Ugly incident at JK relays

[dehydrated]

It's accepted that in relays there is a bit of pushing and shoving, a few elbows at controls and so on. It's inevitable and all part of the fun.
But yesterday I witnessed an incident that went too far. A guy in a an EPOC top deliberatly put his foot out to trip an Army guy, who had just overtaken him on some singletrack. The BAOC guy fell - fortunately he was ok (of course he's tough) but could have caused serious injury.

I don't know who the EPOC guy was, but he was a first leg runner, slim with a shaven head.

I discussed it with the army guy afterwards. No protest was made, we weren't sure who it was.

But it doesn't seem right that it should go unpunished, or that no one hear about this, an incident which should be utterly condemned.

It certainly spoilt for me an otherwise excellent weekend of racing.

[DesignatedDriver]

not quite the same, but something i was shocked to witness also

around the spectator control, there was a young boy of about ten wandering around - obviously lost. he ran up the track competitors were running down to the last control. i can only assume (i was facing the wrong way) that he asked someone where he was, because i quite clearly heard, in a loud voice "NO, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" and an angry M50ish running away from him.
I hope i am mistaken, but if i am not i hope the "gentle"man concerned is proud of himself. he should be happy in the knowledge that he saved himself 20secs and has probably put the boy involved off orienteering.

shame on you.

[richardm]

although i did not actually witness this, i heard of runners punching at their control then kicking the punches over/away to slow down other competitors.
i havent done many relays but this (along with the points above) is surely not right.

[awk]

Interesting to read these, because for the first time at a relay (in some 30+ years) I was subject to what I can only describe as activity not within the spirit of the sport. Sorry, dehydrated, but it was not part of my fun at least.

On M120+ second leg, coming into a control near the spectator control, I had my SI card in the hole, when it was violently knocked out and I was barged aside by a runner from AYR OC, who yelled at me 'it only takes one beep', in spite of the fact that there was at least one other free control box. (I had held it in for another beep/flash because I couldn't be certain it was mine that had beeped, but not for THAT long!). He then subjected me to abuse leaving the control when I protested (not politely, but not abusively) about his action.

Not in the same league as the other activities cited here, I know, but it was not pleasant. What WAS pleasant was to find later that all his aggressiveness was in vain, as his team had already been disqualified for mispunching. What a delicious irony, even though I'm sorry for the first leg runner who had done so. Sometimes there is justice in the world.

Fortunately, most of the rest of the event was a far more enjoyable occasion.

[Man of Kent]

Might just have a look at the relay results to see who this might have been!

[Red Adder]

I've found over 350 events in the last 20 years that bad behaviour at controls is exceedingly rare, in fact the only "incident" I recall was of someone barging in to snatch the pin punch from my grasp and then dash on, leaving the punch swinging in the breeze (and a suitable, rude, epiphet floating after him) ... and this was on the "training" course at a schools league event. All of 15 years ago - so such rudiness encountered at the JK is not a recent phenomena.

[Wattok]

so such rudiness encountered at the JK is not a recent phenomena.

Doesn't excuse it though

On M120+ second leg, coming into a control near the spectator control, I had my SI card in the hole, when it was violently knocked out and I was barged aside by a runner from AYR OC, who yelled at me 'it only takes one beep', in spite of the fact that there was at least one other free control box. (I had held it in for another beep/flash because I couldn't be certain it was mine that had beeped, but not for THAT long!). He then subjected me to abuse leaving the control when I protested (not politely, but not abusively) about his action.

Nothing compared to some stories i heard from spring cup relay 1st leg 1st control a couple of years back, a complete brawl to get to it!

[Colm Hill]

Also, it appears that in M48- the IJS club was Disqualified because they were not in the same club in the first 2 days. as the IJS is a closed club, should the realy team not have been aloud to run compitive? And why was the team from norway re instated after their team decleration form had them down as non-compitive? Can anyone please shead some light on this for me please.

[guest]

I am afraid to say that I was subjected to the incident referred to by richardm.

Arriving at a control about half way round the short leg of the M120+, I found two of the three boxes off the stakes in the mud, and the stakes flattened.

Now being a public-spirited sort of chap (and needing a breather, if the truth be known), I took 5 (seconds that is) to straighten the stakes and reattach the boxes.

Unfortunately I was then overwhelmed by a pack of 4/5 others on the same course, and I got a bit 'bundled' and one of the stakes got flattened again.

Now the trouble was that I then got past most of the pack, only to be confronted with the same scenario a couple of controls on.

Now I guess I should have said 's.. it' and punched at the remaining box and gone on, but no, I stopped again to reassamble the boxes onto the stakes. Trouble was, not only did no one else seem to have any compunction to lend a hand, but I could have sworn the 'bundling' was a little rougher that time!

Given that it really does only take 5 seconds to pick up a box, reattach it to the stake and straighten the thing up, and the others in the 'pack' probably lost as much time waiting to punch at the remaining upright stake, surely a little less rudeness and a bit more 'public spirited' attitude wouldn't go amiss.

CJW

[SYO Member]

As I've said before, it's a pity people infer on a public forum that there are conspiracies afoot in orienteering when there are usually perfectly innocent explanations.

In reply to Colm Hill, firstly, if IJS stands for Irish Junior Squad, it can hardly be counted as a closed 'club' and the rule on this was made quite clear at the 1996 JK where teams of members from French and Swiss national squads occupied the first 3 places in the JK Trophy. They were officially disqualified and the Trophy was taken by '4th' placed SYO.

Secondly, I can shed some light on the non-competitive Norwegians. I was printing out and pasting up results throughout the Relays but at one point a Norwegian girl who had just downloaded, asked me what n/c meant. When I told her, she still didn't seem to understand (but it altered my assumption that all Scandinavians spoke and understood English!). I thought it odd at the time that this girl's team and presumably the M48- team had been wrongly entered non-competitive as they would hardly have brought a coach from Norway to the JK if they were all going to run non-competitively. So a genuine error somewhere along the line which was rescinded during the event, surely permissable even at a JK.

As I was pasting up results every 15 minutes, to anybody who saw it, this would explain why their non-competitive statuses changed on the boards to not n/c.

[OCM45]

Like the above correspondents, I thought yesterday's relays were more "competitive" than I usually encounter.

One example which stuck in my mind was at the very South West of the map, crossing under the pylon line and over a wall and stream. There were some pretty ferocious brambles in that area. Dropping down off the wall, I slowed to a walk/stop as a young lady gingerly clambered down and through the thick brambles. An M50, who should have known better, then shoved past the both of us, nearly garotting the poor girl- who at this point had a particularly large bramble stretched right across her chest. He then had the audacity to blame her for the incident!

Fortunately the lass was not badly affected- confirmed as I spotted her on the run-in 20 minutes later.

It just shows what some people will do, in the heat of competition, to try to save a second or two! I could have understood it more if we were at the front of our class, however the reality was we were 40-oddth in Men 120+ in a field of 60 teams!

[guest]

Unfortunately I was that said person who got shoved past trying to pick my way over a particularly slippy wall/branches/brambles. This incident did get my heckles up as the man who pushed past me didn't even have the decency to say sorry when he barged his way through and thus caused a rather painful bramble to get caught. I do appreciate that I was not being the most daring crossing the wall but as I had broken my wrist orienteering only 6 months ago from falling over on slippy terrain I was not keen to have a repeat performance.

The reassuring thing is that at least there was no real harm done in the end and the rest of my run was more enjoyable.

[Klebe]

I am afraid to say that I was subjected to the incident referred to by richardm.

Now being a public-spirited sort of chap (and needing a breather, if the truth be known), I took 5 (seconds that is) to straighten the stakes and reattach the boxes.
CJW

... I slowed to a walk/stop as a young lady gingerly clambered down and through the thick brambles. An M50, who should have known better, then shoved past the both of us, nearly garotting the poor girl- who at this point had a particularly large bramble stretched right across her chest. He then had the audacity to blame her for the incident!

Unfortunately I was that said person who got shoved past trying to pick my way over a particularly slippy wall/branches/brambles.

So at which control were they doing the sex change operations !!!

[PG]

why was the team from norway re instated after their team decleration form had them down as non-compitive?

Any team that had not provided sufficient information to confirm their competitive status defaulted to n/c. At least two of the Norwegian teams had not provided the age classes of their members on the declaration form. When they came to download and confirmed that their runners’ total ages qualified them as competitive their status was changed.

[guest]

Klebe - read it again - they're talking about two separate incidents - the trashing of the control and the barging past the girl.