Evaluation of 10Mila 2024

During 10MILA in Nynäshamn, night stages were introduced for the women. Night orienteering has always been a hallmark of 10MILA, and Tiomilaföreningen is very pleased that both main relays are now partly run in the dark. As a result of these changes, the 10MILA weekend has been reshaped and given a completely new format this year. To find out how the orienteering world has received these change, Tiomilaföreningen enlisted the help of the independent research company, Upplevelseinstitutet, which will evaluate the competition from 2024 to 2026. After the competitions in Nynäshamn, nearly 4,000 surveys were sent to participants, with a response rate of about 40%.

10MILA is meant to be a tough, challenging competition, partly run in the dark, where participants of all levels compete under the same conditions as the elite. Historically, the men’s stages in 10MILA have been about 15 minutes longer than the women’s. As part of the Swedish Orienteering Federation’s new rule on equal competition, women and men must now have the same winning time. This year, the goal was to aim for an average stage winning time of 50-55 minutes. Upplevelseinstitutet’s evaluation showed that many men felt the stages were too short this year, while women responded positively to the slightly longer stages. Tiomilaföreningen has taken note of this and will adjust the winning times for the upcoming competition in Finspång. 10MILA, with its name referring to a specific distance, carries a strong tradition, and this year’s change in race time was seen as too drastic.

Nevertheless, the evaluation shows that one-third of participants thought this year’s event offered a better experience than previous 10MILAs, another third thought the experience was about the same, and the remaining third felt this year’s 10MILA provided a worse experience. The distribution of responses is similar between men and women, although women have a slightly more positive view of this year’s event compared to men. It is also clear that this year’s changes appealed more to the broader teams than the elite teams.

The major change this year was the introduction of night stages for women, with more and longer stages in the women’s relay. These changes were predominantly well-received by the women, with over 60% expressing strong approval of the night stages. For Tiomilaföreningen, it is important that both the men’s and women’s relays are given equal attention during the competition day, and to achieve this, the association believes strongly in a setup where the relays are largely decided separately. This means that the night must be shared between both men and women, a time of day that was previously reserved for the men. The survey shows that the majority of men were unhappy about having fewer night stages this year. As a result of introducing night stages for women, a break with a chase start was also introduced for both relays. Some participants felt this went against the spirit of a relay, which traditionally runs uninterrupted from start to finish. However, the survey shows that most participants accept the change (either positively or neutrally). Here too, it is clear that men are slightly more negative about the change than women.

The pause in the competition led to a wave start for teams that had fallen behind. This was appreciated, as it allowed the broader teams to experience more of the relay feeling later in the race. Before this year’s competition, there were concerns that the women, who previously received all the attention on Saturday afternoon, would now be overshadowed by a late-morning finish. Fortunately, this fear did not come true, and there was a lot of activity at the arena throughout the competition day. Some comments noted that the competition day felt too long and drawn out. In reality, the day has been compressed but has become more intense, which was one of Tiomilaföreningen’s goals.

In summary, the survey shows that this year’s changes received both praise and criticism, but they have not discouraged participants from aiming to return next year. Among participants aged 16-25, over 95% plan to return next year to 10MILA in Finspång (the results from Upplevelseinstitutet’s survey can be reviewed in the attached document).

Changes for the upcoming year

This year’s 10MILA was the first with the new format, and beforehand, much of it was guesswork about how it would turn out. With the competition now completed, there is much more knowledge about the new setup, and adjustments can be made in certain areas to improve the event as much as possible. The survey conducted by Upplevelseinstitutet, combined with internal evaluations, has resulted in four main changes:

1. The breaks between the women’s finish on the night stages and the men’s chase start, as well as between the men’s finish and the women’s chase start, will be shortened, and there will be a bit more overlap between the relays. Reducing the break will allow more night orienteering for the men while ensuring that the women’s relay does not continue as long on Sunday. Both outcomes have been requested by participants, and the change can be made without major adjustments to the competition format.
2. 10MILA should be a tough, challenging, and partly dark competition, where participants of all levels compete on the same terms as the elite, with the hope that as many as possible will take up the challenge. This year’s evaluation shows that this was somewhat achieved, but especially men felt that the relay was too short, both in total length and that it lacked one or two longer stages. In 2025, the average stage time will be increased slightly so that the men’s relay will once again be 100 kilometers, a symbolic distance important to many.
3. The stage lengths will vary even more, with the hope that there will be a stage for everyone, both short and long, to run in the relays.
4. Sunday was perceived as very long by many during this year’s event. With the breaks between the different parts of the men’s and women’s relays reduced, the competition length will be shortened slightly. In addition, the women’s restart will be moved earlier to further reduce the length of the event.