Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Thursday, October 24, 2002 Relevant?I bumped into a discussion on the US Team yahoo group about the team trials for the 2003 WOC in Switzerland. Reading some of the messages made me think about what we mean when we talk about an area being "relevant." One of the messages gave scores to several options (using a 1-5 scale) that included:Terrain Relevance/Challenge - Is it like the Swiss WOC terrain? Is it at least reasonably navigationally challenging? Event Length Relevance - The goal here is one ‘middle-distance’ day (30 minutes winning) and one ‘classic/long’ day (60-75 minutes winning). Frankly, I don't think it makes much difference where the US selected the WOC team because the better orienteers in the US are likely to rise to the top regardless of terrain. How do we decide what is relevant? I think it is interesting to consider what we mean by "relevant." Even if you're not interested in running in a WOC, it can be useful to prepare for any race by thinking about the characteristics of the area. If you goal is to finish the Possum Trot, it is worth spending some time thinking about what would be "relevant" terrain for preparing for the Possum Trot? I haven't spent much time organizing my thoughts, but some of the questions I'd ask myself when I'm thinking about relevance: 1. What type of leg/control is likely to be hard in this terrain? 2. Are the places where a leg will be difficult in the middle of the leg? 3. How far will you be able to see in the forest? 4. Is the footing rough, smooth, soft, hard, rocky, etc.? 5. Are there "social" stresses? For this year's Possum Trot, I can begin to answer these questions. 1. Controls that will be hardest are either point features in green areas (which we can hope the course setter doesn't use!) or controls where you cross a flattish ridge top and have to go down into the correct reentrant on the other side of the ridge. 2. The problem in the middle of a leg at the Trot will probably be to keep a high pace and hold concentration. I don't foresee any especially difficult navigational problems in the middle of legs, but I can imagine losing time if you're mind wanders. 3. It should be possible to see a long way in the forest. This means you may be able to see markers and features from a long way away. It might also make it tougher for another runner to get away (or for you to lose someone who is following you). 4. The footing will be typical of the KC area -- a few areas with loose rocks, some areas with downed trees and some areas with un-pleasant underbrush. Green areas might have thorns. 5. It is a long distance race with a mass start. Going out too hard will cost you. It'll be easy to get caught up running too fast. You'll probably be faced with decisions like -- do I push the pace a bit to stay with this guy and risk bonking or do I let him go and hope he bonks? The weather in December is likely to be cold and could easily be cold and wet. Back to Switzerland... Preparing for a WOC is interesting and in some ways a lot more difficult than preparing for the Trot. But, the process -- asking and answering questions -- is basically the same. One real difficulty in Switzerland (something I've written about before) is the huge variety in terrain and races. The sprint race is a street O' event on a 1:4,000 map with 2.5 meter contours. The winning time for the sprint is 12 minutes. The long distance races (qualifying and final) are in a terrain with steep slopes and deep valleys. The maps are 1:15,000 with 5 meter contours. The men's qualifying should be won in 60 minutes and the men's final should be won in 90 minutes. The middle distance qualifying and finals are in another type of terrain -- an ancient landslide covers the area and leave it with complex contours and some boulders. The maps are 1:10,000 with 5 meter contours. The winners will be running for about 25-35 minutes. Finally, the relays are in terrain that seems to be most similar to the long distance event, but with some other features (like some sandstone). The challenge in thinking about relevant terrain for the Swiss WOC is obvious -- there isn't a single relevant terrain. The differences in terrain (from street O' to complex contours) is tremendous. posted by Michael | 8:27 PM 
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