OPINION
New Format for Events
and DSQ’s since everyone will always finish their course. There will be no more justification for cancelling courses and protest juries will become obsolete.
An-O-nymous, the Esk Valley Troll
Because everyone can start where and when they want, gone is the need for pre-entry and start draws. There will be no more annoying long walks to the start nor the need to set up a complicated start system. Timing systems will become obsolete as we will all time ourselves. The competition rules will be reduced from the current tome to a few basic rules, easy for all to understand.
T
OWARDS the end of most orienteering seasons various discussions about the coming O-year flare up again. Orienteers never seem happy with the existing system and year after year we find better ways of doing things, only to change them again the next. The number of available courses, age class groupings, course lengths and climb, recommended winning times, dates for particular events, etc… they never seem fair. Why should a M55 run the same course as a W18? For some the courses are always too long, for others too short. Or the course setter has no idea what a “moderate” course should look like. And why do “they” always insist on organising important events on Father’s Day or Grand Final Day? At a recent board meeting, Orienteering Tasmania has come up with the perfect solution which should once and for all end all controversy and stop disagreements between OA, the state associations, the clubs and individual members about these touchy subjects. From next year on, for any Tasmanian event, all that will be provided are a relatively modest number of controls (e.g. 30) of different technical difficulty (from very easy to extremely difficult) scattered throughout the mapped area. So far nothing major changes (bar maybe a significant reduction in controls for some event). However, instead of the usual selection of courses, only master maps showing all controls plus a list of control descriptions will be available at events. Just like a score-O you will say. Wrong! Because now comes the idea that will revolutionarise orienteering. Using the available controls, competitors will design their own “personal” course of the appropriate length, climb, technical and physical difficulty and with a number of controls of their choice. That way each individual can take into account their technical competence, general fitness, fatigue levels, motivation and their mood of the day. After all, there is no point running an overly long course with a hangover or after a tiff with your partner. After marking their course on their map, competitors head for their start and run their race. The advantages of this new system are numerous: The work load of course setters, controllers and event organisers will be reduced: only a few master maps with all controls will have to be drawn up. No more need for hours and hours spent at the kitchen table trying to design courses which will be criticised anyway. In fact course setting becomes so easy and straight forward that course setter courses will become unnecessary. No more bad feelings at events either: since we all become our own course setter there will be no reason to abuse or blame anyone but our self if we didn’t like the course. Pre-marked maps will be a thing of the past. We will all become winners. No more disappointed and disgruntled faces at events where it is always the same few who win all the medals and badges. We all become orienteer of the year in our own individual class. As an added bonus, this system will promote orienteering enormously: a sport where everyone is a winner every time they participate will attract a lot of people. If a control goes missing, is misplaced, or if we cannot find it straight away, it doesn’t matter. We simply cancel that control from our course and go on to the next one. That way we haven’t spoiled our whole day (and that of our passengers on the car trip home). Rather than ruining our event it just becomes a good topic for conversation afterwards. There will be no more DNF’s 14 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2006
No more problems with people following us and getting upset about it. Why should we? We’ll be most likely on a different course anyway. Talking on the course could become acceptable. It won’t matter if we loose a bit of time catching up with a good friend, asking former rivals where we are or helping a youngster in trouble. It makes no difference if we complete our course in one or two hours, so why not get the most out of our entry fee and socialise a bit on the course. We could even take a picnic and sit down by that creek we wanted to have a closer look at for years. No more need to differentiate between club events, state events, Classic, Middle Distance, Sprint or Badge Events. We decide for ourselves how important every race is and we can all become State Champion at the event of our choice. The OA and state statisticians’ jobs will become very easy: as we’ll all score maximum points at every event we’ll all top the rankings and become Orienteer of the Year. No more wasted time in long post mortems after the race. We won’t have to pretend any longer to be interested how others went from control 6 to 7 on their course because it will be different from ours. Instead we will now be able to discuss more serious matters like the political climate in Middle Tasbekistan, the value of the Van Diemen Peso on the Kabul stock market, or global warming. Finally, consider the financial savings: there will be no more need for expensive map overprinting, control cards, Sport Ident equipment, result boards, etc, etc… In terms of human resources, as events will only require a few people to run, the burden of having to volunteer for more than one event a year will disappear. As a consequence it will become much easier for clubs to fill their rosters. The rest of us will be able to just relax. Orienteering will become fun again and we will be able to enjoy it more instead of taking it so seriously.
DID YOU KNOW?
Orienteers in Australian Cross-Country Championships Two orienteers competed in the Women’s Open Championship held in Tasmania. The event was won by Anna Thompson in a time of 27:45. Bayside Kangaroo Lauren Shelley finished a very creditable 5th in 28:45 and Tasmanian Hanny Allston came home in 15th place with a time of 30:15. Lauren has her sights firmly set on the Olympic marathon in Beijing in less than two years time.
