[ARDF] Competitions for W15 and M15?

[Jay Hennigan]

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005, Matthew Robbins wrote:

> I was just looking at the ARDF Region 1 website, and I noticed the
> Junior Championships for this summer.  They are limited to competitors
> born after 1990.
>
> I did a search for the junior rules, and found them here:
>
> http://www.ardf-r1.org/html/ardfrules26b_rev1.htm#BA6
>
> So my question is this:  Why shouldn't we have W15 and M15 categories?
>
> Here's what they say:
>
> Y19.4  Course lengths shall be given as the length of a straight line
> from the start line via the transmitters in optimum order to the
> finish line. They should range from THREE to FIVE kilometers for the
> D15 category and FOUR to SIX kilometers for the M15 category. The
> number of transmitters which are to be searched for shall not exceed
> the length of the course in kilometers.
>
> Y25.6  Transmitters shall be searched for by each category as follows:
>
> =B7         M15 category shall search for three to all five transmitters.
>
> =B7         W15 category shall search for three to four transmitters.
>
>           The transmitters which are not to be searched for are
> determined by the siting referee.
>
> It sounds like the intent is to set courses specifically for M/W 15
> and to not use the same courses for the older categories, but it
> appears to me that the intent was also to allow both youth categories
> to use three Ts of an adult course. (?)
>
> Me, personally: I would like the US Champs to include a 2 or 3
> Transmitter course for M/W 15.  If we start getting many competitors
> in the class, in the future, we could even set both 2m and 80m at the
> same time to simplify the course design.  (To remove constraints on
> the coursesetter---It's hard enough to design five locations that meet
> all nine of the current age categories.)

I think the desire of the rulemakers is to give the competitors more
of a challenge with direction finding and route choices as opposed to
distance running.

Finding two transmitters on an adult championship course over 3 to 5 Km
will give the same length of run as a 5 Tx shorter course but fewer route
choices.

By offering a course with more controls, orienteering and DF skills
become more of a factor than running speed or stamina.  The shorter
distance allows younger competitors to finish in a reasonable time
without tiring, but more transmitters tilts the playing to favor DF
and orienteering skills over speed (as it should be).

In the rec.running newsgroup there seems to be some concern with the
idea of pre-teens running races longer than 5K due to the possibility
of injury to growing bones and joints.  Some of the regulars there
discourage races longer than a mile.  This may also be a factor.

Shortening the course too much also gives the course-setter more of a
challenge when it comes to exclusion circles, etc.

--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - jay at west.net
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