8 fighting for top positions with one day to go: Aebersold, Kemp, Denisova, Alexandersson, Kyburz, Lundanes, Lysell and Ciobanu – all with fantastic orienteering achievements in 2016. This year it is tighter than ever in “Orienteering Achievement of the Year” with less than 30 votes separating the two best both in the men’s and women’s class.

Vote here by Midnight December 12th:

• The Orienteering Achievement of 2016 – Men
• The Orienteering Achievement of 2016 – Women

The stories behind the medals and the achievements  is what makes the sport truly fascinating

Winning a Gold medal at the World Championships is always a great achievement – but sometimes winning a Bronze medal can be an even bigger achievement, or even a Top 10 result – based on what your starting point was. The stories behind the medals and the great achievements  is what makes the sport truly fascinating! In “The Orienteering Achievement of the Year” these stories are highlighted – to make it possible to get a background for the amazing achievements.

Great Sponsorprizes for “Lucky voters”!

Sponsors for the Orienteering Achievement of 2016 are Five + Five days of Sicily (Italy), Scottish 6 Days (Scotland), Durmitor Orienteering Challenge (Montenegro), Aguiar da Beira “O” Meeting (Portugal), Antalya Orienteering Festival (Turkey), OOCup (Slovenia), Wawel Cup (Poland), Lipica Open (Slovenia) and Danish Spring (Denmark). See all details about the sponsor in the sponsor section below (Hint: Scroll down and take a look to see which prize you want to win as you can mark it when you vote – there are again many great prizes this year!).

Prizes valued to more than 5000 Euro are drawn among lucky voters & the ones suggesting nominations. 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. In addition some sponsor prizes will be drawn among the ones suggesting GOOD nomination texts. Among all really good nomination texts, we will draw one or two of the great sponsor prizes (we had many good nomination texts this year – more than usual!).
4. The winners will be made public after the poll closes at World of O.

Timetable

On December 7th, all nominees are presented at World of O. The winner is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O between December 7th and December 12th.

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/2016/

Of all orienteering related websites with on average more than 50 visitors/day who link to the poll after it has been opened for voting, three 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 or add a comment below 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 not necessarily be the website linking. [PS!Facebook pages linking to the poll will be considered on a per-case basis if they have significant likes/interaction related to the poll – please add a comment below with link to the Facebook page]

These images may be used when writing about the poll:

Additional pictures:

Event sponsor: Five + Five days of Sicily, October 1st – 13th 2017

• Prize offered: Package for 2 people consisting in accommodation half board and entry fee for the second week of Five + Five days of Sicily – October 2017. Value 1510 euro. Transferable to other persons.
• 10 stages to discover all Sicily! First week from 1st to 6th October on the east coast, second week from 8th to 13th October on the west coast of this beautiful sunny Italian island! Read more at www.orienteering.it and facebook.com/pwtorienteering.

Event sponsor: Scottish 6 Days. July 30th – August 5th 2017

• Prize offered: Package for 2 people consisting of Package for 2 people consisting of free entry for the complete Scottish 6 Days 2017, including accommodation in a multi person room (4 or 8 beds) at the hostel in Ballatar (which Scottish 6 Days has booked completely; the accommodation is 300 m from event centre and main shops in Ballater, 400m to bus pick-up to events which is free if booked online at time of entry).  Value about 670 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• More information:  The 21st Scottish 6-day event is being held in Royal Deeside between the 30th July and 5thAugust 2017. This will be the 4th time the 6-Days has come to Deeside (1983, 1993, 2005) and the event will use some of our best areas with a variety of terrain, superb arenas and car parking and stunning views to the hills and mountains around Deeside. Read more at www.scottish6days.com

Event sponsor: Durmitor Orienteering Challenge. August 24th – 27th 2017

• Prize offered: 2 packages, each for 2 people. Each package consists of: Entry for 4 competitions (3 of them WRE competitions), accommodation for 4 nights in bungalows, one training map, plus special Event T-shirt. Value about 620 Euro, transferable to other persons.
• More information. Orienteering in Montenegro will be an unforgettable experience. The Durmitor Orienteering Challenge is co-organized with the South East European Orienteering Championships, and three of the four races are World Ranking events. Read more at www.dochallenge.me.

Event sponsor: Aguiar da Beira “O” Meeting 2017. March 3rd – 5th 2017

• Prize offered: Aguiar da Beira “O” Meeting 2017 Competition Package for 2 persons – including entry to 3 events (Middle WRE, Sprint WRE, Long Distance and Model Event), 5 nights accommodation and a 4-map package for each person to train around the event area. Value about 535 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• ABOM 2017 will be held from 3 to 5 March on one of the best Portuguese terrains. High quality mapmaking and amazing terrains are waiting for you! More info at: abom2017.ori-estarreja.pt

Event sponsor: Antalya Orienteering Festival 2017. October 29th October – November 5th 2017

• Prize offered: One big Antalya Orienteering Festival package for one person: Accommodation + Entry for all 5 races + All Transfers. Value about 500 Euro. Transferable to other person.
• Antalya Orienteering Festival will be held for the 3rd time in Antalya, Turkey. We provide 5 different terrains and challenging courses, good maps and good weather for orienteering holiday.  See more at www.antalyaofest.com

Event sponsor: OOCup 2017. July 24th – July 28th 2017

• Prize offered: 2 packages – each for 2 people – consisting of: Entry for the complete 5 days OOCup competition plus OOCup 2017 T-shirt for each competitor. Value 325 euro. Transferable to other persons.
• OOCup is a 5 Day orienteering event organized annually in Slovenia. OOCup 2017 will offer new maps in great, technical forests close to Ljubljana – city, seaside, caves and mountains all within driving distance. The event is famous for its Karst orienteering and excellent combination of orienteering and holidays. More at oocup.com.

Event sponsor: Wawel Cup 2017. July 5th – 9th 2017

• Prize offered: Package for 2 people consisting of free entry to complete 5 Day Wawel Cup competition, the popular Wawel Cup T-shirt, and accommodation. Value about 325 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• More information: Two stages will be held in Olkusz were running through medieval post-mine pits might be quite an exam for orienteering skills. Other stages are in the exceptional Bledowska Desert and in rocky Jaroszowiec. Read more at wawelcup.pl.

Event sponsor: Lipica Open 2017. March 11th – 15th 2017

• Prize offered: 2 packages – each for 2 people – consisting of: Entry to complete 5 Day Lipica Open competition + hard floor accommodation in Postojna. Value about 320 euro. Transferable to other persons.
• In 2017 Lipica open will again be organized as a 5 day event – and again some great terrains! Training conditions in this part of Europe are now better than ever – both on forest maps and on sprint maps of nice little towns on the Adriatic coast! More at www.lipicaopen.com

Event sponsor: Danish Spring. March 24th – 26th 2017

• Prize offered: Package for 2 people consisting in free start in all three competitions and 2 nights in Hostel. Value about 280 Euro. Transferable to other persons.
• More information. Feel the flow in the early spring forest of North Sealand in Denmark and get part of the cool competition in a great atmosphere! Three World Ranking Events, with classes for all ages and levels. Highly relevant terrain for WMOC 2018 in the same area and also for WOC 2017 in Estonia. Easy access to and nice accommodations in “Denmark’s Royal Retreat”. Ideal for your club camp. Get it all at www.danishspring.dk

Here is the list of the “lucky ones”:

The prizes to the winners will be delivered by post. The winners shall claim their prizes at jan@sportoftoday.com. The entries to the Martin Kronlund trophy and Jukola 2007 are transitional. However, the person who has won them shall indicate, in an email sent to the address jan@sportoftoday.com, name of the person who will claim the entry. This person shall claim the entry at the email address jan@sportoftoday.com.

Introduction of the sponsors:

Vavrys company: Producer of top elite orienteering clothing, shoes, gaters and other equipment, which is sold world-wide.

Virkiä Jukola 2007 in Finland: world’s best and biggest orienteering club relay, which will be held in exciting terrains around Lapua this year on 16th and 17th June.

Martin Kronlund Trophy in Spain: an international Orienteering event in Spain with the greatest tradition. This year it will be held in terrain around Peguerinos 80 km northwest of Madrid at the weekend of 10th – 11th March.

Orienteering Today: The world’s only international orienteering magazine covering Orienteering in all its forms, whereever it is done. The magazine was reorganized last year and is now published in Norway.

Jukola 2006 calendar: Lucie Navarová is the photographer of Orienteering Today and the photos in this calender for the year 2007 feature the highlights of the 2006 Jukola in Salo as seen through the lens of her camera.

Third in the “Junior of 2006″ category was the Danish Søren Bobach. Thus, also in the junior category there were two women on top, with the best man in the third place.

It was a close call, though – with Australian junior Hanny Allston being only 25 votes behind Niggli-Luder. Allston was actually the only one managing to beat Niggli-Luder in an individual World Championships distance this year – and nearly managed to do the same in the poll for the achievement of the year 2006.

Orienteering Today: Congratulations Simone! You have won 12 WOC medals in the senior class, which is something incredible and something which was also greatly appreciated by people who voted in the Poll and gave you over 400 votes… Is there any of these medals which you are specially proud of?
Niggli-Luder: I think the four gold medals I won in Switzerland were very special, but also the last gold is always special. For me this is the gold I won in Denmark in Middle distance. It was a very good race for me and again I won after tough fight against Marianne, and again this was followed by this huge crowd of people, which made the atmosphere even more special.

Orienteering Today: 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?
Niggli-Luder: Principally the training is the same, but every year I try to change something to make the training even better and of higher quality. I always try to find things to improve. Just a couple of days ago I came back from the Canary Islands from a training camp, where I was with my Swedish friends, which was very nice. The weather was sunny all the time, with temperatures about 25°C. Just perfect conditions for training. The only bad thing about it was that I am in Switzerland right now, where we have lots of snow and temperatures below zero. It was a hard change :-)

Orienteering Today: Do you need to do special thing to motivate yourself now during this period to go on?
Niggli-Luder: For me it’s not a big problem, I really like to train and if the weather is nice outside and I feel my body is ready and healthy, then I have really no problem to motivate myself for training. Perhaps it would be different if I got injured or something, but right now it feels really good to be out and training.

Orienteering Today: Are you hungry for the 2007 season to begin?
Niggli-Luder: Yes. I really am. Two weeks ago we had the first competition in Switzerland. And I really felt hungry and happy to be able to compete again. So I really look forward to 2007 and the challenges ahead.
(read the rest of the interview in Orienteering Today Issue 01/2007)

The best man in the “Orienteering achievement of the year 2006″ poll was Jani Lakanen of Finland. However, Lakanen is not disappointed by being beaten by the two women. – Third is a wonderful place! I think that Sime and Hanny have deserved their places in that list. Sime has been many years in a class of her own and Hanny surprised everybody by beating Sime :), Lakanen comments. And Lakanen also has his goals for 2007 ready: – My goal is to improve my middle orienteering. I still miss a WOC medal in middle distance (4. in 1999 and 2001) and I want to win Jukola and Tiomila!, just being back from his best training camp ever in South Africa.