World of O News
– The area is just great, demanding both physical and even more technical, the reigning World Champion on the Sprint distance tells WorldofO.com when asked about the best course he run in 2010. The competition in question is the Swiss long distance championships held at the map Got Grond in August this year. – Well, I performed quite bad in that competition, but anyway, this was for me the best competition in 2010, Müller comments.
“The Course of the Year 2010″
WorldofO.com has interviewed Matthias Müller for “The Course of the Year 2010″ – you can read more about “The Course of the Year 2010″ here, including all the suggestions by WorldofO.com readers – and also suggest your own courses and win great prizes by Trimtex and sun-o.com (more info about prizes and sponsors below the interview).
Interview with Matthias Müller
Thanks a lot to Matthias Müller who took the time to answer a few questions for “The Course of the Year 2010″.
Q: What was the best course you run in 2010 – and why?
The Swiss long distance championships. The area is just great, demanding both physical and even more technical. The course was very varied between short difficult legs and routechoices. Well, I performed quite bad in that competition, but anyway, this was for me the best competition in 2010. [Editors comment: See map with route of Dani Z here – small version of the map included at the top of this page].
Q: What is the worst course you run in 2010?
That was a middle distance training in France this autumn. It was cold, foggy and rainy. And I made many mistakes, sometimes because of my fault but often because the map was so terribly bad. During the race, I got quite angry and demotivated. Superman had 40 minutes, the winner 51 minutes, and I had 54 minutes. As I remember the times went up to 70 minutes… Once we all were dry and warm again, it was great fun to tell all the stories about that session! (Map available here – read more about the training camp at the website of Müller)
Q: What is the best course you have run ever – if you must pick one from the top of your head?
Last year in November in Trondheim in Nordmarka, frozen marshes, blue sky above and fog below me. That was amazing! [Editors comment: The Nordmarka map is available here with a course run by Francois Gonon from the Norwegian Champs 2001].
Q: Are the courses generally getting better, worse or staying on a level?
The courses I ran this season were all good! I see a trend to more controls, if that is good or bad? I don’t know, sometimes I think it could be better to let some of the controls away to find some more long legs and routechoices.
Q: What is the most important ingredients in a course in order for it to be a good course – in your opinion?
The course should change in it’s difficulty. A runner should never feel safe and get bored. I think that it is more challenging to have 10 easy controls + 5 difficult controls than 15 difficult controls. With 15 difficult ones you get used to it and know how to master it, but if you have the chance to go full speed sometimes it’s difficult to find the challenging ones inbetween. Variety is the key to a good course!
Q: What are your goals for next year – and how do you change your training and focus in order to reach your goals in 2011?
I would like to compete on the same level as I did in 2010 and fight for top ranks in the big competitons. I have to work on my concentration over longdistance races to decrease the failurerate and become competitve also in that distance. Since I’ll stay in sweden one more winter I’ll do things more or less the same as last season.
Prizes from our Sponsors
Prizes from our Sponsors always makes it more fun! There will be a prize for the course setter in “The course of the Year 2010″, a price for the first one suggesting the course which ends up becoming “The course of the Year 2010″, and finally prizes drawn among all suggesting and voting.
Sponsors for “The course of the Year 2010″:
Trimtex sponsors “The course of the year 2010″ with 10 prizes. More information about the prizes to come. Trimtex Sport make technical team wear for athletes in clubs and companies. Trimtex’s products are world-leading within function, design and quality, whether it’s for cycling, running, skiing or orienteering.
- sun-o.com sponsors “The course of the year 2010″ with a voucher for a 2011 Sun-O Camp, value of 150 Euro. Sun-o offers orienteering travel-packages in Spain and Portugal, combining high quality terrains and varied O-maps, in regions with rich culture and sunny climate – organizing your O-holidays from from start to finish.
- For the record: All sponsor gifts/income related to “The Best Course of 2010″ goes directly to the WorldofO.com readers.
