Comments on: World Cup Norway 2018 Chase: Maps & Results

By: Bjørn Axel Gran

Bjørn Axel Gran — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:45:01 +0000

Check the date of the Council Meeting! It was before I was appointed Event Manager and before there was established an organiser. That means, what refered to as “organiser of world cup” here means the board of WOC2019 and the board in NOF. They took the decision although the recommendation from people like Sandvik and Myrvold was the opposite. I am happy that woc2019 do not have chase start on the program.

By: Agnar Renolen

Agnar Renolen — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 12:49:51 +0000

What we should learn from this event is:
– even runnes at top level tend to follow each other (well, we knew that for a long time, didn’t we?)
– map reading slows down the runners (how much depends on the terrain) so keeping the pace of the pack is easier if you don’t have to read the map. Personally, I think it’s more difficult for an orienteerer to break away from the peloton than it is for a cylclist.
– when the terrain is open, it’s easier to get sight of each other and thus the runners will cluster together.

Conclusion. If a chase start at this level to work, we need forking to force the runners to read the map. I don’t think a butterfl yor a Phi-fork would work. I think the Blodslitet-format is worth trying.

By: Eva Jurenikova

Eva Jurenikova — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 22:42:09 +0000

I was test-running the chasing start course just before the race, watched it in the arena and saw the runners immediately after their finish (I was taking off their gpses). In my opinion the course was as good as it could be for this kind of format and the area. There were several interesting route choice legs in the second half of the course. A forking (butterfly) would hardly help to split the group, it would only limit the possibility of creating route choices and also would make it confusing for people watching it.

It was not surprising that the leading group of men did not split. To quit a group containing several world champions, in hope to gain enough time on a different route choice and also to be able to stay ahead for the rest of the course, in this rather heavy terrain.. The chances of success were very small (while the risk of losing time was big) and the runners were aware of it. If you have any example from the history of forest chasing start (and there have been a few similar races already), please refresh my memory.

This race could have been won without any map-reading and for me this is not orienteering anymore. As a training, in a smaller group, it is interesting for runners to compare their strengths “head to head” on an unforked course every now and then, but turning this into WOC-discipline, please do not.

What might have contributed to the lack of own initiatives during the chasing start is fatigue. With the LD race on Friday, early morning on Saturday, prologue, long travel to the arena of the chasing start… For many runners the pursuit race was just a question of survival and their only wish was to get to the finish as fast as possible. Very few seemed to enjoy it. With the early relay race on Sunday morning (start of women at 9:15) in addition to Friday and Saturday, this was the toughest world cup round ever. And WOC ended only 3 weeks ago. The people who have approved this programme do not care about the athletes and their health. Of course, orienteering is a tough sport, and it should remain, but this combination of races, not enough sleep and a lot of travel in between, that is too much. If there was a need to test the chasing start format, the LD should have been on Thursday and not Friday.

As a spectator, I found it rather boring. The thrill of the sprint finish lasted only couple of seconds. The rest was rather predictable. And Karel Jonak, responsible for the TV production, told me after the race that he did “not have enough story to tell”.

By: Karlsson

Karlsson — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:54:05 +0000

From the IOF Council Meeting minutes 3/2017
https://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Minutes-of-Council-meeting-185.pdf

“The organisers of the World Cup in Norway in 2018 had requested to organise one of
the competitions as a prologue and pursuit competition to be able to attract the
interest of TV broadcasters. The FOC had recommended not approving this format
as the World Cup 2018 was seen as a pre-WOC event and formats should be the
same as at WOC 2019.”

Council decided that the organisers can choose the format for the competition to
meet the requirements of the broadcasting company. The decision needed to be
made prior to publishing the next Bulletin at the end of August 2017.”