WTOC 2014: Everything is ready!

The XI World Trail Orienteering Championships WTOC 2014 is about to begin. The delegations of 26 countries who will attend the competition begin to take positions in the beautiful region of Trentino, in Italy, and among them, the Portuguese Team, with the headquarters standed in Folgaria. It will be there that our eyes and our hearts will focus over the next week, following closely the emotions of the biggest event of the season.

107 athletes, 26 countries, three individual and one collective world titles in discussion, three Team Official Meetings, six moments of Ceremonies, one Banquet, the General Assembly IOF and a demonstration of the brand new format of PreO Relay. These are, in general, the lines of the XI World Trail Orienteering Championship WTOC 2014 which will be held from today until next Friday in Lavarone, Italy. With Direction by Roberta Falda and with the Swedish Lennart Wahlgren as IOF Senior Event Adviser, the WTOC 2014 has the highest moments of its program, tomorrow, with the TempO Qualifying heats in Albere di Tenna, and later the Final, at Levico Terme. And also in 9th and 11th July, with the two PreO stages, the first one in Millegrobe - Luserna and than at Campomuletto, which will decide the World Champions in the PreO Open and Paralympic classes and also the winner of the Team competition.

China, Estonia, Spain and Netherlands returning to the competition after one or more years of pause, while Belgium and Slovakia make their world premiere here, in Italy. With the Finnish and Swedish sharing the favouritism, Portugal is present in the competition for the third year in a row and with the paralympic athlete Ricardo Pinto again integrated into the team, as has already happened in Scotland (2012) and Finland (2013). The team is completed with Nuno Pires, member of the TrailO Technical Commission of the Portuguese Orienteering Federation and Team Official, and still Luís Gonçalves and João Pedro Valente, all of them making the debut at the World Championships. The Portuguese Team is completed by Ana Porta Nova and Susana Pontes, the two escorts.

Tomorrow it I will be “serious”

The Portuguese Team headed early today to Alberè di Tenna, where took place the TempO Model Event. On terrains considered “relevant in terms of the forest”, the proposal consisted of two stations with four problems each. The profusion of mapped elements and the short distance to the flags leads Nuno Pires and the other members of our delegation to rate the challenges as “medium difficulty”, which eventually translated into good performances in terms of correct answers, considered “even better than expected”. But Nuno Pires is very pragmatic: “The Model Event can be a reference for the course but the difficulty of the challenges, then, couldn't eventually match and revealed not proportional.”

At the moment, our national team heads to Asiago where will meet the remaining Portuguese athletes participating in the World Orienteering Championships WOC 2014, and, together, will take part in the parade and the Opening Ceremony of the WOC/WTOC 2014. Tomorrow, as said before, we'll have the TempO Qualifying heats, in which the Finnish Pinja Makinen will defend her World title and Portugal will be represented by Nuno Pires, Luís Gonçalves and Ricardo Pinto. With the results of the Qualification to be taken into account when calculating the final result, the strategy must be, according to Nuno Pires, “correctly defined since the very beginning, because the gold will begin to be delivered at the first station.”

Follow the competition at http://www.woc2014.info/wtoc.php.

[Photo and map kindly offered by Nuno Pires]

Joaquim Margarido

  

Antti Rusanen: "TempO is about balancing the speed and the risk of a wrong answer"

He was “only” the second placed in the European Championships' PreO competition, letting the title go elsewhere through his time at the timed controls. But he took revenge in the TempO competition, winning the gold medal with full justice. For Inside Orienteering, Antti Rusanen returns to April 16th, recalling the moments when he was crowned the first TempO European Champion ever.

You are the first person ever to enter their name in gold in the Hall of Fame of the European Trail Orienteering Championships, in the TempO competition. What does this title means to you?

Antti Rusanen (A. R.) - The victory feels great, especially after a disappointing fourth place in Vuokatti last summer.

What is the key for success in a TempO competition?

A. R. - TempO is about balancing the speed and the risk of a wrong answer. In the ETOC final I slowed down compared to the qualification course, whilst many others speeded up and made mistakes. Of course everything is based on the ability to understand the relationship between the map and the terrain at first glance.

The sum of the seconds led you to the highest place on the podium in TempO, while denying you the PreO title. The way your brain is “formatted” - is it different depending on whether it is a PreO or a TempO competition?

A. R. - My brain was far happier with the brand new sprint map of TempO than the re-mapped old orienteering map that was used in PreO. Still, I don’t fully understand why I could not solve the ETOC PreO timed controls faster.

I can almost guess the answer, but even so, I would like to ask you about your preferences: PreO or TempO?

A. R. - I love both. In a PreO competition you need to apply yourself for hours without making a single mistake. A PreO course is testing your analytical map reading skillsand concentration. When you punch all controls correctly, especially in a multi-day event, you get the feeling of a perfect performance. TempO allows aggressive map reading and you can compensate for your mistakes with speed. Thus, tactics are involved in TempO more than in PreO.

Some foresee a great future for TempO and see, at the same time, PreO in a descending phase, a kind of “endangered species”. Do you share the same point of view?

A. R. - PreO is not an endangered species at all. I believe that most trail orienteers still like PreO more, as it requires diverse map reading skills. Young foot orienteers are often keen on TempO, that requires speed of map reading.

The last question leads us to Italy where, within a month, the World Trail Orienteering Championships (WTOC 2014) will take place. Doing better than in Portugal means winning three gold medals. Is that the big goal?

A. R. - Yes, I will fight for three gold medals but I will be satisfied if I can keep the placings at Palmela.

[Photo: Joaquim Margarido]

[See the original article at http://orienteering.org/edocker/inside-orienteering/2014-3/InsideOrient%203_14p.pdf. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]

Ines Domingues: "One of the constant aspects in my course was, definitely, the nerves"

She was the big surprise - or maybe not! - of the Portuguese TempO Championships, held last Saturday in Cantanhede. With the gold on her chest, Ines Domingues speaks with the modesty of the great champions and talks to the Portuguese Orienteering Blog about a victory in the first time she tried TempO. It's worth listening to her!

What goals and challenges did you put to yourself, entring to the TrailO Dunes?

Ines Domingues (I. D.) - My goal for this event was, primarily, to extend my experience in this discipline. I had participated in such events only once and only in PreO, and this was my debut in TempO. There was no specific goals in terms of results. However, I always try to do my best and wanted, obviously, have a good performance in the PreO. As for TempO, and since I had never done this kind of course before, I was a little more anxious and worried too, if I would or would not be able to face the challenge.

So, I can imagine that your bet was more in the PreO competition.

I. D. - The focus was, definitely, more on the PreO. As I already knew what to expect and had some bases, I hoped to do a better course here than in TempO, which turned out not happened (quite the contrary). I tried to prepare myself for both competitions, not expecting, however, to be ready at all for the TempO since I had never met a real course situation, where you feel the pressure more than ever.

How did you prepared for the competition ?

I. D. - I tried to read as much as I could about this kind of course, to be as familiar as possible with all aspects, rules and details, which is more important here than in Foot Orienteering. And, moreover, I also did some virtual TempO exercises, simulating a competition and where I could get a first idea of how it would be during the course.

Six years ago, you revealed to the Portuguese Orienteering Blog: “Since I take part in Orienteering courses, I always had good results and went to the podium, but I'll never be completely satisfied with these results and will always try to improve.” Better than the result achieved on Saturday is almost impossible, but... Did you really expect to be the first TempO Portuguese Champion in the history of the discipline in Portugal?

I. D. - I wasn't really expecting to win this competition at all. It was a huge surprise when I saw my name on the top of the list. I never thought that, in my first participation in a course like this, I could adapt as well and, much less, to achieve a good result. I confess that, until to see the results list, I had no idea that the course had run so well. I was aware of some of the points that I did wrong but I had no idea if the time taken was too much or not. I was really amazed when I knew my result.

Would you like to talk a little bit about your course?

I. D. - One of the constant aspects in my course was, definitely, the nerves. Just the fact of knowing that I was being timed, made the concentration more difficult and I couldn't analyse correctly the terrain. I thought that the anxiety decreased as the stations progressed but in every point I felt as if it were the first. That ended, however, to be a good point, making me to be faster and not waste so much time at each station. However, the pressure made me to do a couple of mistakes, some very basic. Nevertheless, the speed could compensate those errors and, in the end, I could achieve a good result.

And what about the PreO? To miss six points is not good, I think...

I. D. - The PreO didn't run as I expected, indeed. There were many controls where I had questions and I couldn't find the appropriate solution to reach a final conclusion. On the other hand, the reduced visibility in some controls made it very complicated to solve the challenges presented. I tried to use every technic I knew but, still, it wasn't enough. Now I have to continue to train and to participate in these events to gain more experience and to continue learning.

How do you classify the organization of the TrailO Dunes?

I. D. - I think the organization was able to meet the competitors' expectations, both in PreO and in TempO. The only negative point was the waiting time between the two courses, as between the various stations the waiting time was fine. Technically, I think that both events were well set, with a huge variety of challenges in each one of them.

The next 14th June, your club organizes the II Portuguese PreO Championships. Will you be able to participate in the competition ?

I. D. - I'm involved, precisely, with the organizing team, so I will not take part in the course.

Is TrailO, in Portugal, in the right way?

I. D. - The TrailO in our country still has a long way to do. It is a very recent discipline and with low adhesion, but I think it is going well, in the right way. We have to continue to organize this kind of events and, if possible, in greater numbers. These organizations demand a lot of effort, patience and dedication, but I think they are worth, reinforcing what differentiates the Orienteering from most of the sports, the technical part, which is maximum in this discipline.

Having missed the ETOC, I know that the TrailO Technical Commission of the Portuguese Orienteering Federation opened the possibility of you to go to Italy, for the WTOC. How do you see this opportunity?

I. D. - I think it's a fantastic opportunity to broaden my experience in the TrailO. After the ETOC, I can't really miss another chance like this, but there are several factors to take into account and I didn't made, yet, a final decision.

Talking about the future, are we going to see you more connected to the TrailO, and giving to us great joys or the priority is - and will always be - the Foot Orienteering?

I. D. - What attracted me the most in TrailO was that focus on the technical part of the Orienteering, the reasoning skills, making of it the major focus of interest. Each control is a challenge, too much more challenging and more elaborate than the ones of Foot Orienteering. To make this challenge even more attractive, in my opinion, there is still a timed variant, in which technique and speed are combined and the pressure is permanent. Despite all this, the Foot Orienteering is not back and continues to be the priority. However, whenever possible, I intend to continue to participate in both types of courses.

Joaquim Margarido

Portuguese TempO Championships 2014: Ines Domingues was the big winner

Ines Domingues was the big winner of the Portuguese TempO Championships 2014, being the first athlete to enter the name in the Book of Honour of the competition.

Remarkable TrailO journey, that one lived Saturday afternoon at the Cantanhede's Dunes. Organized by the Estarreja Orienteering Club in one of its favourite terrains, along Palheirão beach, the TrailO Dunes was disputed in two separate courses, the first one of PreO and scoring for the Portuguese TrailO Cup 2014, and the second one of TempO, with the Portuguese TempO Championships 2014 held for the first time in our country.

With a still rather inconsistent implementation in Portugal, the TempO course was a moment of high value and quality. The decision to organize here the Portuguese TempO Championships for the first time ever, attracted the attention of 68 athletes, the overwhelming majority of which having here the first contact with this variant of TrailO. This was the case of Ines Domingues (COC), twenty years old, winner of the competition and first National TempO Champion, something that is not a surprise for those who knows that “TempO is not for old guys” and that know the technical qualities of an athlete with a lot of experience in reading maps, despite her youth. The secret of this extraordinary result was in the speed of answering to the problems, as Inês Domingues knew work around to the penalty suffered in five wrong answers, with an average response to each of the twenty-five challenges slightly less than six seconds.

Finalist of the TempO competition in the recent European Championships and favourite for the TempO title, João Pedro Valente was “only” second placed. The athlete was extraordinarily accurate, missing only two problems, but 265 seconds spent in the amount of the twenty-five answers were large enough to keep the advantage of 90 seconds over Ines Domingues taking in the penalty time. Jorge Baltazar was, along with João Pedro Valente, the most accurate in TempO, but the total time spent was even higher, standing at 295 seconds, ending in the third place of the podium.

Results

Dunas TempO / Portuguese TempO Championships 2014

1º Inês Domingues (COC) 298 seconds

2º João Pedro Valente (CPOC) 325 seconds

3º Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia) 355 seconds

4º João Moura (COV Natura) 410 seconds

5º Ângela Pedro (CAOS) 426 seconds

6º Eduardo Oliveira (ATV) 470 seconds

7º Jorge Valente (CPO) 476 seconds

8º Luís Gonçalves (CPOC) 483 seconds

9º Cláudio Tereso (ATV) 485 seconds

10º Nuno Pedro (CAOS) 489 seconds

More informations at http://cndme2014.ori-estarreja.pt/ and photos HERE.

Joaquim Margarido

Pinja Mäkinen: A moment, a comment...

“My goal from the age on thirteen was to win the World Championship. I had worked for it so many years as a foot-orienteer. But as a teenager I couldn’t thought it would be in TrailO where I get my gold medal.

In this moment I was living my dream. It was unbelievable to sign my name to the place of the World Champion and then stand on the victory podium before the audience. There was my family and so many other familiar people, singing the national hymn of Finland!...

Achieving this goal gives me so much faith, confidence and joy on the trip towards the future goals, both in Trail orienteering and other fields of life.”

Pinja Mäkinen, Finland

[2013.07.12 – Signing the WOC/WTOC's Table of Honour; World Trail Orienteering Championships, Vuokatti, Finland]

WTOC 2013: Moments

Joaquim Margarido

WTOC 2013: Portuguese on high wheel

For the second time in its history, Portugal has attended the World Trail Orienteering Championships. Despite the modesty of the results, the four athletes present in Vuokatti showed some truly interesting notes that allow to design a bright future in this particular discipline.

From July 7th to 14th took place in Vuokatti, Finland, the 10th edition of the World Trail Orienteering Championships WTOC 2013. Held in parallel with the World Orienteering Championship, the Precision event was attended by 92 athletes, allocated on Open and Paralympic Classes, together representing 19 countries. After the premiere in 2012, at the World Champs in Dundee (Scotland, UK), Portugal repeated its presence in the largest world exhibition of Precision Orienteering by aligning two athletes in the Open Class - Alexandre Reis and Joaquim Margarido - and two in Paralympic Class - Diana Coelho and Ricardo Pinto.

The courses took place in forest terrains, with a varied cutout relief, excellent visibility and depth of field, calling for a thorough reading of the contour lines and an overview the most accurate as possible. With sections “one way” involving an assessment of anticipated problems, "traps" to peek at every turn and the tiniest details acquiring an unusual importance at the decision moment, the competition proved to a need unique, appealing to the technical qualities of the participants, their timing and their maximum concentration.

Portuguese, one by one

It was under this premise that portuguese athletes have evolved over two days of competition for a total of 45 points, including six timed controls. "Scoring twice" its presence in the World Championships, Joaquim Margarido and Ricardo Pinto reached percentages above what they had achieved a year ago, in Scotland, the first to reach a total of 24 points (twelve on each days), which earned him the final 51st place in the Open Class. Ricardo Pinto concluded its participation in Paralympic Class in the 31st place with an amount of 20 points. Failure to properly manage the time of race eventually proved fatal to Joaquim Margarido. The athlete recorded on both days an excellent early test, but that was diluting the rapid flow of time to finish somewhat bleak, especially on the second day. Already Ricardo Pinto corrected on the best way a less positive entry in the Championships, achieving a motivating performance on the last day.

Newcomers in the PreO high wheels, Alexandre Reis and Diana Coelho eventually surpass the expectations. As Ricardo Pinto, Diana Coelho also demonstrated an extraordinary evolution from the first to the second day, which allowed her to skip a few holes on the table to settle in 32nd place in Paralympic Class, with 16 points total. As for Alexandre Reis, turned out to be a special case in the context of the Portuguese participation, since he is the responsible for mapping and course setting of the next European Trail Orienteering Championships, to be held in Palmela (Portugal), in April next year. So it was in dual quality as observer and athlete that he was in Vuokatti, demonstrating since the beginning a technical strong "muscle" and an innate talent for Precision Orienteering. The 18 points by the end of the first day speak for itselves, particularly given that were achieved in impressive time of just over one hour. The athlete would again be identical provision in the decisive day, finishing in 34th place with a total of 34 points. Portugal also had the opportunity to have a presence in the team competition, finishing in 14th place with a total of 42 points and leaving behind only Hungary with 39 points.

TempO of our discontent

The final day of competition was voted the "timed" variant designated TempO, a kind of "PreO Sprint" and consecrated its first World Champions ever. With the competition restricted to three athletes per country and Alexandre Reis racing "out", was under Joaquim Margarido and Ricardo Pinto that fell the responsibility of representing Portugal in this particular competition. The Portuguese were unable to overcome the qualifying series, finishing on 48th and 52nd position, respectively. In a competitive model identical to the World TempO Trophy 2012 (eight seasons with three problems each), Ricardo Pinto finished with a score of 763.5 sec (8 correct answers). Despite having hit two more problems than his teammate, Joaquim Margarido failed to do better than 898.5 seconds since he was too slow making the decisions.

Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic shared between them the gold. Finland finally take advantage in the final accounts, with Jari Turto winning the PreO competition and Pinja Mäkinen getting better in TempO. The Czech Jana Kostova was the winner of the PreO competition in Paralympic Class, while Sweden (Martin Fredholm, Stig Gerdtman and Michael Johansson) snatched the gold in the team competition. Croatia and Denmark also reached the medals, in the first case thanks to silver in the team competition and in the second case the mercy of the bronze won both individual (Søren Saxtorph, Paralympic Class), and collectively.

See the full results at http://www.woc2013.fi/woc/sp?Open&cid=content73E48B.

Joaquim Margarido

2nd ITT Game: Time for TempO

Internet TempO Game's second edition is close to the end. A time of sharing unavoidable for TrailO lovers and a precious opportunity for all who feel the curiosity to see how these things can result in a very simple way: quietly sitting in front of your PC.

It's called trailo.it and is a reference on Trail Orienteering in Italy and all over the world. Thanks to a huge commitment to this sport and a passion of sharing everything that may be important or useful, Marco Giovannini assured a place of honor between those who hardly work for the promotion and dissemination of this fantastic discipline.

But if the news, rules, competitions and artists constitute recurring theme and dominate the site's daily spotlight, it needed a meeting point where to join interests and wills around an healthy debate of ideas. It thus appears the first Internet TempO Game, competition online that joined the vast majority of the best world trailorienteers. If we say that there were nine Finnish at the Top12 and the winner was Lauri Kontkanen, we can realize the interest and importance of the initiative.

Well, after the success of the first edition of Internet TempO Game, Marco Giovannini forward the second edition last 28th of May. The game has been online these days and registers, until now, a total of 58 participants from 14 countries, including Portugal. The course, if we can call it, is spread over 11 stations with five challenges each. Altogether there are 55 problems, to which you have to answer as quickly as possible and so right. In this symbiosis between speed and understanding, with a good deal of strategy, lives the secret of a good result. Good result at the moment is put in 801 seconds and is owned by the Norwegian Martin Jullum (on the photo), followed by the Finnish Pinja Makinen and the Swedish Marit Wiksell, with 975 and 995 seconds respectively. As for the Portuguese, both occupy a nice place in the first half of the table, with Nuno Pires registering 1243 seconds in the 24th place and Joaquim Margarido a takedown with 33 more seconds at the 26th position.

The trophy ends today, so now you only have a couple of hours to launch this true adventure. To do so, simply ensure that you have twenty little minutes of your time, register at http://www.trailo.it/presentazione2ITT.asp and then just play. If you do not get them done in time, do not give up and satisfy your curiosity of these 42 challenges, there all the time at your disposal. Good luck!

[Photo from Martin Jullum Facebook's page, at https://www.facebook.com/martin.jullum?fref=ts]

Joaquim Margarido