Aleksandr Kratov: – Get a title

Jan Kocbach November 20, 2014 Orienteering News 1 Comment

– The goal for next year is to continue to progress, enjoy orienteering and get a title, Aleksandr Kratov explains in this interview about his favourite course and terrain in 2014. Kratov has impressed a lot this year – winning two World Cup races and taking the bronze medal in the World Championships middle distance.

Kratov has many of the same qualities and training ideas as Thierry Gueorgiou: Extremely good at technical orienteering, training a lot of technical night orienteering – and still winning long distance races from time to time.

Read on for the complete interview with Aleksandr Kratov about his favourite courses and terrains this year.

Today’s sponsor is Orievents/NAOM 2015 – offering prizes worth 270 Euro. Submit your suggestion to “Course of the Year 2014″ in the intro article – and get the possibility to win today’s sponsor prize or one of the other sponsor prizes.

Q: What was the best course you run in 2014 – and why?

I have two courses which I liked a lot this year (it does not mean that I enjoyed these much during the competition;) and it is hard to pick one. These two are both World Cup stages, one in Spain – Long distance, and the other one is Middle distance in Norway.

But I have to choose and it will be the World Cup Middle distance in Kongsberg, Norway (see middle part of the course above and complete course below – click for full map). High quality course setting with some route choices and tricky controls, but still classical middle distance orienteering all the way to the finish, plus one of the best terrains in Norway and simply beautiful forest – all this made me remember this competition for a long time.

Q: What was the most interesting orienteering terrain you run in in 2014 – and why?

This year I went for the first time to Turkey and of course I have got impressed by the Selge terrain. Unfortunately the map isn’t as great as the terrain itself, otherwise I would definitely come there again for a training camp. Anyway, the place itself with its beautiful nature and ancient ruins is definitely worth visiting.

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 is easy and I think many orienteers will share my opinion. This years World Cup Middle distance race in Switzerland was an impressive example of a good course in a boring terrain.

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

Ouch, this one is dangerous but, ok I will do it ;) So I nominate the qualification race for the Long distance on the European Championships in Portugal. In my opinion the biggest mistake was the choice of terrain. I was digging splinters out of my arms and legs weeks and month after the competition. The courses were forked in a strange way when two qualifications got almost the same course. One long leg was set, in my opinion, so that the fastest way was to go straight and cross dark green… it wasn’t the fastest way after all ))

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?

As always I have set many courses for myself and for others as well. I really liked one I ran just before the World Cup races in Norway (see below – click here for larger map). This map is a small part of my main “playground” – Orions biggest map. About 50 square kilometers of very enjoyable terrain and at the same time challenging, especially at night. The course was quite banal at first look but after I finished it I felt quite big potential for improvement despite rather good orienteering all the way.

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)?

No, it is easy – 10 in 2014 and 20 in total.

Q: What is the race you look most forward to in 2015?

As always for the WOC in the first place. Strange enough, I feel more exited about Long distance than about my favorite one – Middle. Probably because of the terrain. World Cup races in Norway and Sweden are very exciting as well.

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?

Continue to progress, enjoy orienteering, get a title. The main change is already done. Me and Nadiya we went pro in the middle of the year. Hope it will help us to get to the very top.

Q: Thanks a lot for your time – and good luck with getting a title!

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