Scottish Sprint Championships

Sat 03rd Mar 2012

Info updated: 04th Apr
Type of event: Sprint
Type of terrain:

Results

Overall Results Race 1 - Winsplits - RouteGadget - BOF Ranking Race 2 - Winsplits - RouteGadget - BOF Ranking

Pictures in our gallery

General Information

All relevant information and maps are in the Final Details for this event - See link above. Safety - As with all orienteering events, competitors take part at their own risk.

Commments

Comments from the various event officials.

Controller

It is impossible for organisers to control every boundary or uncrossable area in a sprint race as it would simply take too many people. We really need therefore to be able to trust our fellow competitors to obey the rules. At today's Scottish Sprints, a number of competitors were spotted crossing uncrossable areas and one competitor even vaulted an uncrossable parapet at a staircase putting his fellow competitors in considerable physical danger. It is impossible to disqualify competitors simply on the word of another competitor and I was grateful that a number of very honest runners who, having made an error and crossed a boundary, actually volunteered to be disqualified. I hope the consciences of others who were not so honest are troubling them! Sprint races and sprint maps are different from normal forest orienteering and we all need to be very clear about the rules and to behave as if every boundary is being controlled. If we can't do that then the future of sprint orienteering is in jeopardy. On a more positive note – thanks to Clive Masson (Planner) for a set of outstanding sprint courses and to Margaret Dalgleish and her splendid ESOC team for a well organised event. Brian Porteous

Planner

It is probably worth putting some background to the controllers comments about out of bounds. In ISSOM sprint maps the features are ‘forbidden to cross’ not impossible. They may be forbidden because they are impossible, because they are not crossable by all (the 4 foot jump down is fine for most but not some age 60+ runners), because they will be damaged if crossed (the metal fence on the stairs of race 2). For veg features they are forbidden to cross because there are tended plants that the landowner does not want broken or, particularly in spring, there are bulbs or shoots coming through. This may make ground ‘forbidden’ and the runner can’t see why. In Saturday’s case there was a patch of grass raked and seeded just before the maps went to print. As we always require the landowners consent we must abide by their rules or keep them happy. Any planner would recognise that taping vast tracts of the are off is unfeasible. Finding at least a dozen non-running marshals in addition to the non running start team would also be unreasonable for a level C event.

So what we are left with is a clear legend, amplified in the final details and a responsibility for competitors to take care and stick to the rules. I’m not sure that there is any other alternative if we are to have level C sprint events like this. I hope that the enduring memory is good racing and not the few self-disq runners. I guess that they won’t make the same mistake again.

Clive Masson, ESOC

Organiser I was generally pleased with this event even though there were things that could, with hindsight, have been improved. As most people who organise events will know, even the best laid plans sometimes have to be tweaked at a very late stage and this can lead to difficulties. It was unfortunate that the prizegiving had to be delayed a short time due to the discussions relating to competitors potentially having crossed out of bounds areas or ‘uncrossable’ features as laid down in the relevant rules. These issues were dealt with mainly by the planner and controller on the day and mention has been made by both above in their reports. I was especially grateful to those ESOC members who worked beyond the normal call of duty at this event. Time was critical during the course of the event and there was a lot of work to fit into a very short time. Running sprint races without proper food and drink beforehand, without warm up and when you are wet and cold before you start is more difficult than usual but several people did this without complaint. St Andrews is certainly a great place for orienteering.

Margaret Dalgleish (ESOC)

LOST PROPERTY - I have a couple of items of lost property from this event. A water bottle and a fleece - If either of these belong to you please email me as soon as possible at to arrange return. I will hold them for 2 weeks before disposing of them. Please note that if you think you might have left anything in the changing area of the Sports Centre you need to contact the University Sports Centre directly as it was impossible to know if the items in there at the end of the event belonged to our competitors or to students using the Centre.

Location

Nearest town: St Andrews

• Grid Ref: NO498168
• Postcode:
• Latitude: 56.33539
• Longitude: -2.80460
• Google Map (aerial) - Bing Map (OS)

Directions

Registration & Start Times

Course Information

All relevant information is now in the Final Details for this event - See link above.

Explanation of colour courses

• White are very easy with all controls on paths. They are mainly used by 6-10 year olds and family groups.
• Yellow use simple linear features like paths, walls and streams. They are mainly used by under 12’s and family groups.
• Orange progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters.
• Light Green are ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses simple contours and point features.
• Green are used mostly by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course with a very hard navigational difficulty.
• Blue are a longer, more physically demanding course in comparison to the green. The distances are more varied between controls and the course attracts experienced orienteers.
• Brown & Black are very physically demanding and have a very hard navigational difficulty. They are for experienced orienteers only.
• Score means visiting as many controls as possible in any order in a specific time, like 45mins.

Entry Details

Senors £8
Juniors £4
Pre-entry for this event is now closed.
Enquiries about entries (only) by email to

Contacts / Officials

Safety and Risk

A comprehensive risk assessment will have been carried out by the organiser, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.

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