Jukola 2011 Forking Error!

Small scandal in Finland [Updated with full analysis and map samples]: All teams did not run the same total course in Jukola 2011. The problem occured on the 1st and 2nd leg, where 100 out of 1500 starting teams had wrong forking. The best placed team with wrong forking seems to be IFK Moras in 14th spot. Above you see an example for OK Hällen and Moras. None of Mora’s runners had the western -variant – none of Hällen’s runners had the eastern variant.

The organizers have put up a message on the Jukola page (in Finnish) confirming the mistake:

– Jukola error has been detected scatter diagram. […] The organizers regret what happened.

The forking error explained

On the 1st and 2nd leg one runner should have 150-100-146 and the other 150-177-146 (controls 4-6 on the map below). For some teams both runners had either 150-100-146 or 150-177-146. The same problem also later on in the leg. Instead of one runner having 160-152-156-55 and the other 160-198-102-55 (controls 19-22 on the map below), both the 1st and 2nd leg runner in the teams had one of the variants.

Time losses?

So the question is – did this cost the affected teams time? Looking at the 5th control, it looks like the eastern one is more tricky than the western one, but we can’t know for sure. So instead of speculating, I calculated the mean time for all of the splits, and looked at the difference for the different control pairs. Note (1) that this will not give a correct answer at all, but it will give an indication of time lost/gained by the different teams and (2) these are quick calculations, I’ve only rechecked one time for errors.

Here are the average times I calculated. In addition I’ve also listed the best time on each split:

• 150-100: Average 04.38 – Best 02.29
• 100-146: Average 10.34 – Best 05.52
• 150-177: Average 10.47 – Best 06.09
• 177-146: Average 04.22 – Best 02.01
• 160-152: Average 02.43 – Best 01.21
• 152-156: Average 15.07 – Best 08.27
• 156-55: Average 01.15 – Best 00.44
• 160-196: Average 07.49 – Best 03.05
• 196-102: Average 13.56 – Best 06.58
• 102-55: Average 01.03 – Best 00.43

That gives the following for the average times/best splits for each of the variants:

• 150-100-146: Average 15.12 – Best 08.21
• 150-177-146: Average 15.09 – Best 08.10
• 160-152-156-55: Average 19.05 – Best 10.32
• 160-196-102-55: Average 22.48 – Best 10.46

If you calculate by the average time, the time gained/lost by the different teams is 3:40. If you go by the best times the time gained/lost is 3(!) seconds. Thus, it seems like teams doing few mistakes generally didn’t gain/loose significantly on this. On the other hand, the average time lost by having the worst “wrong” forking was quite big. The reason for this longer average time seems to be the tricky control 196, where several of the top teams with GPS-tracking made big mistakes. For example Kalevan Rasti who lost 4:17 to Halden on that control – more than they were behind Halden after 7 hours and 40 minutes of running. Kalevan Rasti had no problem with their forking though – they ran exactly the same controls as Halden. But some other teams had this tricky control two times – other teams didn’t have it at all…

Note again that these average calculations are based on automatic calculations from the Routegadget split files. I found some errors in the splits, so I can’t 100% guarantee for them…

Teams affected by the forking error

The following teams seem to have gotten a wrong forking (according to my analysis) – and were thus affected by the forking error:

• 14. IFK Moras OK 1 – gained time
• 30. Bäkkelagets SK 1 – gained time
• 49. Tampereen Pyrintö 2 – lost time
• 63. NTNUI 2 – gained time
• 80. OK Ravinen 1 – gained time
• 83. Ärla IF 1 – lost time
• 96. Vetelin Urheilijat 1 – gained time
• 97. Täby OK 1 – lost time
• 120. FK Göingarna 1 – gained time
• 133. Södertälje Nykvarn Orienter 3 – lost time
• 155. Bekkelagets Cowboys 1 – lost time
• 159. Tullinge SK 2 – lost time
• 185. Finspångs SOK / OK Tor 1 – gained time
• 198. Gjö-Vard OL 1 – lost time
• 204. Närpes OK 1 – gained time
• 205. Eksjö SOK 1 – gained time
• 294. Dalaportens OL 1 – gained time
• 301. Nastolan Terä 1 – lost time
• 309. IF Thor 1 – lost time
• 321. OK Kompas 1 – gained time
• 325. Kokkolan Suunnistajat 2 – lost time
• 330. Nash Klub 1 – gained time
• 341. Pohjankyrön Rasti 1 – gained time
• 355. OK Ravinen 3 – gained time
• 370. Karkki-Rasti 1 – gained time
• 376. Nostars 1 – lost time
• 381. DJK Adler 07 Bottrop 1 – lost time
• 403. OK Orion 4 – lost time
• 418. Tuupovaaran Sepot 1 – lost time
• 445. Partiolpk Tampereen Kotkat 1 – lost time
• 454. Oppsal IF 1 – lost time
• 467. Someron Esa 1 – gained time
• 468. Omega 2 – gained time
• 485. Sporttipalvelu Vesa Oksanen 1 – gained time
• 486. Keravan Urheilijat 5 – gained time
• 488. Hiiltonaiset 1 – lost time
• 502. Teme Ski Team 1 – gained time
• 514. Rastihaukat 1 – gained time
• 547. Panssariprikaati 1 – lost time
• 565. Hiiumaa OK 1 – gained time
• 570. IF Femman 2 – lost time
• 576. Arboga OK 2 – lost time
• 580. KuoLOn Kankeat 1 – gained time
• 611. OK Jorren 1 – lost time
• 626. IK Falken 1 – gained time
• 635. Saarijärven Pullistus 3 – gained time
• 640. RastiPiikkiö 1 – gained time
• 690. Peikot Hiihto 1 – lost time
• 697. OK Orient 4 – lost time
• 702. SK Vuoksi 3 – lost time
• 713. Stora Enso Metsä 2 – lost time
• 745. AS Skinnarila 2 – lost time
• 762. Hiidenkiertäjät 1 – gained time
• 767. Keravan Urheilijat 2 – gained time
• 793. IK Auseklis 3 – lost time
• 810. Länsi-Lavian Loiske 1 – gained time
• 815. Espoon Suunta 9 – lost time
• 831. Tamrock 1 – lost time
• 835. Alastaron Reserviläiset 2 – lost time
• 861. Rauman Työväen Urheilijat 1 – lost time
• 867. Sauvon Urheilijat 1 – lost time
• 876. SaniBeach Rats 1 – gained time
• 889. PuTi 1 – lost time
• 892. Peräkylän Ponnistus 1 – lost time
• 894. SKK-Dynamo 1 – gained time
• 895. Lankkuan Kyläjoukkue 1 – gained time
• 900. Turun Tiemiehet 1 – lost time
• 907. Someron Esa 2 – gained time
• 962. Hiukkasen Hukassa 1 – gained time
• 966. FanaGneist 1 – lost time
• 980. Pihkaniskat 7 – gained time
• 988. Koovee 5 – gained time
• 1023. Olarin Omat Pojat 2 – gained time
• 1028. Nordea Urheilu 1 – gained time
• 1044. Suuntavaisto SK 5 – lost time
• 1048. Valtra 1 – gained time
• 1051. Jalasjärven Jalas 2 – gained time
• 1053. Liperin Taimi 2 – gained time
• 1116. Vaaran Vaeltajat 1 – lost time
• 1123. Alajärven Ankkurit 3 – gained time
• 1131. Kilon Miekka 1 – gained time
• 1157. Riihimäen Suunnistajat 3 – lost time
• 1159. Kortesjärven Järvi-Veikot 3 – lost time
• 1166. Suunnaton Into 2 – lost time
• 1173. Rajamäen Rykmentti 8 – lost time
• 1193. Sotkamon Jymy 2 – lost time
• 1199. ABB SK 1 – gained time
• 1207. Kymin Suunnistajat 4 – gained time
• 1227. Suunnannäyttäjät 1 – lost time
• 1232. Hiidenkiertäjät 2 – lost time
• 1289. Sonninmäen Karjut 1 – gained time
• 1291. Erräät Oppaat 1 – gained time
• 1317. El Pantera 1 – gained time
• 1336. Hämeenlinnan Suunnistajat 3 – gained time
• 1339. Solf IK 1 – gained time
• 1342. Beach Boys 1 – lost time
• 1344. Maarian Mahti 2 – gained time
• 1400. Attunda OK 3 – lost time
• 1421. Jalasjärven Jalas 1 – lost time
• 1437. Eduskunnan Urheilukerho 1 – gained time
• 1439. OK Hällen 1 – lost time

Note! I found the first report about this on the Alternativet discussion forum posted by user Aj earlier today. I then run through the all the published splits, and found a list of 100 of 1500 teams with different forking from the winners. I then posted it on Twitter.