Lunsen

Posted by Ivan Nagy, 12 Feb 2010@8:00

One of the worlds best known educational centers, the city of Uppsala, offers not only exceptional possibilities for studying but also some great areas for orienteering. Namely, just some 10 kilometers away from the city main square one can find an almost pathless wilderness, a 20 km2 big mozaic of fine  hills and bogs of all sizes. The Lunsen area.

Just go straight!

Lunsen is one of the best areas mapped around Uppsala and many would argue it is also one of the best in Sweden. Members of local clubs train here frequently as they are lucky enough to have this area at the doorstep, but even the orienteers  from farther away come often to Lunsen for technical practice.

Lunsen is special in many ways, says Tomas Stenström, OK Linne’s elite runner. – The map is really big and there are big sections of terrain with no roads or paths. The terrain is demanding and unless you are 100% focused, you can get totally lost. We are often performing night Orientering in this area, and there are not many harder things than having Lunsen under control at night.

What about tactics in such terrain? – Route choices are almost none in Lunsen, continues Tomas. – Therefore the best way to navigate is to hold to the line and be really focused on where you are and where to go. Top runners in this type of terrain are able to see which object to use for fast navigation and to keep high speed all the way to the control. You need to be really technically trained to succeed in Lunsen. I think some top runners have serious problems with this type of terrain and even when they think they have done a good race, they can be several minutes behind  the best.

Lunsen. (C) Therese Olsson OK Linné

More than just orienteering

Uppsala is a city rich in history and renowned educational center. Uppsala university is the oldest University in the Nordic countries and it dates to 1477. Perhaps the best known Uppsala student is Carl Linneaus (also known as Carl von Linné).  Linné laid the foundations of modern taxonomy (categorising livig organisms) as well as set up the scheme of binomial nomenclature (scientific nomenclature of living organisms).
The Lunsen area itself is a nature reserve, where they try to maintain and re-develop biodiversity. It is interesting that after the reserve was formed in 2003, some wetlands were restored by filling up about 20 old  forest ditches. Foot-bridges have been built in many places so you can walk through the wetlands. For instance, there is a 120 meters long bridge with passing places across Micksmossen.

Part of the Lunsen map. (C) Upsala IF

Part of the Lunsen map. (C) Upsala IF

Why should you run on this map before you die?

So why did we choose this map as a candidate for 101 Orienteering Maps you should run on before you die? One of our readers commented that “Swedes say that once you manage to orienteer there you can orienteer anywhere.” While one could argue on that statement, the fact is that Lunsen is technically very challenging and at the same time very enjoyable area (I have actually tried this terrain on a few trainings). The forest is big, wild and beautiful. Lunsen was also on the list of the 10 best Swedish areas published by Alternativet. The proximity of Uppsala is additional bonus.

Map: Lunsen
Scale: 1: 10000 & 1:15000
Equidistance: 2,5 m
Year: 2009 (constantly updated)
Size of map: overall area cca. 45 km2 , last update cca. 26 km2
Mappers: Field work:  Kampfs Kartor (Thomas Kampf)
Terrain type: Diffuse relief, many marshes, bogs of different sizes.
Estimated top speed: 5.5 min/km
Interesting points: Technically very difficult map, big sections with no paths. Proximity of Uppsala one of World best known university cities. The area itself is a Nature reserve.
Links of interest: Owner club Upsala IF, World of O maps Lunsen entry (see for example Albin Ridefelt’s long leg training),  Wikipedia on Uppsala
Events on map: Some national events.
Country: Sweden
Location:

Discussion

Please note that the map being presented in this article does not necessarily mean that it will also be included in the final selection of the 101 maps – and in the paper book. It only means it is currently on our candidate list.

There will probably be quite a few Swedish maps on the final list. Do you think Lunsen should be there too? Have you ran on this terrain? What was your experience? Do you know about some similar even more interesting areas?

Thanks

Thanks to Tomas Stenström and Thomas Kampf for help with the article.

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Sekotsuji (Mt. Fuji 富士山)

Posted by Ivan Nagy, 05 Feb 2010@8:00

As it last errupted in 1707, Mt. Fuji, the highest peak in Japan and one of the 3 holy mountains in the country, is still considered to be an active volcano. Through thousands of years of eruptions lava flows produced subtle formations in lower slopes of the mountain. Uncountable knolls and small depressions make things very interesting for orienteers in quest for unique navigational challenges. Meet the Sekotsuji map!

Softest terrain ever?!

The fact is that it is not easy to find a flat, runnable area suitable for orienteering in Japan. The cedar forests beneath Mt. Fuji, however, are the main exception to that – explains Rob Plowright, Japan based Australian and former coach of the Japanese national squad. There are actually several maps made in the Fuji area, but Sekotsuji is the most interesting one. The terrain there is of mixed technical difficulty – some areas are not too dense with relief features, while others are highly complex. The vegetation varies a lot affecting runability from bad to very good – and therefore gives opportunities for good route choice planning. What is quite unique about this terrain is its soft ground:

-I remember when running downhill your shoes where filled with loose earth, because of the softness of the topsoil. It was not comparable to any other forest I have visited. It’s a bit like running in sand, but even softer. Even if the physical demandings of the terrain suited me perfectly, I wanted to use the tracks a lot to vary the speed and the running surface, so I could push myself even harder when entering the soft terrain. – says Allan Mogensen for 101 orienteering maps. The legendary Dane, double World Champion,  won the World cup race on the Sekotsuji map in 2000.

Mt. Fuji

Photo by hogeasdf, CC-ASA License

More than just orienteering

The impressive, almost perfectly shaped cone of Mt. Fuji is one of the main symbols of Japan. It is one of the three holy mountains (the other two being Mt. Tate and Mt. Haku) and a frequent motif in Japanese art. An interesting point is that until Meji Era (1868-1912) women were forbidden to climb this sacred mountain. And perhaps even more interesting point for us, the orienteers, is the fact that right on the top of the crater there exists a real orienteering map. It was made by former Japanese national team runner Shin Murakoshi. It took him about 10 hours to make the map and he even organized a competition there. It is true it was for 3 people only, but still it was a competition! See the map below.

Part of Sekotsuji map (C) Shizouka Orienteering Association.

Top of Fuji map (together with some coastline mapped). (C) Shin Murakoshi

Why should you run on this map before you die?

So why did we choose this map as a candidate for 101 Orienteering Maps you should run on before you die? The main reason is because the volcanic formations on this terrain seem to provide  interesting technical challenges. Sekotsuji seems to be the most interesting or one of the most interesting maps in Japan. The fact that the terrain is volcanic is also important as there don’t seem to be too many areas like that mapped. The map is situated right under Mt. Fuji which is an important mountain for Japan in many aspects.

Map: Sekotsuji
Scale: 1: 10000 & 1:15000
Equidistance: 5m
Year: 2000
Size of map: cca. 12,5 km2
Mappers: Field work: Perola Olsson, Toru Tanaka, Takao Nishio. Mapping & digitizing: Kazushige Hatori, Kotaro Nakamura. Mapping control: Shin Murakoshi, Rob Plowright.
Terrain type: Volcanic, soft ground.
Estimated top speed: Allan Mogensen, WC Classic event: 5.7 min/km
Interesting points: Volcanic type of terrain is not very common. Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain is just above the map.
Links of interest: World cup 2000 with maps and routes, Wikipedia-entry about Mt. Fuji
Events on map: World cup 2000
Country: Japan
Location:

Discussion

Please note that the map being presented in this article does not necessarily mean that it will also be included in the final selection of the 101 maps – and in the paper book. It only means it is currently on our candidate list.

Do you know about any other “volcanic O-maps” (Chilean Llama Volcano and French Clermont Ferrand are already on our candidate list)? Do you think another Japanese map is more interesting? Maybe those from WOC 2005  (see WOC 2005 maps here)?

Thanks

Thanks to Rob Plowright, Allan Mogensen and Shin Murakoshi for help with the article.

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Les Bouzigasses

Posted by Jan Kocbach, 02 Feb 2010@8:00

Part of map Les Bouzigasses. Map copyright CDCO12.

Aveyron sounds like magic in the ears of many orienteers – the reason being the very special terrain which is both very runnable and very technical. The Aveyron terrain gives you a lot of navigational pleasure – if you manage to adjust your speed to the orienteering skills – and the open terrain with the big rocks give a special atmosphere.

The question is not if there will be an Aveyron map on the list of the 101 Orienteering Maps you should run on before you die, but rather which Aveyron map to choose.  For now, our choice has landed on the map Les Bouzigasses, which was used for the Junior European Cup long distance in 2007 and for the 5th stage of French 6 Days in 2008.

The hardest technically

This was not an easy choice – we had to confer with the master of the Aveyron terrain and the King of Middle distance, Thierry Gueorgiou, to pick Les Bouzigasses: – There are many good maps in Aveyron – so it is difficult to choose only one of them, Gueorgiou responds when asked to pick a single one. When only one has to be chosen, Gueorgiou lands on  either Le Patus or Les Bouzigasses. – Les Bouzigasses has a very nice part with narrow passages.  Le Patus is special because the map contains several different types of terrain [Editors note: Le Patus was used for the 4th stage of the French 6 Days 2008]. In the end Les Bouzigasses was chosen for this article because of its very special north-western part. We invite you to discuss this choice in the comments below – we include links to several other Aveyron maps below in the Discussion section so that you can make up your own mind.  One of the competitors wrote the following on his training log after the race on Les Bouzigasses during French 6 Days 2008: – The hardest technically so far, and I ran too fast, making too many mistakes. I ended up running almost 4km further than needed. Interestingly, my HRavg was the lowest it’s been for a long time in an orienteering race.

The terrain in the Aveyron area is open with big rocks and bushes lowering the visibility.

Photo by Sergesal, CC-ASA License

Unique terrain

When Gueorgiou says that he has not met more difficult terrains, that tells a lot about the Aveyron terrain. – The terrain is quite unique as there are a LOT of details and even if the terrain is open and very runnable, the visibilty is in most of places not that good because of the big rocks and small bushes. I haven’t met more difficult terrains, because you can really run fast because the ground is nice, but you are limited by your orienteering skills.

…it is definitively a challenge to rise your head from the map and look ahead

Actually, Gueorgiou has just spent several days training in the Aveyron area along with Anders Nordberg and Kiril Nikolov (you find many of the maps from their trainings here)

How to navigate in Aveyron

In case you ever end up in Aveyron on an orienteering map (which you definitely should), here are Gueorgious tips for navigation in Aveyron. – My best advice for this terrain is to have a good plan for the whole leg, because you will loose lot of time if you get stuck in the bushes. So, it might be clever to run longer to avoid very detailed areas and dense vegetation. As always in very detailed terrain, Gueorgiou advices you to use his “Full speed – no mistake” technique – in which you use the visibility of details that stick out in the terrain to maintain full speed all the way. – It is also clever to look as far as possible to try to catch some nice and visible features like single trees or big rocks. But it is definitively a challenge to rise your head from the map and look ahead, because you are already struggling to know where you are NOW.  So it is even more difficult to know where you will be in 2-300 meters…

Part of map Les Bouzigasses. Map copyright CDCO12.

Why should you run on this map before you die?

So why did we choose this map as a candidate for 101 maps you should run on before you die? The navigational pleasure you get from orienteering in this terrain is certainly one important reason. Thierry Gueorgiou put it this way:  - This terrain has to be in the list, simply because if it is not in the list, no other terrain can enter in the “101 Orienteering maps you should run on before you die”… (Article continues below the map)

Map Les Bouzigasses. Map copyright CDCO12.

Map: Les Bouzigasses
Scale: 1: 5000
Equidistance: 5m
Year: 2008
Size of map: cca. 3.4km2
Mappers: ARCANIS ANGHEL Marius, COTIRTA Marian, ROSCA Dinisle
Terrain type: Calcareous plateau composed of many rocks. Semi-open vegetation (of the type found on limestone plateaus). Fairly high race speed, although some areas of great technicality oblige to slow down a lot (areas of micro-reliefs, high density of rocks). The terrain can be described as a Labyrinthique zone with reduced visibility.
Estimated top speed: 6 min/km
Interesting points: Thierry Gueorgiou says he hasn’t met more difficult terrains.
Links of interest: CDCO12 (the owning club)Les Bouzigasses full map JEC 2007Les Bouzigasses full map French 6 Days 2008
Events on map: JEC 2007, Aveyron 6 Days 2008
Country: France
Location:

Discussion

Please note that the map being presented in this article does not necessarily mean that it will also be included in the final selection of the 101 maps – and in the paper book. It only means it is currently on our candidate list.

Caylar

The big hill by Le Caylar. Photo: Thierry Gueorgiou

As noted above, while the choice of Aveyron was obvious, the choice of Les Bouzigasses was not an easy one.  Here are the maps which we have considered:

Did we choose the most fitting map from the Aveyron region? Are there other interesting maps from the Aveyron region that we missed? Have you ever run on these maps? Please let us know in the comments below. We would also like to know if you know about other areas in the world with comparable terrain to Aveyron. As far as we know, there are terrains in Portugal/Spain with some similar characteristics – and even this map from Kazakhstan seems to have something in common with Aveyron.

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