Discussion: Sprint Orienteering Training

I would like to start a new thread on sprint racing.

Canada and the US both improved at WOC'04. Part of this improvement was our results in the sprint. Canada qualified 4 for the finals, 2 of these were in the sprint. Pam and Pippa were both 16th in their heats so Canada was close to qualifying 4 of their 6 runners for the sprint. That is damn impressive and I don't think has received enough attention here on AttackPoint yet. Why is it impressive? Well because for several of these athletes it was their first real sprint race. Their first time using the new ISSOM mapping standards. Their first time on a 1:5,000 map. Imagine the potential if we raced and trained for this discipline. So, what does one need to do to develop into a good sprinter orienteer? Will the Nor-AM O community embrace this discipline and host more? Who makes a good sprinter?

There is no reason why North America can not produce a medal winner at WOC sprint in 10 years.

I agree completely. This was a bit of an eye opener. Despite the fact that I was less happy with my sprint race than with my long qual race, the sprint was my highest placing all week - 24th of 33, and just over 3 mins behind the winner (25% back).

One memorable part of the sprint race were three legs across open fields in the middle of the course. I was sprinting for all I was worth chasing a group of about 4 - one Norwegian, Martin from South Africa and a couple of others - and I was not gaining! I'm talking all-out sprinting on short turf. I like to think I can run pretty fast on a flat piece of ground, but the competitors at WOC are certainly not couch potatoes. The Canadian and US results here are all that more impressive to me.

Volume training in base seasons up to 60-100 miles per week, 2-3 speed sessions per week in ramping up, 10K below 30:00, WPT or a set of sprint races across the Europe (15-20 or more?) in different sprint settings (town, park, woods). All this for steady 5 years - you are guaranteed high placing at WOC sprint :)

In reality nobody trains for sprint races in NA :( Lets start doing it! At least hold sprint races as part of multidays and National Champs. For example one day of PNWOF next year will be sprint race day (possibly with prolog and final same day).

Sprint races are nothing new for CSU... in the last 4 years, we have held 24 sprint events on 14 different 1:5000 (or occasionally 1:4000) maps. the courses are fast and the maps are quite good. it's excellent training for both sprint and short-o.

Cynical Nordic orienteers are well known to believe the sprint race at WOC has been included for just this reason - anyone could win (not just the Nordic orienteers). But that said, it's real, and other countries are taking notice too. Australia definitely treats it as the equal (or 99% the equal) of other disciplines. And maybe the CSU training helps - my best race at the world student champs in June was the sprint (I had predicted long...).

As for ISSOM mapping standards, though, coming to CSU events won't necessarily help you train for those.

And one last thought: f we're going to start training and competing in sprint races in North America, maybe we could also lengthen the blue course and start training for the long distance as well (90-100 minute winning times on blue would be nice). The only distances we really train for here are middle (sometimes) and relay...

Will - Canada has finally agreed to adopt sprint (15), short (35), and long (75/100) for the elite men and women starting as early as the 2005 Cdn. Champs(definately by 2006).

Park NEW World Tour anyone (or sponsor)?

Personally, the sprint race was the only one I finished happy. I knew I had lost time on the third control on a less direct route choice (later I discovered this to be 30+ seconds). I was running fairly fast. I got every control cleanly, although on the way to controls 7, 9 and esp 10 i wasn't totally clear-headed.

And I thought I wasn't a slow runner over 5km...

Yet I was one and a half minutes outside qualif in 27th place. My time running across the grass in the no-navigation control was the slowest of everyone in my heat (albeit by one second, and I was deciding how to get the 7th control).

So what do I take out of it... yes get the base mileage up, yes do lots of speed work, 33 minute 10km should probably be a mlinimum selection criterium for guys, learn to navigate well... technique sessions twice a week minimum (not nec sprint maps)

but also learning to orienteer at one's 5km pace. to know what to expect at the other side of the patch of forest and sprint/crash through to the other side without batting an eyelid...

a wee anecdote to finish up - BJ (aussie) put in the best early time in the sprint final as first starter - he got his teammates to call him names etc. beforehqnd to get him angry so he would push harder.

It's not a normal race.

ps best perfs were form swedes, Yuri, Thierry and norwegians.

There were actually a number of sprints this year, including two last month in Wyoming. And a couple are coming up within the next month:

1. On Saturday Oct. 9, the day before the Highlander, HVO is having a sprint (semi-final and final), virtually no climb is the word.

2. On Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Champs at Telemark there will be the unofficial U.S. Sprint Champs, with e-punching.

And a question -- the terrain for the WOC sprint in Sweden (forest with lots of roads/trails, some open land) was totally different from the WOC sprint in Sweitzerland (city). Anyone have any idea which way this choice of terrain is heading?

Running the Sprint-O at WOC was a very interesting experience for me.

Sprint was my lowest priority heading to WOC. I did not feel well prepared for it (having rarely run anything like sprint racing in the US) and I didn't even decide to run the sprint until I knew I hadn't made the Long final (held the day after the sprint).

Boy am I glad I ran it. First, it was a really fun race. Half-way through the qual, I was thinking to myself that I was having a blast, it was fast, exciting and enjoyable orienteering. Second, I made a final! I knew I had run well, but really didn't expect to be in the hunt for a qualifying spot. So, a big surprise there.

Sprint is definitely something I will consider more when thinking about/training for orienteering in the future.

As for terrain, at least for next year, it looks like forest running is in. Bulletin 2 for WOC 2005 (www.woc2005.jp) says:
"The terrain is located 100-150 meters above sea level. It is characterised by ridges of 30-40 meters height mostly with broad contour features. Apart from some areas of open and semi-open parkland, most of the terrain is covered in mixed pine and deciduous forest. Visibility is low in some areas. Most of the terrain is slow running, with clearer parts. There are not many roads but quite a few well formed walking tracks through the terrain."

I think a lot of us place less emphasis on sprint at WOC. THis is probably because there is no importance placed on it at home. As Brian said we don't get a chance to do it often enough. I think it is great that so many of you are excited about it. Definitely, for Canada having a national sprint championship is a step in the right direction. What about for ranking purposes? Should national rankings and things like the NAOL include sprint results (even if they are not in forested terrain as the current Canadian ranking system states the races must be)?

Canadian ranked events have to be in forested terrain? I've certainly been to some events in the western part of the country where "forested" is something of a stretch...

Technically Canada doesn't have an official ranking system but it does state that events "Cannot be a park or urban (i.e. street) race".