Discussion: What are "dobbed spikes" (recommended for WMOC)?

I'm off to WMOC in Hungary in a few days. Just discovered that for the Sprint Final "the use of dobbed spikes is recommended." What does that mean? Someone told me that they thought that meant rubber cleats with no metal tips, but I've looked at the web sites of some orienteering vendors and they talk about O-shoes with "metal dobbs". I have VJ Falcons; the bottom or each shoe has 20 rubber cleats, half of which have 1/8 inch metal studs protruding. The bottoms look something like the ones pictured here: http://www.mamut.net/smsport/subdet794.htm. The map for the venue is here: http://wmoc2011.hu/maps/sprint_final. Looks like a lot of pavement running to me, but the WMOC organizers say "Both in dry and rainy weather, competitors are advised to use dobbed spike shoes. At the steeper grassy areas these shoes can prevent the runners from slipping."

Any recommendations?

Wear dobbs (your Falcons), unless you have foot issues. Wear dobbs, even if you have foot issues, if you care more about your result.

Dobb spikes are short metal spikes like studded snow tires that protrude from the rubber cleats, which is pretty much the only kind of spiked O-shoes sold these days. The term differentiates from the old-style screw-in spikes that resembled golf spikes, which I haven't seen in about 20 years, though I still have a pair out in the garage.

Me too jj - someone should organise a collection.

I should point out that all of the spikes on mine are worn completely flat. Next time I find them, I should really throw them away.

Thanks, Neil and JJ!

I suppose it may be the same as the WOC sprint qualifier this year. Is it worth wearing traill shoes with some sort of grip (ike the Inov8 Roclite 285s or xtalons for that matter) or wear more of a racing flat (like the flites) for the one small area of parkland...

I almost never wear spikes, and I don't expect to wear them in this case either.

I can't imagine metal dobbs would be much use on wet grass, but we should defer to the expert............http://www.attackpoint.org/userprofile.jsp/user_54....

Dennis,

I am wondering if there is a language translation problem here. It doesn't make sense to me that dobbed metal spikes would be the preferred shoe, if 80-90% of the course is on hard surfaces, But I guess we will see.

I'm not convinced that metal is the best option either, but testing that is what model events are for.