O-Ringen Magazine, nr 1 - 2022

Unusually even distribution in the route planning
» Fact FEMALE COURSE SETTERS
– not a single
woman signed
up but once
I asked,
everyone
said yes.
Back row, from left side: Josef Nordlund, Jenny Westerberg, Mats Troeng, Magnus Blåudd, Johan Ohlström
Front row: Berth-Arne Bengtsson, Helene Nilsson, Jan Troeng, Johan Hamelius, Andreas Hjertson, Dorothe Spillmann,
Kate Morrison, Samantha Saeger, Fredrik Wigertz, Rob Hart, Olle Eriksson. Photo: O-Ringen.
It is not only in route planning that there
are clearly more men than women in the
higher functionary positions within Swedish
Orienteering.
In the application submitted by the Swedish
Orienteering Federation in 2019 for the
project "More women in events", you can read,
among other things:
"Of the Swedish Orienteering Federation's
85,000 members, 45 percent are women. For
members up to the age of 50, 48 percent are
women. Competition events are an important
part of the federation's activities. Every year,
more than 600 sanctioned events are held
within the four branches of the federation.
The proportion of competitive women is 40
percent and, in the group, up to and including
50 years of age the proportion of competitive
women is 44 percent.
TEXT MÅRTEN LÅNG PHOTO PETER HOLGERSSON
The routes have been ready for years.
But this summer it is finally time to
let the O-Ringen participants experience
the orienteering challenges
of Uppsala. It should be noted that
O-Ringen Uppsala is one of very few
events that have succeeded in achieving
an even gender distribution among
route planners.
You know the story by now. Preparations for
O-Ringen in Uppsala went well.
In 2017, work began on deciding which
arenas to use for O-Ringen in Uppsala. The
following year, the route planners began
the work that at the end of July 2020 would
result in about 20,000 people cruising (read:
not deviating a millimetre from the line)
through the five O-Ringen stages.
At the beginning of 2020, the courses
were ready, and on April 1st it was thought
that the files would be sent to the printer’s.
But, as you know, it didn't quite turn out
that way.
O-Ringen Uppsala was moved forward
not once, but twice.
But this summer, it's finally time.
– It's been a couple of very special years.
But a lot has also happened during this
time apart from the pandemic, says Johan
Hamelius, route planning manager for
O-Ringen Uppsala, and continues:
– We had an infestation of spruce bark
beetle in Östuna, which resulted in many of
the landowners wanting to cut significant
number of trees in the area. This would
mean that the routes we had planned would
largely have been on newly thinned and
felled areas. Therefore, we chose to move
that stage to the northern parts of Lunsen.
This means that we will have three Lunsen
stages, but at two different arenas. It’s very
unfortunate that we could not be in Östuna
because the terrain there would have placed
slightly different demands on the participant
when it comes to road choice in the
hilly terrain there. But the stage in northern
Lunsen will be a little different from the last
two stages that will be decided at another
arena in the southern parts of Lunsen, says
Hamelius.
The Östuna map will now be used as one
of the O-Ringen training maps instead.
How did you recruit route planners?
– It was my intention to recruit the best
route planners from the hosting clubs in
Uppland. And we have many good route
planners in the district. Interested parties
had an opportunity to sign up voluntarily,
and then I made enquiries to those I wanted
to have in the route planning group.
This has resulted in an even gender distribution,
which is unusual.
Between 2015-2019, the statistics (see the
fact box) show that the proportion of female
route planners on the approximately 600 sanctioned
events every year is about 12 percent.
– What was remarkable in our
recruitment process was that not a single
woman signed up when we first started
looking for route planners, but once I asked
the question directly, basically everyone said
yes, and has taken great pride in being part
of the route planning group at O-Ringen in
Uppsala, says Hamelius.
One of the female route planners is Jenny
Westerbergh from Rasbo:
– I've been orienteering since I was a kid
and planned my first competition in 2006.
The interest in maps and route planning has
always been there and so it felt like a natural
next step to start planning routes. Now I am
a member of Rasbo, which is a small club,
but when I planned my first competition, I
represented the big club OK Linné, and it
was very exciting to get the question. Getting
that opportunity energized me and it
felt the same way now when Johan Hamelius
called and asked if I wanted to be part of the
group planning the routes for O-Ringen,
says Westerbergh.
The route planners for O-Ringen are
divided into teams of two or three per
stage. Jenny Westerbergh plans the final leg
together with Olle Eriksson.
– We have obviously had the most cooperation
within our own stage, and with the
other route planners who plan the routes in
Lunsen. But we have also had joint meetings
with all the route planners, including an
internal course for planners, which has been
very rewarding, says Westerbergh.
O-Ringen Uppsala has chosen to give route
inspectors responsibility for the same class
throughout the week so that routes for, for
example, 14-year-olds maintain a consistent
difficulty level during all five race days.
Helene Nilsson, OK Linné, is one of the
route planners pavers on stage 1 in Nåsten,
southwest of Uppsala:
– Route planning for O-Ringen has been
a very fun assignment, although the wait for
the actual event has taken much longer than
we initially thought, says Helene.
But how did you plan the actual work?
For example, how much time do you
spend in the woods and how much in
front of the computer?
– It's hard to say, considering that this is "my
home forest". But I have obviously visited
all the checkpoints several times. Then we
prioritize the youth courses because in those
cases it is extra important that the paths
are clear and that the control point stone is
visible from the path. We also have several
route planners on each stage and there is
a maximum number of 218 control points
per stage so there may be some trade-offs
to make before the track is completed, says
Nilsson.
– I'm really looking forward to seeing the
first runners cross the finish line and test
these routes that we have been working on
for so long.
If you look at the proportion of women with
assignments as main officials at these
competition events, the figures are different.
Main officials mean race directors and route
planners.
Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of
female race directors has been between 18
and 24 percent. The proportion of female
route planners has remained constant around
12 percent during these five years.
The high status and power of race directors
and route planners, contributes to also giving
the same people assignments higher up in the
organization and in the national federation.
This leads to an uneven distribution at higher
levels. For example, only 13 percent of the
competition managers in the districts are
women. The same is true for the Swedish
Orienteering Federation's organizer coaches
who support and inspire organizers of our
biggest and most important competitions,
such as the Swedish Championships.
All our 20 organizer coaches are men. Another
part that is linked to events is cartography.
Here we have a single female professional
cartographer out of the approximately 40
active cartographers. It is just as bad among
the district map managers. All 23 map
managers are men."
Denna atrikel har tidigare publicerats i Skogssport.
38 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NR 1 • 2022 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NR 1 • 2022 39