the missing championship

Chris Forne Posted: 13 October 2003, 11:08 AM   Well despite all the complaining and criticism, I believe the format of the races over the weekend was spot on. Highly technical, but with some longer legs to add a bit of variety and test the physical/route choice/speed control skill side of things. And with approximately an hours winning time (70min/55min for elite men), the length was about right(maybe an extra 5min each day would have been good, hehehe). I for one, am pleased that the courses were more than 30min long. Why do lots of people think that orienteering races have to be either exceptionally long and boring or interesting but far too short! Good work Auckland. Chris   Greg Posted: 13 October 2003, 12:13 PM   What ever happened to the 2 race chasing start short-o, the elite course on day 2 could have been split in half, stop everyone in middle, start again in chasing order with quick easy help from Sport Ident. More fun, more interesting, more exciting!   Michael Posted: 13 October 2003, 4:04 PM   Chris wrote... > Why do lots of people think that orienteering races have to be either exceptionally long and boring or interesting but far too short! I don't think that lots of people think that. I think there's a concern that distances other than the classic might disappear unless they raise the issue. It nearly happened with the Wellington Championship, and we haven't heard whether Auckland will get a middle-distance championship this year. I trust readers can distinguish this issue from the one of whether the format of last weekend was enjoyable. (It was.) This message was edited by Michael on 14 October 2003, 12:08 AM   Chris Forne Posted: 14 October 2003, 4:42 AM   Fair enough. I think Greg's idea would work well. This would provide both middle distance and relay style races, as well as giving people a decent amount of orienteering. Given the time/expense it takes to travel to non-local events, I think that a middle distance race definitely needs to be supplemented with something. (Preferably not a park or street event, although that's just personal preference). A sprint event out in the coastal sand dunes would be cool.