WOC Classic

[Niamh]

Gonon was passed and lost another minute on Lakanen; he lost 5 minutes in total in the first part of the course. He caught Lakanen again and they stayed together to the end. So Gonon actually ran the last two thirds of the course quicker than anyone!

[Guest88]

if JD had teamed up with Lauenstein then he might have been 6th or higher....displacing the frenchman, and would have been highest ever position in WOC classic for GB Male...I think?

[Kitch]

yes it would

but he didn't

so it isn't

[mharky]

brilliant... JD could "team up" with someone, but Gonon is a dirty cheating follower of a frenchman, nice.

[the duncan]

i don't think 'teaming up' is what these guys do, they don't stand and chat to each other and say, 'can i run with you, i'm scared on my own'!

[Niamh]

in which case losman 'teamed up' very nicely with kramhov, was 5 metres behind him at every tv and radio control

[Adventure Racer]

in which case losman 'teamed up' very nicely with kramhov, was 5 metres behind him at every tv and radio control

Indeed - looking at the splits, they punched within 4s of each other all the way to the finish after Losman was caught at 7. Good to see Losman doing his bit for the team by punching first at 15 and 16.

In fact isn't Losman infamous for his ability to 'team up' with another runner?

[Guest88]

I was quite careful to say "team up" rather than to suggest that the catch-ee would just follow the catch-er as I don't think that is always the case, I don't know however what terminology is preferred than to say "team up".

Last year in the same event the usual team-up suspect Khramov caught Lauenstein when they were in 8th and 22nd and they were then together all the way to finish in Gold and Silver. This year Lauenstein seems to have felt the need to prove that he didn't need to be caught by Khramov to get the silver.

I believe that the current best position in WOC Classic by a GB Male is 8th by Jamie Stevenson. On that occasion he was caught be Emil Wingstedt after they had both lost some time and they both ran together and came 4th and 8th, I think from memory.

Not saying that I recommend that one should or shouldn't do this, just making some observations.

[bolder]

Running with someone else can push you to run harder/faster. However, this can lead to loosing time too if you can't orienteer at that speed.

Seems after every WOC classic we're discussing co-operation, 'teaming up', following, call it what you want to depending on the slant or point you want to make.Think everything has been said before. Though with grants for national teams dependent on international performance a split second choice in the forest could have larger/wider implications.
I'm not sure how well phrased that is, and yes I am being deliberately a bit controversial.

[Adventure Racer]

No reason why you should choose a worse route simply to avoid following. Even if you're not with somebody else seeing people leaving a control often also helps, and is quite reasonable. I'm certainly quite happy to admit to running with people on occasions, though I will still navigate myself and make my own choices.

The issue for me though is looking through those splits, at 26 for instance they had a joint 30s+ miss on a 2 minute leg, which implies more running together (or even dare I say it "following") than running your own race making use of the other person being there.

[mikey]

The issue for me though is looking through those splits, at 26 for instance they had a joint 30s+ miss on a 2 minute leg, which implies more running together (or even dare I say it "following") than running your own race making use of the other person being there.

To be fair, the tracking suggests that Lakanen made minor errors on 24-25-26 and lost Gonon, only to rejoin him close to each control.

Of course, the tracking could be wrong.

[bendover]

Last year in the same event the usual team-up suspect Khramov caught Lauenstein when they were in 8th and 22nd and they were then together all the way to finish in Gold and Silver

are you saying Khramov is a 'team up suspect'? i dunno, but i reckon he has done quite enough to prove himself as a pretty decent orienteer without being labelled a follower or cheat... maybe i just misinterpreted what you said?

[Guest88]

yeh, missing the tongue in cheek emoticon

[mharky]

...This year Lauenstein seems to have felt the need to prove that he didn't need to be caught by Khramov to get the silver.

WTFAYTA?

[graeme]

When all else fails you can check the facts.

http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0508158

Statistically, running together is faster by a few percent. More than typical WOC winning margins.

Legally it is allowed: Lauenstein/Khramov were subject to an official protest last year. Nobody denied they ran together, but that wasn't ground for disqualification.

Morally, you're entitled to your own prejudices.

Graeme