Sprint image

[David May]

I've been looking at the entries for the Surrey Five-O event and wondering why the Sprint race at Battersea Park is proving so unpopular with the older age groups. In some ways, it should be the most popular event of all - it's on a Bank Holiday Monday, it coincides with the World Cup Sprint Final and should be a brilliant spectacle, etc etc.

However, the figures show otherwise as there are many who are entering the Sunday and Tuesday events but opting away from the Monday Sprint race.

If you look at those who have entered on Tuesday but not on Monday, an interesting pattern develops. I give below the % of those who have opted not to go to Battersea in each senior age group:-

Men..... 21(13%) 35(32%) 40(40%) 45(51%) 50(56%) 55(55%) 60(53%) 65(53%) 70(90%) 75(80%)

Women 21(22%) 35(33%) 40(30%) 45(40%) 50(78%) 55(60%) 60(56%) 65(55%) 70(33%) 75(50%)

Now, some of the sample sizes are small, but it's clear that the event is much more popular with the under 40s than with the over 45s. Can anyone suggest why? Is there an image problem?

[Tatty]

No - just concerned about it being a fast burn up therefore showing up my lavk of speed! Need a technical challenge to get a decent result.

[Dids co]

Dont Old skool british orienteers have the attitude if they're paying 10quid for a race they wanna get their moneys worth, the longer they're out the better or more worthwhile the race. So I guess a sprint of 15 minutes puts them off.

[David May]

Dont Old skool british orienteers have the attitude if they're paying 10quid for a race they wanna get their moneys worth

That might be a good argument if 10quid were indeed the cost, but the Five-O charged £3.50 for Seniors instead (now £5 as the last cheap rate period has expired).

David

[chrisecurtis]

Speaking personally (M45) I am just not fast enough over the ground for a sprint to be a sensible option. I have to rely on "tortoise" rather than "hare" tactics.

They also do not appeal - it is the challenge of thinking through a course making decisions that will work out over the whole run that I like rather than the "one mistake and you are out of it" of a sprint.

Major problem with Battersea is the hell of getting there. Driving in is not sensible and coming home on public transport after a run is not very sociable!

[EriOL]

I think "brilliant spectacle" is the keyword here. Elderly ladies and gentlemen don't want to run around in city parks wearing pink pajamas. Park orienteering is also too easy when you're moving at half the speed of the elite.

[Ian Watson]

No - just concerned about it being a fast burn up therefore showing up my lavk of speed! Need a technical challenge to get a decent result.

I think this is exactly the issue. Many older orienteers were attracted to, and persevere with, the sport because, although they enjoy running, they are not actually very good at it.

As someone who, no matter how much training I put in, has never been able to get much under 20 mins for a 5k road run, (and that was when I was young!) I can only manage a half respectable O run when navigation is a significant part of the whole.

So, tearing round a simple course, where speed is the essence, has very little attraction. It isn't anything to do with money or even image. It just isn't the sort of Orienteering that I enjoy. I have talked to quite a few O friends on this issue and most feel the same.

Ian.

[housewife]

I think it is a pretty common misconception in sprint orienteering, that it is all about how fast you can 'sprint'. A good sprint orienteering course tests not how quickly you can run, but how quickly you can orienteer. Split second decision making, ability to spot the optimum route choice instantly etc. A good sprint course for the less speedy age classes could be lots of short legs, to keep the competitor thinking.

[Becks]

Housewife's hit it on the nose - sprint orienteering has been some of the most technical orienteering I've ever taken part in. The TVOC summer series is a great example of this, with loads of older competitors enjoying the racing. Any of TVOC around that care to comment?

[gingerwtfish]

Park orienteering is also too easy when you're moving at half the speed of the elite.

Is a valid point.

Split second decision making, ability to spot the optimum route choice instantly.

I think if you walk round, you get a little longer than a split second.
Of course thats an extreme case, but you see where it goes.

Can you run faster than you can orienteer?

Obviously depends on terrain i.e. how technical it is (as well as course - how many controls etc.), but if you can run faster than you can orienteer, then sprint races become challenging and intense (e.g. JK relay in my case ), if you cant, then they become a CC race = dull.

I wonder which group the majority of older orienteers come under, with their multiple years of orienteering experience and probably better things to do than hill reps and intervals in the evenings.

[Neil M35]

Sprint orienteering can be technically challenging whatever speed you are running at. The sprint races I have done (including the UKCup race in Battersea Park in 2002) have all been well planned and had enough challenging controls/route choices to make them interesting - which doesn't always happen at regional/district events. Can anybody put a map online from the UKCup sprint race at Battersea so that people can see what to expect? Or BEOC sprint races at Ham Hill, Williamson Park - both great races on areas that would never have been used for a major event at full distance.

[Guest]

As someone who normally competes on a short course I never enter middle or sprints because they are usually the same length as I would run in the forest.

As an aged sprinter the name is appealling but my idea of sprint is the run in. I love a good short grassed run in of less than 100 metres cos I can do what I do best. But the idea of running round Battersea on a Bank Holiday dioes not appeal, but yes junior was interested. Being a Londoner originally it would have to be a massive carrot to get me to go there. It was fun in the 70's on the big dipper.

I think that London and it's metropolitan image is a turn off for the older orienteers who don't happen to live close by, They want forests not urban parks

Hocolite

[Gillian]

There's also the value-for-time issue. A race that takes at least 60 minutes is far more worth the travelling time than a race that takes 15 minutes or less. Not much of a way to spend a whole day - travel to London, warm up, race for 15mins, warm down, travel home again.

[Jon X]

There's also the value-for-time issue. A race that takes at least 60 minutes is far more worth the travelling time than a race that takes 15 minutes or less. Not much of a way to spend a whole day - travel to London, warm up, race for 15mins, warm down, travel home again.

no wonder you are giving the marathon a try.....no point trying to improve your marathon time though as I guess improving it will mean you find them increasingly less worthwhile to travel to in the future!

[Guest]

It's not the fact that it is a Sprint race that stops me entering. It's the thought of getting to and from Battersea Park on a Bank Holiday Monday.

Unfortunately for this event orienteers tend to live out of their cars. Had this race been held somewhere easier to drive to then I am sure the attendance would have been higher.