What went wrong?

[Dids co]

What does everybody think of the British Teams World Cup results?

I thought the performance level was quite poor, particularly from the boys. The girls packed in and got some solid results.

Having a World Cup on homeground is a big advantage, but the top results didn't happen for the guys. The top british guys are definatly good enough to fight for medals, especially when running in england. So what went wrong?

Was it bad management? Was the teams preperation good enough? Was it due to poor fitness? Was it tiredness / burnout due to too many early season races? Was it the pressure of competing at home?

It would be good to hear from Derek, Dave Peel, and the runners themselves.

Cheers
Dids

[graeme]

Scotia made the same observation last night.

But I think they did OK.

You're just used to the higher finishes at WOC, where the field is weaker because the strongest nations (SUI, NOR, FIN, SWE) only get three runners rather than 5/6.

I don't think they had any "homeground" advantage. It seems to me that the top UK orienteers can't be bothered with this sort of terrain (e.g. clashing the Japanese training camp with the SCOA UK cup races).

Graeme

[Domhnull Mor]

Can't really make any direct comment on this one but the "home advantage" card is not what it once was. Home advantage for me is familiarity with the terrain having run on it week-in, week-out but with increasing numbers of us choosing to live abroad (for very justifiable reasons) we can hardly claim to have intimate knowledge of all UK terrain any more. The only other advantage (if you can call it that) of running in your home terrain is the support but in orienteering mental strength dictates how you react to this both before and during the event even more so than in many other sports. Still, I'm not making excuses for or condemning anyone. I'll leave direct comments to others.

As an aside, the reporter for the Swedish Federation website wrote this:
"The lack of Swedish success, with the exceptions of Jenny Johansson and, in part, Emma Engstrand, is due not only to injuries, illness and poor form. The orienteering world is becoming ever larger and in a future with big championship races in Japan, Denmark etc, it will probably grow even more. It is therefore up to Sweden to hitch a ride on the train with young, fit and ambitious "continentals" [I take it he means folk with good knowledge of foreign terrain] otherwise there will be reduced success for Swedish orienteering in the future"
- A challenge for us too?

As a further aside, he also wrote:
"..the sprint competition in London was well directed by the very competent English organisers, just like the rest of the World Cup week.."

[Guest]

But this was the world cup - the top competitors were there and the planning presented real and varied challenges, so no great home advantage.

The runners will all be at home looking at their routes and splits, looking for the improvements and thinking about the training plan over the next 2 months. The management will be getting the support and logistics in place. The day after is too soon for reactions

But everyone there was 100% committed and there were good results from the team. Life at the top is too tough to expect medals every time, unless you live in a sports council ivory tower, of course.

[FatBoy]

Just looked at all the results with the context of this thread. I'd love to see GBR 1-2-3 same as most on this forum, but to me there was some good results in there. Well done team I say!

Home advantage? The top guys and gals can run anywhere well, it's not like there's something bizzarre about those areas that means you need to have knowledge of how to orienteer them well.

[housewife]

I don't think there was much home advantage in the terrain for the world cups. Guildford was like any other uni campus, Battersea was like any other park race, and the classic and relay were like any other continental terrain. Leith hill (remapped) was extremely detailed mine workings. I don't think anyone who ran there would be able to name an area quite like it in Britain.

[lilywhite]

Yeah I think the only home advantage we had was the crowd which was absolutely awesome - especially at the classic! Big big thanks to everyone that was there - the roar that I got was something I'll never forget.

[Supersaint]

I personally believe the team did well. Nothing spectacular, but a number of athletes showed that they are still improving. Sarah, Claire, Rachael and Helen B all got their highest ever World Cup positions, Jenny and Helen W got their 2nd highest ever and Heather was 1 of only 8 athletes (men and women) who got 3 top 10 places.
As for the men, i think Graham had a fantastic run in his first ever World Cup race, bear in mind he is still only 20! Craney and Nick both got their best ever results from their classic runs and Jon was very close to getting his best in a non-gaffled race.

The fact that the races were in Britain i think made little impact on the results. As has been said, no-one could really say they were on 'home terrain'. Most runners from other countries will all have run on terrain similar to this before and know exactly how to orienteer on it.

[Dids co]

I disagree with most of the above. I think home advantage is significant in orienteering. Its not just about the area or the style of orienteering, its also the whole set up surrounding the competition.

Fat boy > I know our girls and boys are very good orienteers, the question I was asking was why, particularly the boys, didn't perform at the level they are capable.

[Guest]

Why unless we are the funders i.e. Sport England should we be doing any more than dreaming of 1/2/3 on the races, we all know how good the scandies are and it is all through the age groups. It's like taking on the USA in athletics!

Hocolite

[FatBoy]

Fat boy > I know our girls and boys are very good orienteers, the question I was asking was why, particularly the boys, didn't perform at the level they are capable.

Are you speaking of one or two individual performances? I saw a couple which perhaps weren't up to their own high standards but everyone's allowed an off day - there may be many reasons why. Even Simone has the odd bad one! I think if you refer to the whole boys performance then just read Supersaint's post - many best ever performances. What went right so we can go further next time is perhaps a better question?

[Wattok]

I think the results showed one thing this weekend - the GB mens relay team needs a rethink. They got that all wrong. I think they should stop trying to keep the bronze medal team together and give others a chance e.g. speakys awsome 1st leg Tio and JK performances, Craney's relay runs this year have been impressive too.

[Kitch]

its also the whole set up surrounding the competition.

what does that mean ?

[Domhnull Mor]

Fair point about the set-up surrounding the competition. I must admit, it does ease the worries if you know the peculiarities of the organisation of an event, especially at the start.

Supporters provide a lift but, as you well know, unlike football or athletics we spend the vast majority of any race away from them (except maybe in sprint races). In the forest we must rely on our own abilities. Supporters can help increase self-belief but the rest is up to the athlete. In this sense, orienteering is one of the few sports where competing on "home soil" is almost equally as challenging as competing abroad as we are, essentially, equals in the forest wherever we go.

[Scotia]

To compete with the worlds best orienteers, the gbr runners need to run faster. . .

Maybe there was an element of fatigue within the squad? e.g. april's domestic races in britain.. i can think of numerous athletes who ran the world cups who have been racing weekend for the past 6 weeks . . .