Posted on | March 23, 2018 | Category:Arena, FootO, News
The Orienteering Association of China became a member of the International Orienteering Federation in the summer of 1992. During 2008-2012, China had several high-level athletes and the Chinese orienteers reached their top results ever at the major IOF events: 7th place in the women’s Relay at WOC 2008, and Shuangyan Hao’s 10th place in the women’s Sprint race at WOC 2009. But since then, most of the runners retired and China lost pace in their development, at least at the high level.
Today nearly 500 000 people from more than 400 schools, clubs, and sports companies do orienteering, and almost 100 large orienteering events, with from a few hundred to several thousand participants, are held annually in China.
Although orienteering is more and more popular in China, especially among the younger generations, orienteering is facing similar problems as in other developing orienteering countries. As orienteering is not an Olympic sport, and not even a listed sport by the Olympic Council of Asia, it is difficult to get the attention and the substantial financial support from the government. Another problem is that most of the athletes and the coaches have lower levels of orienteering skill and lack high-level event experience.
Development plan for China
At the end of 2017, International Orienteering Federation President Leho Haldna and CEO Tom Hollowell visited China twice to learn about the status of orienteering there and to secure the organization of the final round of the Orienteering World Cup in 2019.
Tom Hollowell says “We were very happy to get this opportunity to visit China last autumn. Our primary goal was to reach an agreement for the first ever World Cup event in China in the 2019 season. But we also agreed to make a development plan for orienteering in China. We’ve talked about different ways of raising the level of their elite athletes, bringing more major orienteering events to China and promoting orienteering as a sport for all. So, there are 3 parts of this long-term plan which we are continuing to develop.”
China is the most populated country in the world and it is of interest to promote orienteering there. Another reason for this country’s importance to orienteering is that China is a driving sports nation in Asia. So, China’s development should help to develop orienteering in the rest of Asia.
One of the key elements of the development plan is helping the Chinese elite orienteers to improve their orienteering skills. Though they are often very good runners, their orienteering and map reading techniques need to be improved significantly. The new generation of Chinese orienteers don’t have much experience of competing against the world-class athletes, and it takes years to build the skills needed to compete at the highest level. A year ago, a number of young Chinese athletes took part in the WOC, JWOC and other international events, and, more importantly, started to train with European clubs before the Major Events, in order to improve their skills.
Focusing only on the elite athletes training is not enough to build a strong basis for a long-term growth. A coaching program has to be established and the coaching of coaches needs to be carried out.
Bringing more Major Events to China should be another tool to let their orienteers regularly compete against the world’s top athletes. Although there is a growing interest in organizing WRE-level events held in China, assistance is needed to bring these to a world-class level, to enable China to organise IOF Major Events. Clinics and seminars for potential event organisers, advisers and mappers are planned for 2018. And there are things that IOF Major Events could benefit from in learning from China as well. For example, ceremonies in China are really top level and could set an example to many event organisers.
Orienteering as a sport for all
Another piece of the development plan is promoting orienteering as a sport for all and a lifetime activity with very strong sustainability values.
Even at the political level there are some positive signs for orienteering. A new state program was introduced at the 19th Party Congress last autumn that shows intentions to spread sports for all, in which everyone can participate. And orienteering is identified as one such sport.
“During our first visit, we were invited to the Chinese Olympic Committee and it was clear during that meeting, that they see orienteering as a very good sport for China as a society, not just as an elite sport. When we talk about sports for all, China is underdeveloped. We know that orienteering can provide positive benefits and develop something new in China. It’s very important for us to use this window of opportunity now that we have had a very positive reception from the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Sports Authorities”, says Tom Hollowell, IOF CEO.
World Orienteering Day is a very good tool for spreading orienteering in the most positive way to a wide audience. It was also very interesting to see how orienteering events in China were combined with cultural activities. In other parts of the world, you can occasionally experience local culture, arts and history at an orienteering event, and this is not uncommon in China. For example the Historical Road Orienteering Championship 2017 in Guangdong province was a great example of that.
A variety of terrains
As a huge country, China can offer all types of terrain for both urban and forest orienteering. In South and South East China, forests are usually very thick, but there are many historical villages and great urban terrains for sprint racing. But in the north of China, there many good forest terrains.
“It is really hard to describe the typical Chinese terrain. As you know, China has a great long history and a wide territory. There are so many diverse terrains for the orienteering: from the ancient villages and the modern parks in the cities, to bamboo or fruit forests terrain. There couldn’t be a better way to learn about China than through orienteering”, Zhang Guangshuo from the Orienteering Association of China says.
Banana plantations, bamboo forests, orange groves, ancient villages with 1000 year old buildings. Sounds unusual. Even if we’d try to find anything similar in South Europe, the Chinese terrains would definitely be something exceptional.
World Cup 2019 and future Major Events
In December 2017, the Orienteering Association of China and the International Orienteering Federation reached an agreement to organise the final round of the IOF Orienteering World Cup in 2019.
It will be not only the first ever Orienteering World Cup round in China but also the first IOF Major Event with global participation in the country. Only regional championships and world ranking events have been held previously in China.
The World Cup Final will be held at the end of October 2019 in and around Guangzhou city and the Guangdong Province.
Zhang Guangshuo, OAC: “That was great news, both for the IOF and for the Chinese orienteering community. It will be the first time that China hosts an international orienteering event at the highest level. The gap between Chinese and European high-level runners is obvious. Now our athletes will have the opportunity to learn from the top European orienteers and improve their skills, so the gap will be narrowing down. We believe that this will be a unique and unforgettable orienteering experience for all athletes. We sincerely welcome orienteers from all over the World to China”.
And with the growth of orienteering in China, it will be no surprise to see more Major Events there in the future. We can expect Chinese bids for JWOC, WOC and maybe Ski Orienteering events in the future.
We’ve asked Tim Robertson (New Zealand) to share his impressions about orienteering events in China
Tim, You’ve been to China twice this autumn/winter. In which events have you participated and what type of races were they?
In October, I was racing for the second time in the “Beijing-O-Week” – it’s a competition that consists of one middle distance and three or four sprints.
These aren’t traditional forest middle distances or city sprints. They take place in the huge and beautiful parks that surround Beijing. There are always some surprises and therefore you have to be very flexible with your orienteering.
In December, I was in Guangzhou competing in the Historical Road Orienteering Championships. Here we raced again one middle and three sprints.
The difference here was that we only raced once in a “park” terrain. The middle was a mixture of paths and “jungle”, one of the sprints I would describe as a Chinese Venice and the other was partly in a Banana forest and partly in very technical old town ruins.
How would you evaluate these events?
The atmosphere surrounding the competitions in China is incredible. Huge TV screens, drones overhead, banners everywhere and photographers taking nonstop pictures is just the “normal” at these events.
Both years in Beijing we have been guests at a press conference inside the water cube (Olympic swimming venue) with huge posters of all competition athletes on display and the sport channel of China filming.
In Guangzhou, there was an opening ceremony before every competition with performances from local dancers, singers, musicians and speeches promoting orienteering to the special guests. If you turned on the TV in the evening you could watch the previous race on the news.
Updates to competition maps and courses have to be done quite last minute due to a number of reasons such as the never-ending changes in the terrain. A whole new building can just be put up overnight!
Jaroslav Kacmarcik and his team do an amazing job of making sure the races are at a high enough quality and although there have been some surprises along the way the competitions are fair and definitely comparable with the level in Europe.
Sometimes we have competed on maps drawn with ISSOM and others produced by Chinese mapmakers not to ISSOM. Although it can sometimes be unclear what is passable/not the runners were always briefed well by Jaroslav before the race to ensure a level playing field.
How would you describe terrains used for sprint races in China?
The terrains China have to offer are great. There is a huge variety and I believe with some of these unique terrains that competitions can become more level with no team having a “home town advantage” or being able to study too much about the competition before it begins (Google maps in China doesn’t provide so much information!).
The competitions in Guangzhou are definitely some of the best sprint maps I have competed on. Running through banana leaves at full speed and then coming into a maze of abandoned buildings with no people was just an orienteering dream.
The maps take some getting used to and you need to be very spontaneous with your technique. It’s always good to expect the unexpected. And looking at the map compared to actually being in the terrain are two completely different things. The architecture and layout of the parks are nothing like what I have ever experienced, it took me some time to get a feel for the maps and how to run in the terrain.
China will organise the World Cup Final in 2019. It’s almost 2 years ahead, but what are your expectations for this event?
Since competing in China for the first time in 2016 I have been waiting for this news. I am excited about the expansion of orienteering outside of this European ring and I think it will be a great new experience for the orienteers who get the chance to compete here.
Although China is not even halfway to New Zealand, I get the feeling already that racing in China will feel like a “home” World Cup for me.
Seeing what the organisers are doing already at these competitions I expect the World Cup to be a massive event. I can recommend to those athletes who have not yet had a taste of orienteering in China to consider competing next year in one of these events.
小顾
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中国–定向运动的新机遇
中国定向运动协会于1992年夏天加入国际定向联合会。在2008-2012年期间，中国有几名高水平的运动员，中国的定向运动员在主要的IOF赛事中取得了有史以来最好的成绩：在2008年世界女子接力赛中名列第七以及郝双燕在2009世界杯女子短跑比赛中的第10名。但从那时起，大多数运动员退役了，中国的定向运动在他们的发展中失去了步伐，至少在高水平上。
今天，中国有来自400多所学校、俱乐部和体育公司的近50万人参加定向运动，每年举办近100个大型定向运动项目，参加者从几百人到几千人不等。
虽然定向运动在中国越来越流行，尤其是在年轻一代中，但定向运动面临着与其他发展中国家类似的问题。由于定向运动不是奥运会项目，更不是亚洲奥林匹克理事会所列的项目，因此很难得到政府的重视和大力资助。另一个问题是大多数运动员和教练员定向水平较低，缺乏高水平的项目经验。
中国发展规划
2017年底，国际定向运动联合会主席莱霍·哈尔德纳(Leho Haldna)和首席执行官汤姆·霍洛威尔(Tom Hollowell)两次访问中国，了解中国定向越野的现状，并争取在2019年组织举办定向越野世界杯决赛。
汤姆·霍洛威尔说“去年秋天我们很高兴有这个机会访问中国。我们的主要目标是在2019赛季为中国首次举办的世界杯比赛达成一致。但我们也同意制定一项在中国开展定向运动的发展计划。我们讨论了各种提高优秀运动员水平的方法，将更多的主要定向运动项目带到中国，并将定向运动作为一项全民性的运动加以推广。因此，这项长远计划有3部分我们会继续发展。”
中国是世界上人口最多的国家，在那里推广定向运动很有意义。这个国家对定向越野运动的重要性的另一个原因是中国是亚洲的一个驾驭体育的国家。因此，中国定向运动的发展有助于亚洲其他地区的定向运动的发展。
该发展计划的关键内容之一是帮助中国优秀定向运动员提高定向运动技能。虽然他们是非常好的跑步者，但他们的定向和地图阅读技巧需要大大改进。新一代的中国定向运动员没有太多与世界级运动员竞争的经验，要培养出最高水平的比赛所需的技能需要花费数年的时间。一年前，许多年轻的中国运动员参加了WOC、JWOC和其他国际赛事，更重要的是，他们在大型赛事之前就开始与欧洲俱乐部一起训练，以提高他们的技术水平。
只注重优秀运动员的训练，还不足以为长期的发展奠定坚实的基础。必须制定辅导方案，并对教练进行辅导。
将更多的主要赛事带到中国，让他们的定向运动员定期与世界顶级运动员竞争的另一个工具。尽管人们对在中国举办WRE级别的活动越来越感兴趣，但还需要得到援助，使这些活动达到世界级的水平，使中国能够组织IOF主要活动。计划在2018年为潜在的活动组织者、顾问和制图师举办培训和研讨会。在向中国学习的过程中，IOF的一些主要赛事也会从中受益。例如，中国的仪式真的是顶级的，可以为许多活动组织者树立榜样。
以野外定向为一种运动
发展计划的另一项工作，是推动定向运动成为一项人人参与的运动，以及一项具有很强持续发展价值的终身活动。
即使在政治层面，定向越野也有一些积极的迹象。去年秋天，在第19次党代会上提出了一项新的国家方案，表明了普及体育运动的意图，每个人都可以参加。定向越野就是这样一种运动。“在我们的第一次访问中，我们被邀请到中国奥委会，很明显，在会议期间，他们认为定向运动是一项对中国社会来说非常好的运动，而不仅仅是一项精英运动。当我们谈论体育运动的时候，中国是不发达的。我们知道定向运动在中国可以带来积极的利益和发展新的东西。很重要的一点是，我们利用这个机会之窗，因为我们得到了中国奥委会和体育当局的积极回应”IOF首席执行官汤姆·霍洛威尔说。
世界定向运动日是一个非常好的工具，以最积极的方式向广大观众传播定向运动。在中国，定向越野活动是如何与文化活动相结合的，这也是非常有趣的。在世界的其他地方，你偶尔可以体验一下当地的文化、艺术和历史，这在中国并不少见。例如，2017年广东省历史路定向越野锦标赛就是一个很好的例子。
多样的地形
作为一个幅员辽阔的国家，中国可以为城市和森林定向运动提供各种地形。在华南和东南部，森林通常非常茂密，但有许多历史村落和伟大的城市地形短距离赛跑。但在中国北方，有许多良好的森林地形。
“很难描述典型的中国地形。正如你们所知道的，中国有着悠久的历史和广阔的疆域。有许多不同的定向越野地形：从古老的村庄到现代城市公园，到竹林或果树林地形。没有比定向越野更好的方法来了解中国了”来自中国定向运动协会的张光硕说。
香蕉种植园，竹林，橘子林，古村落有1000年的历史建筑。听起来不寻常。即使我们想在南欧找到类似的地方，中国的地形也肯定是个
2019年世界杯和未来主要赛事
2017年12月，中国定向运动协会和国际定向运动联合会达成协议，将于2019年举办国际单项定向运动世界杯决赛。
这将不仅是第一次在中国举办的定向越野世界杯比赛，也是首次在全球范围内参加国际单项体育赛事。此前，中国只举办过地区性锦标赛和世界排名赛。
世界杯决赛将于2019年10月底在广州市及周边地区和广东省举行。
张广硕议员：“这对IOF和中国定向运动界来说都是个好消息。这将是中国首次在最高级别举办国际定向越野赛事。中国和欧洲高水平参赛选手之间的差距是很明显的。现在我们的运动员将有机会向欧洲顶尖的定向运动员学习并提高他们的技术，因此差距将缩小。我们相信，这对所有运动员来说将是一个独特和难忘的定向越野体验。我们真诚欢迎来自世界各地的定向运动员来到中国”.
随着定向越野运动在中国的发展，在那里看到更多的重大赛事也就不足为奇了。我们可以预计，中国人将对JWOC，WOC，也许滑雪定向运动项目在未来的投标。
我们请蒂姆·罗伯逊（新西兰）分享他对中国定向越野项目的印象
蒂姆，今年秋天[冬天]你去过中国两次。
你参加过哪些比赛项目？它们是什么类型的比赛？
10月，我在“北京奥运周”第二次参加比赛。这是由一个中距离和三、四个短跑组成的比赛。
它们不是传统的森林中长距离或城市短跑。举办地在北京周围的巨大而美丽的公园里。总会有一些惊喜，因此你必须非常灵活地进行定向运动。
12月，我在广州参加了历史公路定向越野锦标赛。在这里，我们再次比赛一个中跑和三个冲刺。
不同的是，我们只在一个“公园”地形上比赛一次。中间是一条条小径和“丛林”的混合体，我把它形容为中国的威尼斯，另一条则是在香蕉林中，另一条则是在技术含量很高的旧城废墟中。
你如何评价这些赛事？
中国的比赛气氛令人难以置信。在这些活动中，巨大的电视屏幕、嗡嗡的声音、到处都是横幅，摄影师不停地拍照是“正常的”。
在北京的这两年，我们都是水立方（奥运游泳场馆）的记者招待会上的嘉宾，在中国的体育频道上展出了所有参赛运动员的巨幅海报，还拍下了中国的体育频道。
在广州，每次比赛之前都有开幕式，有当地舞者、歌手、音乐家的表演，以及针对特别嘉宾的定向运动推广演讲。如果你晚上打开电视，你就可以通过新闻观看前一场比赛。
比赛地图和课程的更新必须在最后一刻完成，原因有很多，例如地形的变化永无止境。整栋新大楼可在一夜之间建成！
雅罗斯拉夫·卡马里克和他的团队在确保比赛质量上取得了惊人的成绩，尽管比赛过程中也出现了一些令人意外的结果，而且与欧洲比赛的水平也是完全可以相比的。
有时，我们在ISSOM绘制的地图上与ISSOM和其他由中国地图制造商制作的地图上竞争，而不是ISSOM。虽然有时可能不清楚什么是可以做的/不可以，但在比赛之前，亚罗斯拉夫总是很好地向选手们介绍情况，以确保公平的比赛环境。
你如何描述中国短跑比赛中使用的地形？
中国能提供的条件很好。这里有很大的多样性，我相信其中一些独特的地形会让比赛变得更加公平，没有任何一支球队有“主场优势”，或者在比赛开始前能够对比赛进行过多的研究（谷歌地图在中国没有提供这么多信息！）
广州的比赛绝对是我参加过的最好的短跑比赛地图之一。以全速穿过香蕉叶，然后进入一个没有人烟的废弃建筑迷宫，这只是一个定向越野的梦想。
地图需要一些习惯，你需要非常自然的使用你的技术。期待意想不到的事情总是好的。与实际在地形上看地图是完全不同的两码事。公园的建筑和布局与我所经历过的完全不同，我花了一些时间才摸清地图和如何在地形上奔跑的感觉。
中国将在2019年举办世界杯决赛。现在已经快两年了，但是你对这次活动有什么期待呢？
自从2016年第一次在中国比赛以来，我一直在等待这个消息。我对这次欧洲范围外的定向越野运动的扩展感到兴奋我认为对于那些有机会在这里竞争的定向运动员来说，这将是一次很好的新体验。
尽管中国离新西兰还不到一半，但我已经感觉到，在中国比赛对我来说就像是一个“家”的世界杯。
看到组织者们在这些比赛中所做的一切，我预计世界杯将是一个巨大的事件。我可以向那些还没有在中国体验过定向越野的运动员推荐，让他们考虑明年参加其中一项赛事。
来自IOF（国际定向联合会）官网China – a new opportunity for Orienteering
Posted on | March 23, 2018 | Category: Arena, FootO, News
The Orienteering Association of China became a member of the International Orienteering Federation in the summer of 1992. During 2008-2012, China had several high-level athletes and the Chinese orienteers reached their top results ever at the major IOF events: 7th place in the women’s Relay at WOC 2008, and Shuangyan Hao’s 10th place in the women’s Sprint race at WOC 2009. But since then, most of the runners retired and China lost pace in their development, at least at the high level.
Today nearly 500 000 people from more than 400 schools, clubs, and sports companies do orienteering, and almost 100 large orienteering events, with from a few hundred to several thousand participants, are held annually in China.
Although orienteering is more and more popular in China, especially among the younger generations, orienteering is facing similar problems as in other developing orienteering countries. As orienteering is not an Olympic sport, and not even a listed sport by the Olympic Council of Asia, it is difficult to get the attention and the substantial financial support from the government. Another problem is that most of the athletes and the coaches have lower levels of orienteering skill and lack high-level event experience.
Development plan for China
At the end of 2017, International Orienteering Federation President Leho Haldna and CEO Tom Hollowell visited China twice to learn about the status of orienteering there and to secure the organization of the final round of the Orienteering World Cup in 2019.
Tom Hollowell says “We were very happy to get this opportunity to visit China last autumn. Our primary goal was to reach an agreement for the first ever World Cup event in China in the 2019 season. But we also agreed to make a development plan for orienteering in China. We’ve talked about different ways of raising the level of their elite athletes, bringing more major orienteering events to China and promoting orienteering as a sport for all. So, there are 3 parts of this long-term plan which we are continuing to develop.”
China is the most populated country in the world and it is of interest to promote orienteering there. Another reason for this country’s importance to orienteering is that China is a driving sports nation in Asia. So, China’s development should help to develop orienteering in the rest of Asia.
One of the key elements of the development plan is helping the Chinese elite orienteers to improve their orienteering skills. Though they are often very good runners, their orienteering and map reading techniques need to be improved significantly. The new generation of Chinese orienteers don’t have much experience of competing against the world-class athletes, and it takes years to build the skills needed to compete at the highest level. A year ago, a number of young Chinese athletes took part in the WOC, JWOC and other international events, and, more importantly, started to train with European clubs before the Major Events, in order to improve their skills.
Focusing only on the elite athletes training is not enough to build a strong basis for a long-term growth. A coaching program has to be established and the coaching of coaches needs to be carried out.
Bringing more Major Events to China should be another tool to let their orienteers regularly compete against the world’s top athletes. Although there is a growing interest in organizing WRE-level events held in China, assistance is needed to bring these to a world-class level, to enable China to organise IOF Major Events. Clinics and seminars for potential event organisers, advisers and mappers are planned for 2018. And there are things that IOF Major Events could benefit from in learning from China as well. For example, ceremonies in China are really top level and could set an example to many event organisers.
Orienteering as a sport for all
Another piece of the development plan is promoting orienteering as a sport for all and a lifetime activity with very strong sustainability values.
Even at the political level there are some positive signs for orienteering. A new state program was introduced at the 19th Party Congress last autumn that shows intentions to spread sports for all, in which everyone can participate. And orienteering is identified as one such sport.
“During our first visit, we were invited to the Chinese Olympic Committee and it was clear during that meeting, that they see orienteering as a very good sport for China as a society, not just as an elite sport. When we talk about sports for all, China is underdeveloped. We know that orienteering can provide positive benefits and develop something new in China. It’s very important for us to use this window of opportunity now that we have had a very positive reception from the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Sports Authorities”, says Tom Hollowell, IOF CEO.
World Orienteering Day is a very good tool for spreading orienteering in the most positive way to a wide audience. It was also very interesting to see how orienteering events in China were combined with cultural activities. In other parts of the world, you can occasionally experience local culture, arts and history at an orienteering event, and this is not uncommon in China. For example the Historical Road Orienteering Championship 2017 in Guangdong province was a great example of that.
A variety of terrains
As a huge country, China can offer all types of terrain for both urban and forest orienteering. In South and South East China, forests are usually very thick, but there are many historical villages and great urban terrains for sprint racing. But in the north of China, there many good forest terrains.
“It is really hard to describe the typical Chinese terrain. As you know, China has a great long history and a wide territory. There are so many diverse terrains for the orienteering: from the ancient villages and the modern parks in the cities, to bamboo or fruit forests terrain. There couldn’t be a better way to learn about China than through orienteering”, Zhang Guangshuo from the Orienteering Association of China says.
Banana plantations, bamboo forests, orange groves, ancient villages with 1000 year old buildings. Sounds unusual. Even if we’d try to find anything similar in South Europe, the Chinese terrains would definitely be something exceptional.
World Cup 2019 and future Major Events
In December 2017, the Orienteering Association of China and the International Orienteering Federation reached an agreement to organise the final round of the IOF Orienteering World Cup in 2019.
It will be not only the first ever Orienteering World Cup round in China but also the first IOF Major Event with global participation in the country. Only regional championships and world ranking events have been held previously in China.
The World Cup Final will be held at the end of October 2019 in and around Guangzhou city and the Guangdong Province.
Zhang Guangshuo, OAC: “That was great news, both for the IOF and for the Chinese orienteering community. It will be the first time that China hosts an international orienteering event at the highest level. The gap between Chinese and European high-level runners is obvious. Now our athletes will have the opportunity to learn from the top European orienteers and improve their skills, so the gap will be narrowing down. We believe that this will be a unique and unforgettable orienteering experience for all athletes. We sincerely welcome orienteers from all over the World to China”.
And with the growth of orienteering in China, it will be no surprise to see more Major Events there in the future. We can expect Chinese bids for JWOC, WOC and maybe Ski Orienteering events in the future.
We’ve asked Tim Robertson (New Zealand) to share his impressions about orienteering events in China
Tim, You’ve been to China twice this autumn/winter. In which events have you participated and what type of races were they?
In October, I was racing for the second time in the “Beijing-O-Week” – it’s a competition that consists of one middle distance and three or four sprints.
These aren’t traditional forest middle distances or city sprints. They take place in the huge and beautiful parks that surround Beijing. There are always some surprises and therefore you have to be very flexible with your orienteering.
In December, I was in Guangzhou competing in the Historical Road Orienteering Championships. Here we raced again one middle and three sprints.
The difference here was that we only raced once in a “park” terrain. The middle was a mixture of paths and “jungle”, one of the sprints I would describe as a Chinese Venice and the other was partly in a Banana forest and partly in very technical old town ruins.
How would you evaluate these events?
The atmosphere surrounding the competitions in China is incredible. Huge TV screens, drones overhead, banners everywhere and photographers taking nonstop pictures is just the “normal” at these events.
Both years in Beijing we have been guests at a press conference inside the water cube (Olympic swimming venue) with huge posters of all competition athletes on display and the sport channel of China filming.
In Guangzhou, there was an opening ceremony before every competition with performances from local dancers, singers, musicians and speeches promoting orienteering to the special guests. If you turned on the TV in the evening you could watch the previous race on the news.
Updates to competition maps and courses have to be done quite last minute due to a number of reasons such as the never-ending changes in the terrain. A whole new building can just be put up overnight!
Jaroslav Kacmarcik and his team do an amazing job of making sure the races are at a high enough quality and although there have been some surprises along the way the competitions are fair and definitely comparable with the level in Europe.
Sometimes we have competed on maps drawn with ISSOM and others produced by Chinese mapmakers not to ISSOM. Although it can sometimes be unclear what is passable/not the runners were always briefed well by Jaroslav before the race to ensure a level playing field.
How would you describe terrains used for sprint races in China?
The terrains China have to offer are great. There is a huge variety and I believe with some of these unique terrains that competitions can become more level with no team having a “home town advantage” or being able to study too much about the competition before it begins (Google maps in China doesn’t provide so much information!).
The competitions in Guangzhou are definitely some of the best sprint maps I have competed on. Running through banana leaves at full speed and then coming into a maze of abandoned buildings with no people was just an orienteering dream.
The maps take some getting used to and you need to be very spontaneous with your technique. It’s always good to expect the unexpected. And looking at the map compared to actually being in the terrain are two completely different things. The architecture and layout of the parks are nothing like what I have ever experienced, it took me some time to get a feel for the maps and how to run in the terrain.
China will organise the World Cup Final in 2019. It’s almost 2 years ahead, but what are your expectations for this event?
Since competing in China for the first time in 2016 I have been waiting for this news. I am excited about the expansion of orienteering outside of this European ring and I think it will be a great new experience for the orienteers who get the chance to compete here.
Although China is not even halfway to New Zealand, I get the feeling already that racing in China will feel like a “home” World Cup for me.
Seeing what the organisers are doing already at these competitions I expect the World Cup to be a massive event. I can recommend to those athletes who have not yet had a taste of orienteering in China to consider competing next year in one of these events.