Route to WOC24 Edinburgh 🇬🇧 (3)

Welcome to the third and final challenge in our “Road to WOC” series! This time, we stay in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, presenting a simulated leg for the individual final. A key variable in this championship is route choice involving steep staircases. These legs are particularly challenging because runners lose significant time on these types of stairs, where individual skills, especially descending, play a crucial role.

Competitors face a dilemma: take risks on shorter but steep routes with many stairs, opt for longer paths with fewer stairs, or find a balance in between. These choices will be pivotal and could determine the final result.

Today’s challenge incorporates all these elements. Runners must analyze their options carefully: gamble on a shorter route with steep stairs or push hard on a longer path. This leg tests not just speed but strategic thinking and agility.

Are you ready to tackle this final challenge? Put your skills to the test and find the fastest route. The journey to WOC has been long, but these final steps are crucial. Good luck, and may the best route win!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

If you haven’t drawn your route yet, do not keep scrolling down!!!
The analysis of the routes is posted below

The debate is served. We have three routes A (533m), B (532m), and C (521m) with a similar distance, which require considerable climbing and take place through areas of steep stairs. A fourth route, option D (597m) is about 60-75 meters longer and, although it also presents some climbing and some stairs, it allows for a faster running speed.

The question is: how long does progressing up steep stairs slow your pace? upstairs? and downstairs? Are 60-75 extra meters acceptable to avoid the steep stairs area?

Obviously, these are not easy questions to answer. If we consider uphill stairs, the time lost is not too high compared to the same climb/incline on a smooth surface. However, going down these types of stairs, especially if they are long, reduces the running speed in a very decisive way, although this depends largely on the runner’s ability. As an added element, in these stair areas it is almost impossible to read the map since the visual requirements are concentrated on the ground, which prevents advance reading opportunities.

Although in this case, I consider that it is not possible to establish which route is the fastest categorically, since it depends largely on the individual abilities of each runner, I believe that option D is acceptable, safe, and easy to execute, which, in the worst case scenario, it wouldn’t be much slower than the other brilliantly executed options. Therefore, I think option D is the best.

Do you agree? I’d love to hear your opinion!