World of O News
After running orienteering in 9 countries this year, Swiss star Baptiste Rollier chooses a course in Spain as his favourite course of the year. – Long at World Cup in Spain was good. Long legs with many possibilities, shorter legs with technical challenges, Rollier comments the World Cup race in Spain which he chooses as his favourite in 2014.
Unfortunately the story about the World Cup long distance race in Spain does not have a happy ending: The men’s race was voided due to controls 21-22 being removed by the organizers.
Q: What was the best course you run in 2014 – and why?
Long at World Cup in Spain was good (see map here or at the top of this article). Long legs with many possibilities, shorter legs with technical challenges. All this in a great area quite uncommon for me.
The location of the start/finish did not influence the quality of the course, and the area chosen for the race was well suitable for a long distance (as well as for middle the next day).
[See article about the race here]Q: What was the most interesting orienteering terrain you run in in 2014 – and why?
Trockener Steg, stage 5 of SOW 2014 in Zermatt. This is a very special terrain at about 3000 meter altitude on the foot of the glacier. The view on Matterhorn is impressive.
The map has 2 distinct parts. The east part [Editors comment: shown above] is mainly bare rocks and the west part young moraine. It’s interesting to compare the map from 2006 and 2014 to see how much the glacier melted (read the full story here).
Look at this video to get an impression of the terrain. You find a 3DRerun GPS comparison of the race here – giving you the complete map.
Q: Usually the courses in interesting terrains are the ones you remember – so a challenge for you: Can you remember a very good course you ran in “boring” terrain this year?
As you write it’s difficult. EOC terrain for Long and Middle didn’t offer much technical challenge but the EOC long distance (see map here or below) was a good course (made in a few hours in the middle of the night because the map was publish the evening before the race). The challenge was to be accurate during 90 minutes and never lose concentration pushing hard physically. The course setter played with the length of the legs and put direction changes. In my opinion it was a good course according to the terrain.
Q: What is the worst course you run in 2014?
Difficult to say worst course because if someone organise a race he will try to make the best out of the terrain. You can of course blame the organizer to choose a bad terrain.
Anyway EOC long Qualification was probably one of the worst. Bad choice of terrain and course setting was not according to what you expect for a qualification (many common legs with other heats). Many controls are on/very close to a path because the vegetation is so dense that it’s not possible to run through the terrain.
I believe that the organizer did their best according to their knowledge and capacities. The IOF didn’t not make is job to check the terrain and course before the competition in order to fulfil the standard of an international competition. Unfortunately money was probably a (the?) reason why this region was chosen. This is a pity when you know how great terrains there are in Portugal.
Q: Did you set any courses in 2014? If so, is it possible to share the best (in your opinion) with World of O’s readers?
A club training in a well know map for the club members (see below or click for full map here). I got the idea from a training of Olexandr Kratov (I think it was him). This type of virtual fences allow to make a difficult training in a well known forest. The beginner can run the course without fences and the experienced runners get a challenge. It’s also easy to set the control and makes the training preparation quite efficient. This is maybe not the nicest training set but one well suitable for club trainings.
Q: In how many countries did you run orienteering in 2014 (difficult question, I know – maybe you can even tell how many countries you have orienteered in in total)?
9 (Portugal (3x), Turquie, Sweden, Spain, Italy (3x), France, Scotland (2x) but it’s not a country then I should write GB ;-), Austria and Norway)
Q: What is the race you look most forward to in 2015?
WOC Long in Glen Affric. The terrain will be pretty rough (see old map here and part of the map below) and the WOC is always a special competition. For which I put a lot of energy in the preparation. Many hours spent in trainings and preparing for the race are condensed to get the best possible performance. The way to the race is a big part of the enjoyment.
Q: What are your goals for next year – and do you plan to change your training and/or focus in order to reach your goals in 2015?
WOC Long in Glen Affric as well as the relay in Darnaway. I will keep the same structure in my training as in 2014 as it worked well. There will be some adjustments but nothing big. The challenge will be to have enough recovery time as our family will get bigger from end of January :-)
WoO: Thanks a lot Baptiste!
Rules for “Course of the Year 2014″
The following rules are given for “The course of the Year 2014″ (see the intro-article for all details).
- The course must have been run in competition or training in 2014.
- Suggestions are submitted as a comment to this post – including link to the map with course in a quality which is good enough for the readers to understand the course and the challenges involved. Please add information about location/date if that is not clear from the link provided. Also include which sponsor prize you are interested in if you win.
- You must give a reason for why you think this course deserves to be named “The course of the Year 2014″ (or why it is the best course you run/set this year). All reasons are valid. Examples can for example be “varied orienteering challenges”, “extremely technical orienteering”, “high fun-factor”, “fantastic map”, “spectacular orienteering”, “fantastic nature” – a combination of these – or a totally different reason. To get all the way to the top you should probably have a combination of reasons…
- The course may be any discipline – e.g. a long distance, a middle distance, a sprint distance. It may also be a technical training course – like e.g. a corridor orienteering exercise.
- There will be a voting process among the readers of “World of O” in order to name “The course of the year 2014″. This is your second chance to win sponsor prizes!
Prizes from our Sponsors
Prizes from our Sponsors always makes it more fun! There will be a prize for the first one suggesting the course which ends up becoming “The course of the Year 2014″, and prizes drawn among the ones suggesting and voting. All prizes are transferable to other persons (you don’t have to travel yourself).
Event sponsor: Andalucia O-Meeting 2015. 27th-28th February & 1st March 2015
- Prize offered: AOM Competition Package for 4 persons – including entry to 4 events in 3 days, 4 nights accommodation in apartment and a 4-map training package before or after the event. Value about 600 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
- Sweet terrains and maps, nearby accommodations and high level competitions (2 WREs) in a very mild climate! More info at aom2015.com
Event sponsor: Liburnija Orienteering Meeting 2015. 14th-15th March 2015
- Prize offered: Big club package with entry for Liburnija Orienteering Meeting 2015 for 10 persons! Value about 200 Euro. Transferable to other person(s).
- The second edition of Liburnija Orienteering Meeting will be organized on the snow-free terrains of the island of Krk from 14th-15th of March 2015. Our vision is that this event becomes one of highlights of winter orienteering events in Europe for elite runners so therefore expect demanding courses and extreme terrain. Read more here
Event sponsor: Bergen Sprint Camp – January 30th – February 1st 2015
- Prize offered: 2 packages – each consisting of 2 complete Bergen Sprint Camp packages: Entry for all 4 races + training Friday morning + Saturday evening program consisting of presentations and dinner. Value about 375 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
- For the 6th time in a row, BSC is held in the city center of Bergen, Norway. We provide all participants with challenging courses, good maps and interesting analysis of the sessions – hoping to improve the sprint orienteering technique for everyone. See more at Sprint-Camp.blogspot.no – including all courses and analysis from previous editions of BSC.
Event sponsor: Orievents / NAOM 2015. 31st January – 1st February 2015
- Prize offered: Competition + training package for 2 persons, consisting of: Entry for NAOM 2015 (January 31st – Middle + WRE Sprint (Marvão), February 1st – Middle distance) + training camp (6 trainings) + 3 days of accommodation in half board. Value about 270 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
- Orievents Training Camps “Alto Alentejo” are an excellent training opportunity for Orienteering of good quality during the winter. Start the new season in training camps in Alto Alentejo, Portugal! More at www.naom.pt and about the training camp at Orievents.
Event sponsor: Portugal O-Meeting 2015. 13th – 17th February 2015
- Prize offered: 2 packages – each one for 2 persons – consisting of: Entry fees for the 4 stages of POM 2015, model events, night sprint and sprint relay. Value about 200 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
- Portugal O’ Meeting is already a well-known established international event, normally reaching the highest average points in World Ranking Events, excluding the World Championships and World Cup events. More at pom.pt.
Event sponsor: Lipica Open 2015. 7th – 11th March 2015
- Prize offered: 3 packages – each for 2 people – consisting of: Entry to complete 5 day Lipica Open competition + Slovenia training package consisting of up to 3 trainings. Value about 300 euro. Transferable to other persons.
- In 2015 Lipica open will again be organized as a 5 day event. Again we will add some new terrain and combine diverse areas. Training conditions in this part of Europe are now better than ever – both on forest maps and on sprint maps of nice little towns on the Adriatic coast! More at www.lipicaopen.com – for trainings see www.orienteering.si
Event sponsor: Kopaonik Open 2015
- Prize offered: 2 competition packages, each consisting of 2 entries to Kopaonik open 2015 (5 competition stages + 1 training)
and the Cup of Raska 2015 entry fee (1 competition stage). Value about 200 Euro. Transferable to other persons. - We are offering to you 6 days of orienteering challenges for you, combination of two classical long, two middle and one sprint distance challenges plus one night orienteering challenge with separate ranking, 1 training plus 6 competition stages in total. For more info see www.kopaonikopen.org
