to be at either end of a scale
@neil So what´s your dedication - avoiding US events?
Good job there Ian. What do you find hilarious?
And that's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Our best are about 25% back of the world's best.
I'd argue we're further back because (1) it's not clear TGIF was racing as hard as he might at WOC and (2) TGIF pulled some of his competitors to faster times, especially at the NAOC races.
To me, the difference in navigation speeds is startling. Ron Lowry of Canada once remarked that there's no easy terrain, only too slow running for the terrain. Having detailed terrain come at you 30% faster is a marked challenge. I wonder what kinds of training the team and team members do to increase the maximum speed at which they can navigate? I recall one training that Thomas Nipen described to me on the University of British Columbia map...a pair orienteers together, one orienteer navigating to the next control and the other reading ahead. They switch roles each control. The idea is to create conditions in which one can navigate faster than one's usual comfort zone, and thus become more familiar with navigating at a faster pace. With other metrics, like VO2 max or AT, there are specific techniques for improving the metric. It would be interesting to hear people share techniques for decreasing min/km.
I can provide personalised training or groups seminars in how best to achieve a score of 0.