Thierry Gueorgiou and Ida Bobach have been awarded with “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″ titles in the mens and womens class, respectively! Among the men Thierry Gueorgiou got an impressive 52% of the votes – nearly four times many as Ionout Zinca  in second spot. Among the women, Ida Bobach – last year’s number two – won clearly ahead of Helena Jansson.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O – nearly 3000 unique votes from more than 50 different countries have been delivered – making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. Big thanks go to all voters and to the event sponsors Croeso 2012, Prague Easter/Sandstones.cz, JK 2012, EOC Tour 2012, POM 2012, OOCup, Croatia Open, Fjord-O West and Jukola 2012.

Results

In the Men’s class Thierry Gueorgiou won with 52.4% of the votes ahead of Ionut Zinca with 13.7%, Daniel Hubmann with 11.9% and Matthias Kyburz with 6.3%. In the Womens’s class Ida Bobach won with 31% of the votes ahead of Helena Jansson with 16.0%, Tove Alexandersson with 11.1% and Judith Wyder with 9.7%. The fascinating stories behind each nomination can be read at the poll page for men and women, respectively.

Interview: Thierry Gueorgiou – Achievement of 2011

Nominated for: The King of WOC 2011 – 3 x WOC gold and finally taking home the WOC relay for France after three very dramatic defeats.

My average level was maybe better in 2007, but my peaks were higher in 2011

Q: Congratulations on being awarded “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″! What a year! Is this your best year ever?

Well, it is always hard to compare my last years. I have the feeling that my best season was 2007. At that time, I had everything under control – the technique, the physique, the mental part and the motivation. This year, I had only one focus: WOC. But in many parts of the season, like in Jukola for example, I felt even stronger than in 2007. In sum, I would say that my average level was maybe better in 2007, but my peaks were higher in 2011.

Q: You won three WOC gold medals this year – and all have their special stories attached to them. Can you tell us the story behind why each of these gold medals were important to you – and which of them meant the most?

Yes, that is totally true. There was a story and inner motivation behind each distances, and that is why it was so easy to refocus during the week and start from a blank sheet of paper. Since 2009, I put as much focus on the long distance as on the middle distance, and I would not have liked to end my career without having this gold. When I woke-up the day of the Long distance, I knew that I had to take this chance. The race was a struggle and I never felt really strong but I hung on to my dream.

The race was a struggle and I never felt really strong but I hung on to my dream

Then, the middle distance is always special for me, and the bronze in Trondheim hurt as much as the 4th place in 2006. So, I really wanted to do a great technical performance in a demanding terrain. During the last 7 weeks, I ran 15 middle distances at competition speed in relevant terrain. I was far too eager at the beginning, rushing instead of trying to control my orienteering. Then, I got a series of 8 nearly perfect performances. My confidence was built on those trainings.

But the relay was the race I awaited most during this week. At every relay training in the previous months, I had the WOC relay in my mind with the same questions to answer: “- How to behave and on what to focus”. I knew there would be a lot of talk and expectations before the race. So, it was mostly about handling the “context”. This was the race I enjoyed the most during the week, both in forest and in the run-in.

I wanted to feel the frustration deeply, because I needed to remember what I didn’t want to feel anymore.

Q: Can you name three key moments in your preparations for WOC which you think where decisive for your achievement?

The most important one was one year earlier in Trondheim, after the WOC relay. I was walking in the neighborhood streets of our hotel. I was knocked-out and I didn’t want to feel any better. I wanted to feel the frustration deeply, because I needed to remember what I didn’t want to feel anymore. After this kind of scenario either you quit or you come back stronger mentally.

Then, another important step was couple of months later, in winter time, when my back problems were solved while stopping jumping and strength with weights.

Then, one crucial turn was also the test race in Prepoulain shared with the Norwegian team in May. That day I felt strong and wanted to show it. That was the absolutely wrong attitude and I remembered it all the days to WOC, that was just an inner battle: “Me versus Me”.

Q: It seemed like you were the only one who really mastered the terrain in Le Feclaz. Do you know how many hours you spent in French WOC-relevant terrain ahead of the championships – and how many more do you think it was compared to your closest competitors? Double?

I spent 300 hours on relevant training maps over the last 12 months. But over the last 20 years, I have also orienteered a lot in karst terrains. I was probably the most prepared, even if many guys had taken the terrain with respect and invested lot of time. But finally the courses were not as demanding as they could have been. Therefore, as some runners have shown, it was possible to do well with just 2 weeks in relevant terrains.

Even losing a training still hurts and it means a lot to me

Q: After WOC you told me that you needed some special goal to motivate you if you choose to continue on WOC level. Now you have decided to continue – what is this goal which is driving you to train on day after day now when you have “got it all”?

There are two main points. The first one is that there will always be one control, somewhere, that I have not found and that I can eventually miss. It keeps me awake because I believe I can get better technically.

The second one is about winning, or better to say losing. I realized it quickly after WOC – even losing a training still hurts and it means a lot to me, because the day I will not feel anything, it will be the time to quit.

Q: What do your days look now, in the middle of winter? Have you changed anything about your training or your preparations compared to the last years? From what i hear it looks like even before Christmas you are hungry for orienteering and traveling from one training camp to the next?

I like to be in training camp because it is the time I am training the best, usually 4 times/day (morning run/1 fast training/ 1 long training/ 1 night). At home, I am spending too much time answering emails and motivation to train decrease quickly. So, a training camp without internet is a luxury now (well, it also nice to be able to play with 2DRerun : )

Q: Due to busy times with a lot of training camps you never had the time to answer what your favourite course of 2011 was for “Course of the Year 2011″. Now you can maybe tell us?

Swedish championship Long distance (Editors comment: Number 5 in course of the Year 2011 – see map here). I didn’t run that one, but I sat the whole race in the press tent looking at the GPS screen, and I am still wondering what were the best routes for some of the legs…

Q: Do you have any comments about the suggestions for “WOC in the Future”?

I read recently the Czech position on the subject (Editors comment: you find the document here) and there is not a single word I would change.

Q: Any final words to your fans out there – there seem to be many!

Thank you all for your votes and cheering through the season! I wish you all a great 2012, full of smiles, lactic acid and tricky controls!

Interview: Ida Bobach – Achievement of 2011

Photos: World of O and Torben Utzon

Nominated for: As a junior winning the silver medal in the World Championships middle distance in France – after a few weeks earlier having taken three gold medals in the Junior World Championships.

Q: Congratulations on being awarded “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″! What a great year for you – did you expect to get this good results at the start of the season?

I was also nominated last year, so I hoped to be it again. But I really did not expect to have such a great season.

It was a demanding course, and I beat so many good runners. So I’m really proud.

Q: You won a silver medal at the World Orienteering Champs this year. Was this the race you targeted highest this year – or where there other races which were more important up front?

JWOC was my main goal this year because I would like to finish my junior career with style. But I did also look really much forward to WOC, because I knew that the terrains would be very technically demanding. I am really happy that I won all the individual races at JWOC, but it felt bigger to win a silver medal at WOC. It was a demanding course, and I beat so many good runners. So I’m really proud.

Q: What is your strength and weaknesses as an orienteer? You seem to master both the sprints and one of the most technical races of the year – the WOC middle distance?

I’m really good at understanding the map and quickly visualizing it

The reason why I’m good at both sprint and technical middle distances is that I’m really good at understanding the map and quickly visualizing it. I think that it is important in both sprint and middle distance. I think that my biggest weakness as an orienteer is my physique. I have to run faster and be able to do it for a longer time. So I will try to improve that during winter.

Q: Can you name three key moments in your preparations for WOC which you think where decisive for your achievement?

The first preparation I had was really important I think. I ran the World Cup in France in the autumn 2010. I was really turned on by this technical terrain and I started having a dream of doing great at WOC 2012.

In March I was on a training camp in Clermont Ferrand at the same time as the Norwegian National Team. We had some training competitions where I did really good and I won a middle and a long distance. I think these races were important for my self-confidence in the French terrain.

Another thing, that helped my feel confident before the middle distance final, was the really encouraging atmosphere we had in the national team. One of the other Danish runners said to me on our precamp, that he thought that I could go in top 6 at the middle distance. I think it helped my dream come true.

I started having a dream of doing great at WOC 2012

Q: Now you already have a medal from the World Orienteering Champs. What is your goal for next year?

My goal next year is to have another medal at the middle distance at WOC. I know that it is going to be really hard because the terrain probably will not suit me as well as the one in France. But I will fight for it.

Q: What do your days look now, in the middle of winter? Have you changed anything about your training or your preparations compared to the last years?

The last couple of months I have been doing really much alternative training because I was injured after WOC. I have finally realized that alternative training actually can be really good. Therefore I will do more alternative training this winter so I can train for more hours without being injured. Hopefully.

Q: What was your favourite course for “Course of the Year 2011″ – and the most fun race or training you run in 2011?

I think it is really hard to decide. I have been running so many fun courses this year.

I think we should try developing the existing WOC instead of trying too many new things at a short time.

Q: Do you have any comments about the suggestions for “WOC in the Future”?

I think it is very important that IOF listens to the runners because in the last end they shall be the ones to bring WOC into reality. On the other hand I also think that the runners have to be open minded so orienteering can develop. I think we should try developing the existing WOC instead of trying too many new things at a short time.

Q: Any final words to your fans out there – there seem to be many!

Thank you for voting for me. It feels so good when other orienteers think that I have achieved something good. The dream of doing it again, and hopefully better, will keep me motivated during winter.

About the Orienteering Achievement of 2011

In this edition of Orienteering Achievement of the Year 7 men and 9 women were nominated for their great orienteering achievements in 2011. The nominated runners – and stories about why they were nominated – can be found here.

Other winners: Lucky voters and Sponsored links

Winners of prizes for lucky voters and sponsored links were published on Wednesday. You can check if you were one of the lucky voters here. Prize winners will be contacted by e-mail (but please contact Jan at jan@kocbach.net if you are listed as a winner but did not receive an email). We would also like to thank Croeso 2012, Prague Easter/Sandstones.cz, JK 2012, EOC Tour 2012, POM 2012, OOCup, Croatia Open, Fjord-O West and Jukola 2012 for sponsoring “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″. Thanks to the sponsors World of O was able to draw lucky prize winners among those who voted in this years election.

Main sponsor 1: Prague Easter & Sandstones.cz

• Prize offered: 2 transferable starts at Prague Easter 2012 + double room with half board for 6 nights at Lesni hotel, Doksy + sandstones.cz trainings of free choice.
• The Prague Easter event (see website), organised by Kotlarka club in the nature protection area of Kokorinsko, has already become almost as traditional as the other unique-but-strange czech easter habits. 3-day event, ended by a chasing start, in the demanding rocky areas. Great opportunities for sightseeing as
  well.
• Sandstones.cz (see website) is a project focused on group orienteering trips to the famous czech sandstone areas around Doksy. Sandstones.cz organizes performance elite camps, as well as club trips, where the enjoyment is the only goal.

Main sponsor 2: Croeso 2012

• Prize offered: Free entry for two for 6 days of orienteering, 22-28 July 2012. Free campus accommodation for two, in a flat with single en-suite rooms (or same-sum subsidy for other accommodation), Free coach transport from the campus to each day’s event, Free rest day activity, either: a dolphin watching boat trip or a trip into the mountains on a narrow-gauge steam railway.
• Croeso 2012 is a 6-Day event based in Wales, ‘croeso’ being Welsh for ‘welcome’. The event is organized from 22-28th July 2012.

Event sponsor: POM 2012

• Portugal “O” Meeting offers two transferable packages of two starts each for the Portugal “O” Meeting 2012.
• The Portugal “O” Meeting has become the international season opener for the world elite and hundreds of other orienteers spending a week or two in the Portugal in February and March.

Event sponsor: OOCup 2012

• OOCup 2012 offers a package consisting of two transferable start places for the OOCup 2012 competition.
• OOCup is a 5 Day orienteering event organized annually in Slovenia. The event is famous for its Karst orienteering and excellent combination of orienteering and holidays.

Event sponsor: Croatia Open 2012

• Croatia Open offers a package of 2 transferable start places for the Complete Croatia Open week with accommodation in Sport Hall included
• Croatia Open is a 4 day orienteering race – offering you 4 different types of terrain from extreme karst to mediteraean and continental terrain. “Croatia open” attracts more than 600 competitors from 30 countries offering you great orienteering holiday – combining orienteering with holidays on the Adriatic coast.

In addition four of the websites who helped spread the news about the poll have been awarded with free ads. Check below if you took home one of the prizes!

Thanks to sponsors and voters

Before announcing the prize winners, I would like to thank all of you for voting – in total nearly 3000 unique votes were given this year – making the results representative for the orienteering community. We would also like to thank Croeso 2012, Prague Easter/Sandstones.cz, JK 2012, EOC Tour 2012, POM 2012, OOCup, Croatia Open, Fjord-O West and Jukola for sponsoring “The Orienteering Achievement of 2010″. Thanks to the sponsors World of O was able to draw lucky prize winners among those who voted in this years election.

Prize winners will be contacted by e-mail (but please contact Jan at jan@kocbach.net if you are listed as a winner but did not receive an email). The winners of “The Orienteering Achievement of the Year 2011″ will be published tomorrow. For winners who only gave the first name when voting the first part of the e-mail address is given as well.

Main sponsor prize 1: Prague Easter & Sandstones.cz

Winner: “Edi (dasilva23@….)”

• Prize offered: 2 transferable starts at Prague Easter 2012 + double room with half board for 6 nights at Lesni hotel, Doksy + sandstones.cz trainings of free choice.
• The Prague Easter event (see website), organised by Kotlarka club in the nature protection area of Kokorinsko, has already become almost as traditional as the other unique-but-strange czech easter habits. 3-day event, ended by a chasing start, in the demanding rocky areas. Great opportunities for sightseeing as
  well.
• Sandstones.cz (see website) is a project focused on group orienteering trips to the famous czech sandstone areas around Doksy. Sandstones.cz organizes performance elite camps, as well as club trips, where the enjoyment is the only goal.

Main sponsor prize 2: Croeso 2012

Winner: Corinne Imhof

• Prize offered: Free entry for two for 6 days of orienteering, 22-28 July 2012. Free campus accommodation for two, in a flat with single en-suite rooms (or same-sum subsidy for other accommodation), Free coach transport from the campus to each day’s event, Free rest day activity, either: a dolphin watching boat trip or a trip into the mountains on a narrow-gauge steam railway.
• Croeso 2012 is a 6-Day event based in Wales, ‘croeso’ being Welsh for ‘welcome’. The event is organized from 22-28th July 2012.

Event prize 1: POM 2012

Winner: Christiana (goodathlete@…..)

• Portugal “O” Meeting offers two transferable packages of two starts each for the Portugal “O” Meeting 2012.
• The Portugal “O” Meeting has become the international season opener for the world elite and hundreds of other orienteers spending a week or two in the Portugal in February and March.

Event prize 2: OOCup 2012

Winner: Jakub Kamenický

• OOCup 2012 offers a package consisting of two transferable start places for the OOCup 2012 competition.
• OOCup is a 5 Day orienteering event organized annually in Slovenia. The event is famous for its Karst orienteering and excellent combination of orienteering and holidays.

Event prize 3: Croatia Open 2012

Winner: Jürgen Schmidt

• Croatia Open offers a package of 2 transferable start places for the Complete Croatia Open week with accommodation in Sport Hall included
• Croatia Open is a 4 day orienteering race – offering you 4 different types of terrain from extreme karst to mediteraean and continental terrain. “Croatia open” attracts more than 600 competitors from 30 countries offering you great orienteering holiday – combining orienteering with holidays on the Adriatic coast.

Event prize 4: Fjord-O West 2012

Winner: Amelie (melie42@……)

• Fjord-O West offers a package of 2 transferable start places for the complete Fjord-O West week 2012.
• Fjord-O West is a four day race in the beautiful valley of Voss, organized from June 26th until June 29th 2012. Voss is a small village in the heart of the famous westcoast Fjords of Norway close to Bergen. The event can be combined with O-festivalen organized in Beitostølen the weekend ahead of Fjord-O West 2012.

Event prize 5: JK 2012

Winner: Jonathan Crickmore

• The JK International Festival of Orienteering 2012 offers a transferable package of two starts for the 3 main days of the competition.
• JK is a 3 Day event organized in Scotland, 6th – 9th April 2012. A full social programme will be available, including Wine or Whisky tasting and a Ceilidh.

Event prize 6: EOC Tour 2012

Winner: Yngve Skogstad

• EOC Tour 2012 offers a package of 2 transferable start places for the complete EOC Tour 2012.
• EOC 2012 is an orienteering festival with four day public races which will be held in conjunction with EOC2012. 17th-18th May, Arena Skattungbyn, Orsa, 19th-20th May, Arena Lugnet, Falun.

T-shirt prizes: Jukola 2012

Winner 1: Pol Ràfols
Winner 2: Kenneth Buch
Winner 3: Naghibina Iulia
Winner 4: Mads Mikkelsen
Winner 5: Ross Smith

• Jukola 2012 offers 5 T-shirts to be drawn among the voters.
• Valio-Jukola is an unforgettable event for both orienteerers and spectators located in the middle of Helsinki metropolitan area. The orienteering competition is organized in Vantaa, Finland, at Hakunila sports park on 16th – 17th of June, 2012.

Websites linking to “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011

Thanks to all websites that linked to “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″, we were able to make the election results as representative for the orienteering community as possible. We got nearly 3000 votes for this years edition!

As earlier announced, 4 free “Sponsored links” for one month at World of O have been drawn among the websites linking to “The Orienteering Achievement of 2010″. The websites winning are:

• OL-sport.at
• Czech O-Team
• Scottish Orienteering
• Orientering.no

The winners of sponsored links are asked to send an email to jan@kocbach.net to ask for further details. Note that the sponsored ads must be for orienteering related content!

2011 has been yet another year full of great orienteering achievements – and as we now are moving towards 2012, we follow the tradition and decide the greatest of achievements of the year. The annual poll to find the best Orienteering Achievements of the year is organized by the major source for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O.

In the vote for “The Orienteering Achievement of 2011″, the best achievement of the year is to be named – and not necessarily the best orienteer of 2011.

Prizes for “Lucky voters”

Prizes valued to nearly 2000 Euro are drawn among lucky voters. The rules are as follows:

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. Prizes from our sponsors will be drawn among all people voting.
3. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O.

Main sponsors for the Orienteering Achievement of 2011 are Prague Easter/Sandstones.cz and Croeso 2012 – each offering transferable prizes valued to 400-500 Euros consisting of a full orienteering package including hotel/apartment for 6 days! Other sponsors are POM 2012, OOCup, Croatia Open, Fjord-O West, JK 2012 and EOC Tour 2012 – more info about these sponsors and what they have to offer in the sponsor presentation below.

Timetable

On December 5th, all nominees are presented at World of O. The winner is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O between Monday December 5th and Monday December 12th. The winners will be announced December 14th. Go directly to the voting page for “Achievement of the Year 2011″ here:

• The Orienteering Achievement of 2011 – Men
• The Orienteering Achievement of 2011 – Women

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/poll2011.html

Of all websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, four websites will be drawn who will get a free “Sponsored Link” at World of O. 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.

These images may be used when writing about the poll:

Big image with pictures of all nominees

Main sponsor 1: Prague Easter & Sandstones.cz

• Prize offered: 2 transferable starts at Prague Easter 2012 + double room with half board for 6 nights at Lesni hotel, Doksy + sandstones.cz trainings of free choice.
• The Prague Easter event (see website), organised by Kotlarka club in the nature protection area of Kokorinsko, has already become almost as traditional as the other unique-but-strange czech easter habits. 3-day event, ended by a chasing start, in the demanding rocky areas. Great opportunities for sightseeing as
  well.

• Sandstones.cz (see website) is a project focused on group orienteering trips to the famous czech sandstone areas around Doksy. Sandstones.cz organizes performance elite camps, as well as club trips, where the enjoyment is the only goal.

Main sponsor 2: Croeso 2012

• Prize offered: Free entry for two for 6 days of orienteering, 22-28 July 2012. Free campus accommodation for two, in a flat with single en-suite rooms (or same-sum subsidy for other accommodation), Free coach transport from the campus to each day’s event, Free rest day activity, either: a dolphin watching boat trip or a trip into the mountains on a narrow-gauge steam railway.
• Croeso 2012 is a 6-Day event based in Wales, ‘croeso’ being Welsh for ‘welcome’. The event is organized from 22-28th July 2012.

Event sponsor: POM 2012

• Portugal “O” Meeting offers two transferable packages of two starts each for the Portugal “O” Meeting 2012.
• The Portugal “O” Meeting has become the international season opener for the world elite and hundreds of other orienteers spending a week or two in the Portugal in February and March.

Event sponsor: OOCup 2012

• OOCup 2012 offers a package consisting of two transferable start places for the OOCup 2012 competition.
• OOCup is a 5 Day orienteering event organized annually in Slovenia. The event is famous for its Karst orienteering and excellent combination of orienteering and holidays.

Event sponsor: Croatia Open 2012

• Croatia Open offers a package of 2 transferable start places for the Complete Croatia Open week with accommodation in Sport Hall included
• Croatia Open is a 4 day orienteering race – offering you 4 different types of terrain from extreme karst to mediteraean and continental terrain. “Croatia open” attracts more than 600 competitors from 30 countries offering you great orienteering holiday – combining orienteering with holidays on the Adriatic coast.