Russian Sprint Tour

http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/news/...ernet,976.html
http://www.skisprint.com/index.php?n...ault&fla=index

Do we have a Russian speaker that would be able to translate part of
the following page:
http://skisprint.com/index.php?nma=n...=stat&nums=318

Feel free to translate as much as you want, but in particular I'm
interested in the paragraph about the second race's format. It
seems to have used one where skiers went in the opposite directions on
the sprint course (classical?), but I'm not sure about that. Thanks,

Gene

On 6 avr, 15:51, wrote:
Do we have a Russian speaker that would be able to translate part of
the following page:http://skisprint.com/index.php?nma=n...=stat&nums=318

Feel free to translate as much as you want, but in particular I'm
interested in the paragraph about the second race's format. It
seems to have used one where skiers went in the opposite directions on
the sprint course (classical?), but I'm not sure about that. Thanks,

Gene

Hi Gene,

It says that the racers start on two parralel tracks and ski out in
different directions. They ski in a circle, so they end up going
towards each other. Because the tracks are uneven, it is difficult for
athletes to figure out who is leading. This is an important part of
the race because judges eliminate the slowest athletes at the end of
the lap. Because the athletes do not know who is leading, they never
know whether they can afford to slow down and it forces them to
constantly think abou their tactics.

The author does not elaborate on what she means by "uneven tracks."
Perhaps she means that while the tracks are of equal length, they are
not symmetric.

Thanks! One of the racers was quoted as saying that they wouldn't be
surprised to see this format introduced on the World Cup within a
couple of years, but that in any case it would make a good training
drill. It does have an element of perversity.

Gene


On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 15:32:22 -0700 (PDT)
edna2 wrote:

On 6 avr, 15:51, wrote:
Do we have a Russian speaker that would be able to translate part of
the following
page:http://skisprint.com/index.php?nma=n...=stat&nums=318

Feel free to translate as much as you want, but in particular I'm
interested in the paragraph about the second race's format. It
seems to have used one where skiers went in the opposite directions
on the sprint course (classical?), but I'm not sure about that.
Thanks,

Gene

Hi Gene,

It says that the racers start on two parralel tracks and ski out in
different directions. They ski in a circle, so they end up going
towards each other. Because the tracks are uneven, it is difficult for
athletes to figure out who is leading. This is an important part of
the race because judges eliminate the slowest athletes at the end of
the lap. Because the athletes do not know who is leading, they never
know whether they can afford to slow down and it forces them to
constantly think abou their tactics.

The author does not elaborate on what she means by "uneven tracks."
Perhaps she means that while the tracks are of equal length, they are
not symmetric.

On Apr 7, 8:47*am, wrote:

Thanks! *One of the racers was quoted as saying that they wouldn't be
surprised to see this format introduced on the World Cup within a
couple of years, but that in any case it would make a good training
drill. *It does have an element of perversity.

It would appear tome that the people who came up with this format of
racing must have received their inspiration from watching the FIA
"Race of Champions", which is a head-to-head knockout event on a
circuit with parallel tracks.

Anyway, I'm still a bit unclear about how the format in Yekaterinburg
played out. I'm pretty sure it cannot have been an exact copy ( i.e.
a pure head-to-head knockout), but I'm just guessing that there was
the usual number of skiers in each heat and at every stage, and that
one half of the field took one parallel track and and the other half
took the other one - am I right or am I wrong?

It's true that there is something perverse in turning what should
essentially be a man-to-man race (all of the way) into something that
is racing against the clock for the skiers but perhaps hugely
entertaining man-to-man racing for the spectators (who can see it all
from their elevated position) - and I'm afraid you're right in that
the FIS appears to love anything that can be marketed as spectator-
friendly or as "good TV".


Anders


PS if no one has yet called you a top-posting moron who has forgotten
how to snip, please let me be the first:-)

I, personally, prefer top posting! In fact, this is the first mention I've
ever heard of someone on RSN saying how to post. I nearly was crucified
over on rec.running for top posting.

JKal.

"Anders" wrote in message
...
On Apr 7, 8:47 am, wrote:

Thanks! One of the racers was quoted as saying that they wouldn't be
surprised to see this format introduced on the World Cup within a
couple of years, but that in any case it would make a good training
drill. It does have an element of perversity.

It would appear tome that the people who came up with this format of
racing must have received their inspiration from watching the FIA
"Race of Champions", which is a head-to-head knockout event on a
circuit with parallel tracks.

Anyway, I'm still a bit unclear about how the format in Yekaterinburg
played out. I'm pretty sure it cannot have been an exact copy ( i.e.
a pure head-to-head knockout), but I'm just guessing that there was
the usual number of skiers in each heat and at every stage, and that
one half of the field took one parallel track and and the other half
took the other one - am I right or am I wrong?

It's true that there is something perverse in turning what should
essentially be a man-to-man race (all of the way) into something that
is racing against the clock for the skiers but perhaps hugely
entertaining man-to-man racing for the spectators (who can see it all
from their elevated position) - and I'm afraid you're right in that
the FIS appears to love anything that can be marketed as spectator-
friendly or as "good TV".


Anders


PS if no one has yet called you a top-posting moron who has forgotten
how to snip, please let me be the first:-)

On Apr 16, 3:12*am, "outsideinmi"
wrote:

I, personally, prefer top posting! *In fact, this is the first mention I've
ever heard of someone on RSN saying how to post. *I nearly was crucified
over on rec.running for top posting.

What are you talking about? Who are you talking to?

I, personally, prefer snoring:-)

Back to the issue at hand: as per usual, no one knew anything and no
one, including yours truly, was interested enough to find out.

FWIW this is what Emil Jönsson wrote in his blog: "It was not a
pursuit as we know it, but a pursuit where competitors started at
their ends of a round course. It was about 600 meters long and
slightly hilly, but we could pole throughout. Each lap the last were
picked out and at last there were 4-6 left, 2-3 on both sides, who
fought over who would be the first over the finish line. We skied 5-6
laps both in the semi and in the final."


Anders (who has a theory about how people who top post differ from
people who do not)

....which I don't want to hear about.

Anders (who has a theory about how people who top post differ from
people who do not)

....which I don't want to hear about.