To follow or not to follow

[rocky]

Anyway I thought about the above statement and although I agree sometimes like in a relay where the whole pack goes one way it is usually better to follow (but not in the case of Anders Norberg going straight at Tio Mila) in this case I disagree, there are some reasons not to follow..

which was the only mention of tiomila until mharky brought up the Losman/Sandvik battle, which wouldn't have been half the issue it was if Sandvik had done his homework and worked out which lane to run down.

Anders Norberg was running the Langa Natten leg at Tio last year which is the famous ungaffled 2hr leg, which is legendary for its "buses" of runners blindly following each other. Anders was running in the lead pack for the first 1/3 or so of the race, until he took on a tough, tricky straight route where the rest of the pack went round a track. he got about a 30s lead which he stertched out over the rest of the course, most people regarded it as the performance of the night.

[FatBoy]

Errrrr Rocky - check one of the poll options...

[rocky]

[Gross]

Maybe Losman was doing what he was told but you can always say no - particularly in amateur sport

You can say no by not running & not being part of the team. By running & being part of the team you agree to follow the lead of the guys in charge. If the club & coaches had come up with a plan they believed would win & presumablly had been discussed & thought through then you would be doing your team mates a dis service by individually taking a decision not to follow that plan..... and about amateur.... I suspect there was quite a lot of money involved and also jobs etc etc

[FatBoy]

I wouldn't want to deliberately wreck a team's chances - I would stand down from the team if asked to do that. If you say that would cause you loss of income then this is where a professional sport would have a union of sorts (PFA for football) who could protect your interests for taking such a moral stand.

To look for an analogy where what you're doing is not tecnically illegal, but against the spirit, where the sport has stepped in to prevent it happening. Football example - diving to try and get penalties/free kicks etc. Tough judgement call for the refs but a blatant dive should now be punished with yellow card. Hasn't stopped players doing it unfortunately but at least there's a threat of punishment for it.

I'd like to see a similar thing brought in to O rules to stop the Losman sham happening again. "If in the controller's opinion blatant following has occured with one competitor making no attempt to navigate then that team shall be disqualified...". or something like that.

[rocky]

I'd like to see a similar thing brought in to O rules to stop the Losman sham happening again. "If in the controller's opinion blatant following has occured with one competitor making no attempt to navigate then that team shall be disqualified...". or something like that.

as was discussed at the time (i forget if it was on here or elsewhere) this rule does exist, however it does not apply (in sweden) in head-to-head racing: relays/mass start races etc.

[the duncan]

following is a tricky one, i have both been followed, and been the followee

I think it is all in the skill of the sport, if someone is taking a good route choice, why take a different one you know to be worse!

if you think you can get ahead and you want to, go for an alternative, but don't jeapordise your own run for the sake of worrying about following.

in the case of people blatantly sitting on someone's shoulder who is clearly not as good an orienteer, it is a bit murkier, but again, fair cop, if you cna keep up go for it, you might learn something, and if you have been caught up a lot then it doesen't really bother the results.

following can make you run harder, and just give you that confidence boost to get back in front.

a certain Steve who is quite good puts it as 'playing the percentages' sit in, enjoy the ride, if they cock up, step up to the plate and hammer it home.

Thats orienteering, no one should be belittled for doing it, as EVERYONE will have done it at one point or other. it does not give a meaning less result, orienteering is about options and choices made on the run under pressure, sometimes we make good ones, other times bad ones!!

[Kitch]

No
people that follow (as per my definition - which you may not have read) should be
belittled
scorned
and ostracised

[DesignatedDriver]

and ostracised

good word usage!

your definition is spot on.

been there, done that. he didn't quite dissappear in a puff of smoke, but when he did get away from me i was not able to continue without relocating.

i did feel like my result was not fairly earned (yes, i was recovering from a 7min mistake, so wasn't worrying the top rankings!) but to the few i did manage to beat, i apologise. looking back i should have made myself NC.

I repent my sins!
Must I be ostracised? (I haven't done it since)

[the duncan]

read your post after i put mine on, and i was trying to say the same as you Kitch, just shiteee at english!!

[Mr. Furness]

Following is always going to happen in this sport, it is unavoidable and as such isn't worth bothering about. Over an orienteering career, everyone is going to both benefit and suffer from the effects.

i personally used to hate doing the JOK chasing sprint- as a stronger navigator i often had excellent first race result (most folks running alone, trying too hard to run fast and making plenty of mistakes), which i would lose over the second race as all the $hit navigators ran through the extensive train. This made me feel rubbish- it meant my individually respectable run in the 'heat' was worthless and i would lose to people i wouldn't have normally on a single o' race. but that was just the nature of the event- but if following is so bad, why is that a revered event used for selection? i have never seen relays used as selection events...

[Lizi Beee]

Surely for relays there could be some help by officials to kind of "shoo" people and at least make them sit and wait in the forest if that is what they plan on doing and not just chill out in the changeover box being completely obvious?

[graeme]

- but if following is so bad, why is that a revered event used for selection? i have never seen relays used as selection events...

Following is allowed in the Chasing Sprint. When we remember to put it in the details its there. Its a revered event because its consistently good . The world cup has
featured head-to-head race individual formats, so its an appropriate selection race for them. Sometimes, only the first round has been used for selection. It's also a better event for relay selection than relays themselves as there are no issues with different people running different gafflings or laps.

Graeme

[wonderboy]

Someone's got a sense of humour:
Becky Carlyle AIRE 15.04
Helen Palmer NOC 15.08
We'll be checking those Splits Browser Graphs for the slightest hint of following guys!