Analysis of Micro-O at Norwegian Champs Middle

Some like Micro-O - some not. Micro-O is - however - not dead, even if it was not included in the WOC program for 2006. The World Cup Event at Hovden 22/6/2007 is planned as a middle distance with Micro-O, and strong forces within the orienteering movement are still working on further developing the Micro-O concept - either as a part of the middle distance as today, or as a part of other distances like the long distance or the relay.

Stig Alvestad was one of 8 men managing to run through the Mirco-O at the Norwegian Champs Middle without errors. This achievement gave him the silver medal.

No training - but important for outcome

Several of the Top-6 runners in the Norwegian Championships middle distance at Hovden this year admitted after the race that they had not done any specific micro-O related training before the championships. And close to nobody has run a competition with micro-O the last year. This may sound strange to the ones not closely familiar with norwegian orienteering and Micro-O in particular, as each penalty loop in the micro-O costs the runner about 20 seconds, and the Micro-O part of the competition had direct impact on the medals. Add to this that no women runners(!) managed to get through the Micro-O part of the course without penalty loops.

However, the fact that close to nobody has run competitions with Micro-O the last year is not strange - as there has been very few such competitions (some have been made for the youth categories in Norway, but there are few others that I am aware of). If the Micro-O concept shall survive, it is extremely important that the number of competitions with Micro-O is increased significantly. Special rules for some kind of "Micro-O light" which is easy to organize (Micro-O like it is defined today gives a large load for the organizers) should also be defined. Maybe with penalty of e.g. 20 seconds for each wrong control instead of penalty loops, and with no change of map scale for the Micro-O part.

Analysis of Micro-O results at Hovden

Only 8 men and no women managed to run through the Micro-O course without doing any errors. One of the men without penalties was the surprise silver medalist, Stig Alvestad. With one penalty round, he would have been out of the medals. Anders Nordberg won gold even with two penalty rounds. In the tables below you see the results summarized. It seems like the reason that no women managed to get through the Micro-O without errors is that the womens course is somewhat more difficult than the mens course. Note that in addition to taking the wrong micro controls, many runners did other mistakes in the micro part as well - such as route choice errors - as the micro part contained a lot of "real" orienteering also this time. You can see route choices of Jon Pedersen for the Micro-O part here, and Øystein Kvaal Østerbø for the Micro-O part here.

# Penalties	Men	Women
0	8	0
1	20	8
2	11	16
3	4	6
4	1	4
5	1	0

Rank	Name	Club	Time	Penalties
1	Marianne Andersen	Nydalens SK	32:50 +00:00	2
2	Anne Margrethe Hausken	Baekkelagets SK	34:24 +01:34	2
3	Lene Moe	Nydalens SK	35:19 +02:29	2
4	Ingunn Fristad	Halden SK	35:43 +02:53	2
5	Hanne Staff	Baekkelagets SK	35:46 +02:56	3
6	Birte Riddervold	NTNUI	36:23 +03:33	3

Rank	Name	Club	Time	Penalties
1	Anders Nordberg	Baekkelagets SK	31:51 +00:00	2
2	Stig Alvestad	Wing OK	32:11 +00:20	0
3	Holger Hott Johansen/td>	Kristiansand OK	32:14 +00:23	1
4	Hans Gunnar Omdal	Ovrebo og Vindbjart Orientering	32:18 +00:27	1
5	Hans Troan	Nydalens SK	33:12 +01:21	1
6	Carl Waaler Kaas	NTNUI	33:30 +01:39	3

Analysis of Micro-O course at Hovden

One way to learn how to get a better Micro-O runner is to study previous Micro-O maps and courses - and to analyze where and how runners made errors in previous Micro-O courses. There are a number of Micro-O examples available at a special Micro-O page at the homepage of the Norwegian Orienteering Federation - showing maps and courses including false controls from NOC 2005 and a number of other competitions. Even more important than looking at maps and courses is to see where and how the competitors made errors. Below, an analysis is made for the mens and womens categories for the Micro-O part of the course at the Norwegian Championships Middle distance at Hovden. For each of the 6 controls, the percentage of the runners punching each of the controls is shown. The correct control is drawn in red for the women and blue for the men. Note that the men and women Micro-O courses are similar, but not equal. To see from which angle the runners came to each of the controls, see this map of the mens course:

Men

1. control
88% of the men took the correct first control. This is in contrast to the women, where only 41% found the correct first control (see further down on the page). The women control was, however, further down, such that the women passed three controls before they came to their control.

2. control
70% of the runners found the correct 2nd control. Somewhat better for the women (who had the same control here), where 79% did it right.

3. control
Running down a slope and surching for a stone among hundreds is not easy... 68% of the men did this correctly. In the womens class, the number was 52%, but the women control seems more difficult as the mens control is at two stones close together.

4. control
This was the most difficult one for the men - only 54% found the correct control. For the women, the corresponding figure is 64%, but this time the womens control seems easier, as this is a control which the runners get to earlier when taking the control from above.

5. control
79% for the men - 70% for the women. Both have the same control.

6. control
97% for the men - 73% for the women. The mens control seems to be easier than the mens control in this case, although the womens control is the only one which is at the south side of the path.