- The courses for the Jukola Relay are as difficult as we could make them, the course planner Ari Kattainen said an hour before the start of the men’s relay. For Kattainen, the greatest challenge in the course planning was to have the self-restraint to make the legs short enough. – The legs are [now] two kilometres shorter than in any other Jukola for the past thirty years.

With nearly twice as many points as number two on the list, Jukola was a very clear winner in “The Course of the Year 2010″.

Congratulations go to the course planner Ari Kattainen who managed to set challenging courses with real forest orienteering while adhering to a lot of restrictions for the gigantic Finnish relay.

Read on below for the top 10 list in “Course of the Year 2010″ – along with some goodies from the Jukola relay.

Prizes from our sponsors

The course planner Ari Kattainen receives a Trimtex Dynamic TX Jacket as a prize from our sponsor Trimtex. We plan to come back with an interview with Ari Kattainen.

Jukola 2010 has been one of the most popular courses among the WorldofO.com readers – first suggested by Alex L who receives a Trimtex Run Ventzone LZR Long Tights as a prize from our sponsor Trimtex. Jukola was since suggested by several others like Audun Weltzien, Maxime Gauduin, Olav Lundanes (as choice number two) and Thierry Gueorgiou (as choice number two).

In addition we have drawn the following prizes among the ones suggesting courses and voting:

• A voucher for a 2011 Sun-O Camp, value of 150 Euro (transferable to another person) goes to Helen Palmer for her suggestions and to Bjarne Christensen for his vote.
• Trimtex Necks go to Gurvas and Michael Wood for their suggestions, and Hannibal and Lukas Frei for their votes.
• Trimtex Vision LZR headbands go to Matija Razum for his suggestion via news.worldofo.com, Aron Less who suggested a course through the WorldofO.com Facebook page, and Jacek Morawski and Harald Storrønning for their votes.

All winners will receive an email in which they are asked to provide their postal address.

Overall results: The Course of the Year 2010

We got three tough long distance races on the top of the list for “The Course of the Year 2010″ – maybe because a long course gives more possibilities for varied challenges than a shorter course? It is at least a signal to all organizers that you should not let the long distance format dye – there are many fans of the long distance out there! The final Top 10-list for “The course of the Year 2010″:

1. Jukola 2010 17220 points
2. Norwegian Champs Long H21 2010 8920 points
3. World Cup France 2010, W21 8370 points
4. Portugal “O” Meeting 2010 – Day 3 7030 points
5. Finnish Champs Middle 2010 – Final 5990 points
6. NAOM Day1 long 5820 points
7. OTomne en Savoie Day 1 5190 points
8. EYOC 2010 Long 4540 points
9. JWOC 2010 Sprint – M20 with routes 3970 points
10. Temptation Island 3870 points

Jukola 2010: The race

Links to the map and coverage of the race:

• Here is for example the first leg in GPSSeuranta – but there are more than 50 maps from Jukola 2010 in omaps.worldofo.com – see for example here and here.
• Full event coverage of Jukola 2010 at WorldofO.com – including link to all maps, discussion of the decisive moments, possibility to replay the LiveBlog, and so on.

Selected legs from the Jukola relay 2010

Below you see some selected legs from the Jukola relay. For each leg, the fastest runner from the GPS-tracking along different routes is chosen – and the runners are compared by connecting points at the routes at which the runners have used the same time.

Leg 1, control 13-14

Of the runners compared, the direct route is the faster one. In the right route, it is the part in the green just ahead of the lake which is slower. Note also that it is significantly faster in the marsh north of the lake compared to at the south edge of the lake. The runner on the northern route looses time when climbing the hill in last half of the leg.

Leg 3, control 6-7

The southern route is more hilly – it seems like this is the reason for it being slower. Note that this is night orienteering.

Leg 3, control 9-10

Feel free to discuss the remaining legs in the comments – it is getting too late at night for the author of this article now…

Leg 7, control 17-18

Leg 7, control 19-20

Leg 7, control 20-21

Decisive moments – Jukola relay

The following are some of the most decisive moments in the Jukola relay (see GPS Tracking of some of them in the video below):

• 1st leg,  6th control. Kristiansand (Jostein Andersen) has no punch on the control, and gets disqualified. Halden SK (Kiril Nikolov) and Kalevan Rasti (Jan Prochazka) loose between 3 and 4 minutes, but this is not important for the overall results in the end. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 1st leg)
• 2nd leg. Kalevan Rasti (Tommi Tölkkö) looses nearly 7 minutes to Halden (Erik Axelsson) and several of the other top teams – down to 28th place for Kalevan Rasti. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 2nd leg)
• 3rd leg. Halden (Anders Nordberg) gets a 5 minute lead after a very good race at the long and dark 3rd leg. Note however that Kalevan Rasti (Hannu Airila) has a time which is only one second slower than Halden on this leg – getting Kalevan Rasti up to 3rd place. Thus there were two kings of the night at this years Jukola relay, although Nordberg’s solo in the lead is more impressive. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 3rd leg)
• 4th leg. Halden (Mattias Karlsson) continues to run very well with few mistakes, while Kalevan Rasti (Simo Martomaa) looses another 6 minutes. Second now is IFK Lidingö SOK 8:41 down. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 4th leg)
• 5th leg. Halden (Mats Haldin) does a good race, keeping Kalevan Rasti (Philippe Adamski) at a distance and increasing the lead to the other teams. Haldens lead is more than 11 minutes after the 5th leg, and the relay is decided. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 5th leg)
• 6th leg. Halden (Emil Wingstedt) does another good leg, not giving Kalevan Rasti (Fabian Hertner) any chance to get closer – Halden is actually increasing the lead further (GPS Tracking Jukola, 6th leg).
• 7th leg. Kalevan Rasti (Thierry Gueorgiou) runs a great race, decreasing the lead of Halden (Olav Lundanes) minute by minute, finally stopping at just above 7 minutes for a very secure 2nd spot. (GPS Tracking Jukola, 7th leg)

Maps and GPS Tracking

• Jukola, 1st leg. See also direct link to map for 1st leg Jukola
• Jukola, 2nd leg
• Jukola, 3rd leg. See also direct link to map for 3rd leg Jukola
• Jukola, 4th leg
• Jukola, 5th leg
• Jukola, 6th leg
• Jukola, 7th leg
• Venla, 1st leg. See also direct link to map for 1st leg Jukola
• Venla, 2nd leg
• Venla, 3rd leg
• Venla, 4th leg

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. 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.

We are moving up to number two in the course of the year 2010 competition, and find yet another long distance race. There are fewer and fewer long distance races on the international calendar – but these races are still the ones the orienteering community long for. Number two in “The Course of the Year 2010″ is the Norwegian Champs Long distance (first suggested by Bjørn and since suggested by several others).

- I think [the best course of 2010] must be the Norwegian Championships Long distance. Challenging technical in the start which gave few possibilities to plan routes ahead, World Champion on the long distance Olav Lundanes answered when asked about his favourite course this year. The course didn’t make it all the way to the top – but a second place is still a very good confirmation for course setter Tore Sandvik that he has done a lot of things right here.

Three different types of terrain

- The course had both long and short routechoice legs with a lot of possibilities. It is not often that the medal winners run this differently. The course did also have three different types of terrain, which gave many differences in the o-technique one had to apply – and constant challenges, Lundanes continued in his description of the terrain in the interview with World of O ahead of “The course of the Year 2010″.

Links to the map and coverage of the race:

• Map in GPSSeuranta available here
• Route choice analysis available over at o-training.net

Overall standings

The voting for “The course of the Year 2010″ finished two days ago- now the top 3 courses are presented one each day until the winner is revealed on Thursday along with the complete list.

1. Revealed November 25th 2010
2. Norwegian Champs Long 2010, 8920 points
3. World Cup France 2010, 8370 points

Analysis

I have already made a routechoice analysis of the course over at o-training.net, but to make the day a little bit more interesting for you, I have remade some of the legs using a different visualization technique. In these illustrations, lines connect points at which the runners have used the same time from the start of the leg (Note! Split-times are approximate taken from GPS-data and not from split times – usually off by some seconds). You might want to have the complete map handy while looking at the illustrations. For the analysis, I suggest visiting o-training.net.

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.

- 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.

Whereas Simone Niggli and Daniel Hubmann took clear victories in the real World Cup, it was a lot tighter in the Fantasy World Cup. The team OrientExpress with manager Ulis took the victory with 7745.45 points according to the unofficial results – only 11.3 points ahead of the BennyB-team. With double points, the sprint final in Geneva decided the Fantasy World Cup. OrientExpress won the last race – and thus pushed the BennyB-team down from the top.

Thank you to everybody for participating in the Fantasy World Cup!

Note! This article is based on unofficial Fantasy World Cup results. Please add a comment below if you find any errors in the calculations!

Overall results

• Full results with all details
• The Fantasy World Cup webpage

More technical orienteering than in the previous editions of the World Cup Final weekend (see map from Model event above) is what the world orienteering elite will meet in the Swiss part of the Jura mountains – just on the border to France – this Saturday. The World Cup Final weekend consists of a middle distance race on Saturday and a sprint race in Geneva on Sunday.

The middle distance on Saturday is extra important due to the fact that the race is held just south of the area which is embargoed for the World Orienteering Championships in 2012 – and thus this is one of the early steps in the preparations for WOC 2012 for many teams.

Many teams have spent the week between the World Cup race in France last Sunday and this weekend in France making preparations for the World Orienteering Champs in 2011 (and partly also for the World Championships in 2012) – and thus many runners have absorbed a lot of training in the tricky terrain south of Annecy the last days, and will therefore not be 100% prepared physically for the World Cup Final.

Relevant links

• Webpage of World Cup Final, Switzerland (PostFinance Sprint)
• Fantasy World Cup (remember to set up your team)
• Overall World Cup standings
• World of O Ranking
• Startlists will be available here (for the middle distance from 18:00 CET Friday October 8th)

Fight for the Triple

In the mens class there is still a fight for the overall World Cup victory. Daniel Hubmann has a lead of 144 points down to Matthias Müller in second spot. With 300 points to fight for in the two last races (100 points for victory, points are doubled in the sprint on Sunday) – and both races counting for all runners, this would normally be an easy task for Hubmann who is chasing his third overall World Cup victory. However, Hubmann has injury-problems and quit his race after 9 controls in France last weekend after trying to run without injection of sedatives. Hubmann is, however, planning to start both days in the World Cup final, and will have a lead of at least 44 points when starting on the sprint on Sunday even if getting another race with zero World Cup points on Saturday. In theory, 9 runners can win the overall World Cup in the mens class (actually 8 as Fabian Hertner is not running due to his injury at WOC in Trondheim):

1. 547, Daniel Hubmann, SUI
2. 403, Matthias Müller, SUI
3. 379, Fabian Hertner, SUI
4. 328, Carl Waaler Kaas, NOR
5. 321, Valentin Novikov, RUS
6. 320, Audun Weltzien, NOR
7. 301, Matthias Merz, SUI
8. 296, Olav Lundanes, NOR
9. 250, Thierry Gueorgiou, FRA

Due to the double set of points on the sprint race on Sunday, this last sprint race is the key to the overall World Cup victory (not all runners are happy that sprint is this important in the overall World Cup – 4 races along with the middle/sprint combo in NORT compared to three long distance races). Some thoughts around the possible outcomes:

• Müller has a good chance to win the overall World Cup if he takes victories both Saturday and Sunday. Hubmann then needs 156 points – which means that with a second spot on the sprint he would need no points on the middle, with a third spot on the sprint he would need a 7th spot on the middle, and with a fourth spot on the sprint he would need a third spot on the middle distance.
• For each spot Müller looses on the sprint, his chances for an overall World Cup victory are decreased significantly. Even if Hubmann gets no World Cup points at all this weekend, Müller must perform well in the weekend – victory in the middle distance and 6th spot in the sprint would not be enough.
• Carl Waaler Kaas – now in third spot – needs 219 points to pass Hubmann. With a victory in the sprint and a 21st spot in the middle distance that would be possible. However, the strength of Kaas is rather on the middle distance (where he is reigning World Champion) than in the sprint – and even with a victory on the middle distance Kaas would need a third spot on the sprint to take home the overall World Cup.
• Gueorgiou has only a theoretical chance of winning the overall World Cup. Gueorgiou needs two victories, and Hubmann must be number 38 or worse – in addition to several other top runners underperforming…

The most probable outcome is thus the third overall World Cup victory for Hubmann – but the injury makes it a bit more interesting for the spectators (of which a lot are expected in Geneva on Sunday).

World Cup victory number 50?

Among the women, Simone Niggli has already decided the overall World Cup with her victory last weekend – now being 310 points ahead of Helena Jansson in second spot with 300 points to run for. According to Swiss Orienteering, the race on Saturday is still important for Niggli as she is running for her 50th World Cup victory! Nobody would be surprised if Niggli took her 50th World Cup victory this weekend – and maybe even her 51st….

1. 780, Simone Niggli-Luder, SUI
2. 470, Helena Jansson, SWE
3. 352, Marianne Andersen, NOR
4. 309, Minna Kauppi, FIN
5. 298, Maja Alm, DEN
6. 288, Lena Eliasson, SWE
7. 286, Dana Brožková, CZE
8. 273, Annika Billstam, SWE
9. 250, Anni-Maija Fincke, FIN
10. 211, Celine Dodin, FRA

Fantasy World Cup

Along with the World Cup, the Fantasy World Cup is decided this weekend. If you are participating in the Fantasy World Cup, remember to set up your team ahead of the World Cup finals in order to get maximum World Cup points. With double amount of points, a lot can happen in the final race!

• Fantasy World Cup (remember to set up your team)

Significant changes will be introduced in the WOC program from 2014 – or even earlier – but the only thing which is certain is that more races will have a format in which the first runner to the finish is the winner. During the XXV IOF General Assembly held in conjunction with the WOC in Trondheim, Norway, the IOF presented a report on future directions for WOC – and the IOF Council will now continue to develop a detailed programme. The future WOC program should be important for all orienteers, because it will form orienteering as we see it as a sport.

After the first articles came out after the IOF General Assembly at orientering.no, orientering.se and later also at the IOF website, there have been a lot of speculations and discussions in the orienteering community about the future WOC program (see e.g. alternativet.nu, attackpoint.org, Nopesport, OPN.no). The discussions are partly wild, and partly based on information which is not fully correct. In this article I will summarize the facts, and discuss possible realistic options based on discussions with people close to the matter. At the end of the article I’ll put up my wishes for the future WOC program – and open for discussion.

The facts

At the 2010 IOF General Assembly, the IOF Council presented a report (the content of which has not been published, being one of the reasons for all the speculations) made by a work group emanated from the results of the IOF project “Evaluation of Elite Events” (EEE), which was initiated following the 2008 IOF General Assembly. The topic of the report was the future direction of WOC for 2014 and beyond. This report was not provided for decision making, but to inform the federations of the work done and to get feedback for the continued work. The key points in the report are given at the IOF website,

• The WOC programme should diversify
• The WOC week should remain within 8 days
• A new, mixed, relay should be introduced.

In addition to the Council’s report, the General Assembly agenda also included another item relating to the future WOC programme, namely Norway’s proposal to introduce a mass start and this proposal was decided for. Based on discussions I have had with people close to the process, even if the statement says “mass start”, it could instead be a “chasing start” if that format is better suited based on the considerations to be made.

The Council will now continue to develop a detailed program in the coming year, including in which format the mass start will be introduced. The future of the WOC program will then be decided during the WOC in 2011 in France.

I have received a copy of the report. A central point for  the report is that “events need to be made easier to understand and appreciated and more exciting to watch” in order to further raise the profile and visibility of orienteering and to “gather wider interest from “outsiders” and the larger sports community“. I have also discussed with people close to the process, and can thus elaborate further on the three key points from the report (see below).

Key point 1: The WOC programme should diversify

Behind this statement lies that individual start competitions must be complemented by race formats where first-to-finish is the winner. According to the report, “such development will introduce new challenges to a traditional concept and address the ambition to further raise the spectator and media values of WOC”.

This statement is based on the thought that first-to-finish race formats are easier to understand for the (non-orienteering) viewer, and may be made for interesting for TV.  Today one of four gold medals (i.e. 25% of the medals) is awarded in a race format where the first runner to the finish is the winner.  Based on my discussions with people close to the process – and on the report – there is little doubt that this percentage will be increased in the future WOC program.

My understanding is that there are currently three main ways to introduce first-to-finish winner disciplines,

• A mass start – either replacing the long distance or as a new discipline. The length of the mass start  could be anything from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. If the winning time is significantly more than an hour, it would probably have to replace the long distance. The start field would have to be reduced significantly from the 100+ participants for each sex in the WOC, probably by some kind of qualification race (see discussion below regarding the length of WOC), as a smaller startfield (30-40 starters) gives less demands for the forking system. A forking system would have to (1) be able to split up runners to some extent and (2) be easily understandable by TV/spectator regarding which runners is in the lead – no easy task. Discussions I have had indicate that forked loops would maybe be a viable forking system, but the forked loops would have to be relatively short with a long unforked loop at the end of the race – TV typically starting the broadcast towards the end of the unforked loops
• A chasing start. The most promising candidate for a chasing start might be to have a prologue of around 25 minutes in the morning (all 100+ runners in the same course), and a chasing start of 25-30 minutes based on the results of the prologue with the 30-40 best runners in the afternoon/evening (note that there might be time problems with a 2 minute start interval prologue in the morning for all runners in the same course). The prologue could also be used as a qualification race for the middle distance. A chasing start gives somewhat less demand regarding the forking system, and also gives several advantages for TV as there is (1) interesting TV pictures at the start and at each control for a longer time due to the spreading in the chasing start and (2) possible to use a less complicated forking system.One could also have a chasing start based on results from e.g. the middle distance final, but some do not like to award a gold medal and in addition have a big advantage towards another gold medal. A third option would be to replace the middle distance with a chasing start.
• A KnockOut sprint – similar to the concept introduced in the Nordic Orienteering Tour in Stockholm this spring. With better TV coverage and possibly also with a very simple forking system, this concept could prove very interesting for TV. If a KnockOut sprint is introduced in the WOC program, it is probable that it would replace the sprint as we know it in the WOC program of today.

Based on my understanding, it is improbable that all three first-to-finish winner disciplines will be introduced into the WOC program, but there is a chance that either a mass start or a chasing start is introduced – in addition to replacing today’s sprint with a KnockOut sprint.

Key point 2: The WOC week should remain within 8 days

Based on the report, it is an absolute that the WOC week remains within 8 days, i.e. all finals and qualification races must be held within these 8 days – but the program regarding which day which discipline is organized will have to vary due to local conditions.

The report says nothing about the number of finals / medal disciplines to be included in the future WOC program, but it is my clear understanding that there will be maximum one extra set of gold medals awarded in the WOC week, i.e. maximum one extra final.

Also, it is my understanding that the interest of the smaller nations will be important in forming the future WOC program, i.e. there should probably not be less disciplines to run for runners who today are fighting for a place in the A-finals at WOC. Thus it is improbable that qualification races will be removed in order to use WRE-points or World Cup standings to qualify directly to WOC finals. On the contrary, it is more probable that one will introduce qualification races where all runners run the same course (like in the prologue for chasing start and KnockOut sprint described above) where all runners will get a WOC result in the end rather than only getting a qualification result.

Key point 3: A new, mixed, relay should be introduced

In the report, it is concluded that the relay format used at the World Games, consisting of mixed teams with two women and two men, should be part of the future WOC program. Based on both the report and discussions I have had, it seems clear that if the mixed relay is introduced, it will replace the WOC relay format of today, as there is only room for one team competition at WOC.

The reason for wanting to replace the relay competitions with a mixed relay seems to be based on (1) positive feedback from the IOC after World Games, (2) the format is believed to be TV/media friendly and (3) the mixed relay competition is said to be an advantage for the smaller nations who might not have a good team with 3 women / 3 men, but have better chances in a mixed relay with 2 women + 2 men.

Based on discussions I have had with people close to the TV production, there are three possibilities for the relay competition in the future,

• Introduce the mixed relay (World Games type format or similar)
• Keep todays relay format, but decrease the leg lengths to around 30 minutes for each leg (as in NOC relay last year)
• Keep todays relay format with leg lengths as today

According to what I have been told, only the two first options are realistic alternatives, as the relay format of today with two long legs in the end is not deemed to be TV-friendly as the total time of the relay is too long. It thus seems like either the mixed relay as suggested in the report from the IOF Council or a shorter variant of today’s relay are the realistic options for the future. A change to a mixed relay format might be difficult to “sell” to the orienteering community which is generally quite conservative.

My personal opinions

Above I tried to give some objective insight into the probable future for the WOC program based on discussions with people close to the decision process – and based on the report from the IOF. I will now finish this article with my personal opinions about the WOC of the future – along with some discussions.

First a few words about orienteering as a TV sport based on experience from WOC 2010 in Trondheim – as this is also important for the discussion about the WOC program for the future. I had some interesting discussions with the NRK commentary for WOC 2010, Arild Andersen, who said that  he actually liked the long distance format best for TV, as there is time to explain the route choices and what is happening. However, if the start interval is increased to 3 minutes, the startfield would have to be reduced. The sprint did not work too well – as it was too hectic, and it was difficult to use the GPS tracking. The middle distance was also a bit hectic regarding the possibility to use the GPS tracking actively. Andersen was also a bit skeptical towards how it would be possible to make a mass start interesting TV.  As far as I could understand, you would have to have a lot of cameras to follow the runners in an acceptable part of the course – making it very costly. However, the idea of  a chasing start with a 25 minute prologue in the morning and a 30-35 minute chasing start in the afternoon was met with a very positive attitude by Andersen. I have also heard that NRK has got a lot of positive feedback for the use of GPS tracking in the WOC broadcasts – and I have also got very positive feedback from non-orienteers who I know who have watched part of the WOC broadcasts.

Down to my suggestions for the future WOC program:

• Suggestion 1: Split the WOC into two parts – a “Sprint WOC” and a “Distance WOC” – each organized biennially
  As far as I am aware of, splitting the WOC into two parts has not been part of the discussions within the IOF. In my opinion, there are several advantages by splitting the WOC into two parts. (1) There will be room for both the traditional long distance and a mass start/chasing start event. (2) The mixed relay can be part of the Sprint WOC and one relay for each gender can be part of the “Distance WOC”. (3) Both a KnockOut sprint, a traditional sprint (possibly also both city sprint and forest sprint) and a sprint relay can be introduced into the program – disciplines which are easier to master for the less developed orienteering nations (4) The Sprint WOC will be easier to organize for less developed orienteering nations, making it easier to spread orienteering to new nations.

  I have discussed this suggestion (which is not originally mine) with some who have said that if one should do a splitting into two WOCs, they should both be organized every year. I would rather have them every second year, in order to get full focus on both WOCs by all runners – also from the less developed orienteering nations.

• Suggestion 2: Keep the long distance as it is – change start interval to 2 minutes for first 25 starters
  The long distance discipline has excellent TV potential when the GPS tracking is further developed. A 3 minute start interval for all starters might be a challenge seen from a TV standpoint, but why not use a start interval of 2 minutes for the first 25-30 starters and 3 minutes start interval for the rest of the start field?
• Suggestion 3: The  first-to-finish winner discipline to be introduced should be chasing start
  In my opinion, of the different options for a first-to-finish winner disciplines, the chasing start with a ~25 minute prologue in the morning and a ~25-30 minute chasing start in the afternoon/evening is the best option. It is easier to make to work for TV than the mass start, it is easier to make a forking system which works adequately, and it contains more of the real orienteering element than a mass start.
• Suggestion 4:  Keep the separate gender relays
  I don’t like the idea of removing the separate gender relays. The only good way to introduce the mixed relay would – in my opinion – be to split the WOC in two parts as suggested above.
• Suggestion 5:  Keep the middle distance as it is – or shorten its length down to 25-30 minutes
  Even if the feedback from Andersen was not entirely positive for the middle distance, it has been very tight and exciting the last years – and it should be possible to use the GPS tracking even better to show the excitement in a good way. It could be a possibility to shorten its length somewhat
• Suggestion 6:  The sprint
  The KnockOut sprint is an interesting format, but it is not yet fully developed and ready for prime time. The ideal option would in my opinion to split the WOC in two parts, and have both a traditional sprint and a KnockOut-sprint. However, it this is not possible, I think there is not enough information yet to conclude.

Thanks for reading all the way through until the end. Please use the comments below to discuss my suggestions. I am very open for changing my opinions – the best way to develop the sport is through open discussions about the future, and getting out the opinions of both the elite and the rest of the orienteering community.

The Russian WOC selection process is quite different from what you see in many of the other top orienteering countries in the world. The selection races were held in Priozersk near Sankt-Petersburg July 2nd-July 6th a few weeks ago (see map from the long distance above), but 3 of 6 men were selected already ahead of the selection races. Thanks a lot to Mikhail Vinogradov for providing me with the information.

The Russian National team members have only had one training camp in Trondheim – in the beginning of May 2010. Several athletes from the Russian National team were in a training camp in Trondheim from May 2nd until May 8th (Tsvetkov Dima, Novikov Leonid, Novikov Valya, Khramov Andrey, Sitdikova Alia, Nuberg Ira, Vinogradova Julya Novikova Julya and Vinogradova Galya).

- Unfortunately the Russians athletes had only one training camp in Norway because there are no financing from the government for such training camps. This training camp was financing mostly by Scandinavian clubs or from personal incomes, Mikhail Vinogradov explains.

Still, the Russians count to the favorites in most disciplines in Trondheim – especially among the men where Andrey Khramov has now taken a gold medal in each of the last 5 World Championships. Can he take his 6th in a row? Also, Valentin Novikov is the middle distance champion from Bulgaria earlier this year. It would be a surprise if Russia would leave Trondheim without medals – but can they manage a Gold medal?

Maps from the selection races

The selection races consisted of one sprint, one long distance and one middle distance – all eld in Priozersk near Sankt-Petersburg July 2nd-July 6th (Russia Cup competition). Although there are many marshes in the terrain, it is quite different from what the athletes will meet in Trondheim this August. Here are the maps from the selection races:

• Map Long Men (routegadget) and route of Alexander Minakov (see also PDF-file with mens map and PDF-file with womens map)
• Map Middle Men (routegadget) and route of Alexander Minakov (see also PDF-file with both men and womens map)
• Map Sprint Men (route of Alexander Minakov) (see also PDF-file with both men and womens maps)

The sprint was a forest sprint only without qualification race, because in the last moment the local authorities said that they were not allowed to organize a city sprint in the museum area.

WOC team

WOC Entry

Selection criteria and selections

These are the principles of selection of athletes to the World Championships 2010:

1. Only 6 women and 6 men would be included to WOC team.
2. Andrey Khramov is a current WOC-champion in sprint. He was included to WOC team without selection.
3. Athletes from 1-6 places in EOC-2010 in individual races would be included to WOC team (in fact, Valentin Novikov – middle distance EOC-champion and Alexey Bortnik 5 place in middle distance).
4. Winners and silver medal winners from Russian selection races would be included next (See below).
5. One athlete may be included to WOC team on decision from Russian Orienteering Federation – without selection.
6. The rest of the athletes would be included to the WOC delegation if there sum of points from the two best selection races would be the maximum. The calculation formula is: Points from one race = (2 – Time of athlete/Time of winner).

Results Sprint

Results Middle

Results Long

Russian WOC selection basis

Team officials:
1. Vinogradov Mikhail.
2. Guriev Igor.
3. Kuzmin Alexey.
4. Merzin Alexandr.
5. Anders Mårtensson.
6. Anders Benson.

Update: “Live results” will only be finish-times, and they will be updated approximately every 5 minutes. There will be reports from Christian Bobach from the arena directly in the LiveBlog. The start goes from 09:00 to 14:10 – and the men have a course of 11.3 km – so prepare for a long day in front of the computer if you plan to follow all of the JWOC long distance race today. The first starter is Dan Wolf of Czech Republic among the men – and Tytti Kirvesmies (FIN) among the women – whereas Guy Sabo (ISR) and Piibe Tammemäe (EST) are to be found in the other end of the startlist.

The LiveBlog below will be live during the JWOC Long. Tweets with hashtag #jwoc or #jwoc2010 will be shown directly in the LiveBlog. In addition, Christian Bobach contribute to the LiveBlog directly from the arena through his mobile phone. In addition to the LiveBlog, you can follow JWOC long through “live results” which will be updated every 5 minutes with best finish times on the JWOC page. There is no live speaker sound or GPS tracking at JWOC. Note that the start has been delayed with 40 minutes.

I have been promised map with course after the last start (Update 08:50: I just received a message that maps will be available only when all runners have passed the arena at around 15:00 CET – now 15:40 CET due to start being late by 40 minutes) – this will be posted in the LiveBlog as soon as I receive it.

If you are on a mobile phone, you can access the LiveBlog here.

Useful links

• All you need to know about JWOC 2010 article
• JWOC 2010 webpage
• Results page of JWOC 2010
• Some of the favorites for JWOC presented at Ultimate Orienteering

Program

The following is the program for JWOC 2010 in Denmark:

• Monday, July 5th, Sprint 10:00, Aalborg University (old map)
• Tuesday, July 6th. Long 09:00, Svinkløv (old map)
• Thursday, July 8th. Middle qualification 10:00, Kollerup (old map)
• Friday, July 9th. Middle final 09:00, Kollerup (old map)
• Saturday, July 10th. Relay 10:00, Rebild (old map)

Facts and Course details

There are a total of 137 women and 166 men registered for JWOC 2010.

The Junior World Championships starts with the Sprint Monday July 5th at 10:00 CET – and continues with Long distance on Tuesday, Middle qualification on Thursday, Middle final on Friday and Relay on Saturday. The JWOC is followed with big interest all over the orienteering world – and starts just the day after a successful EYOC ends in Spain.

This news article will be updated during the JWOC week when new important information is available. Updates:

• There will be a LiveBlog also for the Sprint – maybe only with Tweets depending on administrators available
• There will be Live results also from the middle distance (source: e-mail from the organizers)
• Live results from the events are available here

JWOC 2010 Live coverage

The following Live services is planned from the event: It is planned to follow the Long Final (partly) and the Middle Final through a LiveBlog here at World of O. The organizers will provide live results from all competitions (with possible exception for Middle qualification/final were there is a poor internet connection Update: I have now got a message from the organizers telling me that there will be live results also from the middle distance). There will be no GPS tracking, no live audio and no live video from the events. There will also be nobody representing the organizer at the event site contributing to the LiveBlog. However, the organizers have promised to send maps after the last start – and to provide me with an email address for technical support in case of problems with the live results etc.

Useful links

• JWOC 2010 webpage
• Results page of JWOC 2010

Program

The following is the program for JWOC 2010 in Denmark:

• Monday, July 5th, Sprint 10:00, Aalborg University (old map)
• Tuesday, July 6th. Long 09:00, Svinkløv (old map)
• Thursday, July 8th. Middle qualification 10:00, Kollerup (old map)
• Friday, July 9th. Middle final 09:00, Kollerup (old map)
• Saturday, July 10th. Relay 10:00, Rebild (old map)

Facts and Course details

There are a total of 137 women and 166 men registered for JWOC 2010.

Terrain descriptions (from JWOC page)

Sprint
The sprint will be held at the University Campus on the eastern outskirts of Aalborg. The terrain is mainly urban with many architecturally similar single-storey buildings in recurrent patterns. There are canals, footpaths and scattered parking areas. Part of the terrain is residential.

Long
The long distance area is a relatively level area with a sloped border to the north and west reaching to the sea. Large areas with rich contour detail. The area includes open fields and numerous paths. The forest is dominated by pine and spruce with good to medium runnability. Good visibility.

Middle
The middle distance courses will be set in a forest dominated by pine and spruce. The terrain is relatively level with many contour details. There are several minor roads and footpaths. Good runnability and visibility.

Relay
The relay course will be in an area that is unique, not only to the region, but to all of Denmark. The area has very hilly parts with open vegetation. Contour details are more obvious than the for other JWOC areas. Part of the terrain is dominated by valleys with open to dense spruce vegetation. Hilltop areas afford optimum views of the arena.

LiveBlog

The LiveBlog will be live only during the Long distance and the Middle distance final. I will need help moderating comments to keep it live during all of the long distance, so please send me an email to jan@kocbach.net if you have the possibility to help out.

The orienteering elite of tomorrow have arrived in hot Soria, Spain – and are ready for Friday’s long distance which marks the start of this years European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC). Demanding and varied terrain never previously used for orienteering awaits the runners -you can follow the championships live via GPS tracking, live results, speaker sound and LiveBlog.

EYOC is usually the first international competition arena for promising athletes. Several EYOC winners have proceeded to win the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) later on. Both of the 2008 EYOC winners over the long distance – Matthias Kyburz and Ida Bobach – won JWOC gold medals the following year.

Interesting challenges

More than 300 competitors from 29 countries will participate in this years EYOC. The long distance on Friday will go in pine forested mountain terrain with many rock elements – the forest partly being dense, whereas other parts have very good runnability. The terrain for Saturday’s relay is completely different – half of the terrain being open, the other half covered with an oak tree forest –  full of stones and rock details, given interesting challenging for the runners. Finally the sprint on Sunday is set around the city center of Soria and surrounding parks.

Program:

• Friday July 2nd: Long distance. First start 11:00 CET
• Saturday July 3rd: Relay. Start men 11:00 CET. Start women: 11:10 CET
• Sunday July 4th: Sprint. First start 10:00 CET

Temperatures are currently around 30 degrees Celsius – and with the first start as late as 11:00, this might get very tough for the runners. The forecast indicates some rain for the long distance on Friday, so the runners might be lucky.

Tracking is provided by TracTrac – 40 runners will be tracked in both the long distance and in the relay.

EYOC webpage

All information about EYOC 2010 is available on the EYOC webpage:

• EYOC 2010 webpage

LiveBlog directly from Soria

In tight cooperation with the EYOC organizers, World of O will administer a LiveBlog from all EYOC competitions. The LiveBlog will be administered directly from the events – giving you all the action and answers to all your questions. If you have any questions regarding EYOC, feel free to ask in the LiveBlog below at any time. Comments will generally only be moderated/answered during the events – but questions which are asked at other times will be answered later on. All Tweets (via Twitter) with the hash-tags #eyoc or #eyoc2010 will go directly into the LiveBlog without moderation.

Disclaimer: Note that the EYOC organizers have supported World of O with travel costs in order to be present at EYOC to cover the event.