World of O News
– I only ran 5-10 competitions this year, so I have not got so I have not got so many alternatives to choose from, this years silver medalist from the World Championships middle distance, Peter Öberg (Sweden), explains. And just the WOC middle distance final is Öberg’s choice for “Course of the Year”.
Editors comment: The WOC middle distance was expected to be one of the highlights on the event calendar this year for elite orienteers – and did not disappoint (although some/one wanted it even more tricky…). Above you see an autOanalysis comparing the routes of gold medalist Thierry Gueorgiou and silver medalist Peter Öberg.
– A beautiful arena with spectacular terrain and a nice course, Öberg comments the race.
The race has been given a lot of attention at WorldofO.com earlier, including a detailed analysis and a possibility to study the terrain and the challenges the runners met in this HeadCam-video synchronized with GPS-data.
Course of the Year 2011
Which course will take the prestigious top spot this year? The search for the course of the year will be fun, for sure as it was last year! The rules are simple: Suggest a course from a competition or training in 2011 (click here to get to the suggestion page), and state the reason why you think this course deserves to be “The course of the Year 2011″. The best among all the suggestions will be chosen – and there will be a voting process among the readers of “World of O” in order to name “The course of the year 2011″. Prizes from sponsors make it more fun to be in on the suggestions and voting – Croatia Open, Lipica Open, Fjord-O and EOC Tour are sponsoring “The course of the year 2011″ with starts (see below).
Interview with Peter Öberg
We also did a short interview with Peter Öberg to hear more about her 2011 season with respect to maps and courses.
Q: What is the race you enjoyed most this year?
WOC middle qualification (Editors comment: see map here). It was much more path and road running than what i expected. But I enjoyed the competition.
A good course is one thing – enjoying a race or training another. What is the race or training you have enjoyed most in 2012?
Probably the same as my favourite map (se below). But to select another map I choose a map from Millou in France.
Q: What is your favourite map (from the top of your head)?
I did one training on the map Flock Hill during my trip to New Zeeland this winter. It was like running on a football field tilted to a steep slope with complex stone features everywhere. The view and sorounding was just stunning… (See the map here)
WoO: Have you got a tip to young and inexperienced course setters out there about how to make a good course?
Find legs without safe relocation points. The longer the better. Look for multiple route options for some legs. Use dense vegetation with good runability to increase difficulty.
Picture: Peter Öberg with his silver medal from WOC Middle 2011
WoO: What are your goals for next year – and how do you change your training and focus in order to reach your goals in 2012?
I have WOC and EOC as my main goals. I will have a lot more focus on my running capacity on hard surfaces in my training compared to last year.
WoO: Thank you very much for the Interview, and good luck with the winter training!
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 2011″, a prize for the first one suggesting the course which ends up becoming “The course of the Year 2011″, and prizes drawn among the ones suggesting and voting. The sponsors will be presented in more detail later on – for now you can see some information about them below.
For the record: All sponsor gifts/income related to “The Best Course of 2011″ goes directly to the WorldofO.com readers.
