Course planners and Controllers take note!

Information extracted from the IOF Event Advisors newsletter – Feb 2020

The recent World Cup Final in China took place in terrain that was quite unfamiliar to Western competitors. Overall, the events went well but there were problems in the Middle Distance race where competitors had difficulty interpreting exactly where they could run.

So many transgressed that, in the end, the jury reinstated them all. The olive green (symbol 520 Area that shall not be entered) was the main problem, with a hedge on a potential route choice being mapped with olive green at a width below the minimum specification. There was also a lack of awareness (both by organisers and competitors) that, according to the ISOM 2017 mapping standard, a path through olive green can only be followed by competitors if it has been mapped with a white background and border.

ISOM 2017 states “Only contours and prominent features such as railways and large buildings shall be shown inside an out-of-bounds area.” Therefore, any path passing through olive green that must not be followed, should be removed from the map. If you do want competitors to be able to use the path, it must be mapped as described above.