World Champs

[Little Hoddy]

Just in time for the last 10km of the tour...Italians have nailed the schedule.

[housewife]

So for their team members in the hills with no live results can someone fill us in on how the Brits finished?

[DJM]

Though it is annoying how far ahead of the TV the commentary is

I reckon the commentary was 25 s ahead of the pictures - annoying indeed ...

[Scott]

1. Wyder 15:42.0
2. Alexandersson 15:43.9
3. Moeller Alm 15:45.7
...
12. Hill 16:42.1

1. Bobach 15:37.2
2. D Hubmann 15:39.3
3. Lassen 15:41.4
...
13. Strain 16:21.8
18. Jones 16:36.6
31. Fraser 17:16.3

[andy]

Though it is annoying how far ahead of the TV the commentary is

I reckon the commentary was 25 s ahead of the pictures - annoying indeed ...

It will be slightly different for everyone, that's the nature of streaming. The only way to make it good is for them to put the commentary feed into the broadcast feed. Very easy for them to do but for some bizarre reason they didn't.

[Gross]

Interesting that most of the comments today were not about the race but the streaming

[andy]

Interesting that most of the comments today were not about the race but the streaming

which is because there was actually some half-decent streaming so we were all watching it?

[ER]

Up on Buttertubs - and those guys are so fast I missed the first rider who was a long way in front of the peloton. So I also missed the sprint today as well as the leader at that point in Le Tour.

I know the Arsenale area of Venice well and some of those alleys are very tight and narrow allowing single passage only . I cannot believe that the organisers were able to prohibit the public using those passageways as it is a residential and business area and people need access to their properties. So was anyone held up by a member of the public? If so it is a weird sport that allows random events such as a member of the public going about their lawful business to influence the result.

[buzz]

I know the Arsenale area of Venice well and some of those alleys are very tight and narrow allowing single passage only . I cannot believe that the organisers were able to prohibit the public using those passageways as it is a residential and business area and people need access to their properties. So was anyone held up by a member of the public? If so it is a weird sport that allows random events such as a member of the public going about their lawful business to influence the result.

Its all part of the challenge of the terrain. With experience before and during the race you learn to judge the runability of each route option - narrow alleys, particularly in busy areas, are ideally avoided just as slow run or stony ground are in forest terrain.

There's an element of luck involved as the density of people traffic varies and specific incidents can block the athletes but the same is true of forest terrain with minor changes of route impacting on runability. There's also potentially an advantage for later starters as people get used to the athletes running through and are less likely to block the route.

In both forest and urban orienteering you can lose the odd second here and there but the real damage comes if you let it disturb your focus on the race. Keeping your cool is the real skill.

[Arnold]

Given the aggro they had at the last Venice race in 2012 (including cancelling it halfway through after complaints by the public), I'd be very surprised if they took their chances this time. I would have expected organisers posted at all entrances to the area (to stop tourists going in and alert locals), multiple flyers through letterboxes etc. Especially as a Saturday afternoon in July is peak time (though the area is away from the main sights).

Not sure what they actually did though, madmike might have some inside info.

[Spookster]

They had lots of marshals at key points, and police in the busiest areas, ensuring (as far as possible) that tourists and locals didn't obstruct the athletes. Of course you can't stop a local stepping out of their front door in Venice right in front of an oncoming runner, but there's nothing the organisers can do about that.

[buzz]

Well there were people wandering about in some parts in the video feed, although it didn't look busy.

[graeme]

Team declaration is in - Scott is out!

Tessa Hill
Murray Strain
Kristian Jones
Catherine Taylor

[buzz]

Interesting take on fairness in orienteering from Marten Bostrom.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=527548047350905&id=415561431882901

Personally I don't think sport can be entirely 'fair' - how you deal with inaccuracies in maps and other curved balls that are thrown at you is all part of being a champion.

If an alleyway on a legitimate route choice is closed then OK that's a problem and could potentially void the course, but expecting the map to be perfect in every detail is I think unwise. Urban maps are more precise because of the scale and nature of the terrain, but they are still symbolic representations and subject to the vagaries of individual mapper's style and changes with time.

Maybe we should strive for major championships to be as fair as possible, but if the athletes themselves expect too much then I think its likely to have a negative effect on their performance.

[graeme]

Another interesting take on fairness in orienteering from Marten Bostrom.

For EMIT, I have developed a technique where I don’t always get a backup pin mark ... I got disqualified for not having all the punches and no backup cardboard

A quiz - how many ISSOM mapping errors can you see in this clip...

sprint-orienteering-map.jpg (42.39 KiB) Viewed 4792 times

For extra credit, where is it from?