"Is Facebook killing Blogger?": Jan Kocbach

“Is Facebook killing Blogger?” During the last three or four years, I've been worried about this subject and decided now to explore it with your help. Let my give you an example, a kind of starting point: We have in Portugal a webpage lodged in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation's site, which is called OriOasis. It's kind of a “mini-World of O” site, where 23 Portuguese Blogs and Sites are represented. More than a half of them are completely dead and only six blogs have articles published in 2015. Five of them have 25 articles overall published along the past year. The other one, Orientovar –www.orientovar.blogspot.com –, has 390 articles published. Orientovar is my personal blog and I know what I'm talking about; but I also have to say that I had in the last times around 80 visitors each day, while that number, three years ago, was higher than 400 visitors each day. At the same time, I can see that the “dead blogs” administrators, are still quite active on Facebook, which mean, probably, they moved their attentions from Blogger to Facebook in an almost definitive way. And I must add that Orientovar is over now. So, I'm trying to listen some top bloggers about this subject. Emily Benham, Catherine Taylor, Mikhail Vinogradov, Lizzie Ingham or Hans Jörgen Kvale are some of the bloggers that expressed their opinions here. Today we have Jan Kocbach's feedback. Of course, you're also free to participate, leaving your contribution on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's commentary corner. We'll certainly appreciate that!

Is Facebook killing Blogger?

Jan Kocbach (J. K.) - The way people use Internet is changing. People are using more social media these days, and people do often not have the attention span to read long articles as they did earlier. This is not only about orienteering - you see the same in many parts of society. You need a lot of time to prepare an article and to publish it on your blog, and when people do not take the time to read the complete article, that makes bloggers lose some of the motivation to write. Also, you can often get more (positive) feedback from two lines on Facebook than from a two page article on your blog - so why use hours to write a blog entry?

Most of feedback it's often kind of “likes” or something... Are we, orienteers, getting lazy?

J. K. - I think orienteers were lucky to have many more blogs than other sports for a long time - and although it is going down, it is still not bad compared to others. So, I think it's more a question of modern society, than being lazy. You seldom get many comments on a Blog page, but you can have lots of messages from people on a Facebook page or on Tweets. I see the same for World of O. These are quick comments but, the more you answer, the more you get. And the likes... many people like it, of course. So, I think it's a lot about positive feedback.

Do you feel a decrease of visits to World of O?

J. K. - I have now more people coming to World of O by Twitter or Facebook to see things I write myself than earlier, and that's part of the reason why I'm writing more - as well as to keep up interest. I do however see some decrease in visits at the front page, because there are now less athletes writing regular blogs - but nothing dramatic. On the other hand there is a lot of focus on maps, analysis and other parts of World of O.

I could notice that you've, at least, fifty “dead” pages for the last six months. Is there a connection between this fact and people are using more social media?

J. K. - I don't think there are fifty dead pages the last six months though - it is rather several years since I cleaned away the dead pages from the right info-column. But the number of athletes who update a blog regularly is going down - and that is of course a pity for the orienteering community. Also, of the ones contacting me to get their blog included, several “survive” shorter than they did before, maybe only half a year or a year. It has however been nice to see lately that some athletes like for example Cat Taylor, Mårten Boström and Mari Fasting have renewed their blogs and webpages, and I also included some new webpages lately - so this is not black/white.

What's your advice to those who have blogs and feel disappointed with the way things are going?

J. K. - The international orienteering community is still very positive towards interesting English-language Blog-articles - I see that very clearly at World of O. Especially if they get to hear stories and see maps from areas which are outside the traditional places for orienteering. You don't have to be Thierry Gueorgiou to get many readers if you put some work into what you write. Combine World of O, Facebook and Twitter to get readers to your Blog. The advantage of a Blog is that people find everything in one place when they want to see it. You never know who gets to see the Facebook and Twitter messages if they are offline for a few days - then Facebook and Twitter has moved on to other stories.But the stories in your Blog are much easier to find back to later. That's why I encourage you to not give up, even if Facebook or Twitter are taking some more attention these days.

Joaquim Margarido

IOF Athlete of December: Ulrik Nordberg

The last Athlete of the Month for 2015 is Ski Orienteer Ulrik Nordberg from Sweden. The young athlete has had a fantastic opening to this season, and despite difficult snow conditions he is training hard to continue doing well in the competitions ahead.

Name: Ulrik Nordberg
Country: Sweden
Club: Umeå OK
Date of Birth: August 22nd 1993
Discipline: Ski orienteering
Career Highlights: World Cup triumph Sprint November 2015, EOC bronze Sprint 2014, JWOC gold Sprint 2013, JWOC silver long 2013, JWOC bronze middle 2012.

IOF World Ranking: 9th
Homepage:http://orienterare.weebly.com

Ulrik Nordberg didn’t get in to his first choice of school when applying for gymnasium, the Swedish equivalent of High School. But that particular 2009 setback ended up being not so bad at all for his career.

Nordberg was born in Stockholm and grew up in Söderfors, 125 kilometer north of the Swedish capital. He is the second youngest of four cousins. His mother Karin Nordberg has been very active in sport, and his father Lars Olov Nordberg is also active in sport. Ulrik grew up with orienteering and cross country skiing.

Got the feeling

Already in his second start in ski orienteering he showed incredible talent. Ulrik came third in the Swedish Ski Orienteering Championships in the class Men 15 in 2008.

The venue for the championships was a big reason for Ulrik taking part, as it was organised in Sundsvall which was not so far from home. He hadn’t really got hooked on SkiO before the race, but that race and the medal he won were a big inspiration for the young boy, who represented the club Tierps OK at that time.

Ended up in snow district

Some months later he had to decide where to go to gymnasium, or High School. Just like the winner of the Men 15 class in the Ski-O Championships in 2008, Emil Svensk, he applied for the orienteering gymnasium in Sandviken, not so far from home in Söderfors.

- I wanted to go for both orienteering and ski orienteering and thought the gymnasium in Sandviken would be a fine place for doing the combination.

One year older than Ulrik, Tove Alexandersson took the Sandviken route choice, and she’s now one of the best in the world in both orienteering and ski orienteering.

Emil Svensk also got into Sandviken. He chose orienteering, and went on to win the middle distance at the JWOC in orienteering in 2013.

Headed north

Ulrik didn’t get a place in Sandviken, but he got a place at the sports gymnasium in Älsbyn, in the Northern part of Sweden where his parents are originally from. His mother Karin is from Luleå and his father Lars Olov from Piteå. The family also moved north, back to the roots in the country in 2009, settling down in Luleå.

– I think my parents wanted a bit more snow, Ulrik says.

Älsbyn became a choice that suited the big talent well. Teacher and trainer Sture Norén provided many technical, challenging and good trainings.

– Even if I hoped for Sandviken when I applied for the sports gymnasium, it was good to end up in Älvsbyn.

He spent four years at the Ski-O gymnasium.

He has become better and better and has developed his talent step by step. In 2009 he won the Swedish Youth Championships in Boden. Emil Svensk was one of the athletes that he beat.

When Ulrik started at high school in Älvsbyn he hadn’t decided on a main sport, but the natural choice was ski orienteering. Small injuries made it easier to train for the winter variant of orienteering.

The cold part of the year has become the most important for Ulrik, but he is still running a lot of orienteering.

Full time sport

In his last year as a junior he won gold at the sprint at JWOC in Madona in Latvia.

– I had had the gold as a goal for a couple of year. At the sprint in Latvia everything went perfect. My best performance ever. It was also so good to win and get the proof of my level.

The gap to Dag Lofthus from Norway who came in second place was 35seconds, which is a significant gap.

Before last season he was sick for six weeks and needed a lot of the winter to find his way back into shape. He took part in the World Championships in Norway and was 17th on both the Sprint and the Long Distance, and 18th on the Middle Distance.

Number two over all

This winter he has achieved a new level.

Ulrik was first, seventh and second in the first three individual races at the World Cup start of this year’s season. In the sprint relay he won together with his team mate Tove Alexandersson.

The individual victory was taken at the sprint. He likes all distances, but there is something special about the shortest discipline.

– You have to be fast on the skis and take fast decisions and avoid all mistakes, he says.

Nordberg has a lot of skills that make him such a good athlete.

– My best skills? I don’t have to look much at the map before I understand it. I’m in it just after the first looks. I don’t have to look to map all the time either. I can memorise it well.

– How much can you remember?

– About three legs is possible, but just to be sure I often watch the map as I go along.

He also has some advantages in skiing.

– I like to go downhill in steep and small tracks.

Half the age

Ulrik is number two overall after the opening round of the World Cup. The leader is Eduard Khrennikov. The Russian won his first overall triumph in the World Cup when Ulrik was just six and a half years old. The 43 year old Russian is 20 years, three months and three days older than Ulrik.

– Eduard shows the importance of experience in ski orienteering.

– Will you still be in the top business when you’re at Khrennikov’s age?

– I’m pretty sure I will not be fighting to be one of the very best when I get to Khrennikov’s age, he smiles. – But I am also sure I will not stop training, even when I have quit the high level.

After the opening round of the World Cup Eduard Khrennikov has 145 points. Two Swedes follow, first Nordberg with 140 points and then Erik Rost with 125.

This winter the World Cup and European Championship are the main competitions. Of course Ulrik wants to be in the fight for the first positions at the European Championship in Austria. For next winter he has the same goal, but for the World Championship in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.

The first of the upcoming big races is the World Cup in Germany, which takes place January 21 to 27. The European Championships and the last races in the World Cup will take place in Austria at the end of February and the beginning of March.

He’s just training

The snow conditions have been very poor this winter, but there is some natural snow and some man-made snow up in Umeå. There has been very little snow across the whole of Sweden, and races have had to be cancelled.

– It hasn’t been good with so little snow. It’s not nice, but you have to take it like it is and just do the training. There’s not much to do about it. I am managing to get in plenty of cross country ski training, but it’s a bit more challenging to get in the orienteering training.

So far this winter Ulrik has taken part in nine events, six in Finland where the World Cup started, and three in his home country.

He moved to Umeå last year, where he has found a new club and new people to train with.

– I am training with cross country skiers who are faster than me. It’s a goal to become physically stronger.

The main progress

Since August he has been a full time athlete.

– How does being a professional ski orienteer work financially?

– I worked a lot last spring and summer, so I can do it full time now. I also get help from my parents and sponsors.

His daily life is programmed for doing well in sport.

– Now I can direct all my focus on improving, and the training necessary to reach my goals. I also have time for rest.

Can have days off

During this training year Ulrik will achieve about 600 training hours. A training week can mean anything from 10 to 25 hours. In the training periods he normally takes one day a week without training. During the competition part of the year this can rise from one to two days. He has become more open to do so after he had some weeks with sickness during the autumn 2014. He listens more to his body.

– I can take an extra rest day if I feel that’s the smartest thing to do.

Ulrik knows what to do!

Ulrik Nordberg has taken his career step by step, from being one of the best juniors to fighting in the top with the seniors. Already in 2014 – in his first senior year – he took a medal at the European Championships. Now he has won one individual race in the World Cup, and is number two overall.

[Text: Erik Borg. Photo: Malin Björqvist. See the original article at http://orienteering.org/athlete-of-the-month-december-2015/. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]

Per Frost: "We made my idea of the IOF Studio becoming reality"

Ongoing process that has seen great improvement in recent years, the television broadcasting of Orienteering events knew another important chapter at Ylläs, Finland, in the Ski Orienteering World Cup 2015/2016's opening round. Today, on Portuguese Orienteering Blog's tribune, Per Frost, one of the masterminds of the initiative, presents the SkiO Studio, lists the challenges and points out goals for the future.

Could you present the IOF Studio, at Ylläs? What resources – human and material - did you have and what about the working conditions?

Per Frost (P. F.) - The IOF Studio was an idea I had been thinking of over a long time, especially since I was responsible for creating the daily highlight editions from WOC in Scotland. What was done there was that the live-broadcast is edited down to around 10 minutes with the most interesting of the race. Some TV-networks prefer to broadcast that version instead of the whole race since it is easier to schedule. My idea for this live broadcasts was to take the most exciting out of the live production and make it more easy-accessible to the viewers who did not have the time to watch it live. By creating this concept with the studio, we had a good establishment of the venue and also a natural way to introduce the commentators (in this case me, as the “host” and Hans-Jörgen Kvåle, as the “expert”.

Since it is not live, we do also have much better possibilities to bring into more cameras as they can be a normal camcorder and does not have to rely on live technique. The big difference if you compare Ski-O World Cup with WOC, for example, is that we could then use the action cameras in the live production. Every camera that has to have live wireless transmission is quite expensive, so that is why we wanted to use them “off-line”. There is however quite many work-hours that needs to be put in, in order to prepare the highlights. The race footage from the live production is mixed with improved GPS-analysis that Hans-Jörgen had chosen and extra video material from the forest, for example from the start and from the skiing camera-operators. The studio show itself was actually broadcasted live every day with the same live equipment as on the races, so we commented on the video in the same time as it was playing for the viewers. John, our technical manager, took the role as director on switching cameras, playing out highlights and overlook streaming.

Tell me about the homework, the days before. How did you prepare the work and share responsibilities?

P. F. - We where two people from Sweden, me and John Kumlin, who served as the technical manager. We are both orienteers so the sport knowledge was already there. He did the same task on last year´s ESOC and was the project manager for live productions at O-ringen this summer, so we divided the productions based on the tasks that needs more technical knowledge and the ones that needs content experience. I was responsible for the content part. What was most important on beforehand was to prepare what could be prepared in terms of the intro animation and such content and also getting information and sending instructions to the students we were cooperating with. There was a team consisting of eight students and two teachers from a tv-education in Tornio, one of the closest cities which helped us with lending out a lot of equipment and the students got to do some “sharp” practice in the live productions. Luckily, the organizers had done a great job in planning the arena as well as getting us good internet connections, something that is crucial for this kind of streaming.

Your task was to follow the event, having in mind to broadcast it in the best way (in this case by internet). What were the biggest challenges? Did you have to improve a lot?

P. F. - The main challenge is, of course, that it is more difficult the less budget you have. It is certainly easier to create a good production if you have a big team of experts around you, but until then my ideology is to focus on a few certain tasks and make them as good as possible. That is something I have learned after being into this business of both TV and orienteering for the last years. For example, if we do not have the resources for having live cameras out in the forest, then it might be a better idea to put camcorders there and make it look good in the post production rather than doing something in between with poor quality.

Me and John are normally working with TV, so the biggest challenge for us was to manage the students and tell them what to do. The Ski-O Marketing manager Hans-Jörgen Kvåle, was also in our team and got responsibility for knowing what was interesting in the race at the moment, who to follow and what to show on GPS-tracking.

We could see your cameraman following downhill some athletes, and it was scary (!). Tell me about the technical (and physical) challenges you have to face in order to offer a transmission as best as possible?

P. F. - Yes! It was in fact two very ski-orienteering talented persons from the local organization that helped us with the filming and they did a great job! They waited at one control for a good athlete to come and then followed as long as they could manage. I think we captured some really decisive moments there. For example, when you can see how fast Tove Alexandersson, Tatiana Oborina and Mariya Kechkina are skiing on the tiny tracks whilst still reading their maps and also when we got a crash between two athletes in the sprint relay on tape, something that was decisive for the outcome of the race. In this production, we chose to not use that camera on live transmission, but only for recording for post-production such as the live studio. The reason for that is simply economical. In Scotland WOC, we used one action camera live, but that requires a lot more of expensive equipment and can only be used in a limited area. A similar setup has been used on 10mila.

Now I will reveal a secret: My team was actually first with using the live action camera for orienteering live streaming :) Already in Ski-O WOC in 2011, which was my first live production whatsoever, we got to borrow some equipment for live transmission, the one that was later developed for 10mila [HERE]. The challenge, however, is that the image quality of such live pictures is very uncertain compared to cable-connectors, so one does rather want to use cable connected cameras to be safe with those pictures.

Have you thought in a certain number of hits for each transmission? The overall result was as expected?

P. F. - We have had between 700 and 1300 viewers on the live events, which I would consider as OK for this event. Not very much advertisement was made on beforehand and we also wanted to first try out the studio concept before advertise it more. To compare, 10mila use to have some 3000-4000 online viewers, so I would say this was OK.

In your opinion, this kind of very particular projects are something that interest only experienced orienteers or it can be a good way to reach more people and attract more participants to our sport? How?

P. F. - Something that I always want to keep in mind in working with this projects is that the result will end up in more visibility for the sport. The productions are only a tool for making that happen. Therefore, we use the strategy of try to think how we can get most out of each race. There might be a few hundred or over one thousand orienteers watching the event, and we want of course to make them satisfied. However, when we have this production in place, we can use the same footage to send to various TV networks like the national broadcasters of the winning athletes for use in the evening news. Normally, we cut out the footage of that athlete racing and then we record an interview in their native language. This is something we have been doing for quite many years now, and I would say that it have resulted in a gain of public knowledge about our sport. If just some 30 seconds of orienteering is shown in the evening news, we can instantly reach out to millions of viewers in the national sport news. This concept has been proven over and over again in the nordic countries as well as countries like Russia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Romania and Switzerland. We can also send footage to Eurovision, which is the organization of almost all European national broadcasters.

I'm sure you're already thinking in a similar situation for next events, which will be in Germany and Austria. Is there anything that you're thinking to change or improve? Will you have Emily Benham still in the team (she is great, although she talks too fast, but this is surely my fault)?

P. F. - In Germany and Austria there will be different challenges compared to Finland, as usually most economical ones to get the resources on place to be able to transmit the atmosphere and excitement of ski orienteering to the audience, but I think we took a good step towards creating something new and interesting with the studio, so I hope that part will be more developed. Emily was great as a commentator, especially since she had not prepared for doing this here in Finland on beforehand Being a native English speaker with such extensive knowledge of the sport and how to explain it to others is really a great asset and important for creating a good show. I hope she will be involved also in the future (and in a few years also in commenting MTBO of course).

How important can be this kind of work towards the Olympic project?

P. F. - Absolutely crucial. What we do now is what Biathlon understood and did 20 years ago: “If the media doesn't come to us, maybe we will have to get to them and show our sport?”. I do also think that ski orienteering is a very good arena for testing ideas that later can be transferred into foot orienteering. For example, we were first with touch free punching as well as sprint and sprint relay.

And what about you, Per. How important was the experience for you? Will you be more confident the next time?

P. F. - I can say that Ski orienteering is basically half of my education in media work, which is nowadays also my profession. Back in 2009, my club was organising the Junior World Championships in Ski-O. There I got the chance to do something of this completely new thing “Youtube” and from that and on, I have done something in ski orienteering on IOF major level each year. However, I have also studied media production at university and my student mates have always got some strange explanation why I have missed some weeks each winter, like “Per is in Kazakhstan, or Per is in Siberia...”, so I will try to finalise my examina now before the next World Cup round. I would despite that say that it has been a school just as important as the official one to really have some on-hands work by promoting Ski orienteering and a great bonus to also see all this places and get to know amazing people.

What I will bring from now is for sure the knowledge of that we made my idea of the IOF Studio becoming reality and also the great feedback we have got from it! I think the future looks bright since the Finnish organizers, both in Lapland which held this round and the one for next season's ESOC have shown interest in really making their events more visible by this kind of actions. There might as well be some really good things coming out of the fact that ski-O will be included in the Universiade in Krasnoyarsk 2019, the second biggest winter sports event worldwide after the Olympic Games. Those preparations are already going and the way towards that will mean a lot for the development! I do also hope I will be able to find my place in this journey, since I really believe that our sport has some exciting years to come!

[Photo: Jyrki Kola / facebook.com/jyrki.kola]

Joaquim Margarido

"Is Facebook killing Blogger?": Mikhail Vinogradov's opinion

“Is Facebook killing Blogger?” During the last years, I've been worried about this subject and decided now to explore it with your help. Let my give you an example, a kind of starting point: We have in Portugal a webpage lodged in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation's site, which is called OriOasis. It's kind of a “mini-World of O” site, where 23 Portuguese Blogs and Sites are represented. More than a half of them are completely dead and only six blogs have articles published in 2015. Five of them have 25 articles overall published along this year. The other one, Orientovar –www.orientovar.blogspot.com –, has 390 articles published so far. Orientovar is my personal blog and I know what I'm talking about; but I also have to say that I have now around 80 visitors each day, while that number, three years ago, was higher than 400 visitors each day. At the same time, I can see that the “dead blogs” administrators, are still quite active on Facebook, which mean, probably, they moved their attentions from Blogger to Facebook in an almost definitive way. So, I tried to listen some top bloggers about this subject, having their feedback about five questions (the same for everyone). Emily Benham, Catherine Taylor, Mikhail Vinogradov, Lizzie Ingham, Hans Jörgen Kvale or Jan Kocbach are some of the bloggers that, during the next days, will leave here their opinions. Of course, you're also free to participate, leaving your contribution on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's commentary corner. We'll certainly appreciate that!

Looking for the Portuguese example above, do you feel the same with your blog and blogs around you? Is this a problem for you?

Mikhail Vinogradov (M. V.) - I don't feel some pressure from Facebook to our blog (or other blogs). Some athletes have created Facebook pages, but in my opinion are different things; unlike Blog, the Facebook frame is really a short message mainly with picture.

Do you have an Orienteering Facebook page? Could you tell us about your experience in having both a Facebook page and Blog?

M. V. - Galina and I have Facebook accounts (not Athlete profiles!), We used it to contact people and also put announces about articles in our blog.

Is it clear that Facebook is a quick way to talk about Orienteering, but is it also the best way to promote our sport? Is the Blogger condemned to be extinguished?

M. V. - In my opinion, Blogs are better to communicate in Orienteering. You can put a lot of pictures, maps, analysis, surveys, etc.

Have you ever felt like stopping writing? Are you loosing the interest in writing and reading – and sharing! - about Orienteering?

M. V. - No.

Have you any general ideas about Communication in our sport that you would like to share?

M. V. - World of O is the best option for the moment.

Joaquim Margarido

IOF Athlete of November: Gaëlle Barlet

Massif des Bauges, Chartreuse and La Vanoise are three of the most beautiful natural parks of the Rhône-Alpes region, in eastern central France. Under their shadow lies the small town of La Rochette, where we meet one of the greatest MTB Orienteering world stars who, at the age of 27, has been crowned European and World Champion in Middle Distance. These and other stories are the core of a memorable conversation with Gaëlle Barlet, IOF Athlete of the Month of November.

Name: Gaëlle Barlet
Country: France
Club: SCAPA Nancy
Date of Birth: 5th February 1988
Discipline: MTB Orienteering
Career highlights: World MTB Orienteering Championships – Long Distance 4th (2015), Middle Distance 1st (2015), Sprint 1st (2011), Relay 4th (2015); European MTB Orienteering Championships – Long Distance 2nd (2015), Middle Distance 1st (2015), Sprint 2nd (2011), Relay 2nd (2015). World Cup 2015 overall – 3rd .
IOF World Ranking: 3rd.

Surrounded by impressive countryside of great beauty, working as a wooden house designer, living five minutes by bike from her job and sharing her life and passions with someone who has MTB Orienteering also as his way of life. What more could Gaëlle Barlet wish for?

“I’m a timber construction designer. In brief, my work involves drawing on the computer, in 3D, the wooden structure and the metal assemblies that make up the building. I work full-time, but I have the advantage of working just five minutes by bike from home. Once work is over, I can quickly go and train without wasting time in transport”, starts Gaëlle, in a conversation that will take us from La Rochette, where Gaëlle lives, to the top of the world.

– Do you feel the mountains and all this nature around you calling you constantly?

“Yes, the nature and the mountains to do the sports that I love! Mountain biking, road biking, and hiking when I’m tired! I also do cross-country skiing in winter. Right now I’m excited that the snow is coming! The advantage is that I can adapt my work-outs according to my plans, my condition and my mood. Even in winter I can go skiing in the morning and mountain biking on the plain in the afternoon.”

From Gymnastics to Orienteering

Gaëlle Barlet has been a gymnast since she was a little girl. Moves such as the forward roll, backward roll, cartwheel, handstand, bridge and back bend were part of her life for 10 years. And then she encountered Orienteering. It was in the year 2000. “My brother had started orienteering and I followed him two years later”, she remembers.

To add to her great flexibility, agility and strength, Gaëlle was progressively learning some other important skills: improving her navigational ability and tuning her map reading. This background brought her into the French orienteering junior team. So it was natural to see her in Dubbo, Australia (2007), competing for France in her first Junior World Championships and then in Göteborg, Sweden the year after where 5th place in the Relay was her best-ever result. And then she changed to MTBO. The reason was simple: “The choice was hard, but repeated sprains in my ankles made me realise that I couldn’t train and progress in Foot orienteering”, Gaëlle explains.

If not Orienteering, maybe… dance

– What do you see in MTB Orienteering that makes it so special?

“Contrary to Foot orienteering, MTB orienteering gives a real feeling of speed”.

– Is MTB Orienteering a sport that completely fulfils you? If not MTBO, what would be your sport?

“I think if Orienteering didn’t exist, I would have tried all sorts of sports without restricting myself to a particular one, except maybe dance…”

– Have you ever thought of stopping Orienteering?

“I just love running or cycling with a map so much that I don’t think about stopping. It’s amazing when I go Orienteering, I don’t realise the time or distance I am spending in the nature. In every race I just want to find the controls and do my best.”

Queen of Middle Distance

After the gold medals at the European and World Championships this year, Gaëlle Barlet deserves the title “Queen of Middle Distance”. To be in top shape when it counts is not a fluke, and a well prepared season is the key to success. Motivation is all you need: “The beautiful terrain of the upcoming Championships, the course setting, the great atmosphere at the international competitions, that’s what we’re looking for. We also try to vary daily the different types of training. It’s fascinating to experience different things and see the body’s reaction!”

Gaëlle remembers some of the most important moments of the year: “After the World Championships in Poland in 2014, I was very motivated for this season. Portugal and the Czech Republic both promised uneven terrain, which could suit me well. First I did my preparation work with “quiet” long trips on a road bike and some cross-country skiing, trying to vary disciplines in order to lose weight. In March, we had a training camp in Portugal to work on the Orienteering techniques needed on these terrains. Then, the training work was in parcels of three weeks each, with the training load gradually increased and eventually a week to recover. All my workouts were done on a slope, as interval training, in order to be effective on the uphills.”

Gold twice

– Would you tell me about these two gold medals?

“During these two races I was in a good frame of mind. I couldn’t complain about the physical training, the nutrition … And I was convinced that I had done my best in terms of preparation for the Championships. D-Days: I have to be concentrated on the present moment, I have to give all physically and I have to stay focused, anticipating constantly. I want to be regretting nothing at the end. And I must, above all, have fun! That’s what I felt during those two races and that’s what I’ll try to do in my next races.”

– Which of these two titles is the most significant for you?

“The one from the World Championships, because I really managed to discipline myself. However the race wasn’t won from the start, because I made a mistake at the first control and because of the weather conditions (I’m not comfortable in mud). Yet I managed not to allow myself to be destabilised by the race conditions and I stayed focused until the end.”

Grateful memories

The gold medals, both in European and World Championships, weren’t the only great moments of the season. Gaëlle Barlet remembers another significant one: “Yes, our victory in the Mixed Sprint Relay at the European Championships with Baptiste [Fuchs]. However, he wasn’t sure that we could run the relay together, as only one team per nation is allowed. Yoann Garde, Hana Garde or Cedric Beill could have been perfectly good choices by the coach. It was great to be able to run as a couple, but winning the title together was really a great moment. It will remain as one of my beautiful memories.”

I look now towards Gaëlle and it’s clear in her eyes that she’s eager to say something else, and I’m ready to please her. Veneto, Italy, August 2011. She gets the Sprint world title in an epic race, the six top athletes separated by a tight sixteen seconds. “It’s one of my greatest memories. I didn’t expect such a great performance that year, so early, it was a wonderful surprise. I remember well the waiting for the final result … I didn’t start in the Red Group, so it was a long, long wait”.

Baptiste and Gaëlle, hand in hand

After some great results by the French team the MTBO Elite Team, in which Gaëlle Barlet is one of the top stars, was set up at the end of 2014. “We created this team to be able to pool our skills, to exchange our experiences, and to try to improve and reach the highest level, but especially to work on the development of French MTB Orienteering. It is above all a group of friends where everyone has a role to play, and that certainly had an influence on our results this year”.

Baptist Fuchs – surprising silver medallist in Long Distance at the World MTBO Orienteering Championships 2014 – is one of the members of this special team and plays a special role in Gaëlle Barlet’s life. “I completely trust in Baptiste in terms of physical training. He has experience in this area. Thanks to him I have improved a lot over the past two years”, she says. And there’s something more: “I think Baptiste doesn’t expect results from me, he just wants that I enjoy the courses. That’s why I have to be in the highest physical shape on D-Days, and sometimes he motivates me to go training when the will is no longer there. But he never forces me to go, whatever the situation. Sometimes I think he might be more demanding but the fact that we are together in life prevents him from being more rigorous with me. We talk a lot about MTB Orienteering during the season: We share our opinions on the maps, terrains, how to prepare this or that race …”.

Three questions, three answers

– In what sense is being a woman a “disadvantage”, when talking about MTB Orienteering at the highest level?

“Since I’m planning to have children, being a woman can be a disadvantage, actually. I think it’s very difficult to get back on top one year after stopping, even though Hana Garde has managed to do that this year.”

– MTB orienteering and Mountain Biking are two distinct realities. Why is it so difficult to call people to experience MTB Orienteering?

“Mountain bikers love speed. When trying MTB Orienteering, the mountain biker is required to stop at every crossroads to study the map and take options. Most of them feel frustrated in a sport that isn’t 100% physical action”.

– Is MTB Orienteering on the right track?

“Yes, MTB Orienteering is on the right track. To be known, we need spectators. For spectators we need to be seen even in the forest. I think we should plan (in addition to tracking with GPS), a ‘show crossing’ in each race. A screen in the arena with GPS track and map background with shots from cameras in the forest. I think it has been done in the Czech Republic – in the Sprint it is a very good model for future competitions”.

“Portugal is just what I like!”

The World MTB Orienteering Championships 2016 in Portugal are the biggest goal for the next season. Gaëlle Barlet knows this western part of the European continent well, and to talk about Portugal is to talk of “beautiful terrain, great courses, top organization… the sun, the heat, hilly places, beautiful landscapes… Portugal is just what I like!”, she says.

The winter is about to come and the plan is set: “Cross-country skiing when there is snow, and some weight training, running and biking before getting back to the road bike when temperatures allow me to do it.”

– And for how long will we see you doing MTB Orienteering?

“Probably another year”, Gaëlle ends.

[Text and photo: Joaquim Margarido. See the original article at http://orienteering.org/gaelle-barlet-is-the-iof-athlete-of-the-month/. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]

"Is Facebook killing Blogger?": Catherine Taylor's opinion

“Is Facebook killing Blogger?” During the last years, I've been worried about this subject and decided now to explore it with your help. Let my give you an example, a kind of starting point: We have in Portugal a webpage lodged in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation's site, which is called OriOasis. It's kind of a “mini-World of O” site, where 23 Portuguese Blogs and Sites are represented. More than a half of them are completely dead and only six blogs have articles published in 2015. Five of them have 25 articles overall published along this year. The other one, Orientovar –www.orientovar.blogspot.com –, has 390 articles published so far. Orientovar is my personal blog and I know what I'm talking about; but I also have to say that I have now around 80 visitors each day, while that number, three years ago, was higher than 400 visitors each day. At the same time, I can see that the “dead blogs” administrators, are still quite active on Facebook, which mean, probably, they moved their attentions from Blogger to Facebook in an almost definitive way. So, I tried to listen some top bloggers about this subject, having their feedback about five questions (the same for everyone). Emily Benham, Catherine Taylor, Mikhail Vinogradov, Lizzie Ingham, Hans Jörgen Kvale or Jan Kocbach are some of the bloggers that, during the next days, will leave here their opinions. Of course, you're also free to participate, leaving your contribution on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's commentary corner. We'll certainly appreciate that!

Looking for the Portuguese example above, do you feel the same with your blog and blogs around you? Is this a problem for you?

Catherine Taylor (C. T.) - Of course you notice that some people post on their Facebook more than their blog or website or increasingly so. I think it's a natural thing to happen when there is a new resource available - people will adapt and use it! I think it's mostly a positive thing to use a variety of media to promote, discuss and share things to do with our great sport. It is a bit more difficult for those who do not have Facebook to follow, though I've noticed WorldOfO does also link to athletes' Facebook pages now.

Do you have an Orienteering Facebook page? Could you tell us about your experience in having both a Facebook page and Blog?

C. T. - I don't have a Facebook page as an athlete, I keep Facebook with just my personal page. But I can understand how it can suit other people to use Facebook as well as or instead of a blog or athlete site.

Is it clear that Facebook is a quick way to talk about Orienteering, but is it also the best way to promote our sport? Is the Blogger condemned to be extinguished?

C. T. - The best way to show the world instantly how beautiful and exciting orienteering can be, is with pictures and this is why Facebook can work really well - you get the pictures and then more story/explanation than you can fit onto Twitter. So it's great for that quick impression.

I don't think blogging is dying out at all! I think there is definitely still a place for reading longer texts that can tell a more complete story. Not everyone has the time or confidence to sit and write a full article but for those that do, there is still an audience - at least I really enjoy reading some nicely constructed writing. It feels like you can "know" the writer and their story a little better with longer posts.

Have you ever felt like stopping writing? Are you loosing the interest in writing and reading – and sharing! - about Orienteering?

C. T. - No, I enjoy writing and that's why I carry on! I haven't written in a while because I'm in the process of changing my small blog page to something a little better, but also because I'm not doing anything so exciting at the moment. I try not to force posts out of myself just because I haven't written in a while. In the new year, when I'm travelling more, I'll get going again!

Have you any general ideas about Communication in our sport that you would like to share?

C. T. - I'd say that if you're trying to reach more people than just a small audience of keen orienteers, it's always good to keep in mind that orienteering is full of complicated concepts that not everyone is familiar with. Think about how to explain things in a way more people might understand, or concentrate on the more universal aspects of sport rather than the technical elements. But it all depends who you want your audience to be! And some nice pictures reflecting your subject are never a bad idea :-)

Joaquim Margarido

"Is Facebook killing Blogger?": Emily Benham's opinion

“Is Facebook killing Blogger?” During the last years, I've been worried about this subject and decided now to explore it with your help. Let my give you an example, a kind of starting point: We have in Portugal a webpage lodged in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation's site, which is called OriOasis. It's kind of a “mini-World of O” site, where 23 Portuguese Blogs and Sites are represented. More than a half of them are completely dead and only six blogs have articles published in 2015. Five of them have 25 articles overall published along this year. The other one, Orientovar –www.orientovar.blogspot.com –, has 390 articles published so far. Orientovar is my personal blog and I know what I'm talking about; but I also have to say that I have now around 80 visitors each day, while that number, three years ago, was higher than 400 visitors each day. At the same time, I can see that the “dead blogs” administrators, are still quite active on Facebook, which mean, probably, they moved their attentions from Blogger to Facebook in an almost definitive way. So, I tried to listen some top bloggers about this subject, having their feedback about five questions (the same for everyone). Emily Benham, Catherine Taylor, Mikhail Vinogradov, Lizzie Ingham, Hans Jörgen Kvale or Jan Kocbach are some of the bloggers that, during the next days, will leave here their opinions. Of course, you're also free to participate, leaving your contribution on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's commentary corner. We'll certainly appreciate that!

Looking for the Portuguese example above, do you feel the same with your blog and blogs around you? Is this a problem for you?

Emily Benham (E. B.) - I have certainly noticed many athlete blogs that are no longer active. It's a real shame because I think blogs provide a great opportunity for athletes to tell the story of their races, and other interesting things they've been up to. I also think, that in our small sport, it's a good place to promote sponsors in a small way. Society today tends to be a lot more 'here and now' than it was a few years ago, so race reports tend to be confined to just 149 characters on Twitter or via Instagram. I've always been a 'wordy' person, so I still like to write about my races on the blog (often in 1000 words or more!). In 2015 however, I was often quite slack and didn't write anything for a week or two post race - because I'd already done that work on social media. I don't think we've had less hits on our website, but there are definitely posts that seem to attract more readers. It's been interesting to note the difference between SkiO and MTBO in recent years. Both Hans Jørgen and I have been near the top of our sports, but we often had more hits for HJ's occasional SkiO posts than for my fairly regular MTBO reports. It's often struck me that more Ski Orienteers are using social media and blogs. In MTBO, the number seems to be far fewer - amongst the top ten women only myself and Susanna Laurila have blogs, but Susanna hasn't written anything for a few years. It would have been great to read about Martina's gold medals from her perspective; or Gaëlle's mistakes in the Middle Distance that still led to gold; or even Svetlana's fight for silver.

I also think an important role of the blog and race reports is to show to developing athletes something about our thoughts about races, our mistakes and our training. Giving others something to aspire to and motivated to achieve themselves will hopefully raise the competitive field in future years, and allow us all to develop further as athletes.

Have you an Orienteering Facebook page? Could you tell us about your experience in having both Facebook and Blogger?

E. B. - Our Facebook page takes all of our Twitter, Instagram and blog feeds, and promotes it on Facebook for us. I often forget it's there!

Is it clear that, being Facebook a quick way to talk about Orienteering, it's also the best way to promote our sport? Is Blogger condemned to be extinguished?

E. B. - I think there will always be a space for blogs. Interviews with athletes, and post race analysis 'World Of O' style. MTBO really lacks a site where all the blogs, social media feeds and websites feed into it. I'm sure if this were the case, and we had a 'go to' site to find all the latest athlete generated info, we would be in a better situation in terms of sponsors, promotion, athlete idols etc. I actually no longer see Facebook as the best way to generate interest in anything. Whenever I browse my FB feed, it's full of rubbish; people sharing videos that are often neither interesting nor tasteful; or lots of (very) opinionated political statements. There rarely seems to be anything happy and joyful there - mostly negative comments or news. I think people often click and view the things they are already interested in, so I don't see that we 'the MTBO community' can use FB effectively right now to generate interest from other users groups.

Did you ever felt the wish of stop writing?

E. B. - Not at all. I wish there were more blogs out there in the MTBO world to read. There are only a handful of users who post their maps to DOMA post race. It's becoming increasingly difficult to stay in the MTBO world and I often feel like we are just individuals who attend events, race and go home. Sometimes it doesn't feel like there is a community to support outside of events. We should be making a bigger deal of our national champions, we should all know who won the Russian sprint champs, or the Finnish long distance. Without valuing these achievements within the sport, it will become increasingly difficult to attract sponsors to support us: as individuals, teams, or event organizers.

Ultimately, that's what writing comes down to. The promotion of 'I' on personal sites and social media, and the promotion of 'we' on journalistic blogs such as the Portuguese Orienteering Blog. It's about allowing others a view into our secret world - whether that's friends and family at home, or a wider public who may develop an interest in following or participating in our sport.

Have you some general ideas about Communication in our sport that you would like to share?

E. B. - I've started getting into cyclocross this year. It's never been a branch of cycling I've considered before, but last winter, when fed up of snow and cold, I started watching their World Cup races and following the athletes on Twitter and Instagram. Every day, my feeds were full of the latest mud fest, race wins, and crashes. Videos were shared, cheering spectators thanked and more and more media and public interest was being generated. All of those factors made me think this was something fun to do, so I tried it. I'm utterly sh*t at it, but I finish with a smile under all the mud. The reason I've kept going back, just for fun, is because I am continually bombarded with CX posts on social media. Every day it's on my mind at some point of the day, much as XC is in the summer months and fatbiking in the winter, mostly down to those frequent posts. If it weren't for following these athletes, my feeds would be pretty empty, and I wouldn't find much else to be inspired by.

I would love to find myself inspired and motivated to do MTBO every day, through the posts of other athletes; to see the cool places they train around the world and the amazing trails that make me want to ride there too.

I hope that we aren't losing athletes after junior level because there are other interesting sports out there that are at the forefront of their attentions day in day out. I really hope that the next generation are inspired by MTBO thanks, in part, to the work put in by athletes now who are active on social media. We've made a start, but we can do a lot more!

Joaquim Margarido

Inside Orienteering 03/2015: Behind the Scenes - Jorn Sundby

The Norwegian Jorn Sundby is IOF WOC SEA which means event advising at World Orienteering Championships with TV-development as one key part.

Tell us about your work as IOF WOC SEA?

– The mission is to secure the quality of WOC-events. I have a SEA-assistant for all WOCs, and we also have at least one national controller in our team. In addition, we have different experts within the IOF we can involve in technical details if necessary. The SEA is the main link between the IOF and organizer. One main task is of course to make sure that the IOF rules are strictly followed. Some IOF-rules are different from national rules. We have to approve the solutions chosen by the organizers in all areas, making sure that they not only follow the rules, but also have the quality that we want for our main event. Fairness is the most important guideline in judging all aspects of a WOC. Our aim is to be a support and a help for the organizers (not only a controller). Most WOC organizers do this once in their life time, while the SEA-team have a lot of experience from

many WOCs. In many cases we know what works and what doesn’t work.

Describe your work?

– I started working for IOF ahead of the 2015-season, replacing Bjorn Persson. I had some previous SEA-experience as Bjorn´s assistant at WOC 2014. Right now I have the responsibility of the WOC’s from 2016–2018. Normally we visit the host city once or twice each year in the three years prior to the WOC. Every visit is normally three to four days. Beside the visits we stay in close contact with the organizer through E-mail. For WOC 2016 it is a bit different, both me as the SEA and Unni Strand Karlsen as the assistant SEA lives quite close to the area, so we are visiting more frequently. We might just go for an evening meeting or a day in the forest.

We spend a lot of time on the different things that are different at WOC compared to a “normal” event. This is often where the organizer needs support and advice. Very few have experience with television, with the infrastructure needed, demands for IT, and so on. The demands of an international event, language, fairness for all countries is also new to many. Still, in the end, most time is used on maps and courses. There are many events at a WOC, and we want the best possible quality for the athletes.

What do you like with this job?

– Meeting organizers from different countries and finding good solutions together as a team is very rewarding. There are so many people who spend so many hours for our sport, making these events happen. They all have this desire to make their event as good as absolutely possible, and this is fantastic to see. Especially I enjoy the early part of the event planning, when the main concepts are made. To find an arena and a terrain that can have world class courses, and at the same time give us a great presentation on TV and for spectators. I enjoy the challenge of trying to improve the standard of our events every year to the benefit of all our stakeholders.

The biggest challenge?

– The biggest challenge is to find the concepts that can fulfill all the intentions of a WOC. We need to have world class maps and courses at the same time as we need world class TV-production and presentation. This is often a challenge to combine, many of the best terrains are often in remote areas with struggling mobile connection no internet or infrastructure. The athletes will be happy there, but TV Broadcast and presentation will suffer. They need more infrastructure to be able to do their job. Many arenas that have the necessary infrastructure for the forest event don’t have the best terrain nearby, leading to compromises that in the end neither athletes or TV are happy with. So it is absolutely crucial that we search for the area where we both have access to world class terrain, but also have the infrastructure needed for spectators and media/television.

In such a big organization as a WOC there are many different people with many different opinions. This is often refreshing as it brings different ideas to the table. But sometimes it can be very difficult when decisions need to be made and it is impossible to keep everybody happy. This is a big challenge, most organizers are volunteers and if they are not happy with the decisions they may choose to do other things than organize a WOC… So it is important to have a good and clean communication with all the key people in the organization.

The sprint events are also a big challenge. Held in an urban area, it is very difficult to secure everything with so many people living and moving in the competition area. You always seem to get some unpleasant surprises.

The financial part of the event is also very challenging for most organizers, and it is sometimes necessary to choose second best or third best option because of financial issues.

Give us an example of an incident to avoid.

– The most important is of course to avoid incidents that makes the competition unfair or even cancelled. The most important is to think about possible scenarios and have back-up plans ready. So we spend a lot of time discussing potential problems. What if the area loses power? What if a bus breaks down on the way to the start? What if the competition maps get lost on the way to the start? And so on. The WOC 2015 organizers were great at making such plans. When a bus had problems on the way to the long distance start, they had already thought about this and could make fast decisions on what to do.

How do we prevent incidents as the punching system fail in the World Cup?

– By having done proper testing in advance with the same people, in the same conditions. It is very important that the organizers have test events where they test their systems (and people) in the same roles and with the same goal as in WOC. When people have to do something for the first time at WOC it increases the risk of error. People should have done their task so many times already in tests that they feel safe and know what to do during WOC. Many people were concerned about using punch-free system in WOC 2015 after the failure in June, but the organizer had done a really professional job testing many times and it worked well at WOC.

Who are you?

– I have a mixed background in orienteering. I competed myself at JWOC and Euromeeting for Norway, but I had to give up the national team early due to an injury. I worked as the coach of the Norwegian junior team for four years, and I was one of the assistant coaches of the senior team for four years, helping the athletes with the technical preparations (maps, courses and trainings) for WOC being my main task. So I know a lot about how the coaches think, and how the teams prepare. Beside coaching I have been working in media for the last 25 years. In orienteering I have been an announcer for many World Cup events and also WOC. In television I have been a commentator for the last 15 years, doing winter sports, football, handball, and also some orienteering. I have also been involved in productions from events.

For three years I worked full time for the Norwegian Orienteering Federation as their event manager, this included responsibilities in connection with WOC 2010. I have also been a course setter for many big events, including many Norwegian championships and also World Cup. I am a part time map maker, having maps made for Norwegian championships and for local events. So I have a very mixed background that hopefully can help the understanding of all aspects of a WOC, and to find the best possible solutions.

Can you compare the big orienteering events with other sports event?

– Our sport is very demanding to organize. So many details are important for a successful event, and this makes orienteering one of the more challenging sports to organize. What makes it even more challenging is that we don’t have a fixed arena, we pretty much have to build everything from scratch every time. There are also big costs involved, especially for mapping and TV-production. It is easier (and much cheaper) to put up a couple of cameras at a beach volley or tennis arena than putting several kilometers of heavy cables out in tough forest. One advantage is that our maps can be reused for years after our events, for everyone from elite to youngsters.

Orienteering organizers are generally good in the technical matters of the competition, but many other sports are much more professional in their work with presentation, TV, sponsors and partners. In this area we need to improve.

How can we develop big events in the future?

– I believe that we are moving towards a more professional handling of our main events. This means that some tasks will be done by specialists, who will do the same job every year. This is already the case with areas like TV-production and mapping, but also some other areas, like IT/time-keeping should have a professional team who secure high quality every time. I think this will benefit everyone, especially the organizers, as they can spend more energy on the tasks that they have experience and feel comfortable with, and they can sleep better, knowing that some of their critical tasks are taken care of.

From 2019 the new system with split sprint and forest WOC will start, and it will be very interesting to follow this development. There are some challenges with it, but it also gives us possibilities that we didn’t have before. New countries, new areas can be used, and with fewer events during the week it should be easier to improve the quality of the events held. I am hoping that we can improve the financial side of organizing a WOC, that would make WOC much more attractive and means that we can choose from more and better concepts.

The TV-productions are moving in the right direction now, with more and more countries buying the rights for WOC. Hopefully, within five-six years, we no longer lose money on our TV Broadcasts.

I also hope that the level of the athletes continues to improve, hopefully we will have many countries fighting for medals also in the coming years. I want us to give them some WOC events that gives them positive memories for life, and as long as I have this job I will do everything I can to make that happen!

Photo: Erik Borg

[See the original article at http://orienteering.org/edocker/inside-orienteering/2015-3/InsideOrient%203_15.pdf. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]