Slovenia is for the first time participating in 10MILA with their own, full team. Klemen Kenda, one of the orienteers coming to Kungsängen in May, tells ut about the Slovenian’s 10-MILA dreams and how to fulfill them.
“Slovenia is a small orienteering nation with long tradition of orienteering. It was developed (in a form of team activities) within scouts, mountaineers, event firemen and others after WW II. There were a few contacts with the IOF in 80s.
Independant way of orienteering in Slovenia started in 1988 when the first club was formed in Ljubljana, a few of the others clubs a bit later. The federation (Orienteering Federation of Slovenia) was established 19. 3. 1990. In 1992 the federation joined the predecessor of Slovenian Olympic Comitte and became an official sports discipline.
Orienteering is developing quite steadily. In 1998 we had around 90 registered members in 2012 we crossed number of 300. We have 14 clubs, most of them relatively small as the whole federation has fewer members than a decent Scandinavian club. We however have almost the same number of orienteering maps around here (ISOM, ISSOM, Ski-O, MTB-O, school maps). Terrains are attractive, from various versions of karst terrain to central european continental terrains to alpine terrains in the mountains. Slovenian federation however didn’t manage to take advantage of that potential with organizing a big international event. The biggest events we have here are unfortunately privately held and don’t support development of orienteering as much as they should.
Consequently our finance is quite limited. Youth team (which I am the leader of) was working with less than 3500 EUR last year, and with that we organized 7 weekend training camps, joined EYOC with almost full team, had a JWOC contingent (training camps + races), organized a national race (and prepared a new map near a suitable training centre), we took part in Alpe Adria – regional championships. Senior team usually gets around 1000 EUR per year.
So, most of the support comes from parents and there is a bit more of money available locally, for the clubs. In last few years we revived working with youth within a few clubs and reestablished good work with youth and juniors. Of course, we lack quite some knowledge. In last 2 years we held 2 clinics for trainers. For the technical part we took advantage of few “top” orienteers we have, namely Andraž Hribar, who is a regular WOC participant since 2003. For physical training part we had lectures from professors of the sports faculty, which come from athletics and don’t have experience with orienteering.
Why did we decide to come?
10mila is a long never fulfilled wish for us. I do not have the statistics, but only 2 Slovenians participated in it recently. We have one member studying in Trondheim and he joined with NTNUI and the other is Andraž Hribar, who was running for Vasteras if I am not mistaken. There has not been a Slovenian full team, which would ever join any big night relay. This year the venue is well connected (also to airports near Slovenia) and it is therefore much easier for us to come.
Who is going?
Andraž Hribar (the best slovenian orienteer, probably ever; his best performance was in LD qualification in WOC 2011, where he missed the A finals for 45 seconds)
Jaka Piltaver (also one of regular Slovenian WOC participants)
Nejc Zorman (physically strong runner with limited international experience, one of the most active trainers for the youth)
Jure Zmrzlikar (JWOC participant, also from Goteburg; joined WOC in Ukraine, talented runner who did lack some motivation to be able to reach the top)
Boris Bauman (a veteran, participated in WOCs 1991, 1993; also a legend of slovenian orienteering)
Gregor Anderluh (participated in WOCs from 1991 – 1995, and in 2003, where he was 43rd in sprint, which is place-wise the best Slovenian result at WOCs)
Klemen Kenda (I am far from top athletes, have participated WUOC 2006 in Košice, my role is motivational and organizational as I lead the youth team, am secretary general of the federation and president of the largest club around here)
Rok Močnik (a member with experience, currently living in Trondheim and involved with NTNUI)
Andrej Borštnik (regular member of EYOC/JWOC teams, fresh senior this year)
Iztok Rojc (strong runner, joined WOC 2008 in sprint)
Women:
Ana Pribakovič Borštnik (a veteran, but still very strong in the slovenian field; joined WOCs from 1989-1995 with exception of 1991, 1992 Andrej was born 🙂
Mojca Flerin (best orienteer of recent years, joined WOC 2011, 2012)
Jerca Bernik (regular EYOC/JWOC team member)
Ajda Flasker, Jona Mirnik (both joined orienteering recently and compensate with their entusiasm)
We have a bit of problems with injuries and illnesses; one of our best runners fought and is still fighting cancer.
Our tactics in both categories would be to put best members in the beginning as a little few of our best members should be able to run as fast or a little bit behind the leading group. But the whole team is too diverse to be able to follow, so we are aware that we will finish far behind.
Joining 10mila is a milestone for most of the runners, an opportunity to taste a big competition, an opportunity to even taste Scandinavian terrains for the first time. Although we realize where our place is, we are preparing to get the most out of it. So – although we might finish far behind this would also be a competitive experience for us.
We are organizing weekly 10mila night trainings near Ljubljana every Wednesday and publish invitation via our federation website.
Best regards from Ljubljana,
Klemen”
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.