Hittaut.nu/Lidingo

During the summer I have not only been training for WOC. Most of the time I have spent working with the project hittaut.nu/lidingo, which I am responsibly for on Lidingö. The goal for the project is to make a big orienteering map with 90 permanent controls. In the middle of September it will be distributed for free to all the 40.000 inhabitants on Lidingö and all the 40.000 participants in the world largest cross country race Lidingöloppet. A virtual map will also be available on the website hittaut.nu/lidingo.

My main work has been to make the map covering the whole Lidingö island. 75 % of the island has previously been covered by 3 big orienteering maps. 4 sprint maps are also covering some smaller parts, but I had to convert them from 1:4000 maps with 2 m contour interval to normal orienteering maps, with not too many details. For the rest of the area I had to make a new map. The work with the map has mainly been done in Ocad, since I had good base maps and aerial photographs, but I have also done some fieldwork.

Several competent persons in the club have helped me with different parts the project, as for example getting sponsors, put out the controls and have contact with media, but I have also done parts of the work with designing the printed map, including text, pictures and advertisements. The last weeks we have completed the final version of the map, and it will be sent to printing this week. So the coming week I will have full focus on WOC.

Summer in Stockholm

After the WOC training camp in France in beginning of July I went back to Stockholm and Lidingö, where I started my last training period to be in top shape for the World Championship. In that period I have been training less hours then earlier this year, but more and tougher sessions with high speed.

On Lidingö we have several good sprint maps, but the best training was probably in Gamla Stan, on the map from Nordic Tour last year. I guess this is the most relevant area for the WOC sprint you can find in Scandinavia, with a lot of narrow streets, like it is in Chambery.

In the middle of July I was also running a nice two day sprint competition in Norrtälje called Skärgårdssprint. The first race was mostly in forest. I did no big mistakes, but lost some seconds on several legs and came 3rd, some seconds behind Josef Nordlund and Gustav Bergman. The second race was mainly in streets. I did a good performance, and was able to win both the race and overall in front of Gustav Bergman. Result from race 1, race 2 and overall

Last WOC training in France

July has not been a typical holiday month for me, and I have been busy with both training and working. The coming days I will try to make a short summary of what I have been doing, and I start with first week of July, which I spent in France on the last WOC training camp with the Norwegian team.

During the one week long camp we simulated all the WOC distances, and I was running full speed on the Sprint and the Relay trainings. The trainings went well, and in the Relay training I managed for the first time to run a full speed training in forest without any bigger mistakes, and was only beaten in time by Anders Nordberg. In my DOMA you can find maps from all the trainings (Category: Training)

On my birthday the 7th July I got an unexpected present from the team; paragliding over Lake Annecy. A great gift, and some of my team mates were also trying. As you can se on the pictures it was quite airy.

The coming days I will write more about what I am doing the last period before WOC.

Nordic Tour and Jukola - WOC next

The two previous weeks I have been competing in the Nordic Orienteering Tour (NORT) that has been arranged with races in Finland, Sweden and Norway. NORT was counting as the 3 first races in this years World Cup. In Finland I also participated for IFK Lidingö in Jukola; the world biggest orienteering relay.

The first stage of NORT was held in Poorvo in Finland, with two races in one day. In the morning it was a Middle distance (on sprint standard map in forest). I was felling tired during the race and lost also some time on less good route choices and small mistakes. My result was a 23rd place, 3 minutes behind Olav Lundanes. Results, splits and GPS tracking

In the evening it was a normal sprint race in the old city centre of Poorvo. I did and OK race, but lost time in parts of the course by being passive and taking a bad route choice on the first part of the leg to the 8th control. I was still feeling very tired, and my running speed was not as it use to be in sprint races. My result was a 14th place, 52 seconds behind Matthias Kyburz from Switzerland. Results, splits and GPS tracking

After the races in Poorvo I travelled an hour further east along the coast to Hamina, where I meet my team mates in IFK Lidingö for participation in Jukola. We had a strong team, but unfortunately we got some health problems on the forth leg, and lost a lot of time. I did not run a good race either, and did some bigger mistakes on my 6th leg. My team finished only on a 42nd place, but the girls ran great and came 3rd in the Venla relay. Results, GPS tracking and TV broadcast

NORT continued with a Knock out sprint in Gothenburg. In the morning it was a normal sprint course, and the 30 best qualified to the different finals later the same day. After Jukola I got a sour throat, so I was unsure about my shape, but the Qualification went well. My running speed felt actually better than in Finland, and I came 7th, 25 second behind Matthias Müller. Results and splits

In my Quarterfinal all runners in my heat except Alexey Bortnik lost 20 seconds on a bad route choice to the 7th control, but I was still able to qualify for the Semifinal after a strong finish. Results and splits

The Semifinal was held from Götaplatsen in the centre of Gothenburg. Matthias Müller set a high speed from the start, and was tight followed by Jerker Lysell and Frédéric Tranchand. I had to give them a few seconds gap, and was never able to catch that, even if I tried another route choice to the second last control. So I finished 4th in my heat, and was not able to qualify for the final as lucky looser since the times in the other semifinal was faster. GPS tracking and TV broadcast

Jerker Lysell was really strong, and won the Final in front of Daniel Hubmann. Results, GPS tracking and TV broadcast

The final stage of NORT was a Chasing start arranged in connections with Norway’s biggest orienteering event O-festivalen, this year held on Nesodden just south of Oslo. After 3 tough sprint races in Gothenburg my sour throat got worse, and I did only one short and easy training the day before the race. I started as 12th runner, with several runners just before and after me. On the long leg to the 3rd control I was alone on my route choice, and could advance to a 9th place. But I could already then feel that my body had not recovered after being sick, and I felt really tired the last half of the race. I did no big mistakes, but was not able to follow runner who caught me. I finished alone on a 19th position, 7 minutes behind Daniel Hubmann. My club mate in Lidingö Annika Billstam won the women’s class. Results, splits, GPS tracking and TV broadcast

I think NORT is a great concept, with cool types of races like Knock out sprint and Chasing start. But the different races have been spread out on a too long period, with only 3 stages in 10 days. Next years program looks better, with 5 stages in 8 days, and by having the tour in September we avoid the conflict with Jukola coming in the middle of the tour.

This week the Norwegian WOC team was selected, and I will at least run the Sprint:-) Tomorrow I am travelling to France for the last one week long training camp before WOC are held in the middle of August.

Elitserien Sprint in Falun

Today the last of the Elitserien and pre EOC race is Dalarna was held with a Sprint in Falun. It was a nice area for sprint, with a lot of tricky map reading in high speed. The first part of my race went well, and on the spectator control I was on a 2nd place, 2 seconds behind Jonas Leandersson. The second loop started also well, but on the long leg to the 16th control I took a route choice to the left, and then started orienteering to the 13th control. I lost more than 40 seconds because of this mistake, and finished on a 9th place, 59 second behind Leandersson, who did a great race and won clearly. Results, splits and GPS tracking

Kvaal Østerbø løp fort, men orienterte feil, Orintering.no

Elitserien Long in Mora

This long weekend three races in the Swedish Elitserien are arranged in Dalarna, as a pre EOC before next years European Championship.

The first race was yesterday, with a 20 km long mass start in Mora. The terrain was very nice, and made it possible to run really fast. Olav Lundanes showed again how strong is, and won clearly. After a strong finish I came on 5th place, 4 min behind Olav, and less then one minute from the second place. I was satisfied with my performance, and did only a few 15 seconds mistakes during the race. But in the middle part where I was running mainly alone I did not managed to keep fast enough speed, and on the long leg where I was running on paths to the left I lost almost one minute compared to the ones running straight. It was a good day for IFK Lidingö because Fredrik Johansson came 3rd and Annika Billstam won the women’s class. Results, splits and GPS tracking

Elitserien continues tomorrow with Middle distance, but I will not run that race since I want to some good training this weekend and found 3 races too tough. The Middle distance can be followed live from 11.00 – 13.30 on Saturday. The last Elitserien race is a Sprint in Falun on Monday.

This weekend my Norwegian club Wing OK will arrange Trondheim Open. Sunday’s chasing start has GPS tracking that can be followed live from 12.00.

NM Sprint in Arendal

Last weekend the Norwegian Championship in Sprint were arranged in Arendal at the south coast of Norway. Both the Qualification and Final had finish in the city centre, which was a great place for a sprint race.

In the Qualification I found it difficult to find out where you could run on several legs, since the map had many small details and narrow passages. To the 2nd control I thought I could pass between the pond and cliff just before the control, but had to give up and lost more than one and a half minute, since the organizers had put up some stripes and I was afraid to be disqualified. I ran OK the rest of the race, and could still qualify for the afternoons Final. Results and splits

In the Final I did a quite good race, without any big mistakes. To the 4th and 8th control I lost a few second on my route choice, and to the 17th control I almost ran up some wrong stairs. Olav Lundanes finished 7 seconds faster than me, but got disqualified because ha had passed a forbidden are just in front of the 5th control. The forbidden area was smaller then the standard and almost impossible to see on the map, so I found it not so fun to win the race that way. Elise Egseth won finally her first title in a Norwegian Championship, so it was a great day for Wing OK. Results, splits and GPS tracking

Sunday a Middle distance in the Norwegian Craftcup were held from Myra, north of Arendal. I did an OK race, and lost only around 15 seconds some places. My result was an 8th place, 2 minutes behind Anders Nordberg. Results, splits and GPS tracking

Today I am going to run a 20 km long mass start in the Swedish Elitserien in Mora, and the race can be flowed live from 13.00.

Stafettdrømmen kan ryke for Østerbø, Adressa 30th May 2011
Hvem disket Olav og er det ok?, Halden SK 31th May 2011