Most of the Map Commission's correspondence has to do with deviations from the
competitions rules on map scale.
The "Competition rules for International Orienteering Federation (IOF) foot
orienteering events" states:
15.2 The map scale for classic distance races shall be 1:15000.
The map scale for short distance races and for relays shall be 1:15000 or 1:10000.
16.2 The standard of the courses shall be worthy of an international orienteering
event. The navigational skill, concentration and running ability of the competitors
shall be tested. All courses shall call upon a range of different orienteering
techniques. Courses for short distance shall require, in particular, a high level
of concentration throughout the course, detailed map reading and frequent decision
making. Courses for classic distance shall require route choice.
"Guidelines for World Ranking Events (WRE) 2002":
The normal scale of the map is 1:15,000 for Long and 1:10,000
for Middle distance and 5,000 for Sprint races. The use of any other scale needs
the recommendation of the IOF Event Advisor and the approval of the IOF Map Commission.
General remarks:
1. The selection of WREs is the responsibility of national federations. The national
federations will have to make sure that the IOF competition rules are followed.
Only by following the IOF competition rules, the fairness for all participants
can be ensured, this is especially important for foreign competitors.
2. To choose extreme terrain (which is impossible or very difficult to map using
a 1:15000 scale) for an IOF event is unfair to foreign participants. Also, local
map symbols shall not be used for IOF events.
3. This cannot be an economical issue. IOF WREs are the most important events
of a country (excluding WOC, WC), and each country has a right to organize only
3 events each year. Again, we want to emphasize that it is the responsibilty of
national federations to select and nominate the proper events for WREs.
Below you will find basic information on the requests we have received together
with the decisions of the MC (excluding sensitive data).
The local federations are also informed about our decisions (since they are responsible
for selecting events and event advisors).
Event date
Event name
Request
Decision
06. 29. 2003.
NOR: Norwegian O-Festival
1:10000 scale for classic event
refused - 13. 12. 2002.
02. 15. 2003.
ESP: III Trofeo Internacionál Diputación de
Cádiz 2003