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It’s time for Vienna Orienteering Challenge

Most updates about my training and competitions you find nowadays either on Attackpoint, Strava and Instagram. I’m too busy to keep the blog updated.

But now it is time to tell you about Vienna Orienteering Challenge, Austria’s most fun orienteering event.

The concept is simple: VOC is an exciting event, open for everyone and fun to be part of.

  • 1 summer weekend
  • 3 stages + sprint relay for those who want more
  • In Vienna
  • Goodie bag & good vibes included

Read more about it on the event website.

Sprint orienteering is exciting.

Why VOC?
For the first time since the sprint orienteering discipline was introduced there is no sprint on the World Championships program this year. VOC is an alternative for the sprinters out there. A weekend with 3 x high-quality sprint-orienteering + sprint relay in exciting areas is a great opportunity to test and improve your sprint skills.
There has not been any international event in Vienna in the last 20+ years.
Vienna has many great sprint areas to offer and the city has been ranked as the World’s most livable city for many years, so it is definitely worth going to.
Many low-cost airlines are now also flying to Vienna airport, makes it easy to get here.
Teaching orienteering to 50-70 students per year I have got some insights. The regular orienteering events are not very attractive to non-orienteers, so the mission is to create an accessible event, that is easy to participate in, and has a nice event atmosphere. If you do one orienteering during the year, then VOC should be the choice.

It is an event I have had in my mind since 2013. I have been waiting for the right moment to launch it, but as with most things this moment will never come, so better now than never. Some weeks ago I have finally got the permission for a unique event location where no other sport event has been allowed to be held before. Follow the updates on the event website, soon it will be officially announced. Probably we can hold an event in that area just once, so I hope many take the opportunity!

Feedback has been great so far, just drop me a message if you have further ideas and want to help improve the event! Volunteers, supporters and partners are always needed. Please share the info about this event with your orienteering friends.

Event website: https://voc.ol-sport.at
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/viennaochallenge/

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2015 in Review

Finally, a summary about my orienteering year 2015:

The first training camp this year was together with my team mates from Ulricehamns OK in Portugal. We had a very tough schedule, running POM and doing orienteering trainings between the stages. I had a good result at the Long distance World Ranking Event, even though I ran some loop-controls in the wrong direction – otherwise it would have been an exceptional one.

Next up was Lipica Open in Slovenia – this time with a very stony first stage and second stage with better runability.

Lipica
Lipica

The next week we had an excellent 10mila training camp north of Stockholm with good weather and many kilometers orienteering.

One of the two national team activities I attended this year was the easter training camp in Croatia. Piles of stones on Krk, some deep snow in the mountains and lots of fallen trees on the relay training will be remembered.

Krk
Krk
Immediately after that I spent a week in Sweden and participated in Kolmårdskavlen relay.

In May the national season kicked off with three competitions in Salzburg. A frustrating weekend: last-minute changes in our team due to sickness, a mispunch in the sprint relay and as a result no competitive team at the forest relay. However, the individual middle distance proved that I was close to the best (+1.31).

Similar situation with my 10mila-team, many cancellations before the competition.

To fight for the first individual medals we had to travel through Germany to the most-western part of Austria, Vorarlberg. And it turned out to be worth traveling, as I won the first individual championship medal for a long time.

Middle distance in Vorarlberg. Austrian champs 3rd place.
Middle distance in Vorarlberg. Austrian champs 3rd place.

The Jukola relay is always a highlight in the orienteering year. As my orienteering skills were not with me that night in the Finnish forest it became a truly long night.

Jukola. Photo: Hirvonen
Jukola. Photo: Hirvonen

One week later I could show my skills in Austrian forests again and I won my first World Ranking competition!

World Ranking Event podium
World Ranking Event podium, later both my sister and I won the Austria Cup overall

O-ringen in my Swedish home-town Borås was a big motivation and I got some days of good training in the area to get used to 1:15.000-scales again. O-ringen itself was the most exciting orienteering week of the year!

Photo: Petter Trens, BT
Photoshoot for a newspaper story. Photo: Petter Trens, BT

My biggest goal for 2016 are the World Championships in Bohuslän, Sweden. A lot of work must be done to be able to run fast in this kind of terrain. Several marsh interval sessions were followed up by orienteering. Moreover, I participated in a regional competition on a warm summer day in Uddevalla where intense and physical tough orienteering was offered. The winners prize – a special lamp – lights up the dark winter evenings and has become my WOC2016 motivational symbol.

Not competing a lot was a success factor and kept me hungry for more during the whole season. One of my long term goals has been to become Austrian champion in the long distance, which I did (and another World Ranking event victory).
ORF made a TV report and followed me during the competition: watch the video.

A couple of days later I wanted to use the good shape to run an Swedish champs middle A-final… but there is still a lot of development potential in nordic terrain. I guess many can relate to that feeling:

As the World Cup and WOC selections earlier this year were published without a positive notice for me I got instead the opportunity to compete at Euromeeting in Estonia. This year the Austrian national team sent a (mens) team for Euromeeting including one coach.
Of course I wanted to use these competitions and the trainings the days before to get a first impression of the WOC2017-terrain in Estonia. The training areas were green in all nuances, so we were happy about the nice competition areas! Even though the Estonian hospitality made the stay pleasant, the trip made me even more eager to go ‘all-in’ for WOC2016 and not think about 2017 just yet.

The perfect end to a successful season was to win the last Austria cup event with a two second margin.

This year both my sister and I won the Austria Cup overall in the senior elite class for the first time, and that we did it in the same year made it even more special.

Thanks to all my supporters - see you out in the forest!

Thanks to all supporters!