Left, Right, or Straight: Leg Analysis #21

Today we will take a look at Leg 5–6 from the M18 Long Distance course at the  Novembertävlingarna, lång event (23.11.2025)

Organising club

Tullinge SK (Sweden)

In the M18 class, the most successful route choices used a less distinct path running between the hills.

In general, the approach to the control could be planned either contouring around the hillside or crossing over the top. This decision largely influenced the entire route choice on this leg.

Interestingly, both of these approaches were used by the fastest runners on this leg (Carl-Meijer Axelsson and Jonathan Enarsson) — and both produced very similar results.

The athlete who placed 3rd on this leg - Ivar Nordberg (and eventually 3rd overall) most likely made a mistake. After reaching the top of the hill, he deviated down toward the open field — a move that doesn't seem justified. Most likely, he lost direction while descending the slope.

This leg also appeared on the M21 Long Distance course.

Here, the leg winner (Simon Hector)— who also won the entire course — ran close to the leg line, choosing the top-of-the-hill route.

However, if we look at the athlete who placed 4th on the leg and eventually 5th overall (Christian Foley) , he chose the same indistinct path that the M18 leaders used (also approaching over the hill).

When comparing athlete speeds: he finished 13:43 behind the winner, over a 10 km course, which means he was running about 1 minute 20 seconds per km slower on average.

This suggests that on Leg 5–6 (920 m), a "normal" time loss would have been around 1 minute or slightly more.
Yet in reality, he lost only 31 seconds — which indicates that using the path was a very effective route choice.

That said, this type of leg rarely allows for big gains from one route over another — but a poorly executed direct route can result in significant time loss, as shown by several of the slower M18 tracks.

It’s also important to keep in mind that open forest varies in quality. The most accurate decisions are often made during the race, when the athlete sees the actual terrain conditions — including ground characteristics like rocky surfaces or heather.

Finally, it should be noted that forest and ground quality may vary along the leg and cannot always be evaluated as consistent throughout the route. 

Souorce: https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/174329/Novembertavlingarna-lang

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Make the most of the off-season between 2025 and 2026 — review your navigation system if you're not satisfied with its current quality.
The Confident Orienteering book series -  a systematic approach to minimising errors - will definitely help you with that.

The most detailed analysis of navigation in orienteering:

Book 1: Fundamentals — Understand the causes of mistakes and develop strategies to reduce them.
Book 2: Planning Reliable Routes — Learn how to plan routes that account for a wide range of potential errors.

Aleksandr Alekseyonk, November 29, 2025.