10Mila 2015: All You Need To Know!

10MILA countdown: One day left until one of the main highlights of the spring season for an orienteer: 10MILA. Kalevan Rasti, Halden, Lidingö, Kristiansand, Vaajakosken Terä, KooVee, OK Linné and Södertälje are the biggest favourites among the men. Halden, Järla, Tampereen Pyrintö, OK Tisaren, SK Pohjantähti, Göteborg-Majorna and Pan Århus are some of the top teams among the women.

The decision in the men’s relay is back to “normal”: After a very short last leg in 2014, the last leg is now long and tough with 17.5 kilometers. In the women’s class the second last leg is the longest – a 10.5 km unforked leg which may be very important for the decision.

Long night already on 3rd leg – more unforked legs than usually

this short 6th unforked leg might very well be where many teams loose contact with the leader

Last year the men’s 10Mila relay opened with two legs in daylight – and the long night was all the way back at the 6th leg. This year the first leg (13.1 km) is back in the dark, with the long leg already at the 3rd leg after a shorter second leg (10.4 km). That means that it will be very important for aspiring winners to stay in touch with the leaders for the two first legs – to not risk missing the big 10Mila train on the unforked 16.5 km long night on the third leg.  After the long night, there is still room for a lot to happen in the dark on legs 4 (8.6 km), 5 (11.4 km) and 6 (7.5 km, unforked) – this short 6th unforked leg might very well be where many teams loose contact with the leader as we have seen many times before. Many teams may underestimate the challenge on this leg – this will definitely be an interesting leg even if it is unforked if there are some small gaps going in to the leg.

It starts getting light on the 7th leg (10.2 km; the sun gets up at 04:23, this is exactly the expected time for changeover AFTER the 7th leg) – while the 8th (12.6 km), 9th (8.5 km, unforked) and 10th (17.5 km) are run in daylight. Thus a total of 3 unforked legs this year.

The start for the men’s relay is at 21:30 CET with the winners expected in the finish at 7:30. That means fast terrain – down towards 5:10 min/km for the 116 km.

Long, unforked day for the women

The women’s relay is a 5 leg relay as always – run in daylight with start at 14:30 CET. The first leg is 7.3 km forked, followed by two forked legs (6.0 km and 7.2 km). Then the 4th leg might be decisive even if it is unforked; 10.5 km is a long leg in the women’s class with expected winning time of 63 minutes. The character of the straight leg is thus completely changed compared to previous years. Now it includes long legs and important route choices where time can be gained. The last leg is a few kilometers shorter with 8.6 km. Expected time for the winners finishing is at 18:29.

Useful links:

• PM (preliminary) and 10Mila webpage
• Online results and speaker sound (free) + live webTV (webTV costs 195 SEK = 21 EUR) will be offered
• The WorldofO and WorldofOLive Twitter accounts will follow 10Mila
• GPS-tracking will be shown only in the webTV (no separate links)
• Good reads in Finnish (even with Google Translate): Interview with top Finnish teams about favourites (men / women)

Relay information: Legs & leg lengths

The Teams & The Favourites

Some teams have entered their running order on the 10Mila page, but many teams wait until the last chance to make their teams public due to tactical reasons. Even the running orders already entered may be changed.

The other big favourite, Halden SK, got huge problems already on the two first legs in 2014 and never managed to fight for a top result

Last year (see infographic below) Kalevan Rasti got alone into the lead during the 8th leg after a great leg by Thierry Gueorgiou (red line) – seemingly deciding the relay. Lidindö (blue dashed line) wanted it differently though, and got contact again on the 9th leg after an excellent race by Fredrik Johansson who beat Kalevan Rasti’s Fabian Hertner with 2 minutes. On the last leg Kalevan Rasti’s Jan Prochazka had no problems leaving Lidingö’s Mårten Boström behind – winning with around 2 minutes in the end. The other big favourite, Halden SK, got huge problems already on the two first legs in 2014 and never managed to fight for a top result (lower blue line).  Södertälje and Mora were in the fight until the second last leg, but lost a lot of time in the end.

Live services: How to follow the race

There are a number of Live services available to follow 10mila 2015. If you have 195 SEK to spend, a combination of webTV, live results is probably the best way to follow the event.

• Online results and speaker sound (free) + live webTV (webTV costs 195 SEK = 21 EUR) will be offered
• The WorldofO and WorldofOLive Twitter accounts will follow 10Mila
• Android, iOS (iPhone, iPad) and, Windows 8 apps for following live results
• Live GPS tracking will  only be available via Web TV (and not in GPSSeuranta) during the event – full tracking is usually made public after the event. Tracking is planned for all legs in both men’s and women’s relay

Terrain

There is no old map from the terrain, but a Karttapullatin version of the map has been floating around the Internet lately (I have seeen it, but I could not find a link to it anywhere). The forest offers excellent runnability: there are no major hills, and the going is firm and clean underfoot. There are only a few small marshes in the area. Nevertheless, the fact that this is an actively managed forest means that visibility and runnability vary considerably. The challenge will be to find the best lines or route choices through the forest. Is straight the best option, or is it worthwhile to run round? If there is one leg which we should pick out it is the ungaffled sixth leg. We think there could be a lot of action there.