Dienstag, 11. Juni 2013

Läuferlenkung: safety first or trap?

fig.1.8th control NORT Stage 4 Sprint Final

Tue Lassen as Carl Godager Kaas and Frederic Tranchand were disqualified at the final of stage 4 at the Nordic Orienteering Tour for cutting a road passage marked on map and in the terrain (Tue Lassen Blog, Carl Godager Kaas Blog). The decision is maybe according to the rules but there are several points that oppose the decision.
  1. The passage was introduced for safety reasons. The primary goal of the measure is that the athletes cross this street the save way. The organizer has missed his goal, if the measure is not clear enough.
  2. The marking itself was not clear enough (with small traffic cones).
  3. The official was not instructed properly oscillating between guide and referee literally minute by minute (as for ex. Martin Hubmann starting behind Tue was guided).
  4. Changing the marking of the passage as the officials instruction before the following womens final is a self confession of the organizers that their fault was severe. 
They way it turned out now, the competition was neither save nor fair at this point ... but introduced a unnecessary bingo-element instead.

3 Kommentare:

Sönke Bandixen hat gesagt…

As stated: "The decision is according to the rules". Period.

M.Lerjen hat gesagt…
Dieser Kommentar wurde vom Autor entfernt.
Roger Vogel hat gesagt…

Some people care about rules. Other care about safety.
(In fact, I deeply believe that those runners should be banned from orienteering for lifetime for recklessly and rudely breaking rules.
And, of course, the organizers should not have marked the passage. Look: Worlds best orienteer were competing there. If they are not even able to read the map precise enough to find a passage across a city street, they're beyond help and deserve being overrun by cars, don't you agree, Sönke? A rule is a rule, and that's the rule! Period.
Another nice example would be a route choice across an "active" shooting range in a H-14 course (Idea by Wilf Holloway: Murder at the14th control).

The KanPas Focus 200

So here is the KanPas Focus 200. Actually the compass making orienteering easy. Maybe even too easy? - Sorry for that. fig.1. What a beauty ...