Summary
Although O-Ringen isn't a world championship per se, it's been won by many elite orienteers - typically someone with a last name that sounds Swedish, Finnish or Norwegian. But some new countries have recently made it into the sport's top echelon. The best male orienteer in the world today is a Frenchman named Thierry Gueorgiou. The best female is Simone N'iggli-Luder of Switzerland. To reach that level, they've trained in Finland and Sweden, respectively.
There's a lot to take in at O-Ringen, but the main attraction is, of course, the orienteering itself. As a first-timer, I was nervous on Day 1. Swedish terrain is very different from Texas terrain. It's much more detailed - full of complex rock formations and marshy depressions, areas of "bare" rock covered with moss. It's perfectly designed for turning one's ankles. My challenge would be retaining map contact - that is, knowing where I was on the map at all times. When you lose map contact, you have to spend valuable time "re-locating." I'd had trouble with that when racing in Finland a few years ago.1 got a real charge out of it - it inspired me to keep running when I got tired, and let's face it: sometimes it's downright helpful to see "elephant tracks" in the grass towards a common control. Working together is typically ,frowned upon, but it's hard to avoid when you're going to the same place. It's just part of the deal.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Orienteer's Mecca: O-Ringen
Orienteering is a sport that mirrors the Scandinavian Spirit - a love of the outdoors, a rational approach to detail and a rested for healthy competition. Each summer, a five-day orienteering festival called O-Ringen draws thousands of people who share that spirit to the foresJs of Sweden. In 2007. Nordic Reach's Lisa Werner Carr was one of them.
Debating in 1965, O-Ringen takes place in Sweden every July and is staged in a different ...See the full content of this document
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