I spiced myself up quite a bit once again on course setting trends. This time, it was the Hungarian WOC-selection races near Pécs, that frustrated me. Just a quick look at them, as there is not much positive to speak about.

Sprint

The sprint was held in Komló, like last year's National Sprint Champs. The actual terrain was the final part of the sprint qualification terrain. You can see the W21E map of this year's WOC-selection race here: tajfutaspecs.hu/images/stories/Image/20100522_sprint_valogato/kep000_sprint_terkep_n21.jpg

Thinking back to the actual competition last May, I really enjoyed the terrain. It was mixed forest and housing estates, there was climbing, there were route-choices. This WOC-trial was planned only in the open part. You can see the forest to the east, but the courses stayed only in the boring part. No really interesting legs. For an elite runner, going left or right in the housing estates is not interesting. It's not orienteering. It's pure running.

János Kelemen, former Hungarian Team runner, now a professional meddler, but also a former winner of course planning competitions, was involved in the actual planning. This course wouldn't receive any kind of award. Mostly, it's worth forgetting.

Long distance

Just three days later, the long distance WOC-Trials took place in the mountains. The question was: can it get any worse than that? And the answer was a deliberate yes. János Kelemen was once again involved, this time as the event controller. I'm more than happy, to have sat out this week-end, as this course should have been no fun whatsoever. Being nostalgic, I remember the days, when I heavily criticised this course near Pécs: http://img594.imageshack.us/i/0504jakabhegy.jpg/ Now, 7 years on, I have to make a compliment for this course.

Ok, let's see the opposition!

Men's course: tajfutaspecs.hu/images/stories/Image/20100524_mk_3_nap/terkep_mk_3_f21e.jpg

Women's course:  tajfutaspecs.hu/images/stories/Image/20100524_mk_3_nap/terkep_mk_3_n21e.jpg

I first saw the men's course and was utterly surprised and disgusted to see this relatively good terrain for long distance races being modified to an extended (and unenjoyable) middle distance race. Why? And I found no answer ever since. The course could have been really nice, with 18 controls, lot of route-choices, etc. But this way, it looked more like a drawing of a little kid, who saw a lot of controls and just drew short lines between them. This is definitely not the way a long distance course should look like!

Just on a quick footnote, the middle distance race from Mecsek Cup looks much more quality, then these two courses: tajfutaspecs.hu/images/stories/Image/20100522_mk_1_nap/kep_terkep_n21e.jpg

Good sprint course

I also promised something fine for today. Hummel Sprint Cup in Brno should have been a really fun race to participate in this weekend. Looking at the map - fine! Looking at the course - enjoyable!

www.bestik.cz/mapy/show_map.php

The good news is that orienteering is not dead after all.

A bejegyzés trackback címe:

Kommentek:

A hozzászólások a vonatkozó jogszabályok  értelmében felhasználói tartalomnak minősülnek, értük a szolgáltatás technikai  üzemeltetője semmilyen felelősséget nem vállal, azokat nem ellenőrzi. Kifogás esetén forduljon a blog szerkesztőjéhez. Részletek a  Felhasználási feltételekben és az adatvédelmi tájékoztatóban.