Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is from Copa Catalana – Saldes 08 in Spain @ 2008-06-01. The chosen leg is leg 11 in Course 1. Thank you to Eva Jurenikova for the tip about the competition.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is a Ski-Orienteering leg from Finland. The chosen leg is leg 18 in Men 21 from the Hiihtosuunnistuksen SM-kilpailut @ 2008-03-15. Thanks to Sindre Jansson Haverstad to the tip about the competition.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is from Finland and KuUS-rastit at 2008-05-17. The chosen leg is leg number 5 from the H21A course. Thank you very much to Kari Hovi for the tip.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

Note also a very similar leg for Men 45 in the same competition:

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is from Thermenlandopen 2008 in Slovenia (Dobrovnik). The category is Men 21 Elite, and the leg chosen is the long leg to control number 8. Thank you very much to Martin Veitsberger who helped collect the routes of several top runners for this leg.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008‘ is an extremely long leg from the Highlands Open Long Distance in Cesuna di Roana, Italy – August 31st 2008. Thank you very much to Cristian Bellotto for providing both map and routes of the best runners for this interesting leg. Please provide comments to the leg in the comment section below.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger – or even open it in a new window by clicking here):

There were a number of different route choices for this leg. Benny Schuler had the best time with a variant to the right. Michal Mamleev – the overall winner of the race – lost 2 minutes after going right around the first hill, and then going left in a S-shape. Simion’s route choice was very impressive. He ran far to the right – about 400 meter longer than the route of Schuler, but still had about the same time. Corona run a shorter direct route, but lost time due to all the ups and downs. Michal Mamleev won the race with a regular run in the first carstic zone, good route choices, and a very good last part of the race.

Then you can take a look at how some of the runners solved this leg (open in new window):

This year Highlands Oped will be held on May 16-17 2008 (http://highlandsopen.com/) in very detailed terrains and will be a good chance to take confidence with North-East Italian terrains, used for JWOC and Italian 5 days too (http://www.jwoc2009.it).

Source: Cristian Bellotto.

Update! Route of Zinca Ionut (4th overall) with leg time of 20:10 is shown below. Thanks to Zinca for sending in his route:

Overall results

1 2 01:29:22 MAMLEEV Mikhail 1975 0628 SPORTCLUB MERAN A.S.D. ITA 100,000
2 7 01:30:22 SCHULER BENNO 3006 SWISS RES SUI 97,800
3 30 01:32:30 HUBER RAFFAEL 3006 SWISS RES SUI 93,340
4 4 01:33:25 ZINCÀ ALIN IONUT 2004 TEAM ROMANIA ROM 91,520
5 42 01:34:11 HODEL THOMAS 3006 SWISS RES SUI 90,030
6 5 01:34:39 SCHGAGULER Klaus 1980 0573 GRONLAIT ORIENTEERING TEAM AIT.SA.D. 89,150
7 11 01:36:24 MÜLLER ANDREAS 2005 TEAM SWISS SUI 85,940
8 10 01:36:43 TENANI Alessio 1979 0175 GRUPPO SPORTIVO FORESTALE ITA 85,380
9 1 01:37:08 DLABAJA TOMAS 3002 SK ZABOVRESKY CZE 84,650
10 3 01:38:30 MÜLLER MATTHIAS 3001 TV FÜRSTENFELD AUT 82,310
11 6 01:38:58 ROGER CASAL FERNANDEZ 2003 TEAM ESPAÑA ESP 81,540
12 15 01:39:35 CARAGLIO Michele 1983 0275 C.U.S. BOLOGNA A.S.D. ITA 80,530
13 9 01:39:40 HÄGLER SEBASTIAN 3003 OLJG HOLDE SUI 80,400
14 24 01:41:16 SIMION GIANCARLO 2001 TEAM ITALIA ITA 77,880
15 13 01:42:44 CORONA Emiliano 1983 0478 CENTRO SPORTIVO ESERCITO ITA 75,670
16 8 01:43:00 SEPPI Marco 1980 0275 C.U.S. BOLOGNA A.S.D. ITA 75,280
17 14 01:44:52 SEPPI Andrea 1988 0392 A.S.D. SEMIPERDO ORIENTEERINGIT AMANIAGO 72,620
18 17 01:45:08 PAGLIARI Daniele 1975 0175 GRUPPO SPORTIVO FORESTALE ITA 72,260
19 26 01:45:12 ROCKE JOHN 1002 LEIOC GBR 72,160
19 25 01:45:12 LOMBRISER STEFAN 3003 OLJG HOLDE SUI 72,160

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is leg 18 in Men Elite from the 6. Nationaler Baselbieter OL @ 2008-09-14 (OLV Baselland). A really long leg in alpine terrain – towards the end of the course. Thank you to Stefan Lombriser (running himself) and Marcel Schiess for this tip.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

As a bonus, I also give you the leg to the first control.

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is leg 11 the longest course in the British Senior Home Internationals (2008-10-26). The leg was submitted by James Tullie.

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

Bonus: Another leg from the same competition. Here the best route is more obvious – at least to the trained eye….

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

Minna Kauppi and Daniel Hubmann have been awarded with “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ titles in the womens and mens class, respectively! Among the women, Minna Kauppi got 29.4% of the votes – winning ahead of Vroni König-Salmi with 23.7% of the votes. The mens class saw a very clear winner in Daniel Hubmann getting 53.4% of the votes – more than five times as many as Thierry Gueorgiou and Michal Smola in shared second position, each with 9.9% of the votes.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – more than 3500 unique votes from 52 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. Read on below the results to find interviews with Minna Kauppi and Daniel Hubmann.

Results – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Interview: Minna Kauppi – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Congratulations on being awarded “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″! You won a clear victory ahead of the comeback of the year – Vroni Salmi-König.
Thanks! So this was basically the same situation as in WOCs middle distance this year;)

You had a fantastic World Orienteering Championships in Czech Republic which the orienteering community appreciated as the best achievement of the year – what are your best memories of the week in Olomouc when looking back at it now?
Of course everything culminates on my work during the middle distance. I knew what I was doing, and pushed all the way till the end. On the other hand, the city of Olomouc was really beautiful too, and i enjoyed being there as well.

Anne Margrethe Hausken took all the attention after the World Orienteering Champs with her O-Ringen victory and her Overall World Cup victory. But you performed best when it really counted the most – at the World Orienteering Champs. What is your secret to perform well at the big happenings in 2008?
I knew I couldn’t be in my best shape in all the competitions this year due to all the problems I had, so I was forced to concentrate on the WOC only. This was maybe my weapon this year, as I didn’t really care of the rest of the competitions. On the other hand, when it comes to O-Ringen, I was too satisfied already, so it didn’t really matter anymore. For me it’s always about the mood which takes the good results!

Next year Simone will be back – and Hausken is surely hungry to perform well in the World Orienteering Champs in Hungary. What are you doing this winter to improve even more in 2009?
I’ll try to do everything better than before, but at the same time, I want to keep the training and all the fun, so that I won’t take it too seriously in the WOC either.

How are your preparations for 2009 going? Just fun & partying – or has the serious training started?
I’ve started training already, but unfortunately I’ve been forced to make the trainings according to other events. It’s been too big a fuss in these special media events lately, so it’s been really hard with all the interviews and all the big parties. But I really hope that the media leaves me alone now as I won’t answer my phone anymore;) So, from now on I’ll be training like crazy, and enjoying the winter sports in Finland!

Any final word to all your fans out there?
Thank you all! This is a big honor to me, and I hope we’ll keep on making big NOISE in the competitions!

Interview:Daniel Hubmann – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Congratulations with a fantastic season – and the award “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″! The orienteering community really appreciates your achievements this year. Can you find a special reason why you took the final step up on the podium this year?
Thank you! Of course it’s a great honor to me to be awarded. My season went really good, I had no problems during the last year. I guess that was really important to built up the self confidence. And of course the luck was on my side this year. in 2006 i just missed the woc gold by one second…

You actually got more than 50% of the votes – the next two – Thierry Gueorgiou and Michal Smola – both have around 10%. A very clear winner you are!
Wow, I’m surprised to see to this clear result! Thierry is still very famous in the orienteering world, and had a good season too. Of course it’s nice to feel many people think you deserved the gold medal.

We admired the way you kept being very satisfied with all your silver medals – at least that is what you said when asked. I guess there was some disappointment anyway – and a big relief when you got your WOC gold medal?
With the first silver medals in my career, I was very pleased. But of course, after 2-3 times, there was always a small disappointment, too. I just tried not to put too much pressure on my shoulders, and with every silver medal more, i realized the gold medal was coming closer…

What do your days look now, in the middle of winter?
The plan was to start the serious winter training in beginning of December. Unfortunately I have some problem with a small knee injury right now, so I can’t train to much at the moment.

How are your plans for the rest of your preparations for next year. Have you made any big changes compared to this year?
I have made no big changes. The last years I had always the same style of training, and it worked. So there is no reason for a big change…

Have you got any final words to all your fans out there?
It’s really nice to have such support from all the orienteering people. Thank you very much for all this votes!

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.

Todays leg in ‘Route to Christmas 2008′ is leg from the Hungarian Champs Long Distance – October 25th 2008 – where Daniel Hubmann made one of the most impressive runs of the year. Many world class runners where present – and Hubmann won with impressive 5 minutes. Hungary is the country where next years World Champs are held – so Hubmann has warned everybody now…

The leg is as usually first provided without routes – you may take a look at it and think about how you would attack this leg (if the image is too small, you may click on it to get it larger):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

• See also Hubmanns analysis of the race and his map.

About Route to Christmas

The ‘Route to Christmas’ series at World of O was very popular last year – and I’ve therefore decided to continue the series this Christmas as well. Based on tips from YOU, we’ll see if Route to Christmas comes all the way to Christmas Eve, or if we stop earlier. If you have got any good legs in RouteGadget from 2008 competitions, please email me the link at Jan@Kocbach.net, and I’ll include it in Route to Christmas if it looks good.

There will be no analysis about the best routechoice for each leg in this years Route to Christmas – you can provide that yourself in the comments. Not all legs are taken for the interesting routechoice alternatives – some are also taken because the map is interesting – or because it is not straightforward to see what to do on a certain leg. Any comments are welcome – especially if you ran the event chosen for todays leg!

… got nearly to the top in the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ – both getting the second place in the women and men category, respectively. Vroni König Salmi had the comeback of 2008 in international orienteering with her silver medal in the WOC 2008 Middle Distance – an achievement valued highly by the orienteering community, giving her 23.7 % of the votes in the womens class. In the mens class, Thierry Gueorgiou shared the second position with 9.9 % of the votes for taking his 5th WOC Middle distance gold medal in six years – defending his title “The King of Middle Distance” yet again.

Tomorrow the winners of the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ will be presented, along with their comments to the results. For now, you can reread the interviews with König-Salmi and Gueorgiou here:

• Interview Vroni König-Salmi. Nominated for comeback of the year with her silver medal in the WOC 2008 Middle Distance – 19 years after her debut in Sweden in 1989.
• Interview Thierry Guergiou.Nominated for taking his 5th WOC Middle distance gold medal in six years: The King of Middle Distance managed to defend his throne again!

Results – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Lucky Linkers

At least 29 different web-pages have linked to the poll – spreading it to all of the international orienteering community. The 5 websites winning sponsored ads at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering are presented in an article at Ultimate Orienteering. Thank you to everybody helping to spread the news!

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″