Fetch Orienteers
48 watchers
Jun 2021
12:51pm, 14 Jun 2021
14,726 posts
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rf_fozzy
Hmm, I disagree I think. But I'm not totally sold yet. My issue is whether it's the same view as "women can't run marathons as it's too far" or the same anachronism that sees 8km for women and 12km for men at XC champs. |
Jun 2021
1:19pm, 14 Jun 2021
1,166 posts
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RooA
It's not about it being "too far". I don't see any difference if the expected finish time is equalised. Men are expected to orienteer for X minutes, women are expected to orienteer for X minutes.
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Jun 2021
2:16pm, 14 Jun 2021
8,521 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
My club ran a regional event recently with suggested age/gender for each of the colour coded courses. Participants were free to choose whichever course they wanted but IIRC it only counted for the southeast league if you chose the course suggested. All the men’s age groups had longer courses than the women’s for the same age, and it struck me as odd at the time, particularly as my running background is mainly races where everyone does the same distance.
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Jun 2021
2:18pm, 14 Jun 2021
8,522 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I suppose I’d be a bit miffed if wanted to run a 10k race but was told I could only only run a 7 or 8k race so the winners finishing times were similar.
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Jun 2021
2:45pm, 14 Jun 2021
36 posts
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p^2
Cross-country races have historically had different courses for M and W.
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Jun 2021
2:47pm, 14 Jun 2021
14,729 posts
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rf_fozzy
"Cross-country races have historically had different courses for M and W." Historically doesn't make it right. It's anachronistic and wrong. |
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Jun 2021
2:58pm, 14 Jun 2021
14,730 posts
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rf_fozzy
The world triathlon event in Leeds last weekend was won in the men's race in a time of 1hr 43mins and change. The women's event was 1hr 54mins. Following the logic of changing the distance to match winning times, then that might mean the women swimming 1200m instead of 1600m, cycling 35km instead of 40km and running 8km instead of 10km, for example. Which is all a bit silly. That's why I'd prefer M/W21 to run the same distances at championships. It might also mean (a) more black courses at events and (b) more people running black courses. |
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Jun 2021
2:59pm, 14 Jun 2021
37 posts
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p^2
"Early findings from UK Athletics survey shows women generally prefer to race 8km and men like 10km – and in separate races too" athleticsweekly.com |
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Jun 2021
3:44pm, 14 Jun 2021
14,731 posts
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rf_fozzy
I think that survey was pretty nonsense. It didn't go wide enough and it's ambiguous in terms of its findings. Asking two questions rolled up into one is nonsense. The races can be separate and of the same distance. And whatever the results, it doesn't mean that it's right. Plenty of women were actively against universal sufferage... en.wikipedia.org |
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Jun 2021
4:06pm, 14 Jun 2021
1,167 posts
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RooA
W is a handicap class. Like age groups are handicap classes. If the standard format of a sport is that the handicap classes are shorter then I don't see any reason to change it for the handicap of sex. If the standard format of a sport is that everyone does the same and prizes are awarded separately to different handicap classes then that is fine too. Orienteering is currently the former. As was pointed out to me when I was young and thought I was invincible... a W can always run up if she so wishes. Men's classes are "open". I think if you had W21L running the same distance as M21L you'd end up with quite a lot of women picking the W21S. I appreciate what you are saying fozzy, I used to be very much of your opinion, but also think it's funny that you are deciding what women want for them.... It would certainly be interesting to see what making women run the longer course did to participation in that class. I always ran the L but there was certainly plenty that went for the S. If there wasn't that S because it was now the same as the M21S... would the women that were picking the S in the current set up actually feel confident to go out at all? |
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