Judith Wyder: – I choose a sprint course

Swiss Judith Wyder has been one of the most successful orienteers in 2015 – winning three gold medals at both the World Orienteering Championships and the European Orienteering Championships. With sprint and relay being the most successful WOC and EOC disciplines of the new Swiss superstar, it is maybe no surprise that her top courses of the year are dominated by these.

Read on for the complete interview with Judith Wyder about her favourite courses and terrains this year.

Q: What was the best course you run in 2014 – and why?
Sprint Swiss Champs in Winterthur Ost (see map below) was a great course! Even if I don’t like park sprint orienteering normally it was so fun running there! You had always to be “on the map” and have a very high speed until the end.

The Sprint in Pamlela at EOC and the Relay at WOC were really interesting and varying courses.

Q: What was the most interesting orienteering terrain you run in in 2014 – and why?
Running in Gebiz, Turkey (see map below) was a lot of fun. The good visibility and runnabiliy made it to one of my favourite trainings this year.

The Sprint Qualification Area at WOC in Burano (see map of another runner) was amazing. Lots of technical parts and these colourful houses made it just to a really special race.

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?

It might be EOC Relay (see map below, click for larger) or EOC Long. But it is actually wrong to say boring. The speed was so high in that kind of terrain and so many athletes did big mistakes. But if you look at the map, my race and how beautiful the course and the landscape was, it was not boring, just special.

Q: What is the worst course you run in 2014?

Running Bern by night in Äeschiwald was my most unpleasant race this year. It had been raining for many days and the slopes in the forest were so slippery. To run so many controls in the slopes while being dark and cold was too much for me and I quit the race.

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?
No not this year

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)?
I was traveling to Portugal twice, Italy three time, Turkey, Spain (no orienteering, just a triathlon camp), Finland, Scotland and Sweden. Seven all together in 2014.

All together there are some more countries: Colombia, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia and Bulgaria (just ski-orienteering), Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovakia, Hungary, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland. Twenty countries just orienteering and 22 with ski-orienteering.

Q: What is the race you look most forward to in 2015?
Of course I look most forward to WOC in Scotland. But it’s always nice to run competitions at home ground as well like the World cup Final or I will hopefully get the change to run the Swiss relay Champs with the guys from the club for the first time (After I got sick this year).

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?
I am working to improve both technical and physical. Off course I do have high goals but I am focused on doing god races and then we will see.

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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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