New IOF branding

The new International Orienteering Federation branding has been published. The branding consists of a brand book with guidelines, logos, a visual toolkit and several useful templates.

The new IOF branding has been made to simplify graphical work and to help spread a unified image of the IOF.The IOF branding is based on the fundamental values of orienteering and is developed to fulfil the aims of the IOF.

The most significant news are the new general Orienteering logo, the new discipline logos/symbols and the new World Cup logos. The other logos are unchanged but user guidelines are included in the IOF Brand Book. All the templates are new and besides useful templates for Word, Powerpoint, a cover page for official documents, a template for advertising roll ups and a letterhead, the IOF Brand Book also gives examples of designed materials.

The IOF Brand Book and new logos are found here: http://orienteering.org/resources/communication/.

Dušan Furucz: "We need to simplify the rules"

Dušan Furucz isn’t "just" the World Champion of TrailO Relay. He is also the Director of the European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2018 and one of the IOF Trail Orienteering Commissioners. Versatile, pushy and highly committed to TrailO, inside and outside his home country, Slovakia, he is the guest of the Portuguese Orienteering Blog for another great interview.

Some time ago, I had the chance to interview, separately, your brothers Ján and Peter. It's now your turn to be on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's tribune and the first question is about Orienteering as a family sport. How important were your brothers (and, maybe, your parents too) in choosing your career?

Dušan Furucz (D. F.) - I think family is always very important in everybody's career. My father was a very good 800 metres runner but ended his career soon after he moved to the adult category. When I started orienteering, at the age of 10 and was coached by Pavol Mesiar, my father supported me enthusiastically. My brother Jan and my sister Ivona followed me shortly and, soon after, my father had taken over our training group, focusing on the Athletics' training method, balanced with a large amount of training with map. I can't forget about my mother, as well. Can you imagine a group of 20-30 children in our small flat before and after trainings? (laughs) My youngest brother Peter joined us about 10 years later. He was considerably younger. I can confirm that my best results were reached when my family directly supported me on the competitions.

Would you like to remember one or two decisive moments that made you adopt TrailO as your favourite sport?

D. F. - I wouldn't say that TrailO is my favourite sport. I'm still feeling more comfortable as a Foot orienteer (I like longer distances, as Long and Rogaining), but the reason for choosing TrailO is my family, of course. My brother Jan is very committed to developing TrailO in Slovakia and “blood is thicker than water”, so I'm helping him. After my first TrailO competition, in the Czech Republic, I was a little confused because it was too strange for me, but my opinion changed with the TempO. Now, I feel like balancing on the edge of TrailO. Nordic style competitions move me up and TrailO ones move me down. I have to say that we are very competitive, me and my brother, and we can't accept to be worse in any discipline. This is the main reason to improve my results in TrailO.

When you first appeared competing at the highest level – WTOC 2014, Italy -, the results achieved were totally surprising for many. We now know that your performances weren't a fluke and the world title in the TrailO Relay, achieved last year, is here to confirm it. Where is the secret of your success?

D. F. - I've always been a better mapper than runner and I'm able to read the terrain very quickly. I created a lot of maps for my club Farmaceut Bratislava and TrailO is a kind of competition for map makers or orienteering university for mapping techniques. As for success? I don't think that I'm a successful competitor. There have been some great results that may have caught me off guard (usually a podium on the first days or when my chances of achieving a good final result are gone), but all the time I had the possibility of getting a medal, I failed. I need to improve on my skills, specially those regarding focus. We get medals on the relay competitions because both Marian [Mikluš] and I are team players and we usually serve responsibly and perform greatly for the team in any orienteering discipline.

What are the most important skills for being a good trail orienteer?

D. F. - Good map reading and visualization are the two most important skills. But there are two other skills which provide a significant difference between average and excellent results. The first one is to stay calm when it counts and the second one is to understand what the course setter means on two or three control points which make the difference. This is the reason why my brother is better than me in the big competitions.

Please, complete the sentence: To be a Trail orienteer in Slovakia means...

D. F. - To be a Trail orienteer in Slovakia means to be a scout or pioneer. We are discovering this sport. Orienteering is a small sport in Slovakia but I think people know it historically, even from the time of Czechoslovakia. For example, the name Jozef Polák is still well-known and I could keep going with some other names. The TrailO is new and totally unknown for the Slovak public. We are presenting it as an integration orienteering discipline and we have to explain what TrailO is, but the awareness is improving. The main difficulty is the number of organizers. We need to improve it.

You're in charge of organizing the European Trail Orienteering Championships next year. How is the event's preparation going? Is everything under control?

D. F. - I hope that we are in time with the preparation's schedule. We would like to end all mapping work before summer. I finished the maps for the Relay and PreO day 1 and I'm working on spare terrains now. I'm expecting that the most courses will be done and checked by advisor Ari Tertsunen this month. My brother is preparing maps for TempO and we asked our well-known Slovak mapper Robert Miček to help us with the map for PreO day 2, to save time for other activities. I have to say that I'm also struggling a little with bureaucratic activities as Event Director because it's a totally new experience for me.

What kind of event can we expect?

D. F. - You can expect different terrains for each discipline, from flat in TempO to high steep slopes in PreO day2. We would like to prepare a fair competition with clear Zero tolerance and we want to be closer to Foot orienteering competitors. You cannot expect tricky tight Zero answers from us and controls with “between” description. I'm expecting that distance between the Zero answer and the closest flag will be more than 5m. You can find more information on our pages at www.etoc2018.sk.

Other particular task is the IOF TrailO Commission. How did you realize your nomination?

D. F. - I didn't expect to be nominated and it was a complete surprise. There are a lot more experienced IOF TrailO members, but I accept the position seeing a tendency for fresh air on it and acknowledgment of our effort to improve TrailO. I asked IOF for time to think about it but I finally agreed. It's a big privilege for me to help the TrailO community. To be honest, on this first year, I have to spare my time for another responsibilities, too. By the way, I would like to congratulate you on your nomination to the TrailO commission, too.

Thank you so much. Is Trail Orienteering moving in the right direction? Are there some priority subjects on which we have to work in order to have better and fair TrailO competitions?

D. F. - It's difficult to discuss the TrailO movement because I've only been doing it for a very short time. But my personal opinion is that we must make our sport more clear and transparent. It is not acceptable that other people see TrailO as a very complex and subjective sport and one day the answer is correct and the other day the same or similar answer is wrong. In brief, we need to simplify the rules, not create problems to the problems and finally, somehow, define the Zero tolerance.

Your brother Peter is developing an amazing game called Virtual-O. Did you ever think of it adapted to TrailO as an instrument for training?

D. F. - Yes, we discuss it very often during our training and consultations. I believe that TrailO courses will be part of VirtualO and we would like to use some live presentations on his program in our European Championships, too. To be honest, he needs more time for implementing all the features and new maps. Do you know that he spent his last year programming and left his job for this period? He returned to work in January and now he continues programming during his free time in the evening.

The season has already started and you were one of the attendants to Lipica TrailO 2017, for the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering's first round. Are you happy with your results?

D. F. - Yes and no. I don't like urban TempO and I knew that it would be totally different from last year's TempO in the forest, which I won. I tried to change my technique, reading all of the descriptions and finding safe answers but, in reality, I lost 60-90 seconds by reading, plus I made some stupid mistakes finding some “creative” solutions. I have to return to my old, quick style. The PreO competition was very tight and I lost my focus on two controls. It was too much for a good result.

The World Trail Orienteering Championships 2017 will take place in Lithuania. Are you looking forward to them?

D. F. - I hope to see a lot of contour lines reading during PreO and especially in the TrailO Relay. I am not so excited with the TempO, which will probably be urban again. I am expecting difficult courses where you won't see winners without mistakes.

How hard will it be to defend your TrailO Relay World title? Do you have any other goals?

D. F. - I think that big countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Finland will be fighting, as always, for the medals and we cannot forget the strong Portuguese and Italian teams. Croatia and the Czech Republic can be nice surprises, too. Yes, it will be very difficult but we will try to keep the World title. I will also try a surprise in the other disciplines.

Would you like to share your biggest wish with us?

D. F. - I have two wishes. The first one is more real forest TempO competitions than urban competitions. The second one and my biggest wish is to win over my brother in TempO on a big competition. I know and believe that I can do it.

Is there anything that you would like to add?

D. F. - I would like to wish all orienteers in each orienteering discipline fun and fair competitions in difficult terrains.

Joaquim Margarido

FinTrailO 2017: Marit Wiksell wins for the fourth year in a row

For the fourth year in a row, Marit Wiksell was the winner of FinTrailO 2017. The set of results achieved along the three stages assured her the triumph after a tight fight with Pinja Mäkinen, who would occupy the second position.

Espoo, 20 km west of Helsinki, was the venue of FinTrailO's fourth edition. Divided by three stages – one TempO and two PreO - the event scored for the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering, attracting 140 competitors from 15 different nations. Organized by OK77, directed by Anna Jacobson and having Åke Jacobson (PreO 1&2) and Roope Näsi and Alahärmän Kisa (TempO) as Course Setters, it was a very successful event, crowning a two-year work on both mapping, course setting and general organization.

According to Anna Jacobson's thoughts to the Portuguese Orienteering Blog, organizers and competitors “were rather unlucky with the weather in the PreO stages: On Saturday afternoon it rained and snowed and there was a storm where big trees fell on the route (right after the competition before the controls were taken in). One flag fell on control 6 so it had to be voided. Then it snowed (!!?) the whole evening and night and in the next morning the course setter got up at 4, changed the tires of the car back to winter tires and went on to bring the flags (93) to the terrain. No markings could be seen on the ground due to the snow, and no control flags could be seen from the road - due to the snow! So we mobilised 4-5 officials (woke them up) who started cleaning the trees of snow. Further, no motorised wheel chairs could drive up the hill (400 m, very steep) to the start, neither could our car meant for transporting wheelchairs (summer tires). Again, 4-5 men took their shovels and rakes, and cleaned the road! It was amazing. Finally, due to our helpful officials, we were able to organise the competition as planned.” And she concludes: “I'm very happy that so many competitors came to FinTrailO and the competitors were very tough when competing in such circumstances we had. I am also happy about that the two ECTO events we organised were challenging but fair. PreO 2 terrain and course were exceptionally nice for map reading.”

FinTrailO 2017 started with the TempO stage, in which Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK) was clearly the fastest, answering correctly to 27 out of 30 tasks (6 timed stations with 5 tasks each) and finishing with the time of 258. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava) got the second place with 266 seconds and Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg), the most accurate with just one incorrect answer, finished in the third place with 272 seconds. Marit Wiksell performed at her best in the PreO's first day, finishing in the second place with 26 points and two incorrect answers. Pinja Mäkinen got the first place with 27 points. The PreO day 2 ended the event with a 34-control course and Martin Fredholm (OK Linné) was the only competitor to do a clean race. In the immediate positions, with less one point, standed Antti Rusanen (Keravan Urheilijat) and Erik Stålnacke. Achieving the lowest scoring-time in the combined results of three stages, Marit Wiksell was the FinTrailO 2017's winner for the fourth year in a row. Pinja Mäkinen and Antti Rusanen got the second and third positions, respectively.

Results

TempO (ECTO #3)

1. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK, SWE) 258 seconds

2. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava, SVK) 266 seconds

3. Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg, SWE) 272 seconds

4. Pinja Mäkinen (Koovee, FIN) 322 seconds

5. Lauri Mäkinen (Mäntsälän Urheilijat, FIN) 335 seconds

6. Jari Turto (Kokemäen Kova-Väki, FIN) 346 seconds

7. Lennart Wahlgren (Rehns BK, SWE) 352 seconds

8. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 376 seconds

9. Antti Rusanen (Keravan Urheilijat, FIN) 388 seconds

10. Lars Jakob Waaler (Porsgrunn OL, NOR) 392 seconds

PreO 1

1. Pinja Mäkinen (Koovee, FIN) 27 points / 12 seconds

2. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK, SWE) 26 points / 14 seconds

3. Mikko Heinonen (Kalevan Rasti, FIN) 26 points / 16 seconds

4. Michael Johansson (Vänersborgs SK, SWE) 26 points / 19 seconds

5. Robertas Stankevic (RASKK Vilniaus, LTU) 26 points / 26 seconds

6. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava, SVK) 26 points / 73 seconds

6. Erik Lundkvist (HJS-Vansbro OK, SWE) 26 points / 73 seconds

8. Antti Rusanen (Keravan Urheilijat, FIN) 25 points / 7 seconds

9. Martin Fredholm (OK Linné, SWE) 25 points / 14 seconds

10. Jari Turto (Kokemäen Kova-Väki, FIN) 24 points / 16 seconds

PreO 2 (ECTO #4)

1. Martin Fredholm (OK Linné, SWE) 34 points / 15 seconds

2. Antti Rusanen (Keravan Urheilijat, FIN) 33 points / 16 seconds

3. Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg, SWE) 33 points / 20 seconds

4. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK, SWE) 32 points / 12 seconds

5. Lars Jakob Waaler (Porsgrunn OL, NOR) 32 points / 15 seconds

6. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 32 points / 22 seconds

7. Pinja Mäkinen (Koovee, FIN) 32 points / 27 seconds

8. Aleksei Laisev (Keravan Urheilijat, FIN) 32 points / 31 seconds

9. Michael Johansson (Vänersborgs SK, SWE) 31 points / 15 seconds

9. Samy Hyvönen (RastiPielinen, FIN) 31 points / 15 seconds

FinTrailO 2017 Combined Results

1. Marit Wiksell (Rehns BK, SWE) 524 seconds

2. Pinja Mäkinen (Koovee, FIN) 541 seconds

3. Antti Rusanen (Keravan Urheilijat, FIN) 651 seconds

4. Erik Stålnacke (IFK Göteborg, SWE) 698 seconds

4. Martin Fredholm (OK Linné, SWE) 698 seconds

6. Ján Furucz (Farmaceut Bratislava, SVK) 799 seconds

7. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 829 seconds

8. Lars Jakob Waaler (Porsgrunn OL, NOR) 833 seconds

9. Michael Johansson (Vänersborgs SK, SWE) 853 seconds

10. Jari Turto (Kokemäen Kova-Väki, FIN) 916 seconds

To see the complete results, maps, solutions, photos and further information, please visit the event's webpage at http://www.ok77.fi/fintrailo/.

[Photos: Jarmo Koskela / jarmokoskela.kuvat.fi]

Joaquim Margarido

Portuguese MTBO Championships of Middle Distance 2017: Davide Machado and Ana Filipa Silva got the Elite titles

After a two-year break, Davide Machado and Ana Filipa Silva achieved the Portuguese MTBO titles of Middle Distance. The event took place in Cantanhede and was attended by one hundred competitors.

Cantanhede, one of the stages of the recent MTB Orienteering World Championships, hosted another important event of this exciting discipline. We are talking about the 11th edition of the Portuguese MTBO Championships of Middle Distance, organized by ADM Ori-Mondego and the Parish Council of Ança and attended by one hundred competitors from 23 clubs.

The competition in the Men Elite class was entirely dominated by Davide Machado (.COM) who finished the 16.6 km of his course in 47:25. Almost four minutes after the winner, Daniel Marques (COC) was the second placed, while the third position was achieved by the former Middle Distance Champion in 2015 and 2016, João Ferreira (CA Bairrada), with the time of 52:52. In the Women Elite class, Ana Filipa Silva's (CPOC) victory was even wider, having finished her race, with the distance of 13.6 km, in 52:16, against 58:28 of the former National Champion in 2015 and 2016, Susana Pontes (COC). Noémia Magalhães (Amigos da Montanha) achieved the bronze medal with the time of 1:11:38.

Daniel Marques and Ana Filipa Silva won Ançã MTBO 2017

The Portuguese MTBO Champions of Middle Distance in the young classes were Bernardo Rosa (COC), João Mendonça (BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS), Tomás Mora (ADM Ori-Mondego) and Marisa Costa (BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS), in M15, M17, M20 and W20, respectively. As for the masters, Kátia Almeida (ATV) and Marco Póvoa (ADFA) got the titles in W40 and M40, Luisa Mateus (COC) and Eduardo Sebastião (ADFA) did the same in the W50 and M50 classes and Jorge Artur (ADFA) achieved the title in the M60 class. NADA got the clubs' title in Men Elite class, BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS was the winner in M17, COC won in M35 and ADFA in M45.

But the MTB Orienteering party didn't summed up to the Middle Distance Championships, and the participants had the chance to try a new Middle Distance stage on the second day. Ana Filipa Silva did another great race, winning by more than five-minute advantage, while the winner in the Men Elite class was Daniel Marques (COC), with an advantage of nearly three minutes over Duarte Lourenço (BTT Loulé / BPI / ELEVIS). In the two stages, Ana Filipa Silva and Daniel Marques were the great winners of the Ançã MTBO 2017, while BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS got the first position in the collective standings.

Results

Portuguese MTBO Championships of Middle Distance

Men Elite

1. Davide Machado (.COM) 47:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Daniel Marques (COC) 51:18 (+ 03:53)

3. João Ferreira (CA Bairrada) 52:52 (+ 02:27)

4. Duarte Lourenço (BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS) 54:05 (+ 06:40)

5. Luís Barreiro (NADA) 54:08 (+ 06:43)

Women Elite

1. Ana Filipa Silva (CPOC) 52:16 (+ 00:00)

2. Susana Pontes (COC) 58:28 (+ 06:12)

3. Noémia Magalhães (Amigos da Montanha) 1:11:38 (+ 19:22)

4. Maria Sá (ADFA) 1:18:35 (+ 26:19)

mp Carla Saraiva (Ori-Estarreja)

Ançã MTBO Overall standings

Men Elite

1. Daniel Marques (COC) 1:41:01 (+ 00:00)

2. Duarte Lourenço (BTT Loulé/BPI/ELEVIS) 1:46:16 (+ 05:15)

3. Luís Barreiro (NADA) 1:46:37 (+ 05:36)

4. Marco Palhinha (CP Abrunheira) 1:50:20 (+ 09:19)

5. Fernando Henrique (NADA) 1:50:55 (+ 09:54)

Women Elite

1. Ana Filipa Silva (CPOC) 1:59:20 (+ 00:00)

2. Susana Pontes (COC) 2:10:39 (+ 11:19)

3. Noémia Magalhães (Amigos da Montanha) 2:35:41 (+ 36:21)

4. Maria Sá (ADFA) 2:44:11 (+ 44:51)

mp Carla Saraiva (Ori-Estarreja)

Complete results and further information at https://admorimondego.wixsite.com/oribtt-anca.

[Photo: ORI BTT ADM / facebook.com/ORI-BTT-ADM]

Joaquim Margarido

Portugal City Race 2017: Maikel Rodriguez and Raquel Ferreira won in Vila do Conde

Maikel Rodriguez and Raquel Ferreira were the winners of Vila do Conde City Race 2017, in the main classes of competition. Scoring for the Portugal City Race 2017, the event also included a super sprint and an Adapted Orienteering stage, calling to the banks of Ave River 250 competitors.

The city of Vila do Conde received yesterday the third stage of the Circuit Portugal City Race 2017. Having the support of Vila do Conde Municipality, the Orienteering School Sport's Group from the Association of Schools D. Afonso Sanches and the Grupo Desportivo dos Quatro Caminhos organized the Vila do Conde City Race 2017, which attracted nearly 250 athletes. The fun started early in the morning with a Middle/Long Distance urban stage, continuing in the afternoon with a short and fast Super Sprint, with a large number of controls and requiring constant changes of direction. An Adapted Orienteering stage, scoring for the respective Portuguese League, was also part of the program, reinforcing the event's inclusive character, one of the brand images of Portugal City Race.

The Spanish Maikel Rodrigues, representing Budiñoraid, won easily this stage, finishing the 7.02 km of his course with the time of 38:48. Gil Sousa Pinto (OriMarão) spent more 8:22 than the winner and finished in the second place. With this result, Rodriguez built up his leading position of the Circuit Portugal City Race 2017, achieving his third victory in as many stages. The fight for the victory in the Women Senior class was much more balanced, but Raquel Ferreira (Individual) ended up being stronger than Daniela Alves (AD Cabroelo), winning by the difference of 1:29, after finishing the 5.7 km of her course with the time of 48:04. Raquel Ferreira also strengthened her leadership of this year's edition of the Portugal City Race 2017, after winning the first stage in Esposende and being second placed in Braga, in the second stage.

The event also included the Vila do Conde Super-Sprint, with Maikel Rodriguez climbing once again on the top of the podium, this time alongside with María Pilar Hernández, and a stage of Adapted Orienteering scoring for the Portuguese League, in which Vitor Pereira and Raquel Cerqueira were the winners.

Results

Vila do Conde City Race 2017

Men Senior
1. Maikel Rodriguez (Budiñoraid) 38:48 (+ 00:00)
2. Gil Sousa Pinto (OriMarão) 47:10 (+ 08:22)
3. Luís Ferreira (AD Cabroelo) 47:12 (+ 08:24)
4. Leandro Lima A. Montanha 47:25 (+ 08:37)
5. Ricardo Figueroa (Aromon) 49:17 (+ 10:29)

Women Senior
1. Raquel Ferreira (Individual) 48:04 (+ 00:00)
2. Daniela Alves (AD Cabroelo) 49:33 (+ 01:29)
3. Pilar Hernandez (Escondite) 51:24 (+ 03:20)
4. Zélia Viana (.COM) 52:54 (+ 04:50)
5. Carlota Veiga (Aromon) 1:01:15 (+ 13:11)

Complete results and further information HERE.

[Photo: Fernando Costa]

Joaquim Margarido