Competition experience - Oceanic championships, melbourne

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:12:07 +0100

Quote from pentathlon.org.au

The Oceanic Championships were conducted in Melbourne on 22-26 Jan 2009. It was the first official competition to be conducted under the new combined shoot/run format which was conducted at the Melbourne International Shooting Club.  The combined format worked very well thanks to the preparation by the competition Director, Kate Thompson, by ensuring that adequate numbers of officials were allocated to each athlete while in the shooting area.   It was generally believed by those who observed the shoot/run competition that the UIPM needs to give more consideration toward the penalty/reward applied to an athlete missing/hitting a target during the shooting phase of the competition.   During the run/shoot competition, there was a tendency for athletes to stand in the shooting bay and stretch in preparation for the next leg of the run as the maximum time for shooting each set of 5 targets got closer. They did this rather than continuing to attempt to hit the balance of outstanding targets. This failed to provide the right atmosphere of anticipation or interest for spectators as there was no apparent desperation by the athletes to hit the targets before continuing on the next run leg.   Therefore, to ensure that the shoot is not relegated to a mere formality during the run competition and for it to have the desired spectator interest, a penalty/reward needs to be imposed on an athlete for missing/hitting a target.   It was generally thought that the penalty run loop achieved this aim. However, alternative suggestions included limiting the amount of shots and imposing a penalty time period (i.e. athlete goes to a "sin bin" area to wait out the extra time) or if not limiting the amount shots, adding extra time for each target missed.

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