guidelines for sprint relay

Sprint Relay

for Mixed Teams

Experiences from 2014 and Guidelines for 2015

Göran Andersson

Sprint Relay

Goal for a World Class Event

If we can produce a very

interesting and challenging

course for the athletes

together with entertaining and

exciting race for spectators,

we have succeeded!

Sprint Relay

Sprint Relay

Winner 2014: DENMARK

Competition Date Venue Country

1 WC Round 2 5th June Halden Norway

2 WOC 1st Aug Nairn Great Britain

3 WC Round 3 4th October Arosa Switzerland

World Cup 2015

All 3 results count!

Sprint Relay

Profile of Sprint Relay (Rules)

• The Sprint Relay profile is mixed-gender

high-speed head-to-head competition

• It takes place in an urban and park

environment

• The format is a combination of the Sprint

and Relay concepts

• There are four legs and the first and last legs

must be run by women

Sprint Relay

Course planning considerations (1)

• The event shall be easy to understand

for the spectators

• A relatively small area is required for a

competition (especially with the use of an

arena passage)

• It should be possible to cover at least 70-80

% of the course with TV cameras

Sprint Relay


• The competition should be based on a 75

minute live broadcasting and arena

production concept; 15 minutes should be

allocated for broadcasting introductions,

interviews and prize-giving ceremonies

• An arena passage shall be used, if possible

without compromising course quality too

much

Sprint Relay


• At least two loops per leg shall be used and

the loops can be printed on each side of the

map

• Courses shall be forked;

Woman/Woman, Man/Man

• GPS-tracking is required and “touch-free”

punching shall be used

Sprint Relay

Winning time and Timing (1)

• The winning time (the total time for the

winning team) shall be 55-60 minutes

• The time for each leg shall be 12-15 minutes

so the first and last legs (which are run by

women) should be a little shorter than the

second and third legs

Sprint Relay

Winning time and Timing (2)

• In WOC timing shall preferably be made by

electronic means, but manual systems may

be used as back-up

• At the finish line there shall be photo-finish

equipment to assist in judging the placings

Sprint Relay

Sprint Relay format

From rules:

• High speed

• Route choices

• Check points

• Full concentration

To add:

• ”Head to head”

• Check points with

”flow”

(no inside corner)

High speed

(physical demanding)

Route choices

(O-technical skills)

Easy controls

(check points)

Visible to the

spectators

(mental stress)

Runner’s view

Very good

runability

Demanding

course

planning

Generalised and

very readable map

Arena- and

TV-production

Organiser’s view

Guards; control sites,

traffic, spectators

IT

Media and VIP

• Scale 1:5000 or 1:4000

• Based on current requirements for

Sprint (map scale, ISSOM map

standards, etc.)

• Contour interval 2 or 2,5 m

• Barriers forbidden to cross

Technical issues Basic requirements and

characteristics for the Sprint Relay

Sprint Relay

+

• Terrain and technical

requirements similar to the current

sprint format.

• Terrain to be a combination of

park, park-type of forest and

urban.

• Only a small area required for a

competition (especially with the

arena passage)

Technical issues Basic requirements and

characteristics for the Sprint Relay

Good areas

Switzerland

Turkey

Good areas

# Add fences to make it more technical

# Maybe cut some fences to make it easier

Good areas

Finland (1)

Finland (2)

Good areas

Good areas

# Use this kind of area in the last part of the course

Italy

Good areas

World Cup 4 in Switzerland

is maybe the best area for

Sprint Relay so far due of

different kind of terrain, a lot of

route choices and no problem

with accidents or crashes

between runners and

spectators.

TV- and Arena production

• Big part (70-80 %) of the course

should be covered with TV-

cameras

• 75 minute live broadcasting and

arena production. This means that

the winning time shall be about 60

minutes. 15 minutes should be

allocated for introductions,

interviews and prize-giving

ceremonies.



Position of

cameras

Time keeping


Bulletin 3

Arena

P

Arena

Hotel

Bulletin 4

Arena

Arena

• An arena passage shall be used,

if possible without compromising

course quality too much

• Two loops per leg should be used

if there is an arena passage with

one loop printed on each side of

the map

Arena

Arena passage

WC Turkey: 2 laps, 2 maps in plastic bag

Arena

WCTurkey

Warm-Up/Warm Down

WCTurkey

Warm down

WC Finland: Biking as after run

WC Finland: 2 laps, 1 map in plastic bag

Arena passage

WOC Italy: 2 maps in plastic bag

Arena passage

Arena WOC Italy

WC Switzerland: Big screen visible for all!

Arena

Model event

Model event

Information by the position of the control circle

Courses

Courses

• Four laps: two women and two

men with a fixed running order

woman-man-man-woman as this

running order will create more

drama for spectators

1 2 3 4

Courses

Courses • Men’s courses are bit longer than

women’s meaning that targeted

time for each lap is 15 minutes

Courses

Courses, forking

Courses

Courses

WC Turkey

Courses

WC Finland

Courses

WOC Italy

Over printing

Bold control number!

Bold start triangle?

Purple colour

CMYK: 20/100/0/0

Courses Forked courses, an example of 16 alternatives

Teams Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4

1 Czech Republic AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB ABBA-BAAB BAAB-ABBA

2 Norway ABBA-BAAB BAAB-ABBA BAAB-ABBA ABBA-BAAB

3 Sweden BAAB-ABBA ABBA-BAAB BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA

4 Switzerland BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA ABAB-BABA BABA-ABAB

5 France ABAB-BABA BABA-ABAB BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA

6 Denmark BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA AAAA-BBBB BBBB-AAAA

7 Latvia AAAA-BBBB BBBB-AAAA BBBB-AAAA AAAA-BBBB

8 Lithuania BBBB-AAAA AAAA-BBBB BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA

9 Ukraine BBAA-AABB AABB-BBAA BAAB-ABBA ABBA-BAAB

10 Poland BAAB-ABBA ABBA-BAAB ABBA-BAAB BAAB-ABBA

11 Italy ABBA-BAAB BAAB-ABBA AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB

12 Austria AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB BABA-ABAB ABAB-BABA

13 Belgium BABA-ABAB ABAB-BABA AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB

14 Slovakia AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB BBBB-AAAA AAAA-BBBB

15 Finland BBBB-AAAA AAAA-BBBB AAAA-BBBB BBBB-AAAA

16 Great Britain AAAA-BBBB BBBB-AAAA AABB-BBAA BBAA-AABB

The table shows

the forking for the

16th best teams

from WOC relay,

men 2012

Forking table

Lap 2

W5

Printing

Guidelines printing

1. Offset printing

2. Digital printing

3. >100 gr Silk paper

4. Pretex

5. Make always a ”colour proof”

Printing

Plan offset printing, Sprint Relay Turkey

Sheet 1 (A1), Women Sheet 2 (A1), Men Sheet 3 (A1) W 1st leg, model event etc

GPS-tracking

GPS/Touchfree

GPS-tracking is required and

touch free punching shall be

used

Block the GPS-signal

To avoid GPS-tracking in

houses, flower beds or

other prohibited areas,

these areas should be

blocked so the GPS-

signal will bounce against

the black areas

GPS-tracking

Left

GPS-tracking

Right

Middle

Show always same colour for each route choice

0,75 m

Control unit x 1

Control card

EmiTag

x 2

Touch free punching

0,75 m

Control stand

Touch free punching

Control stand

Finland WC 2014 Finland WOC 2013

Touch free punching

Min 0,75 m

Control stand WC Turkey

75 cm

Touch free punching

Control stand WOC Italy

Too close to control site and no control code on sides

Touch free punching

Control stand WOC Italy

This is better placed but still no control code on sides

Touch free punching

Control stand WC Turkey

Flow through!

This is what we want to see!

Control stand WC Switzerland

Flow through?

This is what we don’t want to see!

Control position

Control 106

Photo direction

Control stands

Notice:

• Codes (3)

• Flag

• Pin Punch

back-up

• Emit unit’s

position

• Stands are

easy to collect

on top of each

other

WC Finland: Good example of control stand

To follow

Taping

Banners Promotion tape…

To STOP!

Forbidden area; should be BLUE/YELLOW

Taping

Security

WOC Italy: Guards’ and runners’ responsibility

Security

Insurance

The general rule is that the athlete

is personally liable for bodily injury

or damage to material property

they may cause to a third party.

The organiser or the IOF is not

liable in this case. This applies to

all formats, not only to sprint.

The athlete should have a valid

liability insurance.

Security

Use coloured vest!

And a whistle!

Security

Control guards shall

be more “invisible”!

Normal clothing

Number bibs

WC Finland: Four different colours for each leg

• Different numbers to

front / back

– Television /

audience

• Colour codes in

Sprint Relay

(number+map) Front Back

Prize giving ceremony

WC Finland: Using big screen for rising the flags

Media and VIP

WC Switzerland: They know how to treat Media and VIP!

Start

WC Finland: Map in hand

WOC Italy: Map on the ground

Start

WC Switzerland: Map on the ground

Start

WC Finland: Maps on 10 m long board

Reserve maps

Change over

Italy: Maps on 36 m long board

Change over

WOC Italy: Maps on 36 m long board

Reserve maps

Change over

WC Switzerland: Map in hand in advance

Reserve maps

Change over

WC Switzerland: Map in hand in advance

Change over

WOC Italy: 2 lanes, change over and finish

Finish

WC Finland: 1 lane, change over and finish

Finish

WC Switzerland: 1 lane

Finish

WC Turkey: 2 lanes

Promotion of orienteering The event shall be easy to understand for the spectators

Sprint Relay

Goal for a World Class Event

If we can produce a very

interesting and challenging

course for the athletes

together with entertaining and

exciting race for spectators,

we have succeeded!

Sprint Relay

guidelines for sprint relay

Documents