WOC 2009 lecture(how to master terrains, maps, courses,

etc.)

(Comments by Kat in green)

Uni-Plaza, Miskolc23rd October, 2008

Áron LESS

Who am I?

Áron LESS

• 28 years old

• WOC 2009 secretary general

• Hungarian Orienteering Federation secretary general

• once an elite orienteer, but got seriously injured during orienteering (spleen ruptured)

Orienteering in Hungary

Key facts

• 1925: first orienteering competition

• 1961: Hungary is founding member of the IOF

• 1970: HOF is founded

• 1983: WOC in Zalaegerszeg

• 2008: 3.000 active orienteers, 150 competitions, 50.000 starts annually

WOC 1983

Zalaegerszeg, September 1-4

• individual winners: A. Kringstad & M. Berglia

• relay winners: Sweden & Norway

• individual silver medallist: Marita Skogum

WOC2009 key personnel

Zsolt GERZSÉNYI

Chairman of the OC

Tíbor ZSIGMONDEvent Director

Száva ZSIGMONDTrainings, Event

Office

János SŐTÉRMain mapper

Accommodation, catering

AccommodationUni-Hotel (600 beds)Uni-Hotel (600 beds)

• 2-bedded rooms

• Event Centre

CateringUni-Plaza (500 Uni-Plaza (500 places)places)

• Buffet-style

• International cuisine

Time schedule

• Sunday (16.08.):Sunday (16.08.): middle qualification• Monday (17.08.):Monday (17.08.): long qualification• Tuesday (18.08):Tuesday (18.08): rest day• Wednesday (19.08.):Wednesday (19.08.): middle final• Thursday (20.08.):Thursday (20.08.): sprint qualification & final

• Friday (21.08.):Friday (21.08.): relay• Saturday (22.08.):Saturday (22.08.): rest day• Sunday (23.08.):Sunday (23.08.): long final

Overview map

Distances from EC

• Long & middle qualifica-tion (area 5):(area 5): 25 km / 35 min

• Middle final & relay (area 6):(area 6): 35 km / 45 min

• Sprint qualification & final (area 1):(area 1): 15 km / 20 min

• Long final (area 7):(area 7): 65 km / 75 min

Special map symbols

Two main symbols• Lime burning place (represented with a round earth wall) (These look kind of like small round depressions)

• Charcoal burning place (represented by a brown cross) (These are flat areas in the forest, look exactly like those in the US)

Types of terrains

4 terrains – 3 terrain types

Long & middle qual.

Middle final &

relay

Sprint qual. &

final

Long final

Non-typical karst, small number of negative features, many point objects

Erosion features, semi-urban, many paths Negative features, stony

These are all just small pieces of maps you can find on the WOC 2009 website..

Middle and long qualification I.

Venue - Bükkszentkereszt

• Hungary’s second highest situated village

• most people are of Slovakian origin

• lime burning was one of the most frequent professions

• climatic resort

• herbal tourism

Middle and long qualification II.

Terrain description

Middle and long qualification III.

Map extracts

Middle and long qualification IV.

Map-making

• area: 9 km2

• János Sőtér (30%), Tíbor Zsigmond (70%)

• János was main mapper for WOC 1993 (USA), EOC 2002 (Hungary), WC finals 2005 (Italy)

• international approach

Middle and long qualification V.

Course setting

• János Sőtér (middle), Tíbor Zsigmond (long)

• expect longer route-choices (in both races) (I.e. Middle Quali will have at least one long route choice leg!)

• small number of controls (e.g. Women’s Long Quali may have just 11 controls for 7 km)

• combinations not spreading much (I.e. the heats will have controls very close to each other)

Middle final and relay I.

Venue - Bánkút

• Hungary’s premier ski-resort

• gate of the Bükk-plato

• the summer home of the famous Lipizzaner stud

• Centre of the Bükk National Park

Middle final and relay II.

Terrain description

Middle final and relay III.

Map extracts

Middle final and relay IV.

Map-making

• area: 7 km2

• János Sőtér (30%), Tíbor Zsigmond (70%)

• Tíbor was main mapper for JWOC 2001 (Miskolc)

• semi-international approach

Middle final and relay V.

Course setting – middle final

• János Sőtér

• mixture of vegetation, relief and rock objects

• not too many controls

• many linear objects will be used

Middle final and relay VI.

Course setting - relay

• Áron Less• expect tricky combinations

• controls close – close race (Áron specifically mentioned that it will be very hard to tell who is running your exact forking, so watch out!)

• good mixture of control locations

Sprint qualification and final I.

Venue – Miskolc-Királyasztal

• favourite excursion destination for Miskolc’s citizens

• here you can find the Miskolc Zoo

• the area is just at the edge of the city

Sprint qualification and relay II.

Terrain description

Sprint qualification and final III.

Map extracts

Note: the map is from 2001, ISOM 2000

and 5m contours. The forest has

cleaned up remarkably since then.

(Boris ran on this map (including some

part to the north of the segement

shown on the WOC website) in 2001.

Thus, he thinks that the sprint quali

will be more cool (and less green)

than the old map seems to suggest.

Sprint qualification and final IV.

Map-making

• area: 3 km2

• Áron Less

• Áron has surveyed several sprint maps since 2001

• semi-international approach

Sprint qualification and final V.

Course setting

• Száva Zsigmond

• expect a couple of long route-choices

• also a lot of short legs with direction change

• good mixture of control locations

Long final I.

Venue – Derenk• once a Polish village, now ruined

• was evacuated in 1943, after Hungarian governor Miklós Horthy pronounced the area was his private hunting ground

• National Heritage site right now – symbol of Polish-Hungarian friendship

• the border to Slovakia is less than 1 km away

Long final II.

Terrain description

Long final III.

Map extracts

Note: the

extracts are

parts of one of

the relevant

training maps

Long final IV.

Map-making

• area: 13 km2

• János Sőtér

• one of the nicest areas he has ever mapped: ”end of the world”

Long final V.

Course setting• Tíbor Zsigmond

• most feared course setter in Hungary

• expect a low number of controls

• 3-5 good long route-choice legs

• long butterfly (?)

Technique

Question

How to master these kinds of terrains

and courses?

Types of terrains

4 terrains – 3 terrain types

Long & middle qual.

Middle final &

relay

Sprint qual. &

final

Long final

Non-typical karst, small number of negative features, many point objects

Erosion features, semi-urban, many paths Negative features, stony

Technique - brown

• use contours

• best friends:

lime burning places

charcoal burning places

(can be clearly distinguished) (I.e. even though these are just point features, if you learn to recognize these features, it can help a lot with navigation)

Technique - black

• stones, cliffs, rocky areas

• not as relevant as in other places (He means that in general, other types of features are more useful in navigation)

• stony areas in the long final

• if drawn really dense, avoid it! (Really stony areas are quite slow to run through. The stones move under your feet as you step on them and falling on them hurts!!)

Technique - green

• vegetation is a bit overemphasized on Hungarian maps (that is, since white forest is lightning fast and completely open, the slightest bit of vegetation is often mapped as light green.)

• overall visibility is good

• light green: OK, middle green: think about it

• slow run areas: mostly OK, open fields with thick undergrowth: avoid them! (not that many)

•Since I saw Hungarian terrain in the fall, when many of the leaves were off the trees, visibility was better than it will be in the summer. However, I think that summer will bring some positives as well - the trails will be more easily recognizable (since they won’t be covered in leaves), and the borders between white and green will be more distinct.

Technique – short legs

• method not so difficult

• fastest way to go is almost always straight (use your compass and leave the control in the right direction!)

•You can lose a lot of time by zigzagging or not taking the optimal route through the green or stony areas. Even if you think you spiked a control, you may have lost time on that leg simply by not picking the best microroutes or by not being aggressive enough.

Technique – route choice

• look for easy access

• if steep, use paths, otherwise only white forest

• straight is often a wrong option (need to plan ahead!)

Sprint

Technique – route choice

• On the long leg from #10-11, it is slightly better to go straight rather than take the road around to the left and then drop steeply down. We tested this in training.

• look for optimal usage of roads

(if there will be any)

Middle

Technique – route choice

• quite hilly terrain

• think twice about climbing a mountain

(nice long legs on most courses)

Relay

Technique – route choice

• negative features determine which way to go

• many route-choice legs (600-2500 m long)

• don’t expect too many controls more route-choice legs

• best routes: don't zigzag too much, avoid the sides of the depressions (very stony). Climbs: all runnable

Long

(Looong…)

-Technique – training

• long uphill intervals: my favourite one (400 / 60m)

• run full speed in hard stony terrain

• train your concentration (changes between easy and difficult)

•Practice orienteering in steep, hilly terrain. You need to have a good idea of what a climb or drop of 30 meters is. Also, you need to be able to contour (go around a hill without dropping or gaining elevation) and use your compass to go diagonally up or down a slope.

•Study maps of relevant Hungarian terrain and think about route choice, become familiar with mapping - which contours go up (hills) and which go down (depressions)

•Practice downhill running. (If you are not used to long, steep downhills, your quads will feel it.)

•If you aim to run the sprint, practice for it by running some hilly forest sprints.

Special training

Technique – training

• we hope you like the present training camp

• WOC 2009 training coordinator is Száva Zsigmond

• we can arrange almost everything for you

• contact Száva: e-mail: szava.zsigmond@woc2009.hu phone: +36 30 392 44 29

Training arrangements

Technique – training

Training opportunities

• 7-13 April, 2009: Postás Cup (area 13) and training camp

• 30 May – 4 June, 2009: 2nd official training camp (with competitions) – NOTE: NOC starts 6 June

• 30 July – 2 August, 2009: possible selection races (only in case of enough teams interested – feedback needed asap)

• 10-15 August, 2009: 3rd official training camp

• for anything else, please contact Száva

Q & A

One guy asked whether past JWOC runners from 2001 would have an advantage at WOC 2008. Answer was: not really. The maps have some overlaps, but never more than 50%. Moreoever, the terrain has changed since 2001 (remarkably so on the sprint quali map) and the courses will be different.

Thank you for your attention!

See you in Miskolc next August!