1. WOC 2009 lecture (how to master terrains, maps, courses, etc.) (Comments by Kat in green) Uni-Plaza, Miskolc 23 rd October, 2008 Áron LESS

2. 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)

3. 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

4. WOC 1983 Zalaegerszeg, September 1-4 individual winners: A. Kringstad & M. Berglia relay winners: Sweden & Norway individual silver medallist: Marita Skogum

5. WOC2009 key personnel Zsolt GERZSÉNYI Chairman of the OC Tíbor ZSIGMOND Event Director Száva ZSIGMOND Trainings, Event Office János SŐTÉR Main mapper

6. Accommodation, catering Accommodation Uni-Hotel (600 beds) 2-bedded rooms Event Centre Catering Uni-Plaza (500 places) Buffet-style International cuisine

7. 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

8. Overview map Distances from EC (area 5):Long & middle qualifica- tion (area 5): 25 km / 35 min (area 6):Middle final & relay (area 6): 35 km / 45 min (area 1):Sprint qualification & final (area 1): 15 km / 20 min (area 7):Long final (area 7): 65 km / 75 min

9. 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)

10. 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..

11. 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

12. Middle and long qualification II. Terrain description

13. Middle and long qualification III. Map extracts

14. Middle and long qualification IV. Map-making area: 9 km 2 János Sőtér (30%), Tíbor Zsigmond (70%) János was main mapper for WOC 1993 (USA), EOC 2002 (Hungary), WC finals 2005 (Italy) international approach

15. 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)

16. 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

17. Middle final and relay II. Terrain description

18. Middle final and relay III. Map extracts

19. Middle final and relay IV. Map-making area: 7 km 2 János Sőtér (30%), Tíbor Zsigmond (70%) Tíbor was main mapper for JWOC 2001 (Miskolc) semi-international approach

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Sprint qualification and relay II. Terrain description

24. 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.

25. Sprint qualification and final IV. Map-making area: 3 km 2 Áron Less Áron has surveyed several sprint maps since 2001 semi-international approach

26. 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

27. 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

28. Long final II. Terrain description

29. Long final III. Map extracts Note: the extracts are parts of one of the relevant training maps

30. Long final IV. Map-making area: 13 km 2 János Sőtér one of the nicest areas he has ever mapped: ”end of the world”

31. 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 (?)

32. Technique Question How to master these kinds of terrains and courses?

33. 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

34. 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)

35. 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!!)

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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

39. 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

40. Technique – route choice quite hilly terrain think twice about climbing a mountain (nice long legs on most courses) Relay

41. 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…)

42. -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

43. 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 szava.zsigmond@woc2009.hu Training arrangements

44. Technique – training Training opportunities 7-13 April, 2009: Postás Cup (area 13) and training camp 30 May – 4 June, 2009: 2 nd 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: 3 rd official training camp for anything else, please contact Száva

45. 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.

46. Thank you for your attention! See you in Miskolc next August!