 Michael
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Posted: 17 August 2010, 3:14 PM
Report from the IOF General Assembly:
Mass start to be introduced in World Orienteering Championships
The Council presented a report on future directions for World Orienteering Championships (WOC). The three guiding principles are that the WOC programme should diversify, the WOC week should remain within 8 days, and a new, mixed, relay should be introduced. After the report, the General Assembly decided to introduce a mass start into World Orienteering Championships. The Council will now continue to develop a detailed programme, including in which format the mass start will be introduced.
Mixed relays are nothing new, but mass starts could influence our NZ event programme. Or, like the Micro proposal, it could be a TV stunt. When the hoped-for TV deal fell through, Micro disappeared from sight. Which will this be?
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Jamie
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Posted: 18 August 2010, 1:19 PM
Awesome, mass starts are where its at.
Micro orienteering was the dorkiest idea ever, good riddance.
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Mike Adams
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Posted: 18 August 2010, 1:35 PM
i liked mirco. it was full on and any panic whatsoever and your race was over. it was good pressure training.
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paultheOctopus
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Posted: 20 August 2010, 4:54 PM
If the long ever turns into a mass start true orienteering will die. It would be the biginning of X-running.
I think the changes to suit tv (more visible courses and mass starts)will make o more boring to watch and run which is contrary to what they are trying to achieve. Unless you are trying to attract a different market of people to the sport.
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Greg
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Posted: 21 August 2010, 1:36 AM
http://news.worldofo.com/2010/08/20/woc-of-the-future-what-will-it-look-like/
Good article about the facts and some of Jans (world of o) options which are quite good
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Michael
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Posted: 21 August 2010, 5:16 AM
A thoughtful summary on WorldofO. Some thoughts of mine.
No format is cast in stone, orienteering will change over the years and there will be some who will be keener on change than others. In the end participation will decide.
I would have thought that the World Championship would consist of disciplines that are widely practised, in other words it is the championship of orienteering as we do it round the world. The introduction of the sprint was IMO appropriate, the Park World Tour developed the concept, other countries including NZ tried it out, and then it was incorporated into WOC. The introduction of Micro was not appropriate, here was something quite radical that was not widely done and it was proposed to be in WOC. This is quite separate from whether you like Micro or not.
I would expect there to be widespread discussion about these changes. We aren't usually represented at the IOF Congress, but even if we were there, I would expect proposals like this to come out beforehand so that countries can think about them first. Were they?
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stu barr
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Posted: 24 August 2010, 12:05 AM
knock out sprint:
heats of 4 people each mass start. (max 32 heats) (
winner of each heat progresses.
8 heats of 4 people each mass start.
winner of each heat progresses.
4 head to head heats
winner of each heat progresses.
final of 4 mass start
finishing places are final results.
knock out race down to four races.
would be awesome and could be run in an afternoon.
would require splits which i would recommend being the last controls of the loops with a finish chute coming from four different directions but all with the same last 20m and finish line.... but that might be pushing it.
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addison
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Posted: 24 August 2010, 1:22 AM
I haven't seen anything about it Michael
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ACW
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Posted: 24 August 2010, 1:14 PM
The Cambridge University Sprint O is/was an annual mass start knockout competition. Each heat was 2 equal loops centred on the start/finish. From memory the 1st round was 64 (the entire field) on the start line, and 8 different course combinations:
Loop A clockwise, then Loop B clockwise
Loop A clockwise/Loop B anticlockwise
Loop A anticlockwise/Loop B anticlockwise
etc (head-on collisions were not uncommon)
First 32 progressed to the next round.
Then 16, then 8, and finally 4 finalists.
Not fair, due to people running the loops in opposite directions, but bloody good fun and great spectator value.
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KevO
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Posted: 24 August 2010, 11:09 PM
Of course it was always followed by the infamous AlcO. What more could you want than watching elite orienteers running after downing a bottle of wine!!!
Mirrored maps, red only maps, right course but wrong area etc. etc. A must for all student orienteers.
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thomasr
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Posted: 25 August 2010, 7:01 AM
How about NZ has another nz champs weekend. We can have one which is sprint, mass start and night champs some weekend in september then have long middle and relay at labour weekend.
Perfect!
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onemanfanclub
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Posted: 25 August 2010, 7:55 AM
(bangs head against wall)
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Michael
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Posted: 25 August 2010, 8:09 AM
Not a bad idea, maybe Easter plus Labour WE is the answer to that age-old debate:-))
But as at the worlds, the NZ Champs should consist of disciplines that are widely practised throughout the country, with their popularity demonstrated. So I look forward to seeing more mass start races including experimenting with the different distances, more night events (does any region have a night championship?), and some Micro's.
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souni
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Posted: 25 August 2010, 1:55 PM
This message was edited by addison on 26 August 2010, 12:09 PM
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Michael
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Posted: 4 March 2011, 8:35 AM
Some interesting ideas on splitting systems for mass start races being talked about on WorldofO. There is still a strong body of opinion that there shouldn't BE a mass-start format in WOC, but I like the idea of trying out new stuff. Eg the Park World Tour.
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