Course of the Year 2015: Submit your suggestions!

What was the best orienteering course of 2015? The World Champs middle in Italy won in 2014 – and the two years before we had Portuguese winners: a spectacular sprint between boulders and old buildings in 2013 and some great technical orienteering in 2012. In 2011 the WOC middle distance in France took the first place and the year before a very special Jukola relay won.

YOU are the one to decide who takes the prestigious top spot this year- first by submitting suggestions – and then by voting. As part of the “Course of the Year 2015″ we have got some great interviews from top runners where they talk about their favourite courses and maps from the last year: Starring a some of the new stars of the previous year and some of the established top runners – all of them have great stories about their favourite courses of the year: Lucas Basset, Olle Boström, Cat Taylor, Ida Bobach, Matthias Kyburz, Ruslan Glebov and  Lauri Sild. There is really something to look forward to the coming weeks!

The search for the course of the year  will be fun as always! The rules are simple: Suggest a course from a competition or training in 2015, and state the reason why you think this course deserves to be “The course of the Year 2015″. The best among all the suggestions will be chosen – and there will be a voting process among the readers of “World of O” in order to name “The course of the year 2015″. And please, please, please state the reason for your suggestion – that’s where the fun & the passion for orienteering comes in!

More than 2500 Euro worth of prizes for YOU

Prizes from sponsors make it more fun to be in on the suggestions and voting. This year we again have some great sponsors and prizes – with a total value of more than 2500 Euro. We hope this means many good suggestions & a lot of interactivity from YOU! See all details about the 7 sponsors & prizes below!

Use the comments below, and submit either

1. The course which in your opinion is the best course you run in 2015 yourself!
2. The best course you set this year as a course-setter.
3. The overall best course you have seen/heard about in 2015

Most course-setters surely have to make some compromises, so finding the perfect one is probably not possible. Still, it is interesting to see which is the best course you run or set in 2015!

Starting point

To provide you with a starting point, I’ve picked out a few different candidates for you based on maps and courses I have seen in omaps.worldofo.com and comments on various webpages:

• This year’s World Cup has been a fantastic one for lovers of real long distance orienteering in real wilderness. It started already in early January in Tasmania with a great course in very hilly terrain – described as “cool” by the athletes.  The map with part of the men’s course is shown at the top of this article – and you find the full map here and an analysis of the race here including split time analysis and some terrain photos. The course offered some really intricate long routechoice legs – the world class athletes were really challenged here.
• From World Cup to small regional races: There are so many dedicated course setters out there that some of the greatest courses set in 2015 have probably only been seen by a few hundred people. Hopefully some of these courses are brought into the light in “Course of the Year 2015″. One example of a local race with a great course is “Høiås Day & Night Cup #2″ which Halden organized a few days ago on the map Isebakketjern. A tough 11.2 km course in WOC 2016 relevant terrain won by Olav Lundanes in 86 minutes – the course setter put a lot of time into the intricate long legs. See the analysis here – the map with course here.
  
• And finally I’ll point out a nice Urban course as well: The World Championships Sprint Relay was a really nice sprint course – giving the athletes very varied challenges in an area which could look a bit limiting when just looking at the map. Nice job by the course setter – and that’s what “Course of the Year 2015″ is about. Take a look at the course here
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I am sure you have a lot of better suggestions than the one I gave above – this is just a starting point to see the wide variety of candidates there are out there. Submit your suggestions now!

Rules

The following rules are given for “The course of the Year 2015″.

• The course must have been run in competition or training in 2015 (an exeption for courses in December 2014 as they were not covered in last year’s contest)
• 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 2015″ (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 2015″. 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 2015″, 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: Antalya Orienteering Festival 2016 – 29th October – 5th November

• Prize offered: One big Antalya O-Meeting package consisting of 2 complete Antalya Orienteering Festival packages: Accommodation + Entry for all 5 races + All Transfers + The program consisting of presentations held by Håkan Carlsson. Value about 495 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• Antalya Orienteering Festival will be held for the 2nd time in Side by the Mediterranean coast of Antalya, Turkey. We provide 5 different terrains and challenging courses, good maps and good weather for orienteering holiday. Swedish National Team Head Coach Håkan Carlsson will join us for analysis and lectures about Sports psychology & Mental training. See more at www.antalyaofest.com

Event sponsor: Fjord-O 2016 – 13th – 17th July

• Prize offered: 3 packages – each for 2 persons – for the full Fjord-O 2016 consisting of entry for 4 races in beautiful terrain with fjord view.  Value about 450 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• The race courses are set among the most spectacular sceneries in «Fjord Norway», with the slogan «with a view to the fjord». Fjord-O Vest is 4 days of competitions allowing time for you to explore the beautiful nature in this area during your holiday. Stryn and Ålesund have many exciting attractions such as the Jugend town of Ålesund, the Geiranger Fjord, a hike up the longest uphill track in Norway to the Skåla summit at 1849 above the sea level or a visit to the famous Briksdal Glacier. See more at fjord-o.no.

Event sponsor: Portugal “O” Meeting 2016 – February 5th-9th 2016

• Prize offered: 4 packages – each for 2 persons – transferable to other person. Consisting of entry to complete 4 day Portugal “O” Meeting 2016 – 4 official races + 1 Urban Night (Middle, Urban Nigth, Middle, Long-WRE, Long). Value about 390 EUR.
• POM is the world’s biggest winter time orienteering event, and is considered by many as the official opening of the competition season for its high quality organization and for receiving the top runners of the world. We expect to have 2000+ runners – last year POM had 2300 runners! Besides new maps, challenging terrains and courses you’ll be able to experience the rich gastronomy, as the famous cheese, olive oil and honey (considered among the best in the world). Have a chance to enjoy the friendship of locals and explore the beautiful and untouched nature. The WRE day will be the long distance on 8th Feb.More at  http://www.pom.pt.

Event sponsor: Slovak Karst Cup 2016. 21st-24th July 2016

• Prize offered: 3 packages for 2 people – each consisting of: entry for 4 competitions (2xmiddle, 2x shortened long), accommodation for 4 nights in camping, 3 training maps, Event T-shirts and headtube.
  Value about  360  Euro, transferable to other person(s).
• Slovak Karst Cup is the favorite multiday o-event in Slovakia. It is usually organized in karst terrains of Silická planina (plateau) or Plesivecka planina (plateau), which are located in National park Slovenský kras. You can find many depressions, mixed forest, semiopen or open areas there. And also lots of natural and historical attractions in surroundings after competition. For Karst Cup 2016 we have chosen one of the most attractive terrains, which where used partly for JWOC 2012 (open or semiopen areas of Silická planina) and fully for WUOC 2006 (forest area of Plešivecká planina). The competition can be a very good opportunity for training for WUOC 2016 participiants. More at http://www.tuke.sk/obeh/karst

Event sponsor: SIVEN MOC 2016 – March 4th – March 10th 2016

• Prize offered: Full package for 1 person consisting in package for SIVEN MOC camp + entry fee for SIVEN MOC Championship in Bulgaria – March 2016. The package includes 7 trainings as shown on the program, 3 competitions of MOC Championship, 8 nights accommodation. Value about 349 Euro. Transferable to other person. 
• XIV edition of MOC, with main sponsor SIVEN, for the first time in Bulgaria. Event centre in Bansko. Find your Bulgaria! MOC stands for Mediteranian Orienteering Championship – MOC is an annual event organized at the beginning of spring season, in southern countries with softer climate. More info at www.sivenmoc.com and www.orienteering.it

Event sponsor: Orievents / NAOM 2016. 13th – 14th February 2016

• Prize offered: Competition + training package for 2 persons, consisting of: Entry for NAOM 2016 (13February  2016 –  Middle distance + Night Sprint ; 14 February – Middle Distance WRE) +  training camp (6 trainings) + 3 days of accommodation in half board. Value about 320 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• Orievents / GD4C’s 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: Lipica Open 2016. 12th – 16th March

• Prize offered: 2 packages – each for 2 people – consisting of: Entry to complete Lipica Open competition + hard floor accommodation in Postojna. Value about 320 euro. Transferable to other persons.
• In 2016 Lipica open will again be organized as a 5 day event. Again some great terrains! 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