Euromeeting - Loch of Boath WRE

[graeme]

2014 World Champs and World Cups ... (all of which are in Europe) ... will have their points inflated,

So that'll keep those nasty colonials in their place...

[Spookster]

2014 World Champs and World Cups ... (all of which are in Europe) ... will have their points inflated,

So that'll keep those nasty colonials in their place...

Well yes, but the World Games also gets inflated points, and that moves all over the world, with the next one being in.... ahh.. Poland.

Plus Regional Champs get inflated points (as long as they have WCup status). And apart from EOC, they are, by definition, outside Europe.

[greywolf]

In future WOCs long and middle races will have larger fields (>70 cf 45), short start intervals and a start list based on the World Ranking List so naturally the IOF is doing everything in its power to favour the strongest nations - the rest are there simply to track up the forest and (maybe) impress the IOC

On the plus side it saves other countries from the bother of selection races - subject to fitness they can just pick the athlete(s) with the highest World ranking as they'll have the best starting position

in such circumstances it seems rather bizarre that the main argument about fairness at WOC seems to be around sprint relay gaffling...

[graeme]

On the plus side it saves other countries from the bother of selection races - subject to fitness they can just pick the athlete(s) with the highest World ranking as they'll have the best starting position.

And since the WR is biassed towards races you have to be selected for, selectors only have to make the selection once, after which it's self-sustaining until the athletes give up

What is the weighting?

[Spookster]

What is the weighting?

Winner of WOC races will score 1600 points. This year they (Thierry and Simone in Long Final) scored about 1300, so roughly a 20-25% uplift.

[graeme]

25% - enough to turn a "standard-barrable-run" into a "standard-gg-run" just through the name of the event?

[Big Jon]

Sounds bonkers to me.... Why oh why did IOF decide in its infinite wisdom to remove qualification races from WOC? The alternatives seem to be Byzantine, biased and blatantly favouring a few top nations. Where is the "its the taking part that counts" ethos?
I haven't noticed the Olympics or the World Athletic Champs or the Football World Cup or the golfing majors removing qualification rounds........... and it doesn't seem to have affected their popularity.

[graeme]

I haven't noticed the Olympics or the World Athletic Champs removing qualification rounds.

Maybe because they weren't daft enough to have qualifying races for anything over 20 mins running in the first place?

[andy]

Where is the "its the taking part that counts" ethos?

The point is 'taking part in finals' and not just turning up to run one qualification race. This method gets more countries represented in finals.

I haven't noticed the Olympics

The olympics are the same, it's all about representation as the big picture, while the best still win. Even when those athletes respresenting minor nations are never going to win (a medal): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woYG6Uq6OVU

[andy]

golfing majors removing qualification rounds

This is the biggest flaw in your argument! The Open is notorious for having qualification rounds that leave out professionals. The R&A get a huge amount of moaning about it too: http://www.theopen.com/en/Qualification.aspx

[greywolf]

The point is 'taking part in finals' and not just turning up to run one qualification race. This method gets more countries represented in finals.

Bollocks. If this really was the objective then why haven't they scrapped the qualification race for the sprint? (where tracking up and short start intervals aren't an issue)

Removing qualification races for M & L, and allowing one token runner per lesser nation to smash down the bracken for the top runners could backfire as there's a chance that some of these countries won't have enough runners for a (forest) relay team and might not bother coming at all.

[andy]

I'm not saying I agree with it (I don't), I just thought that was their reasoning...

[Scott]

If this really was the objective then why haven't they scrapped the qualification race for the sprint?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that people won't travel for a single-round sprint race because it doesn't offer good value for money.

[Gross]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that people won't travel for a single-round sprint race because it doesn't offer good value for money.

You are saying that people base their judgement on attending a WOC on 'value for money' ? There is something way wrong in the world of WOC if that is correct.

[Ant W]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that people won't travel for a single-round sprint race because it doesn't offer good value for money.

Perhaps IOF will listen to these concerns and instead offer a full-length urban race?