confused by the unmapped veg boundary here too - I totally missed my control 3 on course 22 as I thought the veg boundary I could see was the green on the map so was too far south. I hit my 4th control and relocated from that.

[graeme]

who have put up their routegadget - well done to both for sticking at it.

Alex (34:57 split) bounced back to win a relay medal, overtaking me along the way, and Freddie (43.44 split) ran a relay fastest leg. Good effort!

[youngladdie]

Brooner / the official nopesport reprt states:
Another downside of the day's competition was the vegetation mapping (and printing), which was very poor in places...
So if many agree the map was 'poor', what is to be done? Shouldnt we expect the standard of mapping for this level of event to be 'perfect', or at least acceptable and fair?

[mharky]

It wasn't poor, it was out of season.

The question is why was it mapped out of season?

[andy]

So if many agree the map was 'poor', what is to be done? Shouldnt we expect the standard of mapping for this level of event to be 'perfect', or at least acceptable and fair?

The printing comment probably refers to the note in the start lane which said something like 'Due to a printing error there are areas of white forest among open land which aren't on the map, take care'. Not ideal!

And as Jon said it was right when he mapped it and the planner(s) and controller(s?) must have decided it was fair. You are always going to get inconsistencies like this when you have 2000+ people looking at something only a handful have looked at previously.

[King Penguin]

I am certain there was also a map problem on day 2 around control 7 on course 14 (186, see also other thread about this) , as are a number of others I spoke to. I found an additional unmapped E-W reentrant within / on the edge of the control circle. I also heard 2nd-hand of someone who believed the reentrant appeared to have an upper W end E of the control, then continue W beyond akin to an elongated depression, so if attacking up the reentrant it looked like you had reached the head (no control) when you were not.

[Red Adder]

On paper it looks a fair route if you go for the obvious hand rail. 2-3 looks far harder until you spot the clearing heading across the marshy thick stuff. Suggests that the planner saw the "obvious" 1-2 route and didn't worry - so proving runners always manage to see different routes to the planner. Being harsh though trying to go on a compass baring / distance reckoning / contour reading unless you are justifiable confident in your ability to execute these skills actually demonstrates poor coaching and /or judgement. I should know - whenever I leave the soft south I'm very quickly found out (in fact Epping normally induces at least one unforced disaster from me).

[Red Adder]

In reply to Mharky seasonality of mapping is always a trade off with being as up-to-date as possible, unless the area is small/simple enough to do it in a couple of months, which I doubt is possible on Dunalastair - unless you use multiple mappers then consistency looms large as an issue.