GPS: Am I cheating?

[SJC]

And having mentioned head torches: surely everybody would agree that a head torch makes it easier to navigate at night. The current rules (BOF and IOF) prohibit them.

and wearing glasses or contact lenses makes it easier to navigate during the day. Are these prohibited as well ?

[Safety]

Lot's of people like to record their route for later analysis, my personal preference is remembering it and then drawing it on my map. genius.

But how about comparing your heart rate against the route you run (speed / gradient) for a competitor of my current level, this isn't going to help me greatly but surely for all the elites out there. Things like that could be a great advantage when preparing training programs. It has helped me by showing just how much I was slowing down by setting off hard at the start of runs.

I don't like the idea of opening it up to devices where you can type in direction and distance from your current position so that people can run until the device beeps at them and then start looking around as that defeats the point of the sport, but allowing them for the reasons can given above can only be of an advantage to all. Be it just for interest or for planning of the next block of training.

[Rockaldo]

comparing your heart rate against the route you run (speed / gradient)

Well suprisingly i think you'll find that your heart rate will increase as you go up in speed or gradient, you don't need a machine to tell you. I think most elite orienteers know this aswell.

[Adventure Racer]

For those who have a lifestyle dedicated to excelling at any sport, not only the elite athlete, trust cannot come into the thinking. Look at athletics. Competitors know they are highly likely to be drugs tested, and yet to gain advantage, they still cheat. No, to protect the majority who are trustworthy we must have rules I'm afraid.

Hence the idea of different rules for different level competitions. The fact that a district event is the top level of competition to some people (which was one earlier criticism of the idea) surely shouldn't be a reason not to apply this, as for those people what is the point in them cheating by using a GPS (hardly a lot of glory in winning at that level of event), as they're only cheating themselves? It seems reasonable (and cuts down on the amount of wrist watch checking needed) to only enforce a strict ban at elite level events - by which I mean not simply M/W20/21E courses, but any course where selection or something similar is at stake - eg FCC events.

[RogYoman]

I agree with no.3

[RJ]

It will do so much for the sport if the top competitors on each course (say the top 10) when they have finished can download their GPS unit.... and the various routes are then uploaded onto the website with the results for viewing in the evening.

The opportunity here to truly enhance our enjoyment of the sport needs us to think quite clearly why we should not permit the carrying of GPS units. There is so much to be gained..... We need to be sure that a real gain in performance is possible by runners using one of these units. Supposition and opinion are not adequate. It needs to be analysed properly.

And again.... it will need a change to the rules. Rules need to be changed from time to time to reflect the real world!

[FatBoy]

Well suprisingly i think you'll find that your heart rate will increase as you go up in speed or gradient, you don't need a machine to tell you. I think most elite orienteers know this aswell.

Well yes, but the subtlety of that gives you clues to how you need to train. When I was younger I used to find my heart rate dropped on a climb. I had the speed but didn't have the strength to maintain it on climbs therefore heart didn't work as hard. Not true now though - don't have any speed any more!

[Steve]

I just wanted to say that I think Simon's option 3 is unenforceable. Other GPSophiles have alluded to the idea as well, that it's ok to carry GPS if you don't use it. This is not workable. There is always somebody who is is willing to use some GPS function to gain advantage, being desperate for e.g. national selection, some badge standard, to beat their mates, or maybe is not that competitive and doesn't think their using GPS is that big a deal because they are obviously not going to win. Maybe I'm too cynical.

Analysis afterwards - if you know where you went you don't need GPS to tell you. If you don't know where you went it's kind of academic, you were probably lost, and the key learning points are (a)why did you get lost and (b)what did you do to get un-lost. You really don't need GPS to tell you.

Routegadget - great idea, it's the next big advance after Splitsbrowser. I want to do an event where Routegadget is used, and see the effect of decisions I took on my time losses etc. But as I understand it, Routegadget is not dependent on GPS, you can enter routes manually.

[Paul Frost]

Steve,
If you knew where you went when you got lost it helps in working out why you got lost. In the heat of the moment we tend to do the "headless chicken" thing and sometimes it works and you get un-lost. Being able to clearly see where you went wrong does help, I know!
Even when nothing goes wrong, our memory of the route taken can prove to be missing some bits, so it is nice to have it confirmed.

As regards RouteGadget, being able to upload a GPS track is a nice addition, but the normal practice is to plot it manually.

[liamcorner]

I would like to know how the use of cycle computers is seen in MTBO because do they not give the same distance information and no-one asked me to disconnect mine on the only MTBO course I have done.

IOF MTBO rules 2004 rule 21.5 :

During the competition the only navigational aids that competitors may use are the
map and control descriptions provided by the organiser, and a compass. A cycle
computer may be used provided that it does not incorporate any satellite-based
navigation aid.

I bought a fancy wireless computer for my MTBO bike, but never looked at in in races, so now it lives on my commuter bike.

[redkite]

Paul
Think uploading to Route-Gadget is the way forward. everyone could then see where we actually went and not where we thought we went. would be particularly interesting at the elite level where seconds count.

[Adventure Racer]

There is always somebody who is is willing to use some GPS function to gain advantage, being desperate for e.g. national selection, some badge standard, to beat their mates, or maybe is not that competitive and doesn't think their using GPS is that big a deal because they are obviously not going to win.

The thing is, out of those examples the only one that actually matters is the national selection one - everybody else is simply cheating themselves. If you're worried about your mates beating you by cheating then I'd suggest keeping a good eye on the numerous other more effective ways of cheating at district events.

[Steve]

ok my examples may not have been the best, but the point is that surely we're not going to let people carry illegal navigational aids just because they say they won't use them

[SJC]

Surely we're not going to let people carry illegal navigational aids just because they say they won't use them ?

Short of having the start officials search every competitor it is hard to see quite how you can stop anyone carrying a GPS unit if they are intent on doing so.

With all the benefits of route tracking it seems unrealistic to ban carrying a GPS. It is using one that is wrong. The Elite may take a different view for selection races, etc. but from what I have read it would be of no benefit to them anyway.

[Steve]

I appear to be in a minority of one here

Still, if you can all afford these expensive toys, I guess you're going to want to play with them...