O-Ringen Magazine, nr 1 - 2022

FOTO PÄR HÄGGSTRÖM
TRILLEVALLEN
JÄRPEN
ÅNN
TRILLEVALLEN
ÅNN
Untouched forests,
mountain terrain
and few paths
The preparations for O-Ringen Åre
continue in the lead up to summer
2023. For the first time in O-Ringen’s
history, all the course planners for all
five stages actually come from Norway!
– It is an honour that we are able to be
involved, together with the Swedish orienteering
clubs, to arrange the world’s biggest
orienteering event”, says Morten Strand
from Wing OK in Trondheim, who is planning
the courses in Trillevallen.
In total, nine planners have worked on the
courses for the five stages of O-Ringen Åre
2023. Twice now, the event has been postponed
thanks to the pandemic. What’s more,
for almost a year and a half of the pandemic,
the Norwegian planners were unable to travel
across the Swedish border to check out the
competition terrain – that of course was a
challenge, but has still been manageable.
Morten, how is the planning
going for the Trillevallen courses?
– The planners have had to cope with a long
pause thanks to the pandemic, but now we
are finally able to visit the terrain again. We
think that we’re in a good position with the
Trillevallen planning. The map is complete
and during the coming spring and summer
we’ll be checking out the terrain in person
to make small adjustments to planned
control placements, together with the other
planners, explains Morten.
What can competitors expect in Trillevallen?
– Runners can look forward to experiencing
untouched forests, hilly mountain terrain
and few paths in the area. The runnability is
good throughout the area and especially up
above the tree line.
Morten describes that the area around the
mountain Välliste will offer challenging
orienteering on the top slopes and fast open
marshes on the downhills.
– The mountain forest consists of pineand
birch-forest and can in places have
lower visitbility. Here competitors will need
to be careful in their orienteering and adjust
their speed to spike the controls and avoid
mistakes.
Morten strand has also found a favourite
spot in the terrain:
– I want to add that the view from the
summit of Välliste is one of the best views
in O-Ringen’s history! The views reach as
far as the Norwegian border to the west and
Östersund to the east.
Will there be one or two stages in Trillevallen?
– The first stage will take place in the challenging
forest on the south side of Välliste,
but for the second stage many courses will
reach Välliste’s summit with tough climbs
and a lot of traversing the slopes.
How does it feel as a Norwegian to get to be
a part of O-Ringen 2023’s organizing team?
– It was with a mix of delight and trepidation
that I accepted the role as one of
O-Ringen’s planners. O-Ringen is the largest
sporting event in Scandinavia and well
known in the world of orienteering, explains
Morten Strand.
He continues that orienteering is a smaller
sport in Norway and that there isn’t an event
quite like O-Ringen with such media focus
and status.
– It’s therefore an honour to be invited to
contribute as an organising club and have the
opportunity to work with the other Norwegian
and Swedish clubs for this huge event.
How many planners from Norway
are involved in O-Ringen Åre?
– We are nine in total from mid-Norway
across all five stages. There are three planners
from Freidig orienteering, three from
Wing OK, two from Stjördals-Blink and one
from Sköynar OK. As well as that we have
one planner involved in the MTBO.
What has been the hardest part of
planning the courses for O-Ringen?
– You can hardly compare the number of
factors involved in the O-Ringen planning
process with other events, as far as I know.
It takes a lot of time to plan because there
are almost 140 classes for different levels and
225 controls. Then we have to factor in the
8 different starts, the distances and adapting
the courses to the arena, as well as a few
areas of sensitive and protected habitats in
the competition areas.
– You could think of it as a very difficult
and complicated jigsaw puzzle! It has perhaps
been hardest to plan good courses for
the youngest junior classes in Trillevallen,
where it’s important to find the right level of
difficulty in an area with few paths.
– We have benefitted hugely from meeting
and discussing the courses as a group. We’ve
also had received really good guidelines
from previous O-Ringen events.
How do you think the
competitors will like the courses in Åre?
– We hope that participants will get to experience
mountain orienteering at it’s best, and
will take wonderful sporting memories with
them from O-Ringen Åre.
Course setter Morten Strand.
60 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NR 1 • 2022 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NR 1 • 2022 61