19Th World University Championships

O 19th NEWS N 3 World University Championships http://wuoc2014.cz August 12-16

ORIENTEERING 2014 Olomouc Czech Republic 19th World University Championship

New Zealand orienteer Matt Ogden Photo: JWOC 2012 Archive

6 1 O - AA 2 NEWS N 3 1 WUOC NEWS

t s OPENING WORDS u ug , A Dear Readers, Dear Orienteering Friends, uc o th C Olom In less than three months, the 19 World University Orienteering zech Republic, Championships will take place in Olomouc and its surroundings. University students from all around the World will come to Moravia to compete for the medals. We believe that the week from 12th to 16th August will offer great sporting performances and that it will bring both athletes and spectators exceptional enjoyment.

You are reading the third issue of the “WUOC News” bulletin where you will find interviews with local and foreign runners, news from WUOC 2014 organisation and even an invitation to an interesting cultural and historical trip. The athletes will surely enjoy the advice on how to prepare for the sprint distance in the best way possible. We wish you pleasant reading and are looking forward to seeing you in August in Olomouc!

Dušan Vystavěl, Chairman of the Organising Committee of WUOC 2014 Tomáš Dlabaja, WUOC 2014 Ambassador Jan Exner, WUOC News Editor

CONTENT

Opening Words WUOC News Interview: Vojtěch Král News from the Organisation Winners’ Tips and Espionage: How to prepare for the Sprint Distance? Interesting Events that are worth Experiencing Today’s Stars, Tomorrow’s Leaders: Matt Ogden WUOC NEWS INTERVIEW Jan Exner VOJTĚCH KRÁL: I WANT TO FIGHT FOR THE MEDALS IN EVERY SINGLE RACE

With a lot of distinctive successes behind him and a promisingly developing career ahead of him, Czech orienteer Vojtěch Král is the sprint junior World Champion from the Championships in Dubbo, Australia, in 2007. He performs very well even amongst M21s. At this year’s European Orienteering Championships (EOC) in Portugal he managed to get the top 10 position in each of his three competitions. What is more, Vojtěch won the relay silver medal together with his teammates Jan Petržela and Jan Procházka. The 25-year old runner from Šumperk also wishes to reach the medals at the World University Orienteering Championships 2014 (WUOC). You placed 9th in the sprint, 10th in the middle distance and won the silver medal in the relay. How do you assess your Portuguese performance? I was in a good shape at this year’s EOC. I was able to fully utilise my preparation since I managed to avoid almost any injuries and illnesses during the winter. My results speak for themselves. I am able to attack for the medals at a sprint and a top 10 position at a middle distance. Overall, I am very happy despite a few stupid mistakes that prevented me from achieving even better results. Anyway, it is a step further in comparison to previous EOC and moreover, I still feel the capacity for improvement. Are you satisfied with your individual results? My aim is to perform faultless and absolutely clean orienteering. Unfortunately, I did not manage to fulfil this in any of my races. Even though I am satisfied with my results, I know that my races were not faultless. What does the relay silver medal mean for you? It’s my first senior medal. I am very happy that after those six years I came upon this fortune. It is definitely the biggest success I have ever achieved. What is your next programme at this year? I am actually aiming at Tiomila where I will probably run the 9th leg (This interview took place before Tiomila. Vojtěch placed 4th overall with his Swedish team IFK Mora). Afterwards, I believe that the nomination for WOC will only be a formality and I will be able to fully prepare myself for WOC, which is of course, the main goal of my season. Where, amongst your priorities this year’s, do you see WUOC? WUOC on home ground is for me, the other very important event of this year. I consider it as important as WOC. To put it simply, it is the event where I would like to perform faultless orienteering of highest quality. The centre of this year’s WUOC is between Šumperk where you live and Brno where you study. How do the terrains suit you? I know the terrains in the Haná Region very well. I spent my junior years there. Even though the terrains are not very technically difficult, they might be tricky in areas with more vegetation. I know what to expect and what to do. That can be my advantage. On the other hand, my or my fans’ expectations might tie my hands. Will you concentrate on some of the races or will you run them all? Even though I feel more of a sprint and middle distance runner, I am not afraid of the long distance. It is a big challenge for me to run all the races at this year’s WUOC. What are your WUOC goals? I definitely do not have small goals. I want to aim for medals in every single race. What is your long-term orienteering goal? In the long-term, I wish to achieve such a physical, technical and mental level so that I am able to compete with the best runners in the World. I also want to keep that level for some time. To put it more simply, I dream of completing all the races at WOC with the feeling of a job very well done.

6 1 O - AA 2 NEWS N 3 1 NEWS FROM THE ORGANISATION

t Dušan Vystavěl s u g Au ALL MAPS COMPLETED c, ou C Olom Preparations continue well according to the original plan. At the moment, less zech Republic, than 3 months remain till the start of the Championships, all maps are being intensively checked and controlled. In total, 40 square kilometers of forest have been mapped in addition to two sprint maps in towns. The Organising Committee of WUOC 2014 meets twice a month to discuss and solve current organisational issues. Hand in hand with WUOC 2014 preparations, there are educational events called „Orienteering days in the countryside“ going on where students from primary and secondary schools in the region may learn about the beauties and mysteries of orienteering. OLOMOUC REGION GREATLY SUPPORTS THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

WUOC 2014 has been significantly financially supported by the Olomouc Region where most of the races will be held. Olomouc Region’s President Jiří Rozbořil, together with WUOC 2014 Organising Committee’s Chairman Dušan Vystavěl, introduced and presented the locations for the WUOC races. Under the auspices of the first Deputy Alois Mačák, a special historical steam train will go from Prostějov to the long distance event center in Nectavské údolí on August 13.

„Mr Dušan Vystavěl, Chairman of the Organising Committee of WUOC 2014, introduces to Mr Jiří Rozbořil, President of the Olomouc Region, places where the fights for the medals will take place in August 2014.“

„President of the Olomouc Region, Mr Jiří Rozbořil, is looking forward to WUOC 2014. Together with Mr Dušan Vystavěl, Chairman of the Organising Committee of WUOC 2014, they presented the places where the WUOC 2014 events will be held.“ WINNERS’ TIPS AND ESPIONAGE Tomáš Dlabaja HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE SPRINT DISTANCE?

„Sprint“ disciplines comprise of 40% of the University World Orienteering Championships 2014 and every experienced orienteer knows how much „home“ pre-preparation can help to success. Nowadays, you can find a lot of valuable information on the internet. Besides that, this time all the embargoed areas have been previously mapped. You already have a good background.

Your next task is to improve their quality to get real racing maps. You need maps in the sprint map key and you have to update or find important details like gates, bridges, fences or walls, which radically influence route choices. When I was preparing myself for the sprint at the World Orienteering Championships 2008 in Olomouc, I used all accessible information from Google Earth, Google Street View, the homepage of the botanical garden, city webcams, virtual sightseeing through the botanical garden or even photos from the city homepage etc. You don’t need to know all the distinctive trees since small single objects are not so important. Sprint is mainly about right route choices and you should know all the possible options. Sure, a smart course setter can prepare some „traps“ to surprise competitors – new fences, closed gates etc. But if you are well prepared and you know all the possible options, you will quickly find an alternative route choice if there is a trap or a dead end street.

Last but not least, the most important step is to „experience“ and learn your know-how. It is not enough to just own a good racing map. You should set many different courses. Use information from the bulletin, which can indicate the positions of the start, public control, finish etc. But I underline the words „EXPERIENCE“ the course. An active experience is more than a passive one. The brain works better with real experience. You can test courses for example via the tool Running Wild or I rather recommend to take a map with a course and go outside to a big meadow or a playground and run a real simulation of the race. Imagine streets and buildings all around you and run your race between them. Make decisions, turn and look for right timing between running and map-reading. You will get quite a precise idea what you to expect on the D-Day!

INTERESTING EVENTS THAT ARE WORTH EXPERIENCING Petr Kadeřávek FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR THE LONG DISTANCE

WUOC 2014 participants will enjoy one special and unusual experience aside from the actual orienteering events. Transport to the long distance will be by train. But not any ordinary kind of train - a heritage train hauled by a real steam locomotive. Engine number 433.002 has been booked for this purpose, this being in the W65 class as she was born in 1948 in the Prague-based factory ČKD, one of the most famous Czech locomotive producers in the past. In view of her age, she should therefore enjoy respect, no matter that she is neither a marathon runner nor a sprinter - she was designed to serve on local lines, at a design speed of up to 60 km/h. But this is still good enough if you weigh 73.7 tonnes.

Her own refreshment control attached on her back can carry up to 11 cubic metres of water and 5 cubic metres of coal. To generate a sufficient amount of steam for her performance, as many as 101 pipes were put into her boiler. For most of her running career she was based in Slovak depots - Košice, Plešivec and Zvolen (note that at that time, it was the same country as the Czech Republic), but in 1973 she was moved to Jihlava and after 1978 she was held as a spare engine only, in Brno. Perhaps she even managed to pay a visit to the lines of the Moravian Western Railway (Mährische Westbahn), which is the line the competitors will travel on. Until 1978, when the use of steam engines ceased on that line, this class of locomotive was used.

After that, from 1981 to 1983, she was based in Šumperk and served only as a generator of heating steam in a locomotive depot, not an unusual destiny for a retired steam locomotive. She was then happy not to follow another usual destiny - being turned into scrap metal. She was saved by a group of railway enthusiasts from Valašské Meziříčí and restored into an operational state in 1986. Great credit for this was due to the manager of the Valašské Meziříčí depot, Josef Matiovský, after which the engine was nicknamed „Matěj“. Kept in the care of the National Technical Museum, the engine has been based there up till now.

Not just the haulage, but also the coaching stock will be stylish. In Valašské Meziříčí they keep not only historical engines but also coaching stock. Seven carriages, nicknamed „Rybák“ after Jindřich Rybák, designed with a single-axle undercarriage, are booked for the train. This type of coach was very common and several hundred were built from 1936 - 1949. The train will consist of four third-class carriages, one first-class and two buffet cars.

6 1 O - AA 2 The history of the line itself is even longer and certainly no less interesting. The Prostějov NEWS N 3 1

t - Chornice - Třebovice v Čechách line, together with the Chornice - Velké Opatovice s u and Kostelec na Hané - Čelechovice na Hané branches, was put into operation on 1st g September 1889. The line was owned by the Moravian Western Railway (Mährische Au c, Westbahn), controlled by the Frankfurt (Main)-based financial corporation Bankhaus ou C lom Erlanger & Söhne which had the concession to run it. The operation of the trains was zech Republic, O sub-contracted to kaiserlich-königliche Staatsbahnen (kkStB - Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways). In 1918, following the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia and hence the Czechoslovak railways (ČSD), the latter provided the operation on behalf of the concessioner, but unlike many others the line remained in private ownership right until October 1945 when it was taken over by the state.

This line has always been local, but at one stage of its history there was a chance it would become a main-line, thanks to one of the most successful Czech businessmen ever, Tomáš Baťa, whose shoe brand has survived world-wide even today. Based in Zlín and located beside the main railway line, he came up with an idea to add another train line which would cross Czechoslovakia from west to east between Praha and Košice, using the line via Chornice and Prostějov and then additional stretches which would have to be built. He even acquired shares in the Moravian Western Railway in 1925, to be able to have influence on its development. But the state railways were not interested in this plan, and eventually WWII and the turn of the state economy plans after the war meant a definitive end for this idea, including those missing links which were never built. Furthermore, the technical parameters of the line were not very suitable for a main-line, above all because of the relatively steep gradients. Right alongside the competition area, from Chornice up to Dzbel, the line climbs by 180 m on a 12 km stretch. What an average runner would consider as almost flat terrain is a hilly track for the average current diesel locomotive, on which it could pull only some 300 tonnes in load; this meaning some four or five fully loaded freight wagons.

Twice in its later history the services on the railway were affected by border changes. After the Third Reich occupied the Czech border areas (Sudeten) in September 1938, nearby territory to the north-west became a part of the region on account of the high proportion of Germans living there. Therefore the Třebovice - Chornice section was under the control of Deutsche Reichsbahn and Prostějov - Dzbel under Czechoslovak railways ČSD respectively protectorate ČMD established after 15th March 1939 after the Reich occupied the entire country in the end.

In the current era, the borders of regions („kraj“ in Czech) play a role, as the passenger services are operated under the order of their councils. Because Pardubický kraj decided not to continue with local railway services at the south-eastern end of its territory, the Moravská Třebová - Chornice - Dzbel section has been without passenger traffic since December 2011, while the Dzbel - Prostějov section, being under the responsibility of Olomoucký kraj, is still used. And as there is no freight traffic between Chornice, Dzbel and Ptení, the orienteering express will bring a true revival for the line in the valley of Nectava stream. TODAY’S STARS, TOMORROW’S LEADERS Jan Exner MATT OGDEN: DREAM ABOUT BIG THINGS. IN ORIENTEERING, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

New Zealand orienteer Matt Ogden made a big step into the World elite at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Slovakia 2012 where he won the middle distance gold medal. Being a student at the University of Auckland, he took a short break from the biggest events last year in order to complete his engineering degree. This year, big comeback is on the programme and Matt Ogden wants to perform well also in the Czech Republic in August 2014.

You are the 2012 Junior World Champion. How has this success changed your orienteering career? What has this success meant for orienteering in New Zealand? Winning the Junior World Champs was a truly unforgettable experience and one that I will cherish for many years to come. It was great to prove that as a junior coming from NZ, given the right preparation, it is possible to achieve exceptional results on the world stage. There is a very strong group of NZ juniors coming through at the moment and I would like to think that my result has given them a little bit of inspiration. I don’t think we will have to wait too long until another Kiwi steps onto another podium. What is, in your opinion, the biggest difference between junior and by myself, unless it is technical training. You cannot beat a very hard adult orienteering? How difficult was it for you to make the step from interval session or long run with a good group of mates. juniors to adults? There is a huge difference between junior and senior levels, in terms What is your goal for next year? Are you thinking about participating of all aspects of orienteering; the mental, physical and especially in WUOC 2014? the technical. As for the biggest difference I couldn’t say right at this My goals are to move to Sweden (Uppsala) and begin training with stage. the awesome group of athletes there. I definitely want to run WUOC I don’t believe I have really experienced the step up into the senior next year. I ran the competition in 2010 and really loved it, and I am ranks yet. My focus for this year has been on completing my sure WUOC next year will be a brilliant event. Other goals will be Engineering degree; hence I could not travel to Europe or race in any WOC and running Jukola/Tiomila for the first time ever! of the big competitions. Next year, I plan to really make an attempt Have you ever been to the Czech Republic? Have you ever practiced at the step up. I am sure it will be extremely tough, but I look forward orienteering there? What do you think about Czech terrains? to the challenge. Maybe one day I might be footing it with the likes I have never orienteered in Czech Republic, but I have seen a lot of of Bergmann, Hubmann and Lundanes. maps from various competitions. I also followed JWOC very closely What is your long-term orienteering goal? this year and I was really impressed with the organisation and A bit clichéd, but my ultimate goal is to become the best orienteer professionalism of the events. The terrain looked fantastic and all the that I can be. I really want to experience the big relays and courses demanded the most from the athletes, so I expect the same senior World Champs, and also be part of a Scandinavian club next year. environment. In terms of results, I can dream the biggest of all, but I What would be your message for current juniors who want to will put all my effort into the controllables; my speed and accuracy achieve the same results as you did? in the forest. My biggest advice would be to learn how to master your mental Are you a member of some training group? How does your training strength. This is what differentiates those that are good and those mostly look like? Do you run alone a lot or do you run with your that are great. Some people can go into an important event and training partners? over-perform whilst others are left under-performing. I believe that In Auckland we had quite a strong training environment, but this difference is down to ones own mental preparation; simulating recently this has become a little weaker because of university the feelings and thoughts you will experience during the big race commitments of some members and others leaving for various and learning how to utilise them. Also these methods can be used to reasons. enhance other aspects of your training, especially the physical. I know I have started mountain biking this year, which has added some in some of my own trainings, visualising the dream has helped me to alternative training to my programme. My training is mostly running push that extra little bit to gain that additional 1% from the training. and biking now. I definitely enjoy running with people more than Dream big and with the perfect preparation, anything is possible!