Discussion: Sprint Series Final Results

Winners for the women:
Samantha Saeger
Hillary Saeger
Pavlina Brautigam

For the men:
John Fredrickson
Michael Sandstrom
Eric Bone

More results later...

That was SO MUCH FUN! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put this on. I really enjoyed the courses (that's why I stayed on them so long! :-)) and am just sorry I missed the last one. Also appreciated all the encouragement from the "real" sprinters!

It was so much fun to watch!!!! Congraduations to everyone!!!!

Results will have to be tomorrow...you're pooped SI Guru is off to bed.

For those who weren't there, we had an unexpected musical highlight. What started out as a joke before the start of the last stage, turned into an astounding a capella performance of The National Anthem by LAOC's Clare Durand (smittyo). Any tapers in the audience?

The results brackets are posted.

A few comments:

1. As Eric mentions, Clare was magnificent. She was followed by a rather half-hearted attempt by someone at a couple of lines of "O Canada".

2. A really fine Sprint Finals (and whole wekend) organized by DVOA (Sandy in charge, courses by Clem and Randy, help/advice from Eric).

3. Very close finishes for both the men and women, both decided at the very end.

4. Huge monetary prizes, 480,000 Columbian pesos and over 800,000 Belarus rubles were distributed.

5. And it is competitive days like this that we need to get ourselves up to the next level internationally. Good courses, close competition, plenty of pressure. Congrats to John and Samantha for coming out on top, and watch out for junior Mike Sandstrom from HVO who finished second.

She was followed by a rather half-hearted attempt by someone at a couple of lines of "O Canada".

That was Ross Smith. Not too bad, considering he's not Canadian.

very nice organized event.. I enjoyed every bit of it.
worth the drive. watch out for junior Erin S. too. ..he can be really fast.

I've posted the maps from the Sprint Finals.

Split times are available at WinSplits Online

How about some interval starts next year?

actually is working almost fine like that except.. ( interval are fine by me too ). maybe a small forking.

Or butterfly loops!

But will there be a next time, given the participation rate this time?

Why weren't you there, feet?

What are butterfly loops?

In this example, control 11,14,17 is visited 3 times, but in different orders by different runners. The putative idea is to break up following.

We talked about butterfly loops for the final, but I'll admit I don't care for them, and was negative about the idea. I do like other forms of forking, tho. I'm not sure if my prefrences are purely asthetic, or if there are inherit differences in the various forms of forking.

if every sprint to be organized next year will pay a "sanctioning fee" of 10 to 20 $ depending of the ( came up with ideas )..it could go as a nice price for winners,.. just a thought.
and yes , it will be good to be a next time, feet.. those 2 years of lots of sprints brought some nice results at the world level, brought some newbies to the sport and some new maps( areas ). there were not too many sprinters but overall the DVOA training weekend brought more then 200 runners( don't know the numbers ). well done DVOA.

You guys did a great job!!! i didn't run but watched the finals and it was very fun to watch!!! I also would like to thank the senior team for training/talking with us juniors. I know sam helped me a lot!!! and it was fun to talk to everyone else about their races and training. so thank you again!

It was a great weekend! I unfortunately sprained my ankle right before the map exchange and now have a puffy and larger than usual ankle, but as long as I'm walking on flat ground it's great :). It was well worth it! I think part of the fun is the group start. I find it stressful, but I think that running head-to-head is good mental training for me. You have to push hard to stay with the group while at the same time making sure you don't follow everyone into a mistake (as I did with the group I was with on the second sprint...).

I agree that head to head is a good aspect of the SS finals. I'm glad that most races are not this way, but I, like Sam, think that there is more than a novelty value to be had in this form of racing.

In swimming training coaches sometimes have racers attached to a bungie harness or a weight and pulley system which helps to pull the swimmer through the water faster. The intent being to train going faster than you are 'currently' able to swim.

I would have been hard pressed to race as fast without the other runners in my heats, so thanks to Mike, Eddie, Greg, John, Egil, Eric and Kenny for pushing me beyond my threshold.

I wouldn't mind having another finals style race (US sprint championships ??) with interval starts but not at the expense of this really cool format.

Next year to encourge the sin of gambling we should , as a fundraiser of course, allow people to bet on the outcome of the race, 5 dollars a bracket scored like the NCAA basketball tournament scoring, with the highest score getting 50% of the proceeds and the junior team getting the rest.

Although, I suck at this format, I think we shell keep it for now, I agree with Ross here.
Plus, do not forget, that any suggestions about the format of the event are not taken into consideration unless they are written on $20 bill (as per High Commissioner)

There isn't a lot of white space on a $20 bill. I'm sure the Commissioner would concur that it would be best to write any suggestions on several of them in order to have enough room to explain them clearly and persuasively :)

use bigger bills

or very fine and small letters

Smaller print isn't a good idea, as the commisioner's eyesight is fading. Bigger bills is indeed a better idea. $50 or $100 would work much better.

I am really impressed with the course setting. Randy in particuliar, is one of the best around. The sprints he set last year at the hospital complex were amazing in their diversity, despite all being on the same map.
This weekend was the same, the Farsta was a great course using only 15 controls in a fairly compact area.
The first sprint was fast and fairly easy. The next much more technical (especially if you forgot your magnifier ) and the 3rd again different. The first loop of the final was faster and the second twistier and technical. One and three were Clem's design and he did a great job.
An inspiration to improve my course setting.

splits are up.

Yes, the AP are splits up. Thank you, Ken. Please claim your splits, especially if you used a different ecard than in the past.

hm, Hill is either listed as coach, or not listed at all in the case of the third sprint. How does one fix that?

This is the kind of event that makes Orienteering a blast. The organization was solid, the course-setting awesome and the results were submitted to Attackpoint in just over 24 hours.

I'd have to agree with Ross strongly about the head-to-head format. Of course it isn't appropriate for rankable sprint races, but for an exciting, spectator-friendly, adrenaline-pumping race, it is perfect. As Orienteers, we don't get very many opportunities to compete head-to-head and that is one of the things that makes the Sprint Series Finals so special. Nothing can compare to running a perfect sprint race by yourself on an awesome sprint course, but the adrenaline that comes in head-to-head sprint racing is pretty awesome too and I would hate to lose this opportunity to do it once a year.

I can't wait for the series to start up again next year. It is really tough to try to make it through the Fall without any Sprint Series races. Somehow regular sprints just don't have the same appeal without any points attached...

Here are my photos. The high-res files will start working later.

Saturday Farsta
Sprints 1 and 2
A-Finals

I missed the Women's Start and the Saegers at both the map exchange and the finish.

And just to chime in with the others---This was a great event. The organization was just perfect. Lots of attention to detail. The three courses just kept surprising me.

Some photos are up on TheWaterStop thanks to Sergei Zhyk.

If anyone else wants to upload photos to the album they can do so here.

fixed the saeger split issues.

How do I claim my splits? I rented a SI stick and did not write down the number.

I will email it to you. Though it used to be printed on your split sheets as well, unless I deleted that field...

Oops, I didn't even think to look at my split sheets, sorry!

As to John's complaint -- how about having fall sprints that don't make it to the champs count for next year?

p.s I agree -- the sprint courses were terrific - thanks Randy & Clem. And also Sandy, Valerie for the hard work. Peter for being the commish & Boris for stats. And all the other sprint setters & sprinters throughout the year.

agree with "dness". start already with the North Americans next month.

RouteGadget for the sprints is available on the DVOA site.

Awesome sprint courses! thanks so to everybody that made this possible, especially Randy, Clem, Sandy, Valerie and Peter. It was a great weekend!

Few more pictures.

Took awhile to get them done but here's more photos from the final sprint. High res available by request for now, but I'm sending them to DVOA's website so they should be up there soon.

Although I didn't get to attend the sprint races this year, last year's event was one of my favorite events ever. Moreover, I do think that they help us get ready for international events (including non-sprints) because the sprint finals (with mass start) feels like a high stakes race where you are aware of the speed of your opponents, the sense of competition, and little bits of time matter a lot. I think it's great to feel that speed and know what it is like to run that fast with a map in your hand where every second counts. I don't think sprints should replace other types of orienteering but it's great to do both.

The reason I could not attend this year was a random conflict. I would generally have loved to attend, and plan to do so next year (barring other random conflicts.)

I will join the notion expressed in previous posts regarding great organization of the Sprint Series Finals.

I have always enjoyed mass start races. I used to be petrified of them but know I love them and I'd wish for more mass start races personally - except score-O or Rogaine races.

If anything then I would suggest to change terminology that was used at the Sprint Series Finals. My son is into short track speed-skating and when I was explaining him format of the Finals hes remark was - that exactly what we do in short track speed-skating. However terminology there is different (and I believe the terminology what is used in short track speed-skating is used in other similar racing situations).

Maybe it is just me but when I hear term "heat" (in racing context I must add...) - I think about the sub-group of the competitors that start together in each round.

What was called "Men heat 1" could be called "Elite Men group", "Men heat-2" could be called "Open Men group". "Round 1" - Quarter-finals; "Round 2" - Semi-finals; "Round 3" - Finals.

Grouping names within each group may stay the same.

So using Sprint Series Finals as an example - there were 3 rounds of racing; there were 12 starts within each round totalling 36 unique races. All the unique races shall get heat number and heat time

Quarter-Finals - Heat 1 to 12
====================
Heat #1 - 9:00 - "Open Men" Group 1
Heat #2 - 9:02 - "Open Men" Group 2
Heat #3 - 9:04 - "Open Men" Group 3
...
Heat #7 - 9:14 - "Ladies" Group 3
...
Heat #12 - 9:12 - "Elite Men" Group 4

Semi-Finals - Heat 13 to 24
====================
Heat #13 - 11:00 - "Open Men" - Bracket B, Section 1
Heat #14 - 11:02 - "Open Men" - Bracket B, Section 2
...
Heat #24 - 11:26 - "Elite Men" - Bracket A, Section 2

Finals - Heat 25 to 36
================
Heat #25 - 2:00 - "Open Man" - B consolation
...
Heat #35 - 2:40 - "Ladies" - A Final
Heat #36 - 2:48 - "Elite men" - A Final

I agree, Gil. Even after understanding the terminology that was used I still had trouble actually using it because it is so common to refer to each individual race as a heat. It is a minor technicality, but perhaps it could be reconsidered for next year's Finals.

agree too ..

And you could probably start each course with Heat 1 to simplify things.

While a year-round series may be appealing to competitors, I think taking a few months off for the Grand Poobah Comish (and his various assistants) to catch his breath is probably the best way to keep the series going.

An alternative to running sprints year round is to do what we're planning next year: have a sprint series that wraps up in the summer and then switch to an adventure run series in the fall. This may help tap into the trail running crowd who ramp up their activity once the weather gets cooler.

And you could probably start each course with Heat 1 to simplify things

It looks like it could simplify but not necessary. Beauty of numbering all the races with numbers from 1 to 36 is that when you say "Heat #25" you know you are referencing to ["Open Man" - B consolation] race vs. if the heat numbers are reset for each round then when mentioning "Heat #1" - you must always specify the rest as well - is it [9:00 - "Open Men" Group 1 ] or [11:00 - "Open Men" - Bracket B, Section 1] or [2:00 - "Open Man" - B consolation]

Old news...but splits are finally posted on the Sprint Series info page. Note that for the third sprint, the finish punch was several meters beyond the official finish line so the last split (and therefore total time) is not all that meaningful.

Also, the results group everyone together and don't reflect the head-to-head racing format and how people advanced through the rounds. See Peter's page for that.

http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/SprintSe...

Thanks, Sandy!

The Commissioner has been in Sprint Rehab (a 14-day 6-step program for people who have overdosed on sprints, fortunately curable in only half the time and with half the steps as other addictions), due to check out soon, at which point plans for the 2007 Series will emerge.

And maybe he'll even get around to putting up a nice chart showing the results of all the match-ups at the finals, times included. Or maybe not....