Routes analysis of Leg 17 of the Euromeeting 2016 Long Women course

Leg 16-17 from the Long Women course of Euromeeting 2016. Latvia. 24.09.2016.

The Course and GPS routes are here

Let's start with a general assessment of the relief and relative heights of the control points. One way or another, we will have to descend to the level of the second thickened horizon from the control. Therefore, there is no difference: to run down slope at the beginning or at the end of the leg.

The length of the right route and the left route is about the same: approximately 1300 meters on the left side and 1400 on the right side.

But on the left, there are doubts about the good runnability of the section after the footpath. Also, the climb up the gully will be on a soft, boggy surface.

The difficulty of control 17 is that the re-entrant where the boulder is located is not obvious from below. Therefore, there is a risk of running and not noticing this re-entrant if you do not trace the thin, narrow spur in the gully.

Approaching Control 17 from the top of the slope (from the path) can also lead to an error if you do not fix the starting point of the bearing section well or if you do not perform the bearing-based run well.

Advantages of the rightside route: more running on the path; more opportunity to maintain the pace and choose routes on further legs.

The straight cut through the gully does not give a gain and even loses about 20 seconds, even though it is shorter by 200 metres. But descending 25 metres over a narrow marsh and climbing 25 metres is ultimately slower than running around a ravine on the right on the flat surface.

Taking the long way to the footpath on the left route did not give any time gain.

The course leaders run this leg mostly from the right side (including a strait cut through the gully). It is therefore difficult to judge how long they would have run the route on the left. Probably, the leg time would have been about the same.

However, from a tactical point of view, the right-side option had a greater advantage. That is why fewer athletes were running on the left.

October 30, 2023 Aleksandr Alekseyonok

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