Ján Furucz met
Orienteering at the age of 10 and the first years were really
successful. But six years later I had to stop, because a heart
disease. Now, at the age of 44, he is organizer, director,
controller, course setter, map maker... and Trail orienteer.
What do you see in TrailO that makes
it so special?
Ján Furucz (J. F.) - The fact
that you can practice TrailO almost in every age it's amazing. And
it’s not only for recreation, but you can do it, also, at the
highest level. If someone ever told me that I would be in the World
Championships, I wouldn't believe. TrailO represents what I like in
Orienteering the most. The mental challenge and the ability to
navigate. The physical aspects are not important. For me TrailO is
the best way to do Orienteering.
Can you remember your first steps in
TrailO? Was it “love at first sight”?
J. F. - I met TrailO a few years
ago and, in the beginning, I thought it was only for disabled people.
I could get some detailed information from Tomáš Leštínsky and I
found it very interesting. Three years ago, I took part in a
multi-day Orienteering competition in the Czech Republic which
included also a TrailO competition. I was thinking that my
orienteering skills were at a high level so it would be easy to
succeed. There was about 40 competitors and the goal was pretty
clear: I should reach the top 5. Then, the shock came. I was 5th from
the end! I didn’t understand why. I was really surprised. I have a
brother whose Orienteering skills are similar or even better than
mine (we've been rivals our whole life) and we decided that we would
try it together. Our first real competition was in Prague. We studied
many TrailO materials before this competition. The first steps are
everything but easy when you're a beginner and the Czech colleagues
sometimes like more geometric exercises (laughs). After the first
competition we've been unhappy, but the second day (in the forest)
showed us how real fun TrailO can be. And we loved it!
What are your most valuable skills
as a trail-orienteer?
J. F. - The navigational part,
imagination, good map reading and fast thinking.
What is the most difficult part in
TrailO?
J. F. -
Concentration is very important. Sometimes I create lots of imaginary
mistakes (typically zeros). I have a big
mental problem with geometric exercises, I don’t like to solve
problems like sighting lines or vegetation boundary by tree branches.
In your daily routine,
what part is TrailO? How do you do for training?
J. F. - I think you're going to
be surprised. I don’t train TrailO specifically. I love maps and
orienteering is my life. The ideal training is to prepare
competitions, design maps, set courses and, of course, compete. Many
competitions means many practical experience. There, we discover new
techniques, new tricks. My only special training, which I invented,
is to drill the English answers for TempO. I just look for the third
flag and I know that's Charlie. I train flags from left to the right,
from right to the left, from center to the left, from center to the
right... I have one funny story from my first World Championships, in
Italy. First TempO qualification, first station. The correct answer
was the first flag from the right. It was so clear that I immediately
said “Foxtrot”. But there was only five flags in front of me
(laughs). Sometimes I am training TempO on computer simulators, but
there is a problem with the 3D vision. Therefore, I'm looking forward
to a reallly orienteering simulator, hopefully developed by our third
brother, Peter.
Last season, you achieved an amazing
2nd place in Croatia, in the World Trail Orienteering Championships'
TempO competition. Did you expect it? Can you point the key for such
a great success?
J. F. -
I wasn’t expecting a medal. OK, somewhere in the most secret dream,
where everyone turn into a beautiful and wealthy prince, maybe I
could find the desire for a medal. I remember well those days. In the
Qualification stage I was really unhappy, because the day before I
had had so many stupid mistakes in PreO. I was really afraid that I
could miss the final, which would be a big disappointment. I was very
nervous before the start. In the first station I made one mistake and
change tactics immediately. I needed to be faster to recover from the
mistake and I was satisfied with my performance. Surprisingly, I took
the 9th position, just before Marit Wiksell, which was a wonderful
feeling for me. I see Marit and the Finnish competitors in the
TempO's Olympus. OK, I was in the Final, set satisfaction. Next day
we were the first in the quarantine. We studied the demo map and the
very detailed terrain. Personally, I don’t like park terrain and
map, I prefer a more detailed terrain with many contours. I don’t
have problems with map reading so this was, maybe, one of the reasons
for the good result. The Final, in the golf course, was difficult
(specially the 2nd station) but really nice. The 15 minutes after
finishing have been terrible for me but finally I could taste the
silver medal, a perfect, amazing, unbelievable feeling. And
what about the tactics? Very easy. Of course, the best is the one
without mistakes and the fastest. But TempO’s Olympus is not for
us, our tactics are different. I have my own rule: Be able to solve
problems in 30 seconds or simply forget. A couple of mistakes are
acceptable, but speed is essential. This is TempO. Being slowly, even
without mistakes, you won't get a victory.
How do you feel about your 34th
place in PreO?
J. F. - It was a tragedy. Me and
my brother specialized to different disciplines. I have rather PreO
and he likes TempO. But, when things count, we are more stressed in
our favorite disciplines. The pressure of being in the World
Championships is enormous and not always easy to manage.
What general ideas do you keep from
the competition overall, both technically and organizational?
J. F. - In my opinion, TrailO is
a random competition sometimes. Not everyone finds the correct answer
by logical reasoning. Of course, this primarily depends on the Course
setter. TrailO is inflexible sometimes. I liked the Relay model which
could be applied to individuals. The combination between PreO and
TempO is very interesting. And I would suggest the Sprint PreO, with
half of the regular time limit. Or why not zeros in timed controls?
It would turn things more difficult.
Please tell me about Orienteering in
Slovakia and, particularly, about TrailO.
J. F. - Slovakia is a small
orienteering country. We have about 200-300 registered orienteers. In
TrailO we are beginners. For the first time we're trying to join a
few TrailO competitions together with Foot orienteering events. We
are teaching about TrailO. Many myths, many untruths. It's not an
easy way for us.
Is TrailO improving in the best way?
How do you see the present moment of the discipline?
J. F. -
I do not know. We are only beginners, we are doing it just a little
over two years but our opinion could be interesting. Basically,
we need to be closer to the classic orienteering competitors. Course
settings is very important. My motto is: “More orienteering, less
geometric exercises.” No special TrailO techniques, no half-meter
Zeros, no sighting lines, no bearing, no measuring, … . Just read
the map and terrain. The compass should be used only for right
orientation of the map. We should solve only terrain details,
contours, … . This is the right thing for classic orienteering
competitors. I also defend more generalization to maps. Absolutely
accurate maps aren't good for orienteering, it turns things very easy
for all. Less time and more stress to PreO. I love
PreO because I am building symbiosis with the map, terrain and
course. On the other side, dynamics of TempO is amazing. TempO is
extreme focus on speed and understanding. The TempO is super, but the
competition time is short. A very special problem is the definition
of PARA competitors. My (extreme) opinion is that PARA category
should be cancelled. The basic idea is still the integration for
TrailO. We want to merge, don’t divide these two worlds (OPEN and
PARA). Maybe giving them more time and not another category.
Different adding time for disabled by disability level. It is my
(maybe extreme) opinion, but is better than current status (walking
vs wheelchair competitors).
What would you do for getting some
more participation and media attention?
J. F. -
It's a difficult question. Where to find more competitors? We can
look to another orienteering disciplines, but we should be closer to
them. More orienteering, less geometric exercises... And don’t
doing some isolated races, but combined with the organizers of other
disciplines. We are the discipline which integrates disabled with non
disabled competitors. This is amazing. Many organizations are focused
on helping disabled people, so why don't we focus on it, too. I think
we have large reserves from the IOF to individual federations. And
maybe that's the way to get media attention. Let us try bring PARA
TrailO to the Paralympics. Why not?
Next May, you'll host the European
Cup in Trail Orienteering's 2nd round. What kind of event can we
expect?
J. F. - We have two major goals.
The first, we want to show that TrailO is for everyone, not just for
Trail orienteers. “More orienteering, less geometric exercises”,
this is our goal. We have selected two different types of terrain.
PreO is around the castle Červený Kameň, with a mixture of land
form and point objects. Not only TrailO competition, but together
with two Foot orienteering competitions. TempO is the classic sandy
terrain (flat terrain with a lot of details) on Záhorie (Borský
Mikuláš). About the second major goal, we want to show quickly and
online results, both in PreO and TempO. For PreO we will use
SportIdent and for TempO will use tablets (with Ant software).
How is it going to be your season?
What goals did you set, both for European and World Championships?
J. F. - It is difficult to talk
about goals for the European Championship, since I spent much time
and energy preparing the European Cup. So, the European Championships
will be just a way to relax after ECTO. My personal goals are
situated around the 15th place. Especially we look forward on the
Relay event where we have high hopes. But my personal highlight of
the season is the World Championships in Sweden. My dream is
orienteering in Nordic terrain. Last year, we visited Sweden (the
first time in my life) within the Nordic match and I think it was an
important step for the understanding of maps and course setter
techniques. The 15th place would be awesome. And the Relay, of
course, which we look forward and secretly hoping for a good result.
In the start of a new TrailO season,
I ask you a wish to all orienteers and trail-orienteers in
particular.
J. F. - I would like to wish
everyone good health. I would like to invite all orienteers to try
any TrailO competition, exploring the beauties and difficulties of
this discipline. What I would like to wish to
TrailO orienteers? Let's us be more, let’s have more quality
competitions. Let’s be more orienteering and less geometric
exercises. I look forward to see you also
in Slovakia ECTO 2016 and, two years later, in the ETOC 2018.
Joaquim Margarido
