I was wondering this morning if there are many dwarfs (or, I suppose midgets for that matter) who are good orienteers.

I was trying to think if they had any inherent advantages. I couldn't think of many. I thought of mostly disadvantages. To a dwarf any ground cover would seem relatively high. It would require picking feet up very high relative to his body. That would be as tiring as particularly higher ground cover is to an average height orienteer. The same problem also applies to rocks. Another problem a dwarf might encounter is the fact that many control codes are placed on top of the control, requiring the orienteer to have eye level at least that high (or figure out another way to read the code). That seems a bit of a ADA violation to me, but I'm not the type to obsess over such trivialities.

There is something to being a bit short as a runner. Many of the fastest runners are somewhat short (for middle distance and longer). I suppose a lot of it has to do with how leg length compares with weight (scaling as size-squared and size-cubed roughly) and things like strength-to-weight ratios. Maybe shortness is an advantage for running. Perhaps running in terrain changes this in some ways. What I don't know is how this really scales down to very short people. There might be a real problem with stride length eventually. A shorter person (e.g., a dwarf) would presumably have short strides. That would require a fast leg turnover. It's all quite complicated I'm sure.

There might be an advantage for dwarfs, however, in areas that require most people to bend over. Bending over is pretty tiring and a bit slowing. A dwarf might be able to run upright while others are bent over. Just food for thought...

While I'm on the subject, I've always wondered about dwarf tossing. That's quite a sport in the bars of Western Australia. But what is there in it for the dwarf? Perhaps dwarfs would rather orienteer?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 26, 2000

Answers

There have been some very good orienteers who are short. Annichen Kringstad (5 gold medals at World Champs, I think) was under 5 foot tall. Oyvin Thon -- another multi-time World Champ -- was probably abotu 5 foot 3.

I would think short orienteers would have trouble in certain types of terrain. Mary has trouble when the footing is really rough. There are probably some terrain types when being tall is a disadvantage. There are some types of trees that seem to have a lot of branches right about the level of my face. If I were a foot shorter maybe I could just sprint under those branches.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), July 26, 2000.

I reckon Oyvind Thon is a lot closer to 5' 10" than 5' 3", unless he has shrunk a bunch since his elite days.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), July 26, 2000.

Oyvin always struck me as being quite small. Let's split the difference and say 5-6 1/2.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), July 27, 2000.

Peter Gagarin isn't a dwarf, but he sure isn't an NBA prospect, and it doesn't seem to be too much of a problem for him. And perhaps another fine example is Marty Hawkes-Teeter. He's really short, although now that he's hitting puberty he's growing. Does just fine. Personally, I'd be happy to be tossed if I were short enough. Sounds like fun.

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), July 27, 2000.

Discussion of people who are rather less than average height is all nice and fine, but 5'3" does not a dwarf make. When I think of dwarfs I think of someone in the neighborhood of 4 feet tall.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 27, 2000.

Maybe we need another thread for dwarfs or maybe Mook needs to lay off the Vodka before logging on.

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), July 27, 2000.

Unbeknownst to at least some of my OK compatriots, and despite the occasional snide comment, I have continued along undeterred with my research involving the participation of dwarfs in orienteering. I did a web search on dwarf orienteers and ended up getting very little hard evidence that dwarfs constitute a significant fraction of the orienteering population.

However, that being said, it does appear that at least the creators of the Muppets has given this idea some thought. A careful inspection of the list of Muppets reveals that at least one, "Hoggle" by name, is an orienteer! Not only that, but there are some who suspect Hoggle may in fact also be a dwarf!

This all just goes to show that a little hard work can pay big dividends.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), September 26, 2000.