“I would be happy with a diploma;
to get a medal would be awesome, and listening to the national anthem
would be indescribable.”
Those who know her say she is a
committed person, really focused and a hard worker. She loves meeting
new and interesting people and likes to have fun and to laugh and be
with friends. But she also recognises that sometimes she can be very
nervous, or very impatient, being the kind of person who doesn’t
like to walk slowly and who hates to have to wait. Are these traits
of her personality the reasons for her fine performances as a Trail
Orienteering athlete, and in particular in TempO? That’s what we’ll
try to understand in this interview with the Portuguese orienteer
Inês Domingues, the International Orienteering Federation’s
Athlete of the Month.
Name: Inês Domingues
Country: Portugal
Home town: Marinha Grande
Club: COC – Clube de Orientação do Centro
Date of Birth: 9th April 1994
Discipline: TrailO
Career Highlight: 7th place in TempO, WTOC 2015
Country: Portugal
Home town: Marinha Grande
Club: COC – Clube de Orientação do Centro
Date of Birth: 9th April 1994
Discipline: TrailO
Career Highlight: 7th place in TempO, WTOC 2015
Inês Domingues was born into a family
of orienteers. “As long as I can remember, my parents and my
brother have been doing Orienteering. One day my mother took me with
her on my first course. For a while we did the races together, until
the time came when I began to venture out myself into the forest. The
fact is that I don’t remember not doing Orienteering; it is
something that has always been part of my life”, she says.
From the state of nervousness she had
the first time she found herself alone in the forest to the
excitement of big international events goes just a short way in time
for her, but a time full of occasions that the athlete remembers in a
particularly grateful way. Firstly because Orienteering is a way to
make lots of friends and, in her case, also to come into a second
family which is her club, the COC – Clube de Orientação do
Centro. “All the most important persons to me belong to it and I
have always felt at home doing Orienteering”, says Inês.
The ingredients for a perfect recipe
To Inês Domingues, Orienteering is the
best way to combine two things she has always liked: sporting
activity and thinking, to exercise both body and mind. The bonus is
that it is an outdoor activity out in the wild nature and in the most
varied scenery. For her, “to reach the finish and have a good
result makes me happy of course, but the feeling of running with a
map in my hands, surrounded only by nature – that’s what makes me
feel really good, entirely free.”
As the challenges increased, Inês’s
interest in Orienteering grew. The increasing difficulty of the
courses she ran on proved to be directly proportional to the passion
she felt for the sport. From her point of view, “Orienteering is
different from any other sport, offering varied terrain and a huge
variety of physical challenges. There’s also the need to think and
solve the tasks. And finally, there is this constant and intimate
contact with nature.” For Inês, the conclusion is simple: “If
this is not the perfect recipe, I don’t know what it could be.”
The first international experiences
From her early years, Inês Domingues
showed great technical ability in terms of map reading and spatial
orientation. Although her potential was low in physical terms, her
technique compensated for this in the best possible way, enabling her
to be among the best at national level. And so, almost naturally,
Inês was called up to join the Portuguese Youth Foot Orienteering
teams, which proved to be very important for her training as an
athlete, providing her with new tools and allowing her to develop her
technical skills still further.
Inês speaks with emotion about her
time in the youth team: “The time I spent in the Portuguese team
was very productive in terms of the evolution of my Orienteering
technique. I noticed a big difference between when I began my career
in the selection group and when I left. Training and meetings become
particularly productive when you have someone to discuss all your
steps and choices with. We trained as a group and we grew up as a
group, helping each other.” And learning from her own mistakes,
always pursuing the idea of improving every day, so aiming to reach
the highest level possible.
Three questions, three answers …
– When did you hear about Trail
Orienteering for the first time?
“I heard about Trail Orienteering for
the first time in 2013, and I took part in my first PreO event in
2014.”
– What did you know about this
discipline?
“The only thing I knew at the
beginning was that it was a discipline in which there was no physical
component, only Orienteering’s technical element. I also knew that
Trail Orienteering wasn’t just for disabled people but for all
those who wanted to try it.”
– How did you decide to enter your
first event, and what memories do you have from that occasion?
“I think it was pure curiosity. I
only had some basic notions about a Trail orienteering course, but I
wanted to try. The fact of it being a competition in which the
intellectual part is what really counts, awoke enough interest in me.
And after trying it I started to like it. I had some difficulties,
especially when it came to certain rules with which I was unfamiliar,
but overall it was fun and I enjoyed orienteering ‘only with my
head’. I found it really interesting that it was possible for
situations that were apparently easy to be so very challenging.”
A diligent student
Following up her curiosity about Trail
orienteering’s inner challenge, Inês only learnt the basics before
she went to her first event. “I didn’t prepare more than this and
nor did I do any training because, on the one hand, I wasn’t aware
yet about what I was going to face and on the other, I had no goals
in terms of results”, she recalls. The fact is that things went
well enough and after her first experience came a second one; Inês
found herself reviewing some of the Orienteering principles
considered more relevant in this discipline, such as the control
descriptions, more systematically and she began to deepen her
knowledge of some of the rules and specific techniques in Trail
Orienteering.
Her first truly remarkable experience
in Trail Orienteering was her victory in the Portuguese TempO
Championships in 2014. “Come, see and conquer”, in what was her
first TempO experience ever, is something that Inês doesn’t easily
forget. And she suggests an explanation: “Before the race I tried
some TempO exercises on the computer, to get an idea of what I was
about to face. Then during the competition I confess I didn’t
expect to achieve a good result, so I wasn’t too nervous. I think
that it was my basic knowledge of Orienteering, together with a
slight impatience due to the clock counting away, that created a good
balance between correct answers and speed.”
– What kind of inspiration was
there in your victory? Do you feel ‘predestined’ for Trail
Orienteering and, in particular, for TempO?
“I think some people have a certain
natural ability suited to this type of competition. However there is
a lot that can be worked on and trained. Good map reading skills and
orienteering technique, along with the ability to answer quickly,
keeping a cool head, are absolutely requirements. Being fully focused
is essential for having a good performance. I don’t think I’m
predestined for this Orienteering discipline; I think rather that I
gather the necessary skills, which, like everything, can be
improved.”
Technical ability, concentration and
emotional control
The victory in the Portuguese TempO
Championships in 2014 was the best possible start of a journey that
is always growing: “Getting the win was obviously a great
motivation to continue competing in TempO. I realised that I had the
skills to achieve some good results, and that is always an
inspiration to keep me trying to improve”, recognises the athlete,
while mentioning the qualities needed for performing really well:
“You must be accurate in map reading of course, and have good
technical orienteering skills. Then you have to know how to apply
these skills during a course with lots of challenges, some more
complicated than others, whilst trying to remain focused throughout
the race; that isn’t always easy. In TempO in particular there is
the psychological factor because of the need for speed, which
requires emotional control to maintain calm and clear thinking while
you’re trying to solve the tasks as quickly as possible.”
In terms of personal taste, it is not
surprising that Inês Domingues prefers TempO to PreO. She explains
why: “I really prefer TempO because it is more exciting and
challenging due to the time factor. Whilst in PreO you have time to
analyse the terrain and the problem in detail, in TempO you have to
be quick to think and come up with the answer. In addition in TempO
you always have room for improvement, both in the number of correct
answers and in the time you spend answering. I think that PreO
presents some ambiguous situations in the answers, which is a
disadvantage. Or it is that I haven’t the ability to solve the
problem and eventually get a little frustrated and discouraged”,
she confesses.
Croatia, a milestone in her career
2015: another year, the same result.
Victory in the Portuguese TempO Championships for the second time in
a row opened to Inês Domingues the doors to represent Portugal in
the World Trail Orienteering Championships, WTOC 2015, in Croatia.
Landing in Zagreb and integrating into this small family that is
Trail Orienteering, she was pleasantly impressed, recalling those
moments as follows: “It was nice to see that there was an
atmosphere similar to the biggest Foot Orienteering events. A large
family with people of several nationalities, talking and staying
together as if they already knew each other. I ended up having the
opportunity to meet many new people as well as many different ways of
interpreting the challenges during the competition.”
And then, of course, there is her
amazing 7th place in the TempO, achieved without any prior
international experience, and the whole set of emotions she
experienced. Inês recalls the moments: “I think whether or not you
have prior international experience is not decisive in terms of
results. I just did the best I could and I ended up being accurate
and fast enough for 7th place.” Before the race, Inês had no idea
about her skill level compared to her opponents, and recalls that she
had felt nervous from start to finish. She was nervous “from the
beginning of qualifying to the last problem of the last station”
and doesn’t hesitate when asked about her worst experience in the
competition: “I think the worst part was the waiting time until I
knew that I was in the finalists’ group. I was conscious that my
performance hadn’t been as good as I had hoped, and I feared it
wouldn’t be enough to reach the final. It was a great joy when I
saw I had managed to overcome this hurdle, and so had achieved my
first goal. In the final, once again I was dominated by nerves, which
I tried to control the best way. I did the best I could and I was
very happy when I heard that I was the 7th best in the world, my best
result ever in Orienteering so far.”
Edgar and Luis, two prominent names
in Portuguese TrailO
– From all the performances in
Croatia, which ones would you choose?
“I think we should highlight the
performances of Edgar Domingues and Luís Gonçalves. Luis, as he
could hit a beautiful 6th place in TempO, so reaching the podium,
receiving a diploma and putting Portugal at a level never reached
before. Also because he achieved a good result in the PreO. Edgar,
though he wasn’t able to perform so well in the TempO final, was
8th in the qualifications and that, in my view, has as much merit as
in the final – he was the world’s 8th best in that race.”
– Are there any athletes in this
discipline that you admire in particular?
“It seems to me that the top athletes
in Trail Orienteering are all very close to each other, achieving
victory with one single mistake or a few seconds quicker at timed
controls. So currently I’m not able to highlight an athlete that I
especially admire.”
Inês athlete versus Inês
organiser
In Portugal, Inês Domingues has her
time divided between competition and event organisation, in
particular in the role of course planner. When faced with this dual
task, Inês has no hesitation in pointing to her preferences: “I
confess that I prefer to compete rather than to organise. PreO in
particular requires a lot of work and time to organise. In addition I
don’t think I am experienced enough yet in PreO to create as good
challenges as I would like to. As for TempO I also prefer to compete,
although in this case I really do like drawing up the challenges”,
she says. But she also recognises that her recent experiences in
terms of course setting were very positive, helping her to improve in
both PreO and TempO, allowing her “to see the challenges from a
different perspective”, according to her own words.
The athlete is certain that “Trail
Orienteering is growing in Portugal”, and one of the reasons has to
do with the Portuguese presence in the European Championships and
World Championships and the good results achieved. “We have had a
lot of visibility in recent times, so from something that many
criticised for lack of difficulty, TrailO is an increasingly accepted
discipline that is recognised as really challenging”, the athlete
says. And adds: “We have now several athletes with skills at the
highest level and we are certainly among the best in the world.
Taking into account the results achieved in Croatia, we are in the
top 10 in PreO and the top 5 in TempO”, she says.
A true Orienteering discipline
– Do you feel that there is still
some kind of bias regarding Trail Orienteering?
“I think there is no longer any bias
attached to Trail Orienteering. We can see more and more people
trying the discipline and realising that, after all, Trail
Orienteering isn’t only an alternative designed to include people
with reduced mobility in the world of Orienteering; it is a true
Orienteering discipline with as much merit as Foot Orienteering,
technically similar or even more challenging. It’s funny to notice
the evolution of the comments: while, in the beginning, we heard that
‘this is a sport for the disabled’ and ‘sitting, everyone
wins’, a few days ago someone had just experienced a TempO station
and told me that ‘after all this is really difficult’, showing
himself surprised and exclaiming ‘how can you do it so fast!”
– Why aren’t we able to attract
more athletes to this discipline?
“As with all new and different
things, first it takes time for people to adjust to the idea of a new
way of Orienteering and then have the curiosity to try it. Not
everyone likes this discipline, because it quickly becomes
complicated for the less experienced in map reading. I think a good
way to present Trail Orienteering to people, without pushing them to
get involved in a sport they don’t know, is to plan a TempO station
or a few PreO problems in parallel with a Foot Orienteering event.
Then everyone can experience this discipline without pressure or
commitment.”
A “simple” goal
Inês is the last athlete inscribing
her name in the Portuguese team for the European Championships at
Jesenik in the Czech Republic, and the goal for Jesenik seems to be
‘simple’: “Reaching the final and achieving a better result
than that I got in Croatia”, Inês says. She explains: “I would
be happy with a diploma; getting a medal would be awesome, and
listening to the national anthem would be indescribable”. But she
knows that things will be anything but easy: “Considering that
we’re talking about an international event, I expect to find quite
challenging courses with a fairly high level of difficulty that will
succeed in differentiating the good from the very good.”
In addition to personal items, the
equipment and the compass, Inês will take something else in her
luggage, sharing with us her ‘secret’: “As the European
Championships coincide with a study period, this will certainly be a
week dedicated not only to Orienteering. I have to study during this
time in the Czech Republic, mainly Neurology and Psychiatry, as exams
are during the week after. In my hand luggage (in which I’ll take
all the most precious things) there will definitely be much study
material, along with the items I need for the competition.”
I love Trail orienteering, but…
Inês faces a long and bright future,
which includes her professional work in the field of Medicine and, of
course, Orienteering. “I will definitely continue to do Trail
Orienteering as well as Foot Orienteering for a long, long time.
Orienteering is part of my life and I don’t see a future that
doesn’t include Orienteering”, she confirms.
– Finally, please satisfy my
curiosity. If, by some absurd rule, you were forced to choose between
Foot Orienteering and Trail Orienteering, which one would you leave
behind?
“I think that if I had to choose, my
option would be to continue Foot Orienteering. I love Trail
Orienteering and the fact that it is very challenging technically,
but nothing replaces the feeling of running with a map in the middle
of the nature, experiencing both physical and technical challenges.”
Text and photo: Joaquim Margarido
[See the original article at
http://orienteering.org/athlete-of-the-month-ines-domingues/.
Published with permission from the International Orienteering
Federation]
