This interview begins with an
announcement: Carles Lladó is “the most veteran of the
IberianPeninsula’s veterans”, but he is also “the most veteran
of Southern Europe’s veterans.” He made a clear point of
correcting me, putting things in the right place at the beginning of
a cheerful interview where one of the strongest features of his
character is always present: the truth. And it was with the truth
that he answered the questions that now are presented to the readers
of Inside Orienteering.
By Joaquim Margarido
The morning opens in shades of pale.
The sea breeze blows rough and there, in the Dunes of Mira along the
Atlantic Coast, the month of February is keen to show that the
Portuguese winter may not be as gentle as one might believe. The
arena for the Portugal O’ Meeting was starting to fill up when I
met him. Not encountered since 2012, I wondered if he had ceased his
activities in orienteering. But no. There he was, prepared for
another big event, a respectable aura under a beard of pure white,
the look of a child peering at everything around him. After the
emotional embrace, and the necessary correction made (see above), the
question arises naturally. Where do you get, at 84 years of age, the
energy to keep up such activity and continue Orienteering? Carles
doesn’t waste time and reveals the secret: “I believe this is due
to the fact that I have practised physical activity throughout my
life and have been able to maintain the neurons active.”
Carles Lladó y Badia was born in
Igualada, Anoia, in 1931. Licensed in Architecture and as an Urban
Planner, a graduate in Sports Equipment, he has always been a
multi-faceted figure, sharing an occupation in the areas of
sculpture, jewellery design and manufacturing with the practice and
promotion of sport, especially Orienteering, and also with the
separatist political movement. Starting his sporting activity at the
Club Atlètic d’Igualada he was, as a Veteran, Champion of Spain in
the 110 metre hurdles and triple jump. A strong supporter of the
international recognition of Catalan sport, he was one of the drivers
of the Association for the Olympic Delegation of Catalonia, an
organisation that demanded the recognition of the Olympic Committee
of Catalonia for the participation of Catalan athletes in the Olympic
Games in Barcelona in 1992. In 2003 he was awarded the medal of the
Generalitat, the autonomic government of Catalonia, for his
contributions to Catalonia’s sporting history.
Orienteer first at the age of 58
Orienteering comes in only at 58 years
old. “I feel sorry for being so late and, moreover, I can only
compete with people of my age in major international events, where my
class is covered. At most of the races I have to run sometimes with
people who take thirty years of advantage – or disadvantage! - from
me ...”, he says with a hearty laugh. But this is precisely one of
the reasons that brings him to Portugal year after year to
participate in the Portugal O’ Meeting. But it’s not the only
one. Let him explain himself: “I belong to a club, the Club
Orientació Catalunya [COC], which is twinned with a Portuguese club,
the Clube de Orientação do Centro [COC]. This is a club deserving
my greatest sympathy and respect and exists in a region whose
terrains are much in the style of this one, terrains that I love
because they’re softer to run in”, he explains.
We must say that Carles Lladó is not
“just” another member of the Club Orientació Catalunya. He is
the founder, having also founded, in 1988, the Orienteering
Federation of Catalonia. He was also a member of the Directing
Council of the Union of the Catalan Sports Federations between 1992
and 1996. In 2000, the Orienteering Federation of Catalonia
established an annual Orienteering trophy with his name, the Carles
Lladó Trophy. In 2012 he was silver medallist in Sprint in the M80
class at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Bad
Harzburg, Germany.
“It was worth
the effort”
– How do you
feel in the midst of these youngsters?
“It was about 27
years ago that we started with Orienteering in Catalonia, and we made
it from zero. Today it’s a real pleasure to go to the races and see
how things have evolved. To see the huge bunch of children aged 12 or
14 actively and regularly practicing this sport gives me a great
pleasure and makes me sure that it was worth the effort.”
– Do you
consider yourself a reference, a model for the younger?
“Not a model but a
‘ground-breaker’ – along with my wife and other companions –
in the construction process of Orienteering in Catalonia. From a
personal point of view, this is what truly matters.”
Good things and bad things
Covering almost three decades of
Orienteering and many experiences, one must be selected above all
others and this has to do with the perception that Orienteering in
Catalonia is under way. “Without wishing to be pretentious in my
words, this is something that makes me particularly proud because it
is my work. Today, there are people I do not know and there are
people who do not know me and this is very good.” But not
everything is rosy and there are also bad experiences, one of which
has been very recent, in that he was forced to stop all physical
activity due to a stroke in February last year. “I was eight days
in a coma and I ended up recovering, taking pills after pills”, he
recalls. And he adds: “Today I feel a little better, but it is
difficult to bear with such a long break, especially because I feel
that before the episode I was just above standard ability for my age
from the physical and mental point of view, and now I feel I am
below.”
Last year on the website WorldofO a
96-year-old orienteer, Rune Haraldsson, was awarded “The
Orienteering Achievement of 2014”. Carles Lladó sees this
distinction as “a prize to all Veterans and an example for the
entire orienteering community. I can’t forget having seen, in
Murcia in the 1996 World Masters Orienteering Championships, an athlete running through the forest,
jumping over logs and down huge re-entrants. He was 95 years old and
left me in deep admiration. I think this award is entirely fair. I
don’t know if I can get to 96 years old (laughs).”
Orienteering and the Olympics
Living and feeling Orienteering
intensely, Carles believes that our sport is moving in the right
direction, but notes: “What I recommend is that the IOF continues
to make all efforts to assure that Orienteering will be an Olympic
sport. Maybe there still aren’t all the conditions in order to be
accepted, but it would be fabulous if this could be a reality in the
future.” Carles recalls the conversation held with Juan Antonio
Samaranch, where the former President of the International Olympic
Committee agreed that Orienteering, from the media point of view,
with a good television production, has a potential superior to many
other sports. “And this is the way we have to take,” he
concludes.
Our interviewee warns all the “young
boys” at the age of 57, that is all those who have the same age as
Carles when he started orienteering, not to stay at home watching
television. Orienteering may be a great alternative to a sedentary
lifestyle: “Many of those who are now 57 years old have 57 years of
advantage over me when I started, because at that time I knew nothing
about orienteering and today, fortunately, people know our sport. But
my advice is to be more active, to leave the sofa and not only to go
to the park to watch the others play boules. They can be more active
and try orienteering. I do it, my wife is almost 80 years old and she
also does it, and I think that we can all do it. It is a wonderful
sport, very formative, suitable for all ages and where the fellowship
among everyone is great, something that is not readily seen in other
sports”, he says. As for himself as a competitor, the Catalan has
no doubts: “While the body and the mind can stand it, I’ll be
here!”
For many years we travelled with our
parents in a small van across Europe, participating in
orienteering events that took place during the summer. Carles and
his wife Tere also had a van, and we joined them to many of these
competitions. In one of these summers, when I still ran in the M12
class, I remember that Carles taught me, on the beach, how to read
the contour lines. We built “mountains” with the beach sand
and he charted the contour lines with his finger. And so, looking
down, I could see the same shapes that were so difficult to see
from the map. I still remember, along with other friends, that
many of us started to practise orienteering thanks to the races
that he organised. Young people were a constant presence! Earlier,
in Catalonia, we were the only children, but thanks to his efforts
more and more children and young people were joining us. There was
even a year in which Carles organised an Orienteering summer
holiday. For me it was the greatest joy, being able to go
orienteering with so many other children!”
Pol Ràfols
For some time Carles was insisting
that we had to try this thing called orienteering. Until one day,
my parents found enough courage and took us to a small place near
Barcelona. I went with Tere and she gave me a map which I was
looking at, putting my little finger on it and following the
route. When we had finished, Carles told me: ‘You did that very
well!’ And so the story began.”
Ona Ràfols
For me, Carles was and still is a
benchmark in many aspects of my life. Practising Athletics from an
early age, and travelling all over the world in a very humble way,
he is a very demanding man and often critical. I can say that it
was thanks to him that my life has changed since I discovered
orienteering, which is right now one of the most important aspects
of my life.”
Biel Ràfols
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See the original article in the IOF's
newsletter Inside Orienteering, at
http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/InsideOrient-2_15.pdf.
Published with permission from the International Orienteering
Federation
