Long legs

[graeme]

A while ago EddieH wrote...

It is absolutely clear to me from Winsplits statistics that long legs produce a considerably higher percentage of errors than shorter ones.

Yesterday at Drumlanrig http://www.elo.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi M21 had the rare treat of a real long route choice leg, which kept us talking and thinking long after the race was run. M35/40 had a similar, shorter variant.

Excellent though the leg was, and varied though the routes were, Winsplits doesn't show up any errors.

[T5]

Aha, that'll explain my errors in the past - being 6'4" I have quite long legs.....

That looks like a great leg at Drumlanrig though. As fun and exciting as city and sprint races can be, it's wonderful route choice legs like that which get me out of bed on a Sunday morning.

[andy]

I didn't run the 21L yesterday but I reckon there's a viable route choice that goes off the map, I'm sure those roads meet up not too far from the west edge. Unfortunately RG doesn't work that well from my work pc so I can't see if anyone went west of the OOB.

[Gnitworp]

Referring to graeme's original post and Eddie H's observation:

Other things being equal, scope for error increases with distance, however obvious handrails and catching features can decrease or negate this effect, the 'other things' ceasing to be equal.

[NeilC]

What long legs can do is provide more extreme route choices. The alternative route choices may not in themselves induce error and there may not be much in them but the competitor may doubt whether or not he/she has picked the correct route and this can play on the mind. As in many sports at the top level those that cope best with mental pressure tend to do better.

[EddieH]

Going back to my original statement, perhaps I should have added "in this part of the World".
Long legs here tend not to be make a route choice, then follow your chosen tracks. I have noticed again and again that relatively easy TD4 (not TD3) cause far more errors than the many intricate shortish TD5 legs. This was even striking at a national event on Ash Ranges not that any of that is TD5.

NeilC''s and Gnitworp's comments are both spot on. The best courses have a good mix of them all. The long leg at Drumlanrig may have only been TD4, but it sounds as though people enjoyoyed it and felt under some pressure choosing.

[graeme]

Although winsplits showed no errors, the top 3 were spread by 1:40 on the long leg compared with 1:34 on the whole course.

So I don't think there's any "in this part of the world", long legs are crucial to any proper orienteering course (especially, IMO, sprint races).

What long legs add is a change of pace: my route isn't 2mins slow, Patrick isn't 2mins faster runner, in retrospect I simply forgot to speed up.
One reason people make mistakes on long legs is coping with the change of pace and break in concentration.

[Gnitworp]

When I'm planning, at every control, I'm looking for the longest possible leg without losing maximum possible technical difficulty and challenge, which, I find, automatically results in some very short legs, and variety of leg length and direction.