WMOC2013

[graeme]

WOC 2011 Sprint qualifier?

Unless elites crossing forbidden features is the organisers fault, while Masters crossing them is the competitors fault?

In any case, the numbers involved in WMOC are much bigger, and anyone can go, so it is more likely you'll get people not knowing what they're doing.

Specifically, I haven't seen the map, but likely mappings of the feature shown are a 0.4mm thick black line ("uncrossible wall"), a 0.5mm thick black line ("uncrossible cliff"). or a 0.3mm thick black line ("crossible cliff"). The first photo shows a one-sided "obstacle", which would suggest to me "cliff".

[mharky]

Read what I wrote Graeme, I didn't say "the accidental crossing of a forbidden feature", I said cheating and unsporting behaviour. Cheating requires the competitor to knowingly and wittingly break the rules for their advantage.

There is no possible way someone can jump down a wall that is higher than they are can think that it is passable. Everyone in those photos knows how high that wall is. For comparison, here is a photo of the famous wall from WOC 2011.http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gaa0ajoxSyc/TkrnZvihNsI/AAAAAAAAA2M/b-6APJ9y24I/s1600/IMG_0194.JPG The South African bloke is sitting at the point where the wall changes from impassable to passable (indicated by thumbs up/down). Can you see the difference?

A full description of that day can be found that day can be found here:http://rsaorienteers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/sprint-qualifications-dsq-disaster-but.html

Let's not forget all the map grabbing, and control card grabbing from back in the day.

And who said anything about elite? I was talking about WOC, plenty of non-elite runners at WOC.

[blairtrewin]

The Ukrainian team were disqualified en masse from the JWOC sprint in 2011 for entering an embargoed area before the event.

On two different occasions in the 1990s I encountered practitioners of the map-grab relocation technique at the World University Championships (in the absence of WOC in even-numbered years, this event was taken more seriously then than it is now). Once I was sufficiently aggrieved to protest against the offender, but they denied it and in the absence of any witnesses the protest was dismissed for lack of evidence.

[graeme]

There is no possible way someone can jump down a wall ... can think that it is passable.

[mharky]

I meant ISSOM passable, but you know that's what I meant...

[Big Jon]

The Ukrainian team were disqualified en masse from the JWOC sprint in 2011 for entering an embargoed area before the event.

On two different occasions in the 1990s I encountered practitioners of the map-grab relocation technique at the World University Championships (in the absence of WOC in even-numbered years, this event was taken more seriously then than it is now). Once I was sufficiently aggrieved to protest against the offender, but they denied it and in the absence of any witnesses the protest was dismissed for lack of evidence.

A swift punch on the nose usually proves deterrent enough!

[SJ]

A few of the walls on the WMOC sprint maps marked as crossable were incredible. I re-ran one of my legs after my run (on women's A open course, sprint final day) wondering whether I should have gone straight instead of round the road. Straight involved a "passable" wall. When I got to it, I found it to be about shoulder height so I had to go left to a point where I could get footholds and grab the metal railing sticking out the top to haul myself up. I'm a W21...not sure how passable it would be to a W80?! Really glad I didn't go that way in the race as it would have been a big time-waster.
However ludicrous some of the supposedly passable walls were, however, doesn't excuse the competitors who jumped down the uncrossable ones - the map was clear enough here as I think the sample below shows. But it did surprise me that the "common sense" approach of "high walls = uncrossable, little walls = crossable" was meaningless in this race.

[DJM]

Long Qualification races finished today, but a hiccup in the start draw means that the Finals start lists won't be available until tomorrow morning (as per the published time).

In the meantime, here are three videos to enjoy:

Opening ceremony: http://youtu.be/z0tFT6nmtJA
Sprint Qualification: http://youtu.be/7nmZzJUZfts
Sprint Final: http://youtu.be/4euvnEEfCU0

At least four SLOW members feature ...

[graeme]

the map was clear enough here as I think the sample below shows.

All the photos (WOC and WMOC) show retaining walls which people jump down.
This is one of the problems with ISSOM: there's no way to tell as you approach from above if it's a wall or a cliff. The symbols are too similar: 0.3mm vs 0.4mm thick black line (even if you know whether a 1:4000 ISSOM map is a blown up version of a 1:5000, and are unfazed by the fact that they used of the wrong symbol for uncrossable fence).

Like I said on the WOC2011 thread (and others), I'd map all those retaining wall features as cliffs (with tags if space allows), and in neither case do I regard the competitiors as cheats. I hope the ISSOM revision sorts this out.

[DJM]

All WMOC competitors were given an update to the Bulletin at registration which included the following:

Sprint race notes
The impassable wall symbol (thick black line) usually denotes a wall with one side only. Both Pragelato (Sprint Qualification area) and Sestriere (Sprint Final area) have roads and buildings built into steep slopes where walls are often used for retaining purposes, an example of which is given below:-
The enlarged map extract shows the impassable wall with a steep slope above. The wall is about 2.5 m high and appears more as a cliff or a crag than the usual idea of a wall.
Only a few walls have two sides to them. Beware!
Note that pavements are not always mapped too.

[MIE]

Looks like Bronze for Nick Barrable(M35) and Alice Bedwell(W50) in the Long Finals
today.

[Tatty]

Jean Velecky too, thought she will have got at least silver as there were only 2 W90's No results on the website yet though.

[MIE]

Jean Velecky too, thought she will have got at least silver as there were only 2 W90's No results on the website yet though.

"Provisional Results" are at http://www.wmoc2013.it/live_results/result.html

Jean Velecky got the Silver

[Tatty]

Thanks Mike.

[DJM]

Alice Bedwell finishes in Bronze position whilst David Rosen looks on


Nick Barrable wins Bronze at WMOC 2013