Winning Times for Men and Women Foot Orienteering – survey for all orienteers
The IOF recognises that Foot-Orienteering is its only discipline where winning times for men and women are different in some competitions. This is clearly the case at major elite level where, for example, the WOC Long Distance winning time for men is 20 minutes longer than for women. This is also true at Junior and Masters level (for example at WMOC, both the Forest Qualifier and the Long Final races have different winning times for men and women). Many Federations have different winning times for men and women for all age classes as well.
In 2016 Sweden presented a proposal to the IOF General Assembly to make winning times equal. The result of the vote was against the proposal. Discussions have now started again within the IOF about whether winning times should be equal for Long Distance Elite competitions and this survey is designed to provide data to aid the debate.
We would like to know your opinion of whether there should be equal winning times for men and women in different age groups, and if so, what the winning times should be.
Please complete this survey by Thursday March 31st 2022 to give your opinion.
You find the survey here.
Do you want to have a say in IOF Foot Orienteering Gender Equality?
The FootO Commission have formed a Working Group to discuss a number of questions, and we are looking for 5-10 interested people to join the discussion as part of a Reference Group. This Reference Group will ideally represent present and former athletes, coaches, organisers, Junior, Senior and Masters level orienteering, and people from a range of different countries and backgrounds so we can get many different perspectives on the issue. We will consider the results from the survey as part of the remit.
The questions we want to answer:
- Should Long Distance winning times be the same for men and women at IOF FootO events?
- If yes, what should the winning times be?
- Should winning times vary at Senior level – e.g. 90-100 minutes at WOC, 70-80 at World Cup (or choice for the organisers)?
- What does this mean for winning times at Junior and Masters events?
- Should Sprint Relay running order be the same going forward, and if not, how should it be in future? Perhaps changing between each Sprint-WOC?
The commitment will likely be to take part in one or more online discussions during the spring, in order that the IOF can make decisions about any changes in time for the 2023 season.
If you are interested in taking part in the Reference Group, please email Graham Gristwood (grahamgristwood@gmail.com) with a short statement about your experience and why you want to take part.
Deadline Thursday 31st March 2022 for applications.
IOF FootO Gender Equality Working Group