Winter Orienteering in Europe

BLAIR TREWIN

For many travelling Australian orienteers, their experience of orienteering in Europe is in the summer.This is the busiest time of year in the northern hemisphere orienteering season. In the more northern parts, the weather and lack of daylight in the colder months introduces some significant challenges – going for a run in the snow at −15°C is a novelty if you’re doing it once, less so if you’re having to do it regularly for an extended period – so what are the alternatives?

In some parts of central and western Europe the terrain is at its best in winter, even if the weather isn’t, and the regular orienteering season keeps going. (I once made the mistake on a July visit to Edinburgh of thinking it would be a good idea to go out for a run to the Trossachs, one of the best-known Scottish areas, and was greeted by bracken over head height, but it’s much more open in winter and early spring).

In the Nordic countries, traditionally the winter was when people switched from orienteering in the forest to doing it on skis. Many leading foot orienteers over the years have also been prominent in ski orienteering, with Tove Alexandersson being a regular World Championship gold medallist in the winter as well as the summer. The international ski orienteering program has become increasingly squeezed over the last decade as winters have become warmer and snow seasons shorter, especially in central Europe and the Baltic countries.

The winter and early spring is peak orienteering season in southern Europe. Portugal and Spain both stage multiple major events in February and early March.The largest of these is Portugal O-Meeting, which is held in the fourth week of February (a holiday week in many

European countries) and often attracts over 2000 competitors, the majority from outside Portugal. As those who followed last year’s Junior World Championships will know, it often features granite terrain which will be familiar to many Australians (although getting across rickety stone walls is a feature absent from Australian events). In some years the fields in Portugal and Spain have been close to World Championships strength.They weren’t quite that strong in 2023, but still featured a wide selection of talent, with names on the winner’s list including Lucas Basset (France),Timo Sild (Estonia), Karolin Ohlsson (Sweden) and Venla Harju (Finland).

While there isn’t much forest orienteering in the Nordic countries between November and March, other forms still exist. Cities like Oslo stage urban events through the winter (dealing with icy paths is a hazard which doesn’t exist in the Melbourne or Sydney Summer Series), but a more recent innovation is urban orienteering. The Stockholm Indoor Cup, in early February, has grown to become a major feature of the season, with over 1800 competitors in this year’s event.There have been a few events of this type in Australia, but the multi-level schools which are common in urban Sweden take these events to a new level of complexity.

Finally, some of those who want to train through the winter leave Europe altogether. Some find their way to Australia and New Zealand. A number of squads have trained over the years in places such as South Africa, while Ralph Street (Great Britain), well known to Australian orienteers, has spent time training in Uganda during the recent winter.