Left, Right, or Straight: Leg Analysis #13

 Left, Right, or Straight: Leg Analysis #13

Today we will take a close look at the route choice for leg 5-6 from the women's elite long-distance  at the "Närkekvartetten" 3-day event in Sweden (May 11, 2024)

The altitude gain on this leg will not have a significant effect on the route choice. 

The right-hand route doesn't look bad in the first half, with a fairly large section along the road. However, after the stream (point A), there is difficult navigation with challenging runnability. Therefore, we will abandon this route and choose between the 'direct' and 'left' routes.

The straight and left routes are identical up to the midpoint (point B). Therefore, we have ample time on the course to make a decision. Additionally, the alternative of running to point B on the right side of the road (orange track) is not favourable as it involves a longer path compared to the straight route to point B, where there is a long path.

Let's look at the difference between the left and right routes. Basically, we need to decide how we're going to run the B-6.

The left route has the disadvantage of running 90 degrees from the leg line. And the road goes up and then down. That's ‘extra elevation gain.’ 

The disadvantage of the direct route is that there's a lot of running through the forest. 

And here, it's worth noting that in Scandinavia, running speed in open forest can vary greatly depending on the understory vegetation and the rocky nature of the terrain. If we were on-site, the decision would have been easier to make. However, I don't believe there was much moss in the area. Besides, the direct route doesn't seem like a losing proposition.

Moreover, part of the ascent on this direct route follows a track, and then there's a sharp ridge (typically, these formations are hard-packed and offer easy running conditions).

Comparing the approaches to Control 6, we observe that they are roughly similar in terms of conditions.

Let's assume that the sections labelled as 3 take the same amount of time. Additionally, Section 1, a 250-metre stretch on the road, can be covered in approximately 150 metres on a straight route within this time.

Therefore, our focus should be on comparing Section 2. Which option will be faster, and by how much: covering 600 metres on the road or 350 metres through the white forest without any elevation gain?

In Scandinavian terrain, the vehicle road offers an advantage of 1.5 to 2.5 times (for elite runners) over running through the open forest. However, in this case, while the forest isn't particularly challenging, it contains numerous small contour details, so I suppose the speed difference would be slightly less than twice. Therefore, I expect these sections to be roughly equal in time.

Consequently, both routes would likely yield similar results.

A middle option of approaching Control 6 from the road would likely lose out (light blue track). This is because it significantly shortens the fast section, thereby negating the purpose of covering a longer distance. 

Veronika Kalinina (IFK Lidingö SOK; overall 1) showed 3rd time at this leg: 13.39 (straight route).

Julia Davidsson (Södertälje-Nykvarn OF; overall 3) beat Veronika by 8 seconds (left route).

best time of this leg: Beata Falk (OK Kåre; overall 2) with 13.06. However, there is no GPS data for her routes on Livelox.

source: Livelox

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Aleksandr Alekseyonok, May 14, 2024

See also Confident Orienteering Book 1 for advanced runners