Can the commentary influence the outcome of the race?

[HOCOLITE]

Yesterday at the finish of the M18 FCC there was an incident involving three runners and punching the final control. The commentators queried when they were on the run in if they'd punched the right final control, causing two to return to punch one to go to the finish then return to punch. In this time another compeitor had arrived having ounched correct control and actually beat one of the others on run in.

Two questions?
Surely the commentary team should have kept stumm as this means three people completed course thus getting FCC points they wouldn't have if they'd continued to finish

Also if the commentary can be held in the forest this could alert other runners to problem.

Under the pressure of head to head mistakes are made but it shouldn't be up to the commentary team to bring this to competitors attention until after they have finished and downloaded.
It doesn't affect the winner but does affect all the other runners as they would have got more points.

Any views?

I don't know if any of the three had in fact punched the right control, if they had they'd have cause for complaint.

[El]

I (and the people standing near me) commented on this at the time - the commentary should have kept quiet - it's not up to them to influence the race. The commentary team clearly had maps of the courses and so knew which was the right control. They should definitely not have said anything.

[gross2006]

Interestingly at the Women's Short Race final at WOC '97 in Norway there was an incident where the Norwegian runner was 'counted down' into bronze medal position by the speaking team... protest was made by the Swiss and upheld (from memory the Swiss was awarded a bronze as well).

I'd need to look back to confirm the exact detail of above but in general it's accurate.....

Speaking teams should not abuse thier knowledge and influence the outcome of a race...... JK Day 1 speaking team beware... the big bad advisor is listening:)

[Simon]

From where I was looking it appeared that one of the three clearly ran straight to the finish from the wrong last control, but the other two had stopped before the commentary said anything. Whether they would have then ran in if the commentary had not said anything was not clear.

The other issue that some of us further along the spectating area had was if the first person to the line actually crossed the finish line. If so did he leave the competition area and so should he have been able to go back and punch the correct final control?

[the duncan]

yeah, thats spot on Gross, the nogs were counted down and got bronze by a second, and the swiss complained, as the nog must surely have run harder knowing the score, the swiss complained and they got a joint bronze i think.

comentators should keep quiet about that sort of stuff, especially if the folk are in for a top 3 placing

[rocky]

yeah, thats spot on Gross, the nogs were counted down and got bronze by a second, and the swiss complained, as the nog must surely have run harder knowing the score, the swiss complained and they got a joint bronze i think.

have a feeling a similar thing happened at boc at clumber park around then as well.... might have been jo stevenson involved.

[Klebe]

Seems the commentary team acted both ways.

I think they also passed comment on the elites route choice as they were going through. I am sure he said Mark Nixon was taking the preferred route choice of one of the commentary team.

I didn't see the M18 run in but when the W18 FCC girls came through the spectator control the team said that they had their own views on the correct route choice at that point (given that the leading girls headed off in three different directions). The commentary team wouldn't say which they thought best until the girls were out of sight.

Not sure whether hearing route choice being discussed would have caused some to rethink their route.
Definately agree that comments such as those at the end of the M18 and as competitors are coming through the area should be held back until they can have no influence.

[Seamus]

yeah, thats spot on Gross, the nogs were counted down and got bronze by a second, and the swiss complained, as the nog must surely have run harder knowing the score, the swiss complained and they got a joint bronze i think.

have a feeling a similar thing happened at boc at clumber park around then as well.... might have been jo stevenson involved.

Seem to remember Yvette got a joint Silver at WOC 95 thanks to a count down too.

[CHS]

I know that as I was passing through the spectator control, close behind the leaders I couldn't hear anything of the commentryon the W18s. This could just be me personally (my hearing isn't omptimal) but trying to listen to the comentry whilst running hard is tricky especially if you are trying to climb a steep hill. I'd be interested to know how much other people notice the commentry when they are racing.

[Rockaldo]

I was one of the three that had trouble on the m18 race. The commentary did not affect the other two going back, they new it was wrong. In the rush and with a 1:15000 map i thought i had the right one and did not check control descriptions. It was completely my own fault. The only way that the commentary affected us was that it forced us to rush and not find the correct control as all three of us wanted to win. This is all part of orienteering, the commentary makes it a spectator sport which it needs to become to attract more people. As long as the commentators dont say where the controls are its fine.

[Dan Ashcroft]

Fazza were you listening going up that hill after the spectator control?

[graeme]

Seems the commentary team acted both ways.

I think they also passed comment on the elites route choice as they were going through. I am sure he said Mark Nixon was taking the preferred route choice of one of the commentary team.

That would have been the leg where Mharky lost a minute then?

Graeme

[housewife]

The planner thought that Mark took the better route. See the planners comments. Interesting

[bendover]

which are here

and are excellent.

[Guest]

My vague memory of Clumber Park is that Jo Stevenson was narrowly beaten by Abi Weeds? But the voice calling out to Abi that she had seconds to beat Jo came from a spectator standing near the start of the run-in, not from the commentary?

So was that fair or unfair? Same effect, in that Abi put some welly in on the last sprint, but not influenced by the organisation.