Interview – 2022 Silva Medal Winner

Darryl ErbacherOA Statistician talking with Marina Iskhakova.

STATISTICIAN: Congratulations Marina on winning the Silva Medal two years in a row.

Marina: Thank you very much, Darryl. I am very happy with my results!

S: You have had a fabulous year, six wins and a second, from seven starts. What do you attribute to your consistency?

Marina: This year I had many less than excellent runs. I was very happy with my three great and strong Easter runs, and while not ideal, three pretty consistent and confident AUS Champs runs. I really enjoyed the terrain of all six events. Each was very different but challenging. All six courses were on a harder technical scale this year and that suited my strengths perfectly. My favourite was day 2 at Easter, when very precise navigation was required from the start to the finish, and one was constantly needing to change techniques. I was confident in my techniques. From the first minute, I was at one with the forest. I had an excellent run!

S: There have been a number of multiple family victories over the years: Tarr, Saw, Mountstephens, Hassall, Lawford/Bourne, Lotty, Ogilvie, Jackson, Enderby/Anderson, Key and now Iskhakova. I notice that your children are doing well also. Can we expect more Iskhakova names in coming years?

Marina: Thank you for this great question! Actually, I get even more joy and satisfaction from the performances of Ariadna (13) and Veronika (10) when they master and clearly complete their courses! They enjoy orienteeringvery much too. Many athletes can be good orienteers but only a few on the whole planet are ideal orienteers. It is up to them [Ariadna and Veronika] to decide if they get to the "ideal" orienteer level of perfection. I'll do what I can to help them from day to day to perfect their orienteering skills and reach the level they feel happy about.

S:I suspect that your orienteering prowess extends to coaching. Do you plan to develop further in the coaching dimension?

Marina: Yes, there are two things that I enjoy the most about orienteering, when I'm not on the course. They areCourse setting and Coaching. Those things really inspire me. Juniors' coaching inspires me the most. I was lucky to have fantastic orienteering coaches in my life for many years (at the level of Russian JWOC and WOC teams), so now that we reside in Australia for the rest of our lives, I'd like to contribute with my elite orienteering experience and to be able to develop some juniors to JWOC level and maybe in the longer term to the WOC level.

S: You have excelled in all three disciplines - Foot-O, MTBO and Ski-O. Which of them do you enjoy themost? Are your techniques different for each?

Marina: That's a really challenging question! Chronologically I started with Foot-O in 1986 when I was 8 and I started MTBO only in 2011 when we moved to Sydney. I did Ski-O during the winter seasons in Saint Petersburg. Foot-O was duringspring, summer and autumn seasons. Foot-O was always my main sport, which even now I love the most. Injuries, balance of training and search for novelty and adventure pushed me to explore new sports. Fedor loves MTBO more than Foot-O, so it affected my choices too. Each sport requires three main characteristics/skills to succeed: Foot-O = concentration, excellence of technique and endurance; MTBO = memory, courage and speed; Ski-O = strength, toughness and decision making.

S:To win the medal you need to not only dominate your class but win by a better margin than others who do well. How do you ensure you win by as large a margin as possible?

Marina: My Class, W40, was not the most competitive this year, still I tried to focus only on my orienteering techniques and to do my best without even thinking about the actions of my competitors. Several times super strong people mispunched. That also contributed to a large margin. But I was happy and satisfied with my orienteering. I also congratulate Aston on his 24 points.

S:I would aspire to your level of achievements if only the knees would work. Do you have any advice for ageing orienteers?

Marina: I think it is very important to have a big dream that keeps you inspired and helps you to wake up in the morning and go for a run/ride/walk! Probably World Masters Championships in the categoriesMW80-95 is challenging and inspiring enough for everyone who enjoysour forest sport. Even to just get to the World Champs assembly, to walk the course and then discuss it with other super wise and aged orienteers who had been doing Orienteering for several decades could be a very special experience. But also I feel that ageing orienteers have so much experience and expertise, and it is underutilised in Australia. I'd say along with invitation of topskilled overseas O-scholars, we also could create "Sharing expertise" project, when juniors can be given a super veteran/master mentor for a season and they could informally coach juniors/adults/ beginners.

I wish everyone all the best for the O-season of 2023 and that everyone will be able to improve even a little bit on their orienteering road! Cheers, Marina.

S: Once again, congratulations Marina.