World Cup 2007

[Toni]

I just had a quick read through next year's world cup programme. Maybe it's just a co-incidence but it seems that there are only events in the 'main' orienteering countries + WOC. Last May a proposal was put forward at the World Cups in the UK that in the future World Cups would only be held in countries where orienteering has a significant presence and can attract media attention. They used the example of biathlon - focusing the build up of the sport in a small number of countries could help get the attention that we need to progress into the Olympics - therefore major orienteering events will only be held in countries where orienteering is already big.

Lots of discussion at the World Cup - heard nothing about it again until I saw the post today.... But it looks like they went with the original proposal or maybe it's just a coincidence!

What do you all think of the proposal?

[gg]

Looks like a good set of races, but looking at the guidelines for hosting one of the races (which are on the IOF pages), it looks like it will be very difficult for smaller nations to host them even if they want to...

[tendon]

I got the feeling that the obligations regarding media coverage, and the financial penalties for non compliance, are so large that only the established "home" countries will be prepared to carry the risk. Not an explicit policy to exclude the smaller nations, but exclusion nevertheless. With the current criteria, UK would not have taken on WCup 2005

[Toni]

I agree the programme looks good and I think there is some logic in the plan but it may mean that there will never be a world cup in Britain again. Although I'm not sure how much coverage it got last year, I'm sure there was some, and I'm sure the GB team benefitted from home advantage.

I mean there are two sides to the argument - most of the top athlete's live in Scandinavia so hosting events there means less travel for them but in turn this means that more move there and this weakens the sport in their home countries. There are already debates here about the devaluing of the UK cup series because the top athletes aren't here - won't this new strategy mean that even more athletes will base themselves in Scandinavia?

[Toni]

The presentation at the World Cup last year explicitly stated that these competitions would be focused on the main orienteering countries - maybe the policy has been re-written since then to make it more politically correct but it seems to be the same thing.

[Gross]

Two interesting point.... WC (apart from WOC & Regional OC) will only be sprint & middle... no long / classic... and entry is not restricted to 'X' per nation.... individuals can enter if they qualify... so we could see BOF/GBR sending a minimum number of athletes & leaving the rest to enter themselves...

And at a minimum cash cost of €6000 in sanction fees & prizemoney it'll not be cheap to host...

[rocky]

WC (apart from WOC & Regional OC) will only be sprint & middle... no long / classic...

i'm not sure what you mean by this gross... do the long races at oringen not count

http://www.nopesport.com/index.php?nav= ... rld&id=256

[Gross]

Rocky... below is from IOF paper on WC

B) Competition formats
The main formats in the new WCup are sprint and middle (except in WOC, ROC).
Events will often take place on a weekend.
The federations are encouraged to try new, TV-friendly formats and innovations, e.g. mass start,
micr-O, chase start.

Suggests long won't be in WC.... but published programme does include ORingen long race & obviously WOC long etc....

[FatBoy]

And at a minimum cash cost of €6000 in sanction fees & prizemoney it'll not be cheap to host...

Sounds like something Bernie Ecclestone would do. Seriously though - he knows a thing or two about promotion aside from lining his pockets and if promotion of the race is focused in this way then undoubtedly it will be promoted. The question really though is (in F1 as well as Orienteering) does the sport suffer for the promotion, and if so does it suffer to the point it isn't the same sport?

[mharky]

does it suffer to the point it isn't the same sport?

the second race of the 2007 world series is going to be mirco...