Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Friday, August 02, 2002 Mispunch? No problem, just add two minutes to your time.Runners on the M45 course at the 4th day of the Swedish 5-days who mispunched weren't disqualified. Instead of DQing runners who punched at a wrong control, the organizers penalized them by adding two minutes to their times.Given the situation, it seems like a reasonable approach. Here is what happened... The M45 course had a control with the code "158" that was very near another control. The other control had the code "159." The two controls were only a bit more than ten meters apart. A number of runners punched at 159 rather than 158. Instead of disqualifying the runners who punched at 159, the organizers added two minutes to their overall times. The organizers estimated that if you came to 159 but didn't punch, you'd lose up to a minute in figuring out where you were and then getting to 158. If the controls are really only about ten meters apart, you might lose considerably less time than a minute. The people who punched at 159 had some trouble reading the code. At the 5-days, the control code is printed on the map next to the control. But, this particular code was printed in such a way that the 9 sat on top of a bit of a cliff. The bit of the cliff closed the lower loop of the 9, making it look like an 8. Now, a cliff is black and the code was printed in purple, but keep in mind that the guys reading the map are all over 45. Usually I'm not a fan of trying to avoid DQing runners who mispunched or keeping a course that isn't fair. But, in this case I think the solution is good. It penalizes the people who mispunched, but doesn't disqualify them. I don't think the organizers really screwed up. It would have been better to have the controls further apart (there is probably some sort of rule that prohibits or discourages having controls so close). Also, it would have been better to have codes that were more distinct (few people would have mispunched if the controls were, say, "158" and "310"). But, even though the controls were so close, the course wasn't really unfair. posted by Michael | 5:22 PM 
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