Having made a recent post about the finish, thought I’d do one about the start. There’s no new change, so this is a reminder.
The rules say:
The position of the centre of the start triangle shown on the map must be on a mapped feature and identified on the ground by a control flag. For TD1 and 2 courses this feature will need to be a path or similar feature.
This will apply to all our JOG and QOFL events.
If pre-marked maps are used, copies of the map showing no information other than any map corrections essential to the event should be displayed and available for study before the start line.
It is common to see blank maps in the start lines at larger events, but I’m not sure QO always does this at the moment. We should be doing this at QOFLs at least.
The non-compulsory advice that comes with the rules goes on to say:
The position of the start line should be such that competitors waiting to start cannot see any route choice options taken by competitors who have already started.
The map issue point should be such that all competitors will visit the start flag.
The courses should be designed so that competitors are unlikely to return through the pre-start area on their way to the first control site.
Richard