Pack-mentality

Bernt O. Myrvold et al.:

To site just one runner: “in my opinion this is really part of the game - even on absolute top level. Therefore we run Qualification races, so that everybody gets the chance to start in a group of the best runners”. More than 20% of the runners share this view and do not see any reason for a “correct” result list. This might seem strange, but the same was found in poll among Norwegian runners in an earlier preliminary study. Many runners regard a good start position in the finals as something you have earned by a good race in the qualification heats. (We do not think this is a position that we as organisers or officials can, or should, defend. And of course if we do this whole project is meaningless.)

Separating runners in Orienteering - Overview and review of methods, final draft.