Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Tuesday, December 02, 2003 Planning aheadA discussion on Attackpoint is touching on the idea of planning ahead when you can have the map before the race.When I started orienteering it seemed as if organizers did everything they could to keep you from having any idea what the map looked like before you started. Most A-meets were on never-before-used maps. If a two day A-meet used the same map, the organizers wouldn't return your map from the first day until after the second day was complete. These days it seems like most A-meets are held on areas that have been used for orienteering before. You can usually get a copy of the old map before the race. When I first went to a WOC (1987 in France) the terrain was entirely new. For the most recent (and the next) WOC, old maps of the terrain were available ahead of time. For the first sprint WOC in 2001, you could spend time on the map in the race terrain the day before the race. This year you could spend time in the terrain, but you couldn't use a map while you were in the terrain. I don't really have much of an opinion about the way orienteering is developing. I'd rather have new maps every race. But, I'd rather have a lot of races and re-use maps and terrain. I'd always pick interesting courses on a frequently used map than boring courses on a new map. When a map is available, you can prepare in a different way. You can study the terrain and think about the type of problems you'll meet. You can set legs and anticipate the route choices and orienteering problems. I think this sort of preparation is fun and helps. When I looked at the classic champs courses from Switzerland, I can't say I was surprised by the layout of the course. Several of the route choice legs where legs I'd set when I was playing around with the old map from the area. I can't imagine many of the people who raced the WOC hadn't spent a good bit of time looking at the old map and designing courses. I suspect national teams all over the world are busy setting courses on the 2004 WOC maps. Does that change the sport? I don't know. I don't think it changes who wins. It definitely changes how you prepare. posted by Michael | 1:13 PM 
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