Archive for Featured Big @en - page 3

10-MILA 2005 for me is a good orienteering memory. Even though the results were below my team’s expectations, it’s a weekend I remember with a smile on my face.

2005 was the year I turned 15 in November, and I ran the last leg in the youth relay. I remember I was pretty nervous before the competition. 10Mila was an important goal for the youth in my club, because we had actually won the youth relay the year before, and 2005 we had the same runners in the team.

The relay didn’t start very well for us. It didn’t really go bad, but not as good as we wanted to. We lay a few minutes behind the lead all the time. As usual in the youth relay the competition went fast, and soon it was my turn to run. After the changeover I was five minutes behind the leader, and on my way to the first control I saw other runners. Soon we were a big group of runners. I think I remember that we were about fifteen guys from sixth down to twentieth place, and that we ran together almost all the course. When we came to the finish lane and people started sprinting, I was very tired. A few teams passed me and we ended up in eleventh place.

My experience of the terrain was that it was open in the forest and very runnable. The orienteering was very easy orienteering and in fact nothing special. Afterwards I realize we were in a boring part of the forest with cleanings and bogs, where we didn’t really run in the nicer parts of the forest. So I look forward to 2013 and the more challenging parts of the forest.

The night that followed was fun. We following the other relays live and met all our friends. All together 10MILA 2005 was one of the best orienteering memories of that spring.

Name: Olle Boström
Club: Järla Orientering

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information.

Esbjörn is responsible for the production of maps for 10MILA 2013. He ran his first 10MILA (out of 30 so far) in the same area. This was 1981, a year that is remembered as the snowiest 10MILA ever.

1981 in Kungsängen, my first 10MILA, what a memory!

In 1981 I made my debut with the big boys. I was 17 years old, small, slight, fast legs, but definitely not one of the best technicians. The first leg in Turebergs IF’s second team was for me.

At that time, Turebergs IF was permanently one of the arranging clubs, so we all participated in the preparations in one way or the other. One of my assignments’ was to, at Thursday – Walpurgis Night – guard the built up facility in the military area of Tranbygge. It’s easy to state that you can have full control of most things – but you can never control the weather.

We drove really slowly on the motorway to come to Kungsängen in one of the most violent snow storms I have ever experienced, and there was nobody else out on the roads. And of course nobody was interested in going out to Tranbygge to steal some of the things we had put there. Spending the night building anything in the competition center was out of the question. Luckily, it was pretty much ready. We made our way around the competition center field, slugging through deep snow, and tried to light a very small fire under a roof built for stocking hay. We managed to drive home that night.

The competition day came and the competition centre’s change from ocean to mud began. I think I sat in the secretary tent checking the women’s stamps, a task we juniors often did. When the evening came it was time for me and 511 other first leg runners to take position. It was cold standing there in the crowd, waiting to start. Suddenly, BOOM! And off we went.

There had been speculations about the two passages over the ditch east of the competition centre. It was said the military should have dug it out and made it bigger, so you could run through it without running too deep or getting too wet. It wasn’t clear exactly what that meant. The answer was: they had made good preparations for a decent passage, but nothing is enough when half a meter snow is melting.

The competition day came and the competition centre’s change from ocean to mud began. I think I sat in the secretary tent checking the women’s stamps, a task we juniors often did. When the evening came it was time for me and 511 other first leg runners to take position. It was cold standing there in the crowd, waiting to start. Suddenly, BOOM! And off we went.

There had been speculations about the two passages over the ditch east of the competition centre. It was said the military should have dug it out and made it bigger, so you could run through it without running too deep or getting too wet. It wasn’t clear exactly what that meant. The answer was: they had made good preparations for a decent passage, but nothing is enough when half a meter snow is melting.

Here my memory and my map don’t really agree. The map says the first passage was on a bridge, but I think it was in a digging just south of the bridge – only because we were 500 men running at the same time – so the officials led us down to the ditch. My memory also says the water was up to my stomach and it wasn’t too nice. I hadn’t really expected to keep dry the entire race, but this was beyond what I could imagine.

The course and the orienteering itself were pretty easy, I can see that today. But I can tell I didn’t always know where I was, I just followed the others. Mostly I tried to avoid running to the wrong control in the spreadings. Tough slopes, deep snow, the tempo, the wet, the cold – it was a challenge.

With half the course left came the next passage of the ditch. It was deep up to my chest, and I was 170 cm tall. The water station after the passage felt kind of ironic, but I took a cold cup of sport drink.

Now you would think the worst parts were over, but the ditch between controls 8 and 9 was terrible. It was hardly 3 meters wide and fully filled with water, but it didn’t look too dangerous I thought, running in the lead of a small group. A small jump and a thought of putting my foot just in the edge of the water, it seemed like a good idea until I realized it was a man made ditch with vertical walls. This time even my head was under water, the map and my hands were all you could see of me from the side of the ditch. The first leg runner of my rival team, Rotebro IS’s first team, couldn’t stop so he landed on me and got to climb over my back.

The last way back went slower and safer, I didn’t want to start looking for controls, rather keep warm. And it would be a shame to ruin an (unusually) good race. Wet and muddy I changed over as 357:th man, about 9 minutes after the lead.

A shower and a full body wash later I went back into the warm secretary tent and I experienced the whole 10MILA-night through the stamp-papers we collected, often so wet we left them in the plastic covers. During that night 4500 runners experienced other different things from this competition. They are probably all memorable. At least they all can say “I was at 10MILA 1981” and that still means something special.

Name: Esbjörn Eriksson

Club 1981: Turebergs IF

Current club: Attunda Orientering

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information.

I was thirteen years old and I had never previously had the chance to run 10MILA. In 2005, the plan was that my club was going to have only one team in the youth relay. We were five people who wanted to run, but there were only four legs. I was the youngest, and I couldn’t compete with the others, so I got to be the reserve.

The history could have ended there. But I am writing this, so I ended up running anyway. How? Because three boys from Halmstad OK really needed one girl to get a full team. I forced my father, who had just had surgery, to drive me up to Stockholm and Kungsängen, so I could run in 17 minutes and then run over the finish lane in the youth relay as a winner with my team mates.

Besides that I don’t remember much from the competition. I thought I was long after the lead after the change over to my leg. In fact Emil, who ran the first leg and changed over to me, was in 17^th place only 34 seconds after the leader. That is no big interval talking orienteering, but for me as a thirteen year old girl it felt like forever. Afterwards I checked up that I had passed 14 runners in the forest and changed over to Erik in third place on the third leg. The only thing I clearly remember from this day was, as I mentioned previously, was when I ran the finish lane for the second time, now with Emil, Erik and Kalle, to the cheers of the audience. It was great!

Name: Elin Månsson
Club 2005 and now: OK Löftan
Orienteering-status right now: Training and competing in W20E

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information.

Björn Persson is Sports Director of IOF and is in charge of the World Orienteering Championships. He remembers the night in Kungsängen as something special out of the 12 years during which he was the forest speaker in Tiomila. Björn didn’t run in 2005, he was reporting live from the forest and experienced the competition from a different perspective than we’re used to.

“Written down the day after:

A magic night.

Sure Tiomila is a serious competition. Swearing because of mistakes. Combined teams here and there. But there are other things too! Not very often have I experienced a Tiomila night like the one in Lerberga forest 2005. Let me paint you three pictures:

First leg’s third control:

The red-hot April sun’s last rays find their way down on the west side of Lejondal Lake’s glassy water. Everything is dead calm, it could be a painting. Suddenly the silence is broken! A black-throated diver is shouting down the lake and the echo is heard from the hills at Lejondal castle. At that same moment, the first runners are coming towards the third control.

Third leg’s seventeenth control:

Imagine a painting by John Bauer, with high dark green firs and just moss on the ground. Replace the  troll with a reflective rod at the end of a bog. Add a spherical moon and take the temperature down to minus three degrees. Out in the clearing beyond the edge of the forest elves are already dancing their own Tiomila dance, accompanied only by one single owl’s song. Through the mist curls a pearl necklace where light cones play in the different air layers. The first pearl is a runner with number one on his chest.

The eight leg’s eleventh control:

The first hint of dawn. The robin strikes its first blow. We understand why, in the old days, it was called the clock by hunters, it accounts for the awakening of the forest. Soon more voices join the choir. A woodcock flies just over our heads with its growling, and suddenly his place in the air is taken by another bird, which sings with special song. A lone owl is barking near “Bright Mountains”, where “Löken” and Lauri dueled 24 years ago. In front of our eyes Johan Ivarsson brings Daniel Kaipe into a two minute miss. They were so close we saw their lights play on the trees behind when the lead stamped. When they leave our post their victory chances have disappeared, OK Ravinen and Kalevan Rasti have managed to sneak in between.

It was a magical night.”

First leg, control 3

Third leg, control 17

Eight leg, control 11

Name: Björn Persson

Club 2005: Ljusdals OK

Club today: Trosabygdens OK

Orienteering-status right now: Not running much orienteering, but a big part of life is about orienteering anyway. Sports Director of IOF and responsible for the World Orienteering Championships, which means a lot of planning and traveling. Right now works in Finland, Italy, Sweden and the UK simultaneously.

After two years as a control guard (1975-1976), a premiere run in Tyresta 1977 and pretty ok races 1978-1980, it was time for 10MILA 1981.

1980-1981 was a long winter. I had ran a lot but sadly not any competitions. I got the fifth leg in Rotebro IS OK’s second team. 10,6 kilometers, no big deal for a first year senior.

My first memory is the not so exciting run along the river down to the second control. Frozen as an ice cream and with stiff legs, the only thing I tried to do was regain my body temperature. I remember the warming up conditions weren’t too good.

I made a miss at control three, and after that followed a race which mostly consisted of me running (or stumbling) on deep and muddy trenches in the snow.

As you see at the map, the race didn’t offer me any great surprises or challenges, it was just to keep running.

Time or results? I don’t know, I couldn’t find any notes at the map.

Any other memories? I think I remember the kiosk was placed just north of the river south of the competition area. As you all know, water and mud is found at the lowest points in the terrain. I remember we jumped on stacked boards to make our way to the kiosk, which was almost covered in mud and water.

My last memory is from the shower home in my apartment in Rotebro, where most of that Sunday afternoon was spent trying to defrost myself.

10MILA 1981 is somewhat a classic. The weather in 1981 is maybe some of the worst ever known in 10MILA history. At the same time, it has been something to learn from; “Are we really going to place the kiosk at the lowest point of the competition area?”

We ask ourselves the same questions when planning 10MILA 2013, “what do we do if the weather is like it was in 1981!?”

Click the map to view a larger version

Name: Lars Gerhardsson
Club 1981: Rotebro IS

Current club: Attunda OK

Right now: Secretary General of 10MILA 2013

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information.

Mats ran the last leg for the club Malmby IF. Their expectations weren’t too high, they hoped “maybe for a 10th-15th place” says Mats.

“I remember I was very nervous. During the night I didn’t sleep very well. We slept in military tents at the competition center and the speaker talked all night. I lay nervously listening to the speaker saying my team were among the leading teams. That night it was extremely cold outside, it was raining and snowing.”

Mats says the relay started earlier in the day in 1981. The reason was the newspapers had to write about the competition before printing and publishing. First you ran a couple of legs in daylight and then during the night until the finish in the early morning.

“After the change over to the last leg my team was in fifth place. Ahead of me was Lars “Löken” Lönnkvist, Kjell Lauri and two Finnish teams. There was a small gap between the teams. I had no contact with them so I ran alone. It was my first year as a senior, and the opposing teams had really good runners on their last legs. I didn’t think I had a chance to catch up with the four teams ahead of me. I made a small mistake to the first control which cost me maybe two minutes, but after that I kept cool all course. I dropped my headlight when we had a control near the competition center, they were so heavy these times and the sun had already risen. At that point I hadn’t seen any of the other runners, so I was surprised hearing that only Lars “Löken” Lönnkvist was ahead of me.

No other teams could manage to recap the gap. Mats kept his second place also the last kilometers of the fifteen kilometer long course.

“I didn’t really mind that the last hundred meters were muddy, we ran over the finish line as the second team and it was sensational for us!”

Click the map to view a larger version

Name: Mats Hellstadius

Club 1981: Malmby IF

Current club: Södertälje-Nykvarn Orientering

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information.

I was only ten years old and it was one of my first competitions, definitely one of my first relays. My mother was there with me.

I looked up to my team mates very much; I was the youngest runner in my team. I ran the second and shortest leg in the youth relay.

While running I made company with a girl my age. It was one of the first years for me running orienteering, and honestly I didn’t run alone very often. “Hi, what’s your name? Do you also run the second leg? Do you also run ’W10’”? And all by sudden you’ve got a new friend. I’m sure many people out there have made a lot of friends while running in the forest. We ran together the entire race, and probably we talked about all things except orienteering. Unfortunately I don’t remember the terrain, weather or anything else. But I guess that’s not a strange thing for being a ten year old, unfocused girl.

I had never seen so many people at the same time in the forest. It was like a queue of children, and I thought that was exciting. In the end of the race I stopped because I had to pee. Preparations, like peeing before the race, were one thing I hadn’t learned yet.

After the change over to the next leg, I got compliments from my team mates. I loved it when people said appreciating things to me, that’s things that remains stuck in your head. Checking the results today, seven years later, I took my team from 310^th to 301^st place. No race to brag about, but as a beginner every appreciating word was important.

Nobody in my family is running orienteering except for me. I grew into the sport because I loved it. Not many people would have thought that a kid like me, who ran 10MILA 2005 in sweatpants and a borrowed club dress, would still be running orienteering today. But that’s the story, I love orienteering and 10MILA has since 2005 been one of my great favourites.

So what was our team result in 2005? We ended in 232:nd place.

 

Click the map to view a larger version

Name: Laura D’Angelo

Club 2005: Rotebro IS OK

Current club: Attunda OK

Orienteering-status right now: W18 Elite, studying natural science and orienteering in Eksjö.

Do you want to share your experience of 10MILA in Kungsängen 1947, 1981 or 2005? Send a mail to tiomilaupplevelsen@gmail.com for more information

We visited the 2012 Jukola event. We were there primarily to market our event to foreign teams, but also to compete ourselves.

It was a great experience. We got the chance to talk to a lot of you and inform about our event. The close distance between Stockholm City and our arena. The new exciting competitions, like the Night Trail Run and the the “10MILA-korten”.

Visitors to our booth also like our service to arrange bus transportation from the Stockholm harbor and Arlanda airport to our arena. We want to make it easy for you.

We’re interested in your ideas on how we can help you to get your teams to 10MILA 2013.

Here in our blog, you will soon be able to read speeches by famous and lesser known parts of the orientation of the world.
How to draw a map? How do you plan a good traningplan? The “long night”, is it so long as it sounds like?
Yes, what shows up in the blog you will see soon, so stay tuned here on the websiteregularly!

As a taster, here is a movie from when The organizers were the TC on a cold winter day in February.
(in swedish)