World of O News
Svetlana Mironova had a fantastic 2014 season. WOC gold and EOC silver on long distance and EOC relay gold with the Russian team makes Mironova one of the most successful female orienteers in 2014 – quite a surprise for both Mironova and the rest of the orienteering world. Read on for the complete interview with Svetlana Mironova about her favourite courses and terrains this year.
Q: What was the best course you run in 2014 – and why?
It is easy to understand that the World Championships Long distance in Italy (see the complete course for the women here and the analysis of the race here) was my best race this summer. It was the race where I managed to keep the concentration permanently all the time, and I had control over every moment of this small “life”: speed up, down, read map more carefully and so on. From that point of view, World Championship Long distance was the best course of the year as I see it.
Q: What was the most interesting orienteering terrain you run in 2014 – and why?
I can’t definitely point at one terrain but I should say that it was really exciting to run in Murcia in the World Cup long distance (I did not finish because of injury), the terrain near the middle distance final in WOC (and some model maps as Kubelek), the terrain where 25manna took place and Venice.
The World Cup in Murcia was very challenging physically because of the very big slopes and ravines with sandy and stony rockslides. Without forest – very hard in warm weather – and very detailed. I have never met such terrain before, and I liked it.
The terrain near the middle distance at WOC was very exciting and difficult to run in because of a mix of plenty of details from The First World War (trenches, holes) and natural tectonic stony ground, orbed and slippery (I enclose a photo of how it looked).
The third one, the terrain of 25manna-korten 2014, is one of my favourite terrains not far from my clubhouse, extremly detailed and really beautiful, with stony hills with pine forest on the top and spruce forest in low places between the hills. This is terrain which you will never learn to run on memory. You need all your orienteering skills to run successfull there: perfect map reading, following compass, etc.
And what about Venice! This is really unique place, one in the world!
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?
The last day of O-Ringen 2014. It wasn’t really boring, but maybe less exciting. The terrain was more continental than you usually await from Swedish terrain, and some parts of the terrain was without interesting points for controls. But I am sure that the course took everything possible from that terrain, and finally it was interesting and fast. It made me think a lot about my route choices: should I run straight or go around.
Q: What is the worst course you run in 2014?
The Russian National Championships in city sprint, which was really boring and easy. I enclose a part of the map. The first reason is the poor course (you can see that the last part of the course was just around the wall), the second reason is my really boring feeling during that race.
When I recognized that the course did not have any difficulties in the orienteering, I felt bored and tired. And that was the first step to my defeat that day. Finally, I did some mistakes and did not run fast enough. You should do orienteering in the best way possible weather the course is interesting or not. That is why I really want to define this course as my worst one.
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?
I wasn’t a course setter in any competitions this year, but enclosed is a training course which I planned for my friends as a preparation for the national championships (see map below – click here for larger). The terrain is in my home region.
Q: In how many countries did you run orienteering in 2014 (difficult question, I know)?
Well, nothing really difficult, because I can count countries I’ve visit this year easy: Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Finland and Russia, of course! So, 8!
Q: What is the race you look most forward to in 2015?
It is a really difficult questio,n because it is very difficult for me to think about one day in the next year. I like orienteering and I just want to learn it and do it better and better.
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?
No big changes. I want to pay more attention to training, better recovery balance, and continue to trust to my coach!
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
