BIG MISTAKES

Norwegian Championships Sprint Gold Medal winner disqualified

One of the special characteristics of maps for Sprint events is the linear uncrossable boundary feature. It may be a 3-metre high cyclone wire fence with barbed wire on top, or a 1-metre high fence around a cricket ground, or a 0.2-metre high garden bed; and anything in between. The garden bed may be physically crossable but the gardener doesn’t want heavy-footed orienteers stomping on his prized plants or hedge, so it is forbidden to cross. Usually shown by a black line on the map, any orienteers who cross these boundaries are disqualified from the event. Norway’s Oystein Kvaal Osterbo is a seasoned Sprint orienteer. He has competed in, and won, many of the Park World Tour sprint events in Europe and Asia. Recently he had fastest time by 8 seconds for the Sprint at the Norwegian Championships in Stavern, but on the way from #1 to #2 Osterbo jumped over a stone wall shown as ”unpassable barrier” on the map. The map section here shows his route (red) compared with the route of the eventual winner, Lars Skjeset, (purple). What was Osterbo thinking?? Certainly he gained some time, but only 4.4 seconds on that leg to #2. The direction he left #1 drew him into making the error, but there were alternative ways to go. Clearly the organisers had people out on the course watching for this type of transgression. So Osterbo lost his gold medal. Australian orienteers have been caught and disqualified for making much the same mistake. With Sprint events becoming more popular we need to get our minds around the special characteristics of Sprint maps and Sprint terrains.

This was Oystein’s Big Mistake

Osterbo finishing a Blodslitet at Fredrikstad, Norway

Map and photo courtesy Veivalg magazine