Minna Kauppi and Daniel Hubmann have been awarded with “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ titles in the womens and mens class, respectively! Among the women, Minna Kauppi got 29.4% of the votes – winning ahead of Vroni König-Salmi with 23.7% of the votes. The mens class saw a very clear winner in Daniel Hubmann getting 53.4% of the votes – more than five times as many as Thierry Gueorgiou and Michal Smola in shared second position, each with 9.9% of the votes.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – more than 3500 unique votes from 52 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. Read on below the results to find interviews with Minna Kauppi and Daniel Hubmann.

Results – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Interview: Minna Kauppi – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Congratulations on being awarded “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″! You won a clear victory ahead of the comeback of the year – Vroni Salmi-König.
Thanks! So this was basically the same situation as in WOCs middle distance this year;)

You had a fantastic World Orienteering Championships in Czech Republic which the orienteering community appreciated as the best achievement of the year – what are your best memories of the week in Olomouc when looking back at it now?
Of course everything culminates on my work during the middle distance. I knew what I was doing, and pushed all the way till the end. On the other hand, the city of Olomouc was really beautiful too, and i enjoyed being there as well.

Anne Margrethe Hausken took all the attention after the World Orienteering Champs with her O-Ringen victory and her Overall World Cup victory. But you performed best when it really counted the most – at the World Orienteering Champs. What is your secret to perform well at the big happenings in 2008?
I knew I couldn’t be in my best shape in all the competitions this year due to all the problems I had, so I was forced to concentrate on the WOC only. This was maybe my weapon this year, as I didn’t really care of the rest of the competitions. On the other hand, when it comes to O-Ringen, I was too satisfied already, so it didn’t really matter anymore. For me it’s always about the mood which takes the good results!

Next year Simone will be back – and Hausken is surely hungry to perform well in the World Orienteering Champs in Hungary. What are you doing this winter to improve even more in 2009?
I’ll try to do everything better than before, but at the same time, I want to keep the training and all the fun, so that I won’t take it too seriously in the WOC either.

How are your preparations for 2009 going? Just fun & partying – or has the serious training started?
I’ve started training already, but unfortunately I’ve been forced to make the trainings according to other events. It’s been too big a fuss in these special media events lately, so it’s been really hard with all the interviews and all the big parties. But I really hope that the media leaves me alone now as I won’t answer my phone anymore;) So, from now on I’ll be training like crazy, and enjoying the winter sports in Finland!

Any final word to all your fans out there?
Thank you all! This is a big honor to me, and I hope we’ll keep on making big NOISE in the competitions!

Interview:Daniel Hubmann – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Congratulations with a fantastic season – and the award “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″! The orienteering community really appreciates your achievements this year. Can you find a special reason why you took the final step up on the podium this year?
Thank you! Of course it’s a great honor to me to be awarded. My season went really good, I had no problems during the last year. I guess that was really important to built up the self confidence. And of course the luck was on my side this year. in 2006 i just missed the woc gold by one second…

You actually got more than 50% of the votes – the next two – Thierry Gueorgiou and Michal Smola – both have around 10%. A very clear winner you are!
Wow, I’m surprised to see to this clear result! Thierry is still very famous in the orienteering world, and had a good season too. Of course it’s nice to feel many people think you deserved the gold medal.

We admired the way you kept being very satisfied with all your silver medals – at least that is what you said when asked. I guess there was some disappointment anyway – and a big relief when you got your WOC gold medal?
With the first silver medals in my career, I was very pleased. But of course, after 2-3 times, there was always a small disappointment, too. I just tried not to put too much pressure on my shoulders, and with every silver medal more, i realized the gold medal was coming closer…

What do your days look now, in the middle of winter?
The plan was to start the serious winter training in beginning of December. Unfortunately I have some problem with a small knee injury right now, so I can’t train to much at the moment.

How are your plans for the rest of your preparations for next year. Have you made any big changes compared to this year?
I have made no big changes. The last years I had always the same style of training, and it worked. So there is no reason for a big change…

Have you got any final words to all your fans out there?
It’s really nice to have such support from all the orienteering people. Thank you very much for all this votes!

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. See all nominees in the initial press release.

… got nearly to the top in the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ – both getting the second place in the women and men category, respectively. Vroni König Salmi had the comeback of 2008 in international orienteering with her silver medal in the WOC 2008 Middle Distance – an achievement valued highly by the orienteering community, giving her 23.7 % of the votes in the womens class. In the mens class, Thierry Gueorgiou shared the second position with 9.9 % of the votes for taking his 5th WOC Middle distance gold medal in six years – defending his title “The King of Middle Distance” yet again.

Tomorrow the winners of the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ will be presented, along with their comments to the results. For now, you can reread the interviews with König-Salmi and Gueorgiou here:

• Interview Vroni König-Salmi. Nominated for comeback of the year with her silver medal in the WOC 2008 Middle Distance – 19 years after her debut in Sweden in 1989.
• Interview Thierry Guergiou.Nominated for taking his 5th WOC Middle distance gold medal in six years: The King of Middle Distance managed to defend his throne again!

Results – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Lucky Linkers

At least 29 different web-pages have linked to the poll – spreading it to all of the international orienteering community. The 5 websites winning sponsored ads at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering are presented in an article at Ultimate Orienteering. Thank you to everybody helping to spread the news!

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

… start our countdown on the podium in the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″. Anne Margrethe Hausken’s great achievements in 2008 – dominating the sprint distance in international orienteering and winning the overall World Cup – gave her the third position with 18 % of the votes in the womens class. In the mens class, Michal Smola won a shared(!) second position with 9.9 % of the votes for his silver medal on the WOC Middle distance – becoming the first Czech man to take an individual WOC medal since the Gold Medals of Petr Kozák in 1991.

An interesting observation regarding the shared second position of Michal Smola: Voting closed December 9th at 24.00 CET. The last vote came in at 23.55 CET – only 5 minutes before the poll closed – going to Michal Smola, and bringing him up on shared second position!

The next two days the other athletes on the podium in the “Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ will be presented. You can reread the interviews with these two fine athletes – Hausken and Smola – here:

• Interview Anne Margrethe Hausken. Nominated for dominating the Sprint distance in International Orienteering in 2008 with victories in all International Sprint races this year – including the World Orienteering Champs and the European Champs. Also a clear overall World Cup victory, after a total dominance at O-Ringen in Sälen – winning the World Cup already months before the World Cup Finals.
• Interview Michal Smola.Nominated for managing the big pressure at home ground – with his Silver medal on the WOC Middle distance becoming the first Czech man to take an individual WOC medal since the Gold Medals of Petr Kozák in 1991.

Results – Orienteering Achievement of 2008

Lucky Voters – Prizes from Trimtex

More than 5300 votes have been given in “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ – with voters coming from 52 different countries! Thus, the winners are really named by the international orienteering community! Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) have been drawn. The “Lucky Voters” are presented in this article at Ultimate Orienteering – and will be emailed today. We would also like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

Lucky Linkers

At least 29 different web-pages have linked to the poll – spreading it to all of the international orienteering community. We would like to thank the following sites for helping spreading the news:

• http://www.nivut.org.il/
• http://myopera.com/mathe.fanni
• http://morient.org.ua/golosov.html
• http://www.rsp.lv/okrsp/
• http://orientovar.blogspot.com/
• http://www.suunnistus.net/
• http://www.orient.r52.ru/
• http://www.emilianocorona.it/
• http://www.erikholmberg.nu/
• http://orientovar.blogspot.com/
• http://www.swiss-orienteering.ch/
• http://www.orientacnibeh.cz/
• http://kondis.no/index.php?akt=orientering
• http://www.opn.no
• http://kolmardencats.wordpress.com/
• http://amhausken.com/
• http://my.opera.com/tiagor/blog/
• http://www.kart-bosse.se/idrefjall/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=8&Itemid=33
• http://www.orientering.dk/
• http://my.opera.com/chissick/blog/2008/12/01/world-of-o-poll
• http://www.myopera.com/emakrai
• http://www.simoneniggli.ch/
• http://moscowcompass.ru/
• http://lpu.cz/
• http://morient.org.ua/
• http://www.o-news.net/
• http://britishorienteering.org.uk
• http://huhsara.blogspot.com/
• http://okansas.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow the 5 websites winning sponsored ads at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering will be presented.

Still the fight for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ is not decided – you now have only 16 hours left to place your vote if you have not voted yet. The poll closes at midnight CET tonight. Please help spreading the news – and give all these great achievements by the worlds finest orienteers their deserved honor!

• Follow this link to go to the voting page
• 10 prizes from Trimtex will be drawn among all voting

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

Rules and prizes for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Prizes will be drawn among the voters:

1. A person can only vote once in each of the categories (if several people share one internet connection, only one can vote, as the IP address is used to identify the voter along with the email-address of the voter).
2. Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) will be drawn. We would like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Spread the news

Help making the poll as representative for the international orienteering community as possible! Spread the news about the poll, by publishing an article about the election on your website, and encourage people participating. Please use this link:

• http://poll.worldofo.com/poll2008.html (voting will be opened from here)

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, five websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at either World of O or Ultimate Orienteering. Websites with on average more than 200 visitors/day will count triple when linking to the poll. Send an email to Jan@Kocbach.net with the sites address if you want to be part of this draw for free sponsored links. Sponsored links may be to any orienteering related page or product – must necessarily by the website drawn. Please use one of the following images when linking to the poll:

The fight for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ is very tight in the women class with 6 days to vote. Three women are within around 50 votes – YOUR vote can decide who will win! In the men class, one athlete has taken a larger lead – but nothing is decided until the last vote has been given. Voting for the “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ is open from November 28th until December 9th. Please help spreading the news – and give all these great achievements by the worlds finest orienteers their deserved honor!

• Follow this link to go to the voting page
• 10 prizes from Trimtex will be drawn among all voting

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008: Runesson and Falk

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk – both from Sweden – were named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes – nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote was decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year – and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Read more in the Press Release about the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008 winners.

Rules and prizes for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Prizes will be drawn among the voters:

1. A person can only vote once in each of the categories (if several people share one internet connection, only one can vote, as the IP address is used to identify the voter along with the email-address of the voter).
2. Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) will be drawn. We would like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Spread the news

Help making the poll as representative for the international orienteering community as possible! Spread the news about the poll, by publishing an article about the election on your website, and encourage people participating. Please use this link:

• http://poll.worldofo.com/poll2008.html (voting will be opened from here)

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, five websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at either World of O or Ultimate Orienteering. Websites with on average more than 200 visitors/day will count triple when linking to the poll. Send an email to Jan@Kocbach.net with the sites address if you want to be part of this draw for free sponsored links. Sponsored links may be to any orienteering related page or product – must necessarily by the website drawn. Please use one of the following images when linking to the poll:

Voting for the “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ has now opened – and will be open from November 28th until December 9th. The past week all nominated runners have been presented at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – and now everything is ready to name the Orienteering Achievement of 2008. Now it is up to you! Please help spreading the news – and give all these great achievements by the worlds finest orienteers their deserved honor!

• Follow this link to go to the voting page
• 10 prizes from Trimtex will be drawn among all voting

Nominees “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008: Runesson and Falk

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk – both from Sweden – were named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes – nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote was decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year – and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Read more in the Press Release about the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008 winners.

Rules and prizes for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″

The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Prizes will be drawn among the voters:

1. A person can only vote once in each of the categories (if several people share one internet connection, only one can vote, as the IP address is used to identify the voter along with the email-address of the voter).
2. Among all people voting, 10 prizes (Trimtex Extreme shirts and Trimtex Extreme pants) will be drawn. We would like to thank Trimtex for making available the prizes.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Spread the news

Help making the poll as representative for the international orienteering community as possible! Spread the news about the poll, by publishing an article about the election on your website, and encourage people participating. Please use this link:

• http://poll.worldofo.com/poll2008.html (voting will be opened from here)

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, five websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at either World of O or Ultimate Orienteering. Websites with on average more than 200 visitors/day will count triple when linking to the poll. Send an email to Jan@Kocbach.net with the sites address if you want to be part of this draw for free sponsored links. Sponsored links may be to any orienteering related page or product – must necessarily by the website drawn. Please use one of the following images when linking to the poll:

- Actually I’m not sure if my biggest achievement was to get a bronze medal in long distance in the World Champs or “almost” manage to reach a 4000m legendary summit in the French Alps. Both experiences were extremely challenging and I was immediately thinking to try again with “better style” the next time, Francois Gonon explains his highlights of the season – and his goals for reaching even higher next time! Gonon took the first French WOC medal on the long distance – and also the first individual French WOC medal by anyone else than Thierry Gueorgiou. Below Gonon is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Francois Gonon

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I am 29 years old, born in Saint-Etienne and so far I have been living there. Right now, I have some serious plan to move to the French Jura (next to Swiss border and to WOC 2012 area) for the coming years. I started orienteering in 1992 and I trained the last 13 years with Saint-Etienne “Pôle France” (O’training center). This season I managed to be back in top shape just in time for world champs after some over-training “small troubles” earlier in the spring.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was a lot of nice happening this season again…. actually I’m not sure if my biggest achievement was to get a bronze medal in long distance in the world champs or “almost” manage to reach a 4000m legendary summit in the French Alps. Both experiences were extremely challenging and I was immediately thinking to try again with « better style » the next time !

I got a nice self confidence and satisfaction feedback after my long distance race in world champs. And in same time I got a clear overview of what was still missing to run 1′57 faster too. So almost just after the finish line, I was already thinking about the best way to be stronger, about some more quality training and some better preparation for coming years. WOC 2009 was already starting !

I like to think that the last 2 years results were just a step to some much better onces in the future

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
It’s always nice to be in the list… but it’s lots of other good and talented orienteers around, and I have a great respect for them all.

What are your main goals for the future?
I like to think that the last 2 years results were just a step to some much better onces in the future. I still have lot of aspect to improve in my performance and my plan is to compete at least to 2012 in Switzerland. So, if I’m right, it means 4 world champs left… It’s time to make my dreams come true, let’s train more !

Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
Likely it’s plenty of dreaming places to orienteer… it’s an all life project to visit them all !

At the moment the number one on my list is NOM 84 map near Sørreisa (Troms). If you are a good fisher, you can easily stay with your tent during one week up on this plateau and have fun with O’sessions twice a day.

Couple of places in Finland (like Paimio area), Pegerinos (Spain), Sisteron & Aveyron (France)… are top ranked on my list too. But I couldn’t remember any good quality maps in Sweden… ?! Do you? ;-)

Italian 5 days next year in Dolomites will be most probably something to experience. Orienteering in the morning and long distance running in mountains and climbing in the afternoon, I’m already enthusiastic about this trip.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I don’t know about the toughest but the most enjoyable was probably a ski camp in Lapland (Yllas) last winter with my Finnish mates. We trained nearly 30h this week with mostly classic skiing, running intervals, strengths trainings, running technique and sallybandy. I believe it’s important to do something crazy a few times a year.

But if you want more details about tough trainings, let’s speak about French team camps… according to our motto « entrainements difficiles, resultats faciles » (hard training, easy results), we are used to train 4 times/day : morning jog (before breakfast), fast orienteering session in the morning, long orienteering session in the afternoon and night orienteering as a dessert.

Since running long distance in the world champs is extremely demanding mentally, technically and physically, I believe a good preparation for this situation is to push yourself few times a year to your extreme limits… (well… you don’t necessary need to follow this opinion…). On the other hand, my standard and most efficient training is based on daily routines.

Anyway, I try to keep in mind Nick Manfredi’s good advice : « If you want to be a Champion, you have to use your brain… » See video here.

My main training philosophy is to enjoy and have fun as much as possible. According to this definition, running on athletic track is not my favorite practice

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
No, I’m not a professional. I’m working part time for the French orienteering federation for last 2 years. I have trained nearly 660h and traveled ~130 days this year… On the other hand, I’m working on a project to develop orienteering in the French education system (www.oplus-ffco.fr). So far, this professional activity has been extremely interesting.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I try to avoid road running as much as possible. Running off-tracks is much more fun and I guess much more efficient for orienteering. This year I have been running ~250h and orienteering ~240h. The previous years (1994-2007) running + orienteering was about 80% of my training (40%+40%). Last autumn (2007) I decided to include more alternative training in my weekly program, so I have been climbing (indoor) twice a week and skiing 1500kms last winter.

My main training philosophy is to enjoy and have fun as much as possible. According to this definition, running on athletic track is not my favorite practice… I have been running twice 3000m both without specific preparation (9′10 during autumn 2006 & 8′43 during spring 2007). Now, if I manage to find motivation for a third session my only goal will be to run faster than 8′35 which is the French record in women class… after that I will probably stop this long athletic-track career.

On the other hand, we have a « fantastic » running test near Saint-Etienne which is about 500m climbing on a small track. My personal best is 20′43 and you are very welcome to try it… this is what I call a nice and enjoyable training session ;-)

- Running up the finish straight at the WOC Relay with my team and meeting our coach and friend Dave Peel was the highlight of the season, Jamie Stevenson tells us in this interview. Stevenson took home the victory for Great Britain in one of the most special orienteering thrillers the orienteering world has seen – the WOC Relay – after delivering a fantastic performance on the last leg, suprising everybody by coming in first. His teammates Graham Gristwood and Jon Duncan are also a very important part of this achievement. Below Stevenson is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Jamie Stevenson

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I was born in 1975 in Edinburgh Scotland. I have lived in Sweden 1999 – 2004. Now I live in Hillerød, Denmark. I am engaged to Helene Hausner. We are happy parents of baby Selma, born October 2008. My profession is school teacher – english and sport.

I started orienteering aged 11. My first WOC was in 1997 in Norway, 22 years old – 6th place in relay.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
The WOC relay. Running up the finish straight at the WOC Relay with my team and meeting our coach and friend Dave Peel was the highlight of the season.

I hope to perform well but also be a good team member and inspire the next generation of national team runners

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am very flattered.

What are your main goals for the future?
I hope to run one more WOC long distance, in very technical terrain next year. I hope to perform well but also be a good team member and inspire the next generation of national team runners, either as a member of the relay team or as a spectator.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
I love orienteering everywhere. The Lake District in England is one of my favourites, but after visiting Hungary and Slovakia I am looking forward to next year’s WOC.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I got into good running shape on the forest tracks around Hillerød. I had to economise on training time during many weeks, so I used threshold runs to work and back home as good basic training. I trained 160 km a couple of times and 140 km quite often during the spring and early summer.

… after visiting Hungary and Slovakia I am looking forward to next year’s WOC

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
No – I am a professional teacher and a family man, with a house to fix and a garden to look after! I work full time, but I took a couple of weeks off school to take part in training camps last year. When I train hard I train 10 – 15 hours. But in the autumn I usually spend a lot of time on my work and at home. This year I have spent a lot of time getting ready for our baby and now of course I want to spend as much time with Helene and Selma at home as possible.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I have spent a lot of time on forest trails, because it is quick and effective training. But of course I spend a lot of time in the forest when we have training camps in WOC relevant terrain for example. PB times are 8.39 in 3000m/ 14.38 in 5000m.

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk – both from Sweden – have been named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes – nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year – and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Proud winners

The two winners of “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ really deserve their victory:

• Beata Falk was nominated for winning three JWOC medals: Gold in Relay and silver in both long and middle. Also victory in D20E in O-Ringen. You can read the complete interview with Beata Falk here.
• Johan Runesson was nominated for winning the silver medal at JWOC sprint, the gold medal at JWOC middle distance, the gold medal at JWOC long distance and the gold medal at JWOC relay in Gothenburg this year, and his participation as a junior in the World Cup 2008 program. You can read the complete interview with Johan Runesson here.

- I feel very proud that so many people voted for me, a very happy Johan Runesson said to World of O/Ultimate Orienteering after being named the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008. – Especially after I heard that only a small part of the voters came from Sweden, and it is the international orienteering community who has named me the best Junior Orienteer of 2008, Runesson continues.

And indeed, Runesson and Falk were not voted to the top by their fellow countrymen. Actually, Norway and Russia are on the top regarding which countries votes came from – with Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland on the next spots. Many votes also came from Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia and the UK.

Full voting results: The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. See all nominees in the initial press release.

Pictures by World of O / Ultimate Orienteering. If you need full quality pictures of any of the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ winners, please contact Jan@Kocbach.net

- It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am really happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream, Dana Brozkova says in this interview. Her Gold medal at the World Orienteering Champs at home ground in Olomouc was immensely popular among the home crowd – and a great achievement by an athlete who has improved year by year with this Champs as a goal. Below Brozkova is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Dana Brozkova

Give a short presentation of yourself.
I started with orienteering when I was 11. For a long time orienteering was for me only fun with a map, training once a week and some small competitions. I started with regular training at around 18 years. At the age of 20 I won the gold medal in JWOC. For university studies I choose medicine, it was a little bit tough to combine training and studies, but orienteering was a good relaxation. My vision was to stay in top orienteering till the WOC in Czech Republic 2008, because of that I have decided to continue with studies as a postgraduate student (to have enough time for training and traveling to competitions and training camps). Today I am in the second year of postgraduate studies and I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010, then I will see:) I came from Rovensko, the small village in the north of Czech republic, but I am living now for 8 years in Prague.

What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was definitely the world champs in Olomouc. This world champs was special, because it was in my home country and a great chance to succeed. The whole Czech team focused the training a lot on the WOC in Czech Republic. It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream!

I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010

What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am surprised. My gold medal from WOC is great, but I know about better and more successful orienteers.

What are your main goals for the future?
The WOC in Hungary will be the top goal for next year, I would like to win another medal. But I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun.

Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
Every kind of terrain is special in other way. Next season will be interesting NOM in Finnland and I enjoyed terrains in France near Le Caylar during the Czech team training camp.

Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I am not sure, if this is the toughest but my training week composed of 3 hard trainings and the rest 4 days are middle or slow run for 60-70 minutes. The 3 hard trainings are long run in terrain for 95 minutes, the 8x 3 minutes to the steep hill, and 5x 1km. The 95 minutes run is special training for the long distance and the run to the hill was also special for this World Champs ( and will stay for the long in Hungary as well :)

I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun

Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
I study the postgraduate studies, it is like 50% work and I can organize my time. The running takes 300- 350 hours per year, together with other training it takes 350 – 400 hours per year.

In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I prefer running in the forest, that is also why my PB is not so good, 10:21 for 3000m.