Confident Orienteering

Left, Right, or Straight: Leg #7 Analysis Today we're analyzing the routes for Leg 4-5, class M35 A, of the Costa Calida 2024 long-distance event. source: https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Costa-Calida-2024-Larga-Caravaca-/M-35A?classId=716564&tab=player&leg=5 This leg stands out as the only one within this particular group, providing us with limited information for drawing definitive conclusions regarding the winning route. However, we can still make comparisons based on the relative speeds of the athletes, which will offer valuable insights What do we have? The leg length is 1660 meters. The climb along the line of the crossing is 135 meters. The length of the right-hand route is 2400 meters, with a climb of 85 meters (and all these 85 meters are in the first half of the route: 40 meters steep from KP 4, then more gentle). The length of the left route is 2200 meters. The climb is 75 meters (all at the end of the pass, with a gentle climb of 25 meters first, followed by a...

Left, Right, or Straight #7 When I saw leg 4-5, I thought, 'What a not very interesting long leg with an unambiguous route on the right side along the crest of the hill.' However, it turns out that's not actually the case. Many athletes didn't take advantage of this opportunity. Do you think there's an equally viable alternative to the route on the right? source: https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Costa-Calida-2024-Larga-Caravaca-/M-35A?classId=716564&tab=player Expect a detailed analysis of this leg in a few days. Aleksandr Alekseyonok, March 3, 2024.

 Left, Right, or Straight_6 What route on Leg 18 would you prefer? Read a detailed analysis of the routes on this leg here Aleksandr Alekseyonok, January 29, 2024

Learning from others' errors #6  An example of a parallel error.  Reason - too much trust in tracking route execution relied only on features. Source https://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20221022SL10D21/ See Also https://aliaksandr128.gumroad.com/l/jerzqm Aleksandr Alekseyonok, January 24, 2024

  Learning from others' errors #4 Parallel errors are perhaps the most challenging to identify once you find yourself in them. Can you guess why the case shown in the illustration occurred?  Drawing from my own experience and that of other athletes, I can say that it often happens that athletes begin to track their movement on the map beyond the control point circle, even though they are still within its bounds. This tendency is particularly pronounced during physical fatigue. That is what may have happened in this case. Further, once on a similar trajectory, it becomes difficult to discern this deviation, especially when one is confident about being on the planned route. In this particular case, direction control was not adhered to in the initial steps from Control Point 8. The intended path required ascending through a small spur, but the athlete ran alongside the hill instead.  source: https://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20180623langD21/ After reading my new book...

Learning from others' errors #3 I think that this error (Control 3) happened because the risks were underestimated and, as a consequence, the route planning was not deep enough. Looks like plan was take the control just following the bearing. Here it was necessary to apply aiming-off, or plan how to position yourself accurately and confidently closer to the control.  source: https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Foley-Mountain-Classic/Classic?classId=697741&tab=player I think I'll go with the following plan: from the field to the corner of an impassable marsh; then on to the saddle between the marshes ; then bearing a little to the left of Control, but on the way clarification on cliffs and a small knoll with a small sliff in the lowland.  See here how to make dramaticlly less errors when execing routes:   New e-book on Orienteering for advanced runners  Aleksandr Alekseyonok, December 23, 2023.

Learning from others' errors #2 Could you suppose  what exaclty and in what moment was technically  done incorrectly, what led to these errors?  source https://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/  Aleksandr Alekseyonok, December 6,2023 How to do drametically less errors on courses

Finnish Ulta Long Championships 2019. М20. (20 km). Left, Right, or Straight_#5 Analysis  https://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/2019smepH20/ This leg 7 was in the early part of the course and it is likely that the tactical layout of the physical forces influenced the choice of route. The winner of M20 class Ilgvars Caune chose the leftmost route, the "calm" one, where it is possible to keep an even run, with minimal climbing and maximum use of the path. He lost 30 seconds from the direct route, but in the final part of the course the leader showed a much better pace. In this M20 class there were comparatively few participants with GPS. We cannot judge qualitatively about all possible routes. In the figure below, the position of the athletes on  leg 7, who had the top 4 results at the finish line, of those with GPS. Therefore we can judge that they were about the same speed in this part of the course. Micro choice on the left route:  The leftmost approach with maximum use o...

  Learning from others' errors #1 Parallel Error: Solving Situation The location where the athlete turned left from the open area was at the top of the spur (point "A" on the figure). The planned exit point ("B")was on the slope, making it very easy to determine where to leave the vegetation boundary of open area on the ground. map used: https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/117334/GrandPrix-2023-08-Zabno See here how to make dramaticlly less errors when execing routes  New e-book on Orienteering for advanced runners 

  Which route on Leg 6 would you prefer? See also my brand  New e-book on Orienteering for advanced runners 

  Tricky Norwegian terrain. Leg 8-9. Which route is faster? As always, a detailed routes analysis will be published tomorrow or in a few days. See also my brand  New e-book on Orienteering for advanced runners 

 I'm  launching the column 'Left, Right, or Straight.' In the initial stage, I'll present a leg featuring various route options, and you can write in the comments which one you think is the fastest. After a day or several days, I'll provide a detailed analysis of the leg routes, along with information about competitions and the best participants' times. The contour interval is 5m. See also my brand  New e-book on Orienteering for advanced runners