Orientathlon

Bulletin I.

The orientathlon will be organized at the first day of the Hungarian Cup in the men's and women's elite category (instead of the middle distance event, the orientathlon will be organised). We suggest the participants to read carefully the description and the rules of the orientathlon. We hope that a lot of spectators will enjoy the competition.

Concerning category: M21E, W21E
Competition form: orientathlon mass start event
Location: The finish area of the first day of the Hungarian Cup
Date: 17.08.2009
Course length: Men: 5,5km, Women: 4,5km
Map: 1:5000/5m, surveyed 2009

Before the mass start for all participants, it is obligatory to be present at the orientathlon read-out tent to check the SI cards. Those runners who did not check it, can not start on the competition.

General description of the orientathlon

The orientathlon wants to exploit the possibilities of the very interesting and spectacular micr-o competition form made-up by the Norwegians and to develop it. It uses the penalty loop concept well known from biathlon. The orientathlon consists of three micr-o legs in a 1:5000 scaled map. Each leg starts and finishes at the same finish area, so the spectators can see the competitors after each leg. The course seams like a normal orienteering course, but instead of normal controls there are groups of controls where control points are very close to each other (with 4-6 controls in a group), without control code. The competitor must punch the correct one by the help of the map (of course all competitors have one control marked among the group of controls on the map) and of control description. Each control of a leg is the part of a group of controls, only the last control in each leg is a normal control (alone control), which can be seen from the finish area. Punching a wrong control in a group means one plus penalty loop (100-120m) in the finish area. After each leg, the competitor runs as many penalty loops as the number of wrong controls punched in the actual leg. In orientathlon it is obligatory to punch at least one control point in each group, so the miss of a group of controls results in disqualification. The competitors have different controls in a group, and the controls in a group are very close to each other (20-30m), but the difference in the total distance of the courses is less than 30m. The three legs go to three different parts of the map, and after the last leg a short normal leg (so here there are only normal controls) finishes the course around the finish area. Therefore the last part of the course can be saw by the spectators.

Orientathlon course example 1

Orientathlon course example 2

Orientathlon group of controls example

General rules of the Orientathlon

The orientahlon consists of three micr-o legs in a 1:5000 scaled map. Each leg starts and finishes at the same finish area, so the spectators can see the competitors after each leg. Punching a wrong control at micr-o controls means one plus penalty loop (100-120m) in the finish area (see the description of the micr-o legs). The three legs go to three different parts of the map, and after the last leg a short normal leg (with usual controls) finishes the course around the finish area. Therefore the last part of the course can be saw by the spectators.

Micr-O legs:

In a leg it is obligatory to punch at least one control in each group of controls. There is 4-6 controls in a group. Of course only one control is marked on the map in each group of controls. But the competitors have different controls among the groups. There is no code on the controls in a group, so the correct control can be found only by the help of the map and the control description. The competitiors have different controls in a group. The controls in a group are very close to each other (20-30m) and the controls can be put on similar objects, moreover they can be on the same object (e.g.: in the two side of a big rock). Of course on simple objects (like pit, little rock, charaocal-burning place, single tree, corner of fence) only one control can be placed. The essence is that the controls should be differentiated exactly by the map and by the control description. Missing a group of controls (so not punching any controls in a group of controls) results the disqualification of the competitor. Punching a wrong control in a group of controls, or punching more controls in a group (e.g: punching all the controls in a group, so the correct one is also punched) means one penalty loop in the finish area after the leg. So errors in the same group of controls result in only one penalty loop. If the competitor has SI card 5 it can happen that the card will be full, because of the many punches. That's why there is no reason to punch more than one control in a group, because otherwise it surly means one penalty loop.

After the micr-o leg:

The last control of a leg is the same for all competitors. The last control can be seen from the finish area by the spectators. After punching this control, the competitor runs on an obligatory, marked route, and at the reading tent he reads out his SI card (reading SI card takes 1-2 seconds). The result of the leg (the number of penalty loops) can be seen on LCD monitors. The competitor runs as many penalty loops, as the number of mistakes he did, like in biathlon.

Penalty loop:

The penalty loop should be 20-25 seconds, 100-120m long. At the end of each loop the competitor must punch a control (with that the accomplish of one loop can be proved).
On the Hungarian Cup, the software do not show if somebody has been disqualified, the result of the whole competition is only known at the end of the race. Therefore everybody will run the whole course.
After accomplishing the penalty loops or if there was no mistake, the runner goes to the next leg of the course.

After the third mic-o leg:

After the third leg, a normal leg (every control is the same for all competitors, and there is only one control without group, with code) finishes the course with 3-4 controls. This leg can be seen by the spectators, therefore the last part of the competition is very spectacular. It may be necessary to put 2-3 SI boxes on a control.
After finishing, the competitor reads out his SI card, and the overall result will be known.

Orientathlon event forms:

The event forms are the same as in biathlon. On the Hungarian Cup the most spectacular form, the mass start will be organized.
1. Mass start (3 legs, 5-6 km)
2. Individual start (3 legs, 5-6km)
3. Sprint (2 legs, 3km)
4. Chasing start (by the results of the sprint competition)
5. Relay (each member runs 2 legs)

Resume of the General Rules of orientathlon

1. Three micr-o legs, penalty loop after each leg
2. After the last leg a normal short leg finishes the course
3. Controls in a group are very close to each other (20-30m)
4. Competitors have different controls in a group of controls
5. The difference between the shortest and longest course can be maximum 30m (and of course the climb must almost be the same)
6. A penalty loop is approximately 100-120m
7. The three micr-o leg go to different parts of the terrain
8. The final normal leg after the third micr-o leg can be entirely seen by the spectators.

Software:

The Orientathlon software is developed by Robert Misko.