Voting for the “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ has now opened - and will be open from November 28th until December 9th. The past week all nominated runners have been presented at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - and now everything is ready to name the Orienteering Achievement of 2008. Now it is up to you! Please help spreading the news - and give all these great achievements by the worlds finest orienteers their deserved honor!

• Follow this link to go to the voting page
• 10 prizes from Trimtex will be drawn among all voting

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008: Runesson and Falk

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk - both from Sweden - were named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes - nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote was decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year - and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Read more in the Press Release about the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008 winners.

Rules and prizes for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Prizes will be drawn among the voters:

1. A person can only vote once in each of the categories (if several people share one internet connection, only one can vote, as the IP address is used to identify the voter along with the email-address of the voter).
2. Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) will be drawn. We would like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Spread the news

Help making the poll as representative for the international orienteering community as possible! Spread the news about the poll, by publishing an article about the election on your website, and encourage people participating. Please use this link:

• http://poll.worldofo.com/poll2008.html (voting will be opened from here)

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, five websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at either World of O or Ultimate Orienteering. Websites with on average more than 200 visitors/day will count triple when linking to the poll. Send an email to Jan@Kocbach.net with the sites address if you want to be part of this draw for free sponsored links. Sponsored links may be to any orienteering related page or product - must necessarily by the website drawn. Please use one of the following images when linking to the poll:

- Actually I’m not sure if my biggest achievement was to get a bronze medal in long distance in the World Champs or “almost” manage to reach a 4000m legendary summit in the French Alps. Both experiences were extremely challenging and I was immediately thinking to try again with “better style” the next time, Francois Gonon explains his highlights of the season - and his goals for reaching even higher next time! Gonon took the first French WOC medal on the long distance - and also the first individual French WOC medal by anyone else than Thierry Gueorgiou. Below Gonon is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Francois Gonon

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I am 29 years old, born in Saint-Etienne and so far I have been living there. Right now, I have some serious plan to move to the French Jura (next to Swiss border and to WOC 2012 area) for the coming years. I started orienteering in 1992 and I trained the last 13 years with Saint-Etienne “Pôle France” (O’training center). This season I managed to be back in top shape just in time for world champs after some over-training “small troubles” earlier in the spring.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was a lot of nice happening this season again…. actually I’m not sure if my biggest achievement was to get a bronze medal in long distance in the world champs or “almost” manage to reach a 4000m legendary summit in the French Alps. Both experiences were extremely challenging and I was immediately thinking to try again with « better style » the next time !

I got a nice self confidence and satisfaction feedback after my long distance race in world champs. And in same time I got a clear overview of what was still missing to run 1′57 faster too. So almost just after the finish line, I was already thinking about the best way to be stronger, about some more quality training and some better preparation for coming years. WOC 2009 was already starting !

I like to think that the last 2 years results were just a step to some much better onces in the future

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
It’s always nice to be in the list… but it’s lots of other good and talented orienteers around, and I have a great respect for them all.

What are your main goals for the future?
I like to think that the last 2 years results were just a step to some much better onces in the future. I still have lot of aspect to improve in my performance and my plan is to compete at least to 2012 in Switzerland. So, if I’m right, it means 4 world champs left… It’s time to make my dreams come true, let’s train more !

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
Likely it’s plenty of dreaming places to orienteer… it’s an all life project to visit them all !

At the moment the number one on my list is NOM 84 map near Sørreisa (Troms). If you are a good fisher, you can easily stay with your tent during one week up on this plateau and have fun with O’sessions twice a day.

Couple of places in Finland (like Paimio area), Pegerinos (Spain), Sisteron & Aveyron (France)… are top ranked on my list too. But I couldn’t remember any good quality maps in Sweden… ?! Do you? ;-)

Italian 5 days next year in Dolomites will be most probably something to experience. Orienteering in the morning and long distance running in mountains and climbing in the afternoon, I’m already enthusiastic about this trip.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I don’t know about the toughest but the most enjoyable was probably a ski camp in Lapland (Yllas) last winter with my Finnish mates. We trained nearly 30h this week with mostly classic skiing, running intervals, strengths trainings, running technique and sallybandy. I believe it’s important to do something crazy a few times a year.

But if you want more details about tough trainings, let’s speak about French team camps… according to our motto « entrainements difficiles, resultats faciles » (hard training, easy results), we are used to train 4 times/day : morning jog (before breakfast), fast orienteering session in the morning, long orienteering session in the afternoon and night orienteering as a dessert.

Since running long distance in the world champs is extremely demanding mentally, technically and physically, I believe a good preparation for this situation is to push yourself few times a year to your extreme limits… (well… you don’t necessary need to follow this opinion…). On the other hand, my standard and most efficient training is based on daily routines.

Anyway, I try to keep in mind Nick Manfredi’s good advice : « If you want to be a Champion, you have to use your brain… » See video here.

My main training philosophy is to enjoy and have fun as much as possible. According to this definition, running on athletic track is not my favorite practice

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
No, I’m not a professional. I’m working part time for the French orienteering federation for last 2 years. I have trained nearly 660h and traveled ~130 days this year… On the other hand, I’m working on a project to develop orienteering in the French education system (www.oplus-ffco.fr). So far, this professional activity has been extremely interesting.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I try to avoid road running as much as possible. Running off-tracks is much more fun and I guess much more efficient for orienteering. This year I have been running ~250h and orienteering ~240h. The previous years (1994-2007) running + orienteering was about 80% of my training (40%+40%). Last autumn (2007) I decided to include more alternative training in my weekly program, so I have been climbing (indoor) twice a week and skiing 1500kms last winter.

My main training philosophy is to enjoy and have fun as much as possible. According to this definition, running on athletic track is not my favorite practice… I have been running twice 3000m both without specific preparation (9′10 during autumn 2006 & 8′43 during spring 2007). Now, if I manage to find motivation for a third session my only goal will be to run faster than 8′35 which is the French record in women class… after that I will probably stop this long athletic-track career.

On the other hand, we have a « fantastic » running test near Saint-Etienne which is about 500m climbing on a small track. My personal best is 20′43 and you are very welcome to try it… this is what I call a nice and enjoyable training session ;-)

- Running up the finish straight at the WOC Relay with my team and meeting our coach and friend Dave Peel was the highlight of the season, Jamie Stevenson tells us in this interview. Stevenson took home the victory for Great Britain in one of the most special orienteering thrillers the orienteering world has seen - the WOC Relay - after delivering a fantastic performance on the last leg, suprising everybody by coming in first. His teammates Graham Gristwood and Jon Duncan are also a very important part of this achievement. Below Stevenson is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Jamie Stevenson

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I was born in 1975 in Edinburgh Scotland. I have lived in Sweden 1999 - 2004. Now I live in Hillerød, Denmark. I am engaged to Helene Hausner. We are happy parents of baby Selma, born October 2008. My profession is school teacher - english and sport.

I started orienteering aged 11. My first WOC was in 1997 in Norway, 22 years old - 6th place in relay.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
The WOC relay. Running up the finish straight at the WOC Relay with my team and meeting our coach and friend Dave Peel was the highlight of the season.

I hope to perform well but also be a good team member and inspire the next generation of national team runners

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am very flattered.

What are your main goals for the future?
I hope to run one more WOC long distance, in very technical terrain next year. I hope to perform well but also be a good team member and inspire the next generation of national team runners, either as a member of the relay team or as a spectator.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
I love orienteering everywhere. The Lake District in England is one of my favourites, but after visiting Hungary and Slovakia I am looking forward to next year’s WOC.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I got into good running shape on the forest tracks around Hillerød. I had to economise on training time during many weeks, so I used threshold runs to work and back home as good basic training. I trained 160 km a couple of times and 140 km quite often during the spring and early summer.

… after visiting Hungary and Slovakia I am looking forward to next year’s WOC

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
No - I am a professional teacher and a family man, with a house to fix and a garden to look after! I work full time, but I took a couple of weeks off school to take part in training camps last year. When I train hard I train 10 - 15 hours. But in the autumn I usually spend a lot of time on my work and at home. This year I have spent a lot of time getting ready for our baby and now of course I want to spend as much time with Helene and Selma at home as possible.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I have spent a lot of time on forest trails, because it is quick and effective training. But of course I spend a lot of time in the forest when we have training camps in WOC relevant terrain for example. PB times are 8.39 in 3000m/ 14.38 in 5000m.

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk - both from Sweden - have been named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes - nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year - and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Proud winners

The two winners of “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ really deserve their victory:

• Beata Falk was nominated for winning three JWOC medals: Gold in Relay and silver in both long and middle. Also victory in D20E in O-Ringen. You can read the complete interview with Beata Falk here.
• Johan Runesson was nominated for winning the silver medal at JWOC sprint, the gold medal at JWOC middle distance, the gold medal at JWOC long distance and the gold medal at JWOC relay in Gothenburg this year, and his participation as a junior in the World Cup 2008 program. You can read the complete interview with Johan Runesson here.

- I feel very proud that so many people voted for me, a very happy Johan Runesson said to World of O/Ultimate Orienteering after being named the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008. - Especially after I heard that only a small part of the voters came from Sweden, and it is the international orienteering community who has named me the best Junior Orienteer of 2008, Runesson continues.

And indeed, Runesson and Falk were not voted to the top by their fellow countrymen. Actually, Norway and Russia are on the top regarding which countries votes came from - with Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland on the next spots. Many votes also came from Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia and the UK.

Full voting results: The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. See all nominees in the initial press release.

Pictures by World of O / Ultimate Orienteering. If you need full quality pictures of any of the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ winners, please contact Jan@Kocbach.net

- It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am really happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream, Dana Brozkova says in this interview. Her Gold medal at the World Orienteering Champs at home ground in Olomouc was immensely popular among the home crowd - and a great achievement by an athlete who has improved year by year with this Champs as a goal. Below Brozkova is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Dana Brozkova

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I started with orienteering when I was 11. For a long time orienteering was for me only fun with a map, training once a week and some small competitions. I started with regular training at around 18 years. At the age of 20 I won the gold medal in JWOC. For university studies I choose medicine, it was a little bit tough to combine training and studies, but orienteering was a good relaxation. My vision was to stay in top orienteering till the WOC in Czech Republic 2008, because of that I have decided to continue with studies as a postgraduate student (to have enough time for training and traveling to competitions and training camps). Today I am in the second year of postgraduate studies and I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010, then I will see:) I came from Rovensko, the small village in the north of Czech republic, but I am living now for 8 years in Prague.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was definitely the world champs in Olomouc. This world champs was special, because it was in my home country and a great chance to succeed. The whole Czech team focused the training a lot on the WOC in Czech Republic. It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream!

I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am surprised. My gold medal from WOC is great, but I know about better and more successful orienteers.

What are your main goals for the future?
The WOC in Hungary will be the top goal for next year, I would like to win another medal. But I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
Every kind of terrain is special in other way. Next season will be interesting NOM in Finnland and I enjoyed terrains in France near Le Caylar during the Czech team training camp.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I am not sure, if this is the toughest but my training week composed of 3 hard trainings and the rest 4 days are middle or slow run for 60-70 minutes. The 3 hard trainings are long run in terrain for 95 minutes, the 8x 3 minutes to the steep hill, and 5x 1km. The 95 minutes run is special training for the long distance and the run to the hill was also special for this World Champs ( and will stay for the long in Hungary as well :)

I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
I study the postgraduate studies, it is like 50% work and I can organize my time. The running takes 300- 350 hours per year, together with other training it takes 350 – 400 hours per year.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I prefer running in the forest, that is also why my PB is not so good, 10:21 for 3000m.

- I ran a good race without any major mistakes but I still could not believe that I was second, Michal Smola says after winning a very popular silver medal at home ground in Olomouc - actually the first by a Czech man since the gold medals of Petr Kozák in 1991. Below Smola is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Michal Smola

Give a short presentation of yourself.
My name is Michal Smola. I am 27 years old and I have been doing orienteering since I was twelve. I live in the city of Zlin in the Czech Republic. I am a PhD student at Faculty of Applied Informatics at Tomas Bata University in Zlin. My hobbies are orienteering of course, XC-skiing, cycling, photographing, travelling.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was the middle distance in WOC for sure. I ran a good race without any major mistakes but I still could not believe that I was second. I was so happy. And the fans, they were great.

I ran a good race without any major mistakes but I still could not believe that I was second

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am very pleased with the nomination. I was quite close to a medal from world championships in 2006 and 2007 too, so finally I won a medal this year. Good results and also the nomination are some kind of stimulation for continuing to train hard.

What are your main goals for the future?
My goals remains the same, to succeed in WOC. If I take it more generally I would like to improve my orienteering. I know I can run well and save in continental terrains but I have still a lot to learn about running in other types of terrains.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
I like very much Mediterranean terrains especially when it is a semi-open terrain with a lot of details, for example maps around Millau in France. I also like very much Spain.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
My toughest week was in winter. I trained almost 25hours but mostly on skies. I think more interesting would be a week with running. Here is an example of an almost 19 hours week just 5 weeks before WOC:

• Monday: Afternoon: Jogging 48min+running exercises 20min+full speed short sprints up-hill
• Tuesday: Morning: Warm-up+cool down 39min+10 times 3min fast/3min slow (asphalt) Afternoon: warm-up+cool down+jogging between intervals 33min+6times 5min steep up-hill in terrain fast+ down-hill orienteering 6times 4min
• Wednesday: morning: jogging 31min+strength 30min afternoon: long slow orienteering 164min
• Thursday: morning: warm-up + cool down + jogging between intervals 34min+4times orienteering interval 8min fast Afternoon: warm-up + cool down 20min + orientering middle dist. Fast 37min
• Friday: Morning: strength 20min Afternoon: morning: warm-up + cool down + jogging between intervals 33min + 10 times 1minute uphill fast
• Saturday: endurance training 257min in terrain in mountains- course with 1:50000 map, 2000m climbing
• Sunday: long slow orienteering 182min

I like very much Mediterranean terrains especially when it is a semi-open terrain with a lot of details

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
I am not a professional orienteer. I am a PhD student of electrical engineering and I should graduate in August 2009. The PhD studies includes not only studying but also work on research projects and teaching, and the work load varies considerably. It can be about 80% during a semester when I have to teach (October-December and February-May) and about 50% in the rest of the year. The best thing is that thanks to understanding of my boss I can be absent quite many weeks.

Last year I trained 576 hours.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I put priority on running in the forest. More than 40% of overall time of my running activities was orienteering in 2008. However, my training week comprises fast road running sessions too. I ran my best time in 5000 this year and it was 14:56.

Especially the womens class is open - with a tough voting fight between a few of the very best Juniors in 2008. In the mens class, there is a clearer lead, but still nothing is decided in the mens class either. More than 1500 votes have been given so far in the voting for the “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ - and with votes coming from 39 different countries, results should be very representative for all of the orienteering World. The poll will be open until November 25th 23.59 CET - so please vote now if you haven’t yet!

• Follow this link to go to the voting page
• 10 prizes from Trimtex will be drawn among all voting

Nominees “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″

Rules and prizes

The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Prizes will be drawn among the voters:

1. A person can only vote once in each of the categories (if several people share one internet connection, only one can vote, as the IP address is used to identify the voter along with the email-address of the voter).
2. Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) will be drawn. We would like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Spread the news

Help making the poll as representative for the international orienteering community as possible! Spread the news about the poll, by publishing an article about the election on your website, and encourage people participating. Please use this link:

• http://poll.worldofo.com/poll2008.html (voting will be opened from here)

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, five websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at either World of O or Ultimate Orienteering. Websites with on average more than 200 visitors/day will count triple when linking to the poll. Send an email to Jan@Kocbach.net with the sites address if you want to be part of this draw for free sponsored links. Sponsored links may be to any orienteering related page or product - must necessarily by the website drawn. Please use one of the following images when linking to the poll:

- I’m just a simple man. I have a family: a wife - Nadja, a son Sasha and a cat Masha. This is how Andrey Khramov - one of the best orienteers in the World in this century - presents himself. He is known as the orienteer who gets better the hotter the temperature - and also as one of the fastest orienteers on the track. Below Khramov is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Andrey Khramov

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I’m just a simple man. I have a family: a wife - Nadja, a son - Sasha and a cat Masha.

[WoO - Some more Background info about Khramov: Strong russian runner who surprised everybody by winning JWOC in Bulgaria as a 18-year old in 1999. Lives at the foot of the Kaukasus mountains, not far away form the Black sea. Well used to hot and humid conditions and tough climbs. Married to Nadia and one son, Alexander, born 2002. Competes in track and field regularly. Finished his studies in communication (traffic) in 2004 and has since the been a professional sportsman. His gold medal in Japan 2005 was Russias first ever in senior foot-orienteering. Won the relay for Russia in 2006 and 2007. Started the WOC 2008 with a sprint gold. Will he be the first man with a gold in all four diciplins at WOC? ]

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
There were two highlights in this season: gold medal at WOC, in Czech Republic, and a gold relay medal from SIZM 2008.

What are your main goals for the future?
My goal for the future is 1st place in World Games 2009, and top position in Tiomila and Jukola relays.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
There is no favorites, I like to run in all continental terrain. And my advice to our readers to have good orienteering in Japan.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?

• mon. 8km fast(3:30m/km)
• tues morn 15km-easy run(4:15m/km) even 15km(3:55min/km)
• wedn morn 25km. even warm up+some special exercises, 8×100m
• thur morn fartlek-14km(inside 14×200-300m) even rest run 10km
• frid morn 3km warm up+2km(t. 6:30)+500m rest run+2km(t. 6:25)+500m, rest run+2km(t. 6:20)+500m rest run+1km(t. 3:05)+500m rest run+1km(t. 3:05) all by forest path
• sat morn 12km rest run, even 10 km rest run
• sun 23km

This week, from february training camp, in Caucasus mountains

My goal for the future is 1st place in World Games 2009

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
Yes, I think that I’m a professional orienteer. I work only between seasons. There is no time to work in season. I don’t now how many hours, I calculate it in kilometers, and it knows only my coach.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
It’s about 80/20% road/forest. My PB 3000m- 8:12, 5000m-14:05. And I also ran marathon, then I was about 18-19 years old, and the time was about 2h 31m.

- I would love to say, that I was a professional orienteer – but reality is, that I have a full time study at the University besides the training, Signe Søes says in this interview. Nevertheless, Søes has managed to make several big steps this year - going from a 13th place in the overall World Cup in 2007 to a 5th place in the overall World Cup in 2008. Signe Søes is one of the runners we at World of O have had high expectations for, but her results in 2008 were even better than we expected. Below Signe Søes is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Signe Søes

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I’m one of those runners, that have practiced orienteering since I could walk (and hold a map and a compass). As a child most weekends and holidays were spent orienteering in Denmark and around Europe. Back then I lived in Copenhagen and represented Farum OK. In the fall of 2007 I moved to Stockholm to improve my technical skills, and since then I have represented IFK Lidingö internationally. Now I live together with my boyfriend in Århus where I study Molecular Biology at the University. I represent OK Pan Århus nationally, this is the club where my parents started orienteering some 30 years ago!

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
Of course my 5th place at WOC long was a great highlight although I didn’t actually run that well. –But the 2nd and 3rd place at the World Cup final races meant a lot to me – cool to end the season with a World Cup 5th place overall!

Cool to end the season with a World Cup 5th place overall

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I feels great to be nominated, I must say, that I was a bit flattered

It is nice when people notice the progress that I’ve had this season.

What are your main goals for the future?
One of my primary goals for the future will be to win an individual WOC medal. But also winning one of the big relays such as Venla, Tiomila or 25-manna with my club IFK Lidingö is a dream for me waiting to be fulfilled.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
The terrains just south of Stockholm are superb – very detailed and challenging. They are worth a visit, and you may even swing by Stockholm C’s cafés when you’re in the area.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
That would be one of the training camps preceding WOC in The Czech Republic. These training camps with the national team are always tough physically – especially when we prepare for competitions in hilly continental terrain.

The terrains just south of Stockholm are superb – very detailed and challenging

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
I would love to say, that I was a professional orienteer – but reality is, that I have a full time study at the University besides the training. However in racing season I take fewer courses to be able to focus more on performing in the forest but it means that the time of final graduation gets postponed. In 2007 I squeezed about 500 hours of training into my busy schedule.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I try to do as much running in terrain as possible, but more than half of my trainings are on road/hard surface. Most of my fast distance-trainings and intervals are on hard surface. I haven’t recorded a 3000m PB and my 5000m time is around 17.50.

- 2012 is already in my head - then the World Champs are held in Switzerland. I’m dreaming of winning WOC Gold in all 4 disciplines in my career, Daniel Hubmann explains in this interview. Hubmann had seven WOC and EOC silver medals before he took his Gold medal over the long distance in Olomouc in 2008 - now he has only 3 disciplines to go. Below Hubmann is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet - World of O and Ultimate Orienteering - are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Daniel Hubmann

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I’m 25 years old, started orienteering 13 years ago. Since beginning 2007 professional orienteer, before working as a carpenter (part time). Since my JWOC gold in 2002 it was my main goal to be a real world champion. After several silver medals (7 WOC & EOC) I finally managed to win a gold medal this year. [Editors remark: Take a look at Hubmann’s summary of the 2008 season - an interesting read. Includes Hubmann’s conclusion about developing from a Top-or-Flop runner to a runner with top results].

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
Gold medal at WOC Long distance

I’m still very hungry to win more medals and titles

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
It’s an honor for me and it is a confirmation for a really great season.

What are your main goals for the future?
I think I still can improve myself, physically and technically. And I’m still very hungry to win more medals and titles. 2012 is already in my head - then the World Champs are held in Switzerland. I’m dreaming of winning WOC gold in all 4 disciplines in my career.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer - where you would advice our readers to travel?
There are a lot of nice orienteering-places all over this world. I guess in Switzerland the Jura-area (Jura Mountains) is one of the most challenging and beautiful place to orienteer.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
One of my toughest weeks was right after Tiomila:

• Mo. Morning: Orienteering 60′. Afternoon: Orienteering 82′
• Tu. Morning: Orienteering 65′. Afternoon: Orienteering 100′
• We. Morning: Orienteering 81′. Afternoon: Orienteering 44′
• Th. Morning: Running 58′. Afternoon: Running 55′
• Fr. Morning: Running 65′. Afternoon: Running 60′
• Sa. Morning: Running 68′. Afternoon: Bike 120′
• Su. Morning: Running 62′. Afternoon: Bike 90′

I guess in Switzerland the Jura-area (Jura Mountains) is one of the most challenging and beautiful place to orienteer

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position - and how many hours do you train each year?
Yes, I’m professional. Training during last 12 months: Total 624 hours (495 hours = running)

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I do both. But about 80% of my training is running on paths. 5000m =14:44.