World of O News
5 stages – 9 races – 3 countries – 8 days – 500 World Cup points to be won. The 2012 edition of the Nordic Orienteering Tour is the first edition which can really be counted as a Tour: NORT 2012 starts Saturday September 1st at 09:00 in Holmenkollen, Oslo with a sprint qualification race – and 7 days later the winner is ready in Finland.
The Nordic Orienteering Tours (NORT) marks the last part of the 2012 World Cup – and with as many points still to be fought for as the leader in the women’s class – Simone Niggli – has already, nothing is decided in the overall World Cup.
Three sprint races and two middle distance races means that the sprinters have a special possibility to gain a lot of World Cup points – on the other hand a tough week with 9 races is and advantage for runners who have a good training basis. In the overall World Cup, Olav Lundanes and Simone Niggli have pole position. Niggli has an 100 point advantage over Minna Kauppi – and must be considered the big favourite after many good races this year.
Olav Lundanes has an advantage of 75 points down to WOC sprint medalist Matthias Merz and other another 6 points down to sprint WOC gold medalist Matthias Kyburz. The mens class is thus a lot more open – but get ready for an interesting fight! The middle distance races in Scandinavian terrain will be very decisive for the overall standing.
See below the table for how the bonus seconds work in the Nordic Orienteering Tour – and how the World Cup points are given.
Stage #1: Sprint, Holmenkollen (Norway)
The Nordic Tour 2012 starts with a sprint in two parts. A qualification race in the morning and a final in the evening with the 30 best runners from the qualification. The race is at the famous ski center Holmenkollen in Oslo. Already the qualification Saturday morning will be important for the overall results, as the time from the qualification race counts in the overall tour standing.
Qualification: 0900. Final: 14:00
Overall standings: The time in qualification counts for overall standing. The time in final does not count for overall standing, but bonus seconds. 30 runners in the final will get bonus seconds 120-90-70-60-55-50-40-38-36-34-32-30-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 according to their placing in the final.
World Cup points: Based on the results of the final, the first 25 runners get the following points: 75-60-45-38-34-30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4.
Stage #2, Middle, Holmenkollen (Norway)
The second race will also be held at Holmenkollen. This is a middle distance race where the winning time is a bit over 30 minutes. The start order is the reverse result list from Nordic Tour #1 sprint race.
First start: 12:00
Overall standings: The running time counts for the overall standing. No bonus seconds.
World Cup points: Based on the results of the final, the first 25 runners get the following points: 75-60-45-38-34-30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4.
Stage #3, KnockOut sprint, Göteborg (Sweden)
Once again time for Knock Out Sprint – this time close to the river in Göteborg. In the morning there is a normal sprint qualification. The 24 best runners are divided into 3 semifinals with 8 runners in each. Semifinals and finals are in the evening. The final is for 8 athletes. The two fastest runners from each semi-final and the two runners with the next best times qualify for the final. The final will be a mass-start Sprint with a 6-8 minute winning time
Qualification: 10:00. Semifinal: 16:10. Final: 17:55
Overall standings: The time in qualification counts for overall standing. The time in final does not count for overall standing, but bonus seconds. The 8 runners in the final will get bonus seconds 120-90-70-60-55-50-40-38 according to their placing in the final. The other 16 runners in the semi-finals will get bonus seconds 36-34-32-30-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7 according to their running times in the semi-finals.
World Cup Points: 6 runners in the final get points 75-60-45-38-34-30. The other 6 runners in the semi-finals get points 28-26-24-22-20-18 according to their running time in the semi-finals. The first 16 of the other 18 runners in the quarter-finals get points 16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1according to their running time in the quarter-finals. [Note! There seems to be something wrong with the World Cup special rules as they assume different number of runners in the finals for calculation of bonus seconds and World Cup points, but it looks like there will be runners in the final]
Stage #4, Sprint, Vuokatti (Finland)
Stage 4 is also a sprint with qualification in the morning and final in the night. 30 runners are qualified for final. The start list for the final is the reverse result list of the qualification. Bonus time are handed out in the same was as on stage 1.
Qualification: 09:30. Final 15:00 (local time?)
Overall standings: The time in qualification counts for overall standing. The time in final does not count for overall standing, but bonus seconds. 30 runners in the final will get bonus seconds 120-90-70-60-55-50-40-38-36-34-32-30-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 according to their placing in the final
World Cup points: Based on the results of the final, the first 25 runners get the following points: 75-60-45-38-34-30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4.
Stage #5, Middle, Vuokatti (Finland)
The last stage of Nordic Tour is also the final race of IOF Orienteering World Cup. The race is a middle distance with a winning time about 45 minutes. There is a chase start based on the total results of Nordic Tour including bonus time.
First start from 13:40 (local time?)
Overall standings: The first runner into the finish wins the Nordic Orienteering Tour 2012.
World Cup Points: The first 40 runners past the finish line (i.e. the NORT overall positions) get “double” World Cup points. The winner gets 200 points down to 2 points for the 40th place.
A note about World Cup points in NORT:
Points can only be awarded in competitions 9, 10, 11 and 12 to runners who start in all five
competitions. Any points gained by runners in competitions 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 (or all or
many) who do not start in all five competitions will not be reallocated to those finishing below them.
NORT 2010 winner Audun Weltzien.
Thank you Jan. Perfect summary, as always
is it any liveblog during the finals?
Thanks for nice words:) No LiveBlog unfortunately – I am working with the TV-production with GPS tracking, so no time. Maybe next weekend – we’ll see.
Live tv?
Thanks for the summary Jan !
I did not follow the events this week-end, not only it is hard to understand how it works but it is also completely uninteresting…so many sprint distances this week !!!…
And the final in chasing start, it may be a good idea for NORT, but this is also world cup final !…
“Luckily” there is not much suspens in this years’ world cup.
With NORT, orienteering is becoming an urban disciplin or at least, for what’s happening in the forest, no longer an individual discipline.
Hmm, GPS for Stage #3, KnockOut sprint, Göteborg (Sweden) does not seem to work. Get the map, but no runners ….
It works now – looks like they set wrong start time for the first semi. Hope it will work for the rest.
Fantastic!
Just tried SVTPlay. Says: “Can be seen all over the world”
When I try to watch:
“Due to legal restrictions, the requested material can be viewed only within Sweden. As you are located outside this area, respectively we cannot confirm that you are within this territory, we regret that you will be unable to view this material.!”
GREAT!
Takes hours to update the overall standings after each competition (and the World Cup standing).
Can’t this be done by a computer (in a few milliseconds)?
Looks like it is updated now?
http://www.nordictour.org/index.php?option=com_results&race=tour