World of O News
Daniel Hubmann is yet another athlete who found the best course of the year in the north of Norway around Trondheim – but not at the World Championships (WOC), but rather on an important race on the way to WOC. – The Craft Cup in May was a nice and challenging course in the Norwegian wilderness with many route choices and green controls, Hubmann answers when asked for his favorite course of 2010.
As several other of the top athletes, Hubmann is not 100% satisfied with the compromises which must be made for the course setting at the WOC. – I like it when it is as challenging as possible, but I can live with some compromises in the course setting if our sport gets more interesting for media and if the athletes are getting back something, e.g. price money, the Swiss multiple World Champion and overall World Cup winner comments.
– As much as I could see, this year’s WOC was well marketed, the interest of media was great, and the spectators had to pay to get into the arena, but the athletes didn’t get a single coin out of it for their medals.
“The Course of the Year 2010″
WorldofO.com has interviewed Daniel Hubmann for “The Course of the Year 2010″ – you can read more about “The Course of the Year 2010″ here, including all the suggestions by WorldofO.com readers – and also suggest your own courses and win great prizes by Trimtex and sun-o.com (more info about prizes and sponsors below the interview).
Interview with Daniel Hubmann
Thanks a lot to Daniel Hubmann who took the time to answer a few questions for “The Course of the Year 2010″.
Q: What was the best course you run in 2010 – and why?
The Craft Cup in May was a nice and challenging course in the Norwegian wilderness with many route choices and green controls. For me, this was an important race on my way to Trondheim and even though I lost 4 minutes on the winner i got a good feeling out of this race (map available here – also shown small version above).
Q: What is the worst course you run in 2010?
This was a training I did in Switzerland, close to the embargoed area of WOC 2012 (map available here). I got demotivated during the session because the map was not really useful in some parts, but I liked most of the competition courses in 2010. I think that as long as the map is good, even easier courses have their challenges.
Q: What is the best course you have run ever – if you must pick one from the top of your head?
My favorite is still the EOC Long final in Latvia: The terrain offerd highest technical orienteering in a wonderful area because there were several types of terrain like open areas, bushy and marshy parts and some high speed orienteering (map available here). To me this race was a real adventure since the terrain has never been mapped before and I think it was some kind of prohibited army zone with some old buildings of the Soviet Union, like this one in the pre-start area.
Q: Are the courses generally getting better, worse or staying on a level?
I think the courses are good in general. Of course, I like it when it is as challenging as possible, but I can live with some compromises in the course setting if our sport gets more interesting for media and if the athletes are getting back something, e.g. price money. As much as I could see, this year’s WOC was well marketed, the interest of media was great, and the spectators had to pay to get into the arena, but the athletes didn’t get a single coin out of it for their medals.
Q: What is the most important ingredients in a course in order for it to be a good course – in your opinion?
Many essential points about course setting have already been mentioned. The course should be fair and the interesting parts of the terrain should be used as good as possible. In my opinion, a good course has a lot of variety in direction as well as in the length of legs and different parts of terrain should be included in order to use all the athlete’s skills.
Q: What are your goals for next year – and how do you change your training and focus in order to reach your goals in 2011?
After a quite painful season, I’m now recovering from a surgery on my heel. It’s my number one priority to get my foot painfree again, and then I hope that there will be enough time to prepare for the big races in 2011. WOC is the big challenge again and I will focus on that .
Prizes from our Sponsors
Prizes from our Sponsors always makes it more fun! There will be a prize for the course setter in “The course of the Year 2010″, a price for the first one suggesting the course which ends up becoming “The course of the Year 2010″, and finally prizes drawn among all suggesting and voting.
Sponsors for “The course of the Year 2010″:
Trimtex sponsors “The course of the year 2010″ with 10 prizes. More information about the prizes to come. Trimtex Sport make technical team wear for athletes in clubs and companies. Trimtex’s products are world-leading within function, design and quality, whether it’s for cycling, running, skiing or orienteering.
- sun-o.com sponsors “The course of the year 2010″ with a voucher for a 2011 Sun-O Camp, value of 150 Euro. Sun-o offers orienteering travel-packages in Spain and Portugal, combining high quality terrains and varied O-maps, in regions with rich culture and sunny climate – organizing your O-holidays from from start to finish.
- For the record: All sponsor gifts/income related to “The Best Course of 2010″ goes directly to the WorldofO.com readers.
