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Race order?

Show Profile  Alistair Posted: 22 May 2003, 2:21 PM  
Wanted to start a general discussion on race ordering. This could be part of the "wuss" debate but I decided to start a different thread. This is not a discssion of whether or not 105 min races are good or not. It is also not a disccussion on multi-day classics.

This is a question of why the classic race is typically before the short race in a 2 race weekend?

Surely it would be better if the race order was reversed? The main issue is the physical effects on the body from running short or a classic distance. A short race (say 30mins) will produce lactic acid but not tax the body too much. A classic race will deplete glycogen and possibly fat resources in the body - possibly significantly and generally make the body more fatigued.

I would imagine that the short race results would be closer and more interesting if everyone fronted up fresh and without a long race sitting in the legs from the day before. The effect on the following classic race would be minimal.

This idea comes from general training principals which I got from coaches (Rix, Quax, Davies) over the years - that is - one of the easiest ways of getting injured (especially pulling muscles etc) is to run hard intervals or short fast races when the body is glycogen depleted and fatiqued.

Is it just ignorance of race schedulers or are there other factors I haven't thought of? Surely at the end of the day everyone wants to produce 2 good results and come out of the weekend un-injured - I don't believe that is happening at the moment.


Show Profile  Jamie Posted: 22 May 2003, 3:39 PM  
Absolutely, that needed to be said.

Technical committee take note.

Unfortunately next year it appears the nationals program may be classis-relay-short, what would your solution for a nationals be Alistair?

Show Profile  Alistair Posted: 22 May 2003, 4:27 PM  
Presuming the Nationals is a on 4 day weekend (someone said something about the wasted first day somewhere...):

sprint - short - relay - classic
short - score - relay - classic
short - relay - score - classic
short - loop - relay - classic
short - relay - loop - classic

You get the picture....

Of course the relay could be put on the last day as it traditionally has been. But then having it in the middle might encourage more to run it...

Introduce a score, loop or sprint event on the 4th day and give it Nationals status. Better than a modal/warm-up.....



Show Profile  mark Posted: 23 May 2003, 4:23 AM  
The classic should be first, because it is the main event. Who cares about the short? (excluding Neil)

Show Profile  lapun Posted: 23 May 2003, 9:53 AM  
If Neil (or anyone else) wants to specialise in short-distance races, then they should be encouraged to do so. Especially as there are short-distance races at World Champs & JWOC.

Didn't Greg do really well in the JWOC short race last year? We should be celebrating that success, rather than judging him on his result in classic races.

Do they just have a marathon & no shorter races in athletics?
Do the marathon runners dominate the placings at shorter distances?

This is not taking anything away from orienteers who prefer the classic races, or from marathon runners. They deserve a great deal of respect.






Show Profile  Neil K Posted: 23 May 2003, 3:41 PM  
When's the party then No. 1 oops I mean Al.
Also the all important prizegiving.

Show Profile  Alistair Posted: 23 May 2003, 3:49 PM  
Good point Neil. Maybe that's one good reason to have something less important on the last day of the Nationals. Other weekends though I think should be have the longest race on the last day.



Show Profile  Malcolm Posted: 26 May 2003, 5:19 AM  
The classic is the most important event (if no, then why does it attract the most discussion on this forum?). If the classic was on day four, then you would have a lot of hungover people competing for the main event. And yelling at turkeys half way round the course ....

Show Profile  Natalie Posted: 26 May 2003, 5:36 AM  
You could still have the Classic on the second to last day instead then, and have the relay last like usual, so then you still have the shorter races before the Classic, and then a bit of a blow out/hungover crawl as currently/whatever in the relay.

I like the idea of having the short/sprint races before the Classic, it just seems to make a lot more sense that way.

Show Profile  mark Posted: 26 May 2003, 5:55 AM  
quote:
Do they just have a marathon & no shorter races in athletics?
Do the marathon runners dominate the placings at shorter distances?


Yes they have shorter races, but they don't hold the NZ Marathon champs and a shorter race like the NZ 10000m champs on consecutive days.

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