Irbene sample. (C) Latvian orienteering federation

Classified as top secret military radio spying center by the ex-soviet army, the Irbene area opened up to the wide public only in the 90’s, after Latvia gained independence. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why this great orienteering terrain waited so many years to be mapped.

Varying terrain

As a matter of fact, it was not before EOC 2008 that this area was used for the first time. One of the best Baltic mappers Leonids Malankovs, equipped with the laser scanning data, created a masterpiece which served as a base for one of the technically most interesting Long courses in the last years of international championships. The top runners’ comments all seemed to agree in one thing – the race was truly difficult. Eva Jurenikova for example wrote on her blog: “The long final yesterday was one of the technically most demanding long distance races I have ever run.” And she has run many. In the Orienteering achievement of 2009 interview Swiss multiple World Champion Daniel Hubmann said that the Irbene map is one of his favorites.

The often pointed out fact about this map is that it contains several different terrain types, each of which requires different orienteering technique and running speed. Parts of very runnable forest are exchanging with low visibility green areas, where extra care is needed. Sand dune forms are exchanging from very dense and intricate to rather straightforward features. A big portion of the map is covered by marshes, sometimes quite deep ones, which can slow running severely and can therefore be used as route choice “obstacles”. Interestingly, in the western part of the map there even exists a Sahara-like section, pure open sandy area.

Few different terrain types on Irbene map. (C) Latvian orienteering federation.

More than just orienteering

In the western part of the map there is an interesting Radio Telescope, one of the Europe’s few of the kind (supposedly there are about about 30). Telescope’s “32-metre, fully steerable parabolic, centimetre-wave range antenna (RT-32)” is nowadays used mainly for cosmic observations by VIRAC. According to online information it was built by the Russian navy for spying purposes during the Cold war and was kept secret until 1993. Close to the antenna there is an abandoned military village. Guided tours in the area are possible.

The Irbene radio telescope.

Photo by slayerphoto

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? There are many nice sand dune areas but we decided to present this one first for its diversity. The Europan Orienteering Championship was organized here. “City of ghosts” and the radio telescope are interesting points to see.

Big part of Irbene map. (C) Latvian orienteering federation.

Map:	Irbene
Scale:	1: 10000 & 1:15000
Equidistance:	2,5 m
Year:	2008
Size of map:	cca. 8,5 km2
Mappers:	Field work: Leonids Malankovs
Terrain type:	Sand dunes with different levels of intricacy, many marshes, some open “desert like” parts.
Estimated top speed:	5.5 min/km
Interesting points:	Technically very interesting map, providing different terrain types and therefore different skills. Interesting radar  and “ghost city” from Soviet times are on the map. Close to sea.
Links of interest:	EOC 2008, Latvian orienteering federation, VIRAC, Wikipedia entry on VIRAC, photos of abandoned village and radar., Irbene map on Worldofo maps, Daniel Hubmann’s route from EOC 2008 on the Irbene map
Events on map:	EOC 2008, KAPA 3 days.
Country:	Latvia
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 a few sand dune maps on the final list. And also maybe even more than one map from Latvia. For example, we are also thinking about the Liepaja map. Do you think the Irbene map should be on the final list? Have you ran in this terrain? What was your experience? Do you know about some similar even more interesting areas?

Thanks

Thanks to Anatolijs Tarasovs and Mārtiņš Līsmanis for help with the article!

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.

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 2007, Les 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.

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:

• Les Bouzigasses. See also sample 2, sample 3, sample 4 from Nikolov/Gueorgiou/Nordberg training January 2010 and the map Plo de las Conquas (sample 2, sample 3) which overlaps Les Bouzigasses to the east.
• Le Patus – and Roc de Louradou which is a part of Le Patus. See also sample 2, sample 3 from N/G/N training 2010 and sample 4 from N/G/N training 2010 entitled “Kiril meets the myth”.
• Roc Acro. This map is quite famous as it was the first one mapped in the area – by Czech mapmakers in 1994 – and it was also one of our main alternatives to Les Bouzigasses.  See also  map sample from an interesting N/G/N training January 2010 on Roc Acro. Also around Le Caylar are Roc and Roc and Les Rives et Le Caylar.
• Tour des Aiguillons (see also sample 2) and La Salvetat
• Maps around La Couvertoirade which were used for the French 5 Days in 2005: Potensac Sud, Le Mont Merdous, La Libertade, Le Parpaillou, St Eulalie de Cernon.

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.

Plitvička jezera, (C) OK Maksimir, Zagreb

Hidden in the middle of deep forests of Lika region in Croatia, Plitvice lakes are one of the Europe’s top natural attractions. Thousands of tourists vist this National park every year, but did you know that just a few steps off of the main paths there is a real wilderness, an orienteers’ treat at its best?

On Darko Sakar’s (OK Maksimir, Zagreb) initiative in 1988 the first orienteering map of Plitvice was made by Arne Dirdal and Mats Karlsson, however, it was not before 18 years later that the first competition was actually organized there. In the period 2006 – 2007 a part of the map was renewed by Slovenian-Croatian and Czech mappers. This time it was Dario Štambuk, a Zagreb based dentist and a keen orienteer, who decided to revive the Plitvice project. I happened to be one of the lucky guys invited for mapping.

Strong similarity of relief features

Despite some heavy rains and cold hands during my stay in Plitvice, mapping of the area was fun, though I have to admit that running on the unknown part of the map made by Czech mappers was even far better. The main challenge of the area is the lack of paths, occasionally  greenish vegetation which hinders visibility and above all a strong similarity of relief features. You lose map contact once, and most likely you will end up with a bad race. The fastest way to navigate through this area is to use the gentle ridges and flat hill tops between depressions as kind of line objects whenever you can. A skilled course planner will try to make this hardly possible, though.

The faster type of forest on Plitvička jezera map. This particular area has been used a few times for Sprint races.

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? Mainly because of the quality of terrain, but also because of the beauty of this very special place. Plitvice lakes are UNESCO protected and as corny as it may sound they really are something you should see.  Not only because of unique waterscape, but also for the fact that the forests that surround the lakes kept their truly wild spirit – isn’t it exciting to know that the more remote parts of this big National park are still inhabited by the rare specieses like wolf (Canis Lupus), bear (Ursus arctos) and the bobcat (Lynx lynx)?

(Article continues below the pictures.)

Plitvička jezera map. (C) OK Maksimir, Zagreb

Magnificent Plitvice waterscape.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oaklandnative/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Map:	Plitvička jezera
Scale:	1: 10000
Equidistance:	5m
Year:	1988, partly renewed in 2006-2007
Size of map:	old map cca. 12km2, new map cca. 3km2
Mappers:	1988: Arne Dirdal and Mats Karlsson, 2006-2007: Ivan Nagy, Tomislav Kaniški, Ondřej Dostál (under the pseudonym Josef Marduk), Jan Drbal, Zdeněk Sokolář
Terrain type:	Karst terrain, stony, many depressions, in places low visibility
Estimated top speed:	7min/km
Interesting points:	The mapped area itself is hundreds of years old beech forest. Walking distance from the map it is possible to reach astonishing waterfall landscape and emerald green lakes.
Links of interest:	whole map at low resolution, OK Maksimir (the owning club), Plitvice lakes national park
Events on map:	Alpe Adria cup, Maksimir cup
Country:	Croatia
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. Please use the comment field below to give us your opinion about the map.

Why should/shouldn’t this map be on the list of the 101 maps? Do you know about another map with similar characteristics which should be chosen instead? Have you ever run on this map?