You seldom get the possibility to get this much insight into how the best teams set up their training camps – and especially not in as interesting terrain. The Czech and Swedish National Teams had a great training camp in France the last week (instead of participating at Spring Cup). Czech National Team trainer Radek Novotny presents all the trainings on the webpage of the Czech National Team. Definitely worth a look!

In addition to the two National Teams, there were also 10 other Swedish runners present, in addition to the French National Team/Thierry Gueorgiou in some trainings.

Swedish junior Albin Ridefeldt – attended some of the trainings later in the week, and describes the Clermont Ferrand area as Heaven: - After 4 days with fantastic orienteering I am convinced. Clermont Ferrand has the best orienteering terrain in the world. The terrain is difficult, green and terrible, but as long as you have full control, it is just wonderful! (see the latest maps from Albin Ridefeldt in omaps.worldofo.com here)

Maps and training manual

Ahead of the training camp, a detailed training manual was published, including details about the focus of each training. Based on the training manual and the maps from the trainings, I present the two trainings from the first day below – for the rest of the trainings and maps see links at the bottom of this page.

Moment training

A welcome session consisting of several different exercises, ended by a very short sprint. The main goal was to get familiar with the terrain and map, as well as to get the importance of compass work under such visibility conditions. The training was divided into 5 parts in addition to the sprint in the end:

• A: corridor-O (~1800m). This type of corridor training has gotten very popular lately due to the GPS analysis after the training making it straightforward to analyze how well you managed (and the ease of making this type of trainings in OCAD).
• B: direction changes in a green area. (1340m)
• C: vegetation-O; learn to use or avoid green and yellow.(570m)
• D: relax/transport (on/off practice, refocus at start point, 700m)
• E: curves (learning to understand the curves, 1770m)
• F: ultrasprint (separate map – see Albin Ridefeldts map here)

Click the downscaled map above to see all of the map – or see Albin Ridefeldts GPS track from the training here.

(Near impossible) direction training

On the trainig maps most of the area was blinded, except the ovals around the controls (blue in the map). - Most runners spent one and half hour in the biting vulcanic kingdom. But, you always learn something, even from an extreme, according to the report by Novotny. This was the second low speed session of the first day, which turned into a real challenge as the Vulcania area makes both the direct running and relocations quite difficult for everyone. See the map here (the blinded areas are shown on this map). This is another type of training which has been used more and more the last year.

All maps

You find all trainings described below. Expect to find more of the trainings with the participating runners GPS tracks in omaps.worldofo.com during the coming week (a comparison of GPS tracks from different runners will be possible from omaps.worldofo.com soon).

• Maps from all trainings in omaps.worldofo.com
• Maps from all trainings, including description of the trainings and results at the Czech National Team webpage
• Training manual (published ahead of the training camp) including details about the focus of each training, how to find the training, etc.

Daniel Hubmann started more than 5 3 minutes behind the leading team on the last leg – but proved that he is still the best last-leg runner in the orienteering world – taking home the victory in todays Spring Cup relay for Kristiansand OK. Hubmann is indeed a very important runner for Kristiansand OK. Anne Margrethe Hausken took home the victory for Halden in the womens relay.

Update! Based on the comment below (and me rechecking the GPS tracking), it looks like there is an error in the official results, and Hubmann started 3 minutes behind rather than 5 minutes behind. Thanks to the commenter below, and sorry for the mistake. Still a very good race for Hubmann – and also by Kowalski.

Hubmann in a class of his own

OK Orion with Wojciech Kowalski started exactly 5.07 nearly 3 minutes ahead of Hubmann (in 8th spot!) on the last leg – but the Polish runner who took the second place on the classic distance yesterday did not manage to keep the Swiss superstar behind. Kowalski, however, still did a good race, loosing only 1.39 to the second best time on the last leg. Kowalski ran alone in the lead until control 24 of the 28 controls. But with Hubmann in the winning mood, that doesn’t help a lot. Still a good weekend for the Polish runner!

Hausken with fast legs

In the womens class, the fight for the victory on the last leg was between Halden and Ulricehamn. Hausken for Halden against Maja Alm for Ulricehamn. Maja Alm did a very good race on yesterdays classic distance – finishing only half a minute behind Vroni König-Salmi in second place. Today, however, Hausken had significantly higher speed than the Danish runner, pulling away already from the start.

Map and courses

Below you find maps from all the three competitions at Spring Cup this year. Use the TracTrac tracking to relive the excitement in both the relay and in the individual events (links provided below).

• Map Mens Open last leg from Spring Cup Relay – see also TracTrac tracking
• Map Womens Open last leg from Spring Cup Relay – see also TracTrac tracking
• Tracking replay by TracTrac and map M21E1, Spring Cup Classic
• Tracking replay by TracTrac and map W21E, Spring Cup Classic
• Map night relay, men (from Jon Pedersen)

Results Spring Cup Relay

Mens Open
1 5 NOR-Kristiansand OK Elite 1 3:20:24
2 6 SWE-OK Orion 1 3:20:29
3 2 FIN-Rajamäen Rykmentti 1 3:23:10
4 1 SWE-IFK Göteborg 1 3:23:19
5 38 FIN-Vaajakosken Terä 1 3:23:20
6 4 SWE-Pan Kristianstad 1 3:23:27
7 57 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1 3:23:45
8 3 FIN-Turun Metsänkävijät 1 3:24:12
9 10 SWE-Rehns:BK 1 3:29:17
10 74 SWE-IFK Lidingö SOK 1 3:29:36

Womens Open
1 130 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1 2:19:26
2 101 SWE-Ulricehamns OK 1 2:23:28
3 133 NOR-Bækkelagets Sportsklub 1 2:27:04
4 141 POL-WKS Flota Gdynia 1 2:29:31
5 107 SWE-OK Tisaren 1 2:34:05
6 166 SWE-Sävedalens AIK 5 2:35:51
7 122 NOR-Kongsberg OL 1 2:39:27
8 102 DEN-Farum Tisvilde OK 1 2:40:28
9 104 CZE-Czech Junior Team 4 2:41:53
10 115 DEN-OK Pan Århus 1 2:42:00

• Full results at SpringCup.dk

Results Spring Cup Classic

Hubmann had more than two minutes down to number two – Woijech Kowalski (Poland) starting two minutes ahead of Hubmann. Third and fourth were further Swiss runners – Baptiste Rollier and Matthias Merz. In the womens class, Danish Maja Alm was very close to König-Salmi – the two being far ahead of the rest of the field.

Men
1 1089 Daniel Hubmann 83 NOR-Kristiansand OK Elite 59:51
2 1088 Wojciech Kowalski 82 SWE-OK Orion 1:01:56
3 1086 Baptiste Rollier 82 NOR-Kristiansand OK Elite 1:02:09
4 1087 Matthias Merz 84 FIN-Rajamäen Rykmentti 1:03:04
5 1083 Olav Lundanes 87 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1:03:17
6 1090 Martins Sirmais 82 FIN-Turun Metsänkävijät 1:04:13
7 1085 Kiril Nikolov 82 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1:04:15
8 1100 Tero Föhr 80 FIN-Vehkalahden Veikot 1:05:02
9 1097 Jani Lakanen 76 FIN-Vaajakosken Terä 1:05:47
10 1098 Christian Bobach 00 SWE-IFK Göteborg 1:06:13

Women
1 2090 Vroni König-Salmi 69 FIN-Turun Suunnistajat 52:05
2 2086 Maja Alm 88 SWE-Ulricehamns OK 52:40
3 2087 Iveta Duchova 86 SWE-OK Linné 55:35
4 2024 Daria Lajn 88 SWE-Nybro OK 56:07
5 2089 Jenny Johansson 77 SWE-Ulricehamns OK 56:09
6 2085 Rahel Friedrich 86 SWE-Leksands OK 57:24
7 2031 Masha Semak 85 DEN-Farum Tisvilde OK 57:57
8 2082 Kajsa Nilsson 82 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 58:19
9 2084 Marika Teini 89 FIN-Rasti-Lukko 58:44
10 2083 Seline Stalder 84 NOR-Bækkelagets Sportsklub 59:16

• Full results available here
• Photos from SpringCup 2010 provided by the organizers

Photo: Spring Cup 2010

Program

• Friday March 26th 2010: Night Relay/Sprint, Hornbæk Plantage
• Saturday March 27th 2010: Long WRE, Gribskov North/Gribskov Mårum
• Sunday March 28th 2010: Relay, Gribskov Mårum

Relay training

Many clubs use Spring Cup as part of their training for the big relays 10Mila and Jukola. As a consequence of this, Spring Cup now has two relays on the program: A night relay on Friday evening and the traditional day relay on Sunday. Some runners will even skip the individual race on Saturday, and only run the two relays (e.g. Anne Margrethe Hausken according to OPN.no).

Results and maps

We will try to deliver maps and results from the events during the weekend. If you don’t find anything at the front page of World of O, take a look here:

• Spring Cup 2010 webpage
• Omaps.worldofo.com – collects orienteering maps worldwide daily

Two times Switzerland in Spring Cup: Daniel Hubmann and Vroni König-Salmi won the classic distance in Spring Cup 2010 today. Below you get link to replay of the TracTrac tracking, maps and results.

Hubmann had more than two minutes down to number two – Woijech Kowalski (Poland) starting two minutes ahead of Hubmann. Third and fourth were further Swiss runners – Baptiste Rollier and Matthias Merz. In the womens class, Danish Maja Alm was very close to König-Salmi – the two being far ahead of the rest of the field.

Map and courses

The courses had quite a few controls in dark green areas – making the courses technically challenging. However, running speed was important as always in Spring Cup. The ideal route choice was mostly close to the line – the winner of the mens class Daniel Hubmann did seldom depart much from the straight line between the controls (see the TracTrac replay to see Hubmann’s route along with 9 other men and the route of 5 women provided by TracTrac). Above you see a scaled-down version of the mens course from the classic distance. Here are further maps:

• Tracking replay by TracTrac and map M21E1, Spring Cup Classic
• Tracking replay by TracTrac and map W21E, Spring Cup Classic
• Map night relay, men (from Jon Pedersen)

Results

Men
1 1089 Daniel Hubmann 83 NOR-Kristiansand OK Elite 59:51
2 1088 Wojciech Kowalski 82 SWE-OK Orion 1:01:56
3 1086 Baptiste Rollier 82 NOR-Kristiansand OK Elite 1:02:09
4 1087 Matthias Merz 84 FIN-Rajamäen Rykmentti 1:03:04
5 1083 Olav Lundanes 87 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1:03:17
6 1090 Martins Sirmais 82 FIN-Turun Metsänkävijät 1:04:13
7 1085 Kiril Nikolov 82 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 1:04:15
8 1100 Tero Föhr 80 FIN-Vehkalahden Veikot 1:05:02
9 1097 Jani Lakanen 76 FIN-Vaajakosken Terä 1:05:47
10 1098 Christian Bobach 00 SWE-IFK Göteborg 1:06:13

Women
1 2090 Vroni König-Salmi 69 FIN-Turun Suunnistajat 52:05
2 2086 Maja Alm 88 SWE-Ulricehamns OK 52:40
3 2087 Iveta Duchova 86 SWE-OK Linné 55:35
4 2024 Daria Lajn 88 SWE-Nybro OK 56:07
5 2089 Jenny Johansson 77 SWE-Ulricehamns OK 56:09
6 2085 Rahel Friedrich 86 SWE-Leksands OK 57:24
7 2031 Masha Semak 85 DEN-Farum Tisvilde OK 57:57
8 2082 Kajsa Nilsson 82 NOR-Halden Skiklubb 58:19
9 2084 Marika Teini 89 FIN-Rasti-Lukko 58:44
10 2083 Seline Stalder 84 NOR-Bækkelagets Sportsklub 59:16

• Full results available here
• Photos from SprintCup 2010 provided by the organizers

Photo: Spring Cup 2010

Program

• Friday March 26th 2010: Night Relay/Sprint, Hornbæk Plantage
• Saturday March 27th 2010: Long WRE, Gribskov North/Gribskov Mårum
• Sunday March 28th 2010: Relay, Gribskov Mårum

For classic and relay part of the Gribskov area is used – you find old maps from Gribskov here.

Relay training

Many clubs use Spring Cup as part of their training for the big relays 10Mila and Jukola. As a consequence of this, Spring Cup now has two relays on the program: A night relay on Friday evening and the traditional day relay on Sunday. Some runners will even skip the individual race on Saturday, and only run the two relays (e.g. Anne Margrethe Hausken according to OPN.no).

Results and maps

We will try to deliver maps and results from the events during the weekend. If you don’t find anything at the front page of World of O, take a look here:

• Spring Cup 2010 webpage
• Startlists
• Omaps.worldofo.com – collects orienteering maps worldwide daily

This evening the traditional international season opening in Denmark – Spring Cup – starts with a night orienteering relay and night orienteering race. Although other events have taken over part of Spring Cups role as the place where all the best meet at the start of the season, there is a very good elite start field in Denmark this year as well.

Some of the top names on the startlist are Olav Lundanes, Kiril Nikilov, Baptiste Rollier, Matthias Merz, Daniel Hubmann, Mikhail Mamleev, Jani Lakanen, Pasi Ikonen and Tero Föhr.

Program

• Friday March 26th 2010: Night Relay/Sprint, Hornbæk Plantage
• Saturday March 27th 2010: Long WRE, Gribskov North/Gribskov Mårum
• Sunday March 28th 2010: Relay, Gribskov Mårum

For classic and relay part of the Gribskov area is used – you find old maps from Gribskov here.

Relay training

Many clubs use Spring Cup as part of their training for the big relays 10Mila and Jukola. As a consequence of this, Spring Cup now has two relays on the program: A night relay on Friday evening and the traditional day relay on Sunday. Some runners will even skip the individual race on Saturday, and only run the two relays (e.g. Anne Margrethe Hausken according to OPN.no).

Results and maps

We will try to deliver maps and results from the events during the weekend. If you don’t find anything at the front page of World of O, take a look here:

• Spring Cup 2010 webpage
• Startlists
• Omaps.worldofo.com – collects orienteering maps worldwide daily

It is time to plan some orienteering adventures for May! Ostsee Orienteering in Germany, Baltic Cup in Poland, Asian Orienteering Championships in Japan and Hungarian 24 hour orienteering relay are some of the choices you have. And of course there is the European Champs in Bulgaria in the end of May.

Generally May is not the best month for Multiday-events – this is rather a month were there are many national competition weekends, and the international calendar is not very crowded. Still I try to pick out some of the interesting events from World of O Calendar for weekends were you can have at least two nice days. There are other gems out there which are not in World of O Calendar – please add a comment below if you know about an interesting O-weekend in May which it is worth travelling to!

In the Top O-Travel Picks-series of articles we will take a look at the most interesting events of 2010 for travelers – month by month – to guide you through the fixture list. Focus is on multiday-events and World Ranking events, as these are events which typically attract traveling orienteers.

Personal Picks

My personal picks for May:

• My number one choice would be the WOC 2005 terrain in Japan from the Long distance and Relay. This terrain will be used for the Asian Orienteering Championships in the start of May (May 1st – May 5th). Continental style terrain with very detailed contours and lots of route choice (see map sample above – click for full map). The forest is typical Japanese cedar forest – mostly very runnable. On the rest day the organisers are offering a sightseeing trip to Shirakawago – a World Heritage listed historical of traditional thatched houses and other historical sites nearby.



• The second choice is another event outside Europe, the Hatter’s Return 2-Days in the USA, offering 2 WRE competitions in interesting terrain (not far from the Hemlock Hills map shown below). The event is 110 km from New York City, and can also be combined with National A event at West Point, NY the previous weekend (May 1-2) and/or the USA Team Trials for WOC 2010 near West Point, NY the following weekend (May 15-16). If you find a cheap flight to New York, you can get a very nice week of orienteering here.
  

• The International Ostsee Orienteering in Northern Germany has a good reputation – having served interesting terrain on several occasions. The terrain description for this year also looks promising – but unfortunately the organizers did not post map samples on their webpage or on World of O Calendar. Might be a good choice, anyway (May 21st – May 24th)
• The Baltic Cup in northern Poland (May 22nd- May 23rd) has interesting terrain – similar to JWOC 2011 and also with the same organizers. 3 Days of Belgium is another multiday-event this weekend.
• The last weekend of May, there is the Hungarian 24 hour relay in Hungary. The 24 hour concept is really something one should try at least once – fun, but exhausting! If you don’t travel to Hungary this year, you can plan for a 24 hour relay in Germany next May.
• The other possibility the last weekend in May is the spectator races for the European Champs in Bulgaria. This first EOC weekend there is the Strandza cup, whereas there are two 3 Day events (Begun cup and Bulgaria Cup) during the remainder of EOC. Thus you can get a total of 8 events these 10 days in Bulgaria if you can take it…

Map samples

A map says more than 1000 words – at least to an orienteer. A few of the event organizers have added map samples in World of O Calendar – take a look below to see map samples for some of the Top Picks of May 2010.

Asian Orienteering Championships Japan – 2010-05-01

Asian Orienteering Championships Japan – 2010-05-01

3 Days of Belgium Belgium – 2010-05-22

All O-Travel Picks for May 2010

Here is the list of the Top O-Travel Picks for May 2010 – based on what was in World of O Calendar at the time of writing.

01.05	-	05.05		Asian Orienteering Championships	Japan
08.05	-	09.05		Hatter’s Return 2-Days	USA
21.05	-	24.05		33rd International Ostsee Orienteering race	Germany
22.05	-	24.05		3 Days of Belgium	Belgium
22.05	-	23.05		Baltic Cup 2010	Poland
29.05	-	30.05		Hungarian 24hour Orienteering Relay	Hungary
30.05				European Orienteering Championships	Bulgaria

Your favorite?

Are there important events missing in this overview? What is your personal favorite orienteering event in May 2010? Please use the comments to give additional information to the readers.

Note! Are you an event organizer for an event in June, July or August? Do your event a favour and update the event page in World of O Calendar with more information and map samples in order to get the possibility to be featured in the Top O-Travel Picks series.