ESOC Sprint O 2011
Prologue
Chase
Routegadget Note
Apologies for putting the chase up as separate courses. Autodownload doesn’t cope with the two different types of butterfly loop (‘normal’ and ‘figure of 8’) on the same course, so I had to set it up as 8 courses rather than 1. They’re working on it, so hopefully next year… :)
What it means is that it is slightly more difficult to view the head-to-head battles, but it is still do-able (with the only drawback being that the runners you’d like to view head-to-head have uploaded their routes):
- Go to the event as normal (in Routegadget)
- Select ‘All Classes’ in the class select drop down
- Select up to 10 runners you’d like to see pitted against each other (of those there at present, Chris Huthwaite, Rona Lindsay and I all started around the same time)
- Click ‘View Animation’
- Uncheck ‘Mass Start’ (this will show the animation as a true chasing start)
- Click ‘Start’ and watch the race unfold!
Planner’s comments
Well, I hope you enjoyed your runs today at the two contrasting venues of Corstorphine Hill and the relatively underused Lauriston Castle. When I volunteered for the job last year, I believed it was possible to do something different from usual.
Corstorphine Hill is known for its rather steep hills and rough terrain, and at first sight doesn’t seem a great place for a sprint race. I tried to minimise the height gain and loss, whilst providing short legs and changes of direction. Thanks to Katy’s guidance in cutting down the length, and a change in the control order, I think this was effective, giving a good test of running and navigation. I would have liked to have had every control on a crag, but I had to get people back to the finish, so compromised with two controls on trees. The winning time was a bit shorter than I wanted, but not too surprising, as conditions were almost perfect - dry underfoot with little vegetation to trip people up. The spread of results was just about right, and allowed us to be ready for our planned Chase start time.
Lauriston Castle is a great wee area, but I knew that a normal chasing start with a single course would give little challenge for the following pack. I was inspired to try putting in butterfly loops and figures of eight after hearing about the courses at the WOC 2010 in Norway where the idea was to discourage following. I would have liked loops within loops, but there wasn’t enough space at Lauriston Castle to accommodate this idea, and thus the compromise of one butterfly and two figure of eight loops arose. I think this worked well, and people waiting in line for the start only knew where the first control was, not where they were going after that. I was able to watch the fast and furious bit from controls 15 to 22 for a while, and saw that it certainly caused people to think and hesitate. The winning time was very short, but about what I expected, at just over 10 minutes. I was pleased (but not for the people to whom it happened) that there were mispunches (either wrong control or missing one out entirely) and extra punches, as that showed that even the best make mistakes under pressure.
Everyone seemed to be really pleased with the buzz of the Chase, which was very satisfying – thanks for your comments. Finally, apologies for those brambles (coming back out and going round was certainly more pleasant and may have been quicker).
Crawford Lindsay (ESOC)
Posted on 30th Jan 11
by Andrew Dalgleish - Webmaster
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