Denmark and Sweden Revisited 1973-1999

It was in 1973 that Pat and Dick with three young boys journeyed to Scandinavia to experience the sport of Orienteering in the countries where it had all started some 40 years previously. Having started Orienteering ourselves only three short years before in 1970 in Canada we were all looking forward to the new challenges that we were sure to experience. The organizers of the Swedish 5 day competition which they called O- Ringen had invited a group of Canadians to come to Sweden and take part. The entry fees and accommodation were paid by the organizers. It was also suggested by a Canadian friend living in Sweden that we should also go to Denmark and participate in the Danish 3-Dagars. We were about to compete in more Orienteering events in two weeks than we had in the previous three years in Canada.The time was 6:30 am, 1973 in the large airport in Copenhagen. Pat's start time was 9:30 am, another short flight to another airport in Denmark and then a car ride with Bob Kaill to the start area. Pat had changed into her orienteering clothes in the airport washroom so she was ready! When we arrived at the trail to the start, Pat got out of the car and then hurried up to the start area and arrived just a few minutes after her name was called.

Dansk 3-dages 1999.

It was because of the memorable experiences in 1973 that we decided to revisit the Danish 3 days again. When we registered for the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) to be held in Denmark in 1999 we found that the Danish 3-days were to be held close by and just before the WMOC and that the O-Ringen was to be held just after the WMOC. In all there were eleven days of competition for us in a period of two weeks.

When Pat and Dick arrived at the Copenhagen airport in 1999 there was no hurry, we had two days to travel to the first start. We rented a car and drove to the small town of Jels where we had reserved bed and breakfast accommodation. There were others there from Sweden,and Australia who were also competing in the 3-days.

We drove about 30 minutes each day to the meet sites. The competition areas were very good with good terrain and more hills than expected. Pat ran very well with good times, unfortunately she was not instructed properly at the start for the electronic punching on the first day and was disqualified for not clearing her e-card at the start.The Emit electronic punching system was used at this meet.

On the free day before the final, we visited the historic town of Ribe located on the Western shore of Denmark. Walking through the old town we saw a large stork's nest on the top of one of the old buildings. A Swedish man, who took a picture of the nest, sent us a picture by e-mail.

The last day was a "chase start" where each competitor starts in order of their total time for the first two days. Pat's time on the last day was better than the overall winner in her class. Sharon Crawford from Frisco, Colorado started in third place in the D-55 class and won by over two minutes.

1999 World Masters Orienteering Championships

Planning for the WMOC 1999.

Our planning for the World Masters Games in Denmark started back in Minnesota at the WMOC 1997, where we met Flemming Norgaard from Denmark. Flemming was the chief organizer for the meet in Demark in 1999 and he gave us some brochures to distribute to orienteers in Canada. For that small effort he gave us free entry fees to the meet in Denmark. Flemming was one of the pioneers in the development of the use of computers for Orienteering mapping. He also helped us here in Canada in the development of orienteering map field surveying and map drawing by coming to Canada to teach at clinics.Finn Arildsen was another Dane involved in our planning for WMOC 99. Finn lives in Aarhus and was in charge of the technical aspects of the competition including the electronic punching and the computer systems for the timing and results. Finn was also a pioneer in Orienteering, having developed the first computer program for control descriptions which he called Condes.

Travel to Aarhus for the WMOC

Our next destination was Aarhus for the first World Masters Orienteering Championships to be held in Denmark. The areas used were situated in the central part of Jutland and are among the best orienteering areas in Denmark. They were similar to the areas used for the World Championships in 1974 and the Junior World Championships in 1995.

After picking up our Registration packages at the event centre we drove to our hotel a few blocks away. The Hotel Kong Christian was a modern Hotel staffed by a young friendly group where we enjoyed excellent breakfasts with some other orienteers and some young family groups who come to enjoy Aarhus in the summer. The next day we returned our rental car after checking out the model event where we learned to use the Sport Ident electronic system for control punching. In the afternoon we walked to the opening ceremonies at a park near the event centre. There was a total of thirteen Canadians there to participate in the WMOC.

The Two Qualification Events

Transportation to the competitions was by special buses that started from the Event Centre, which was a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. The areas for these two days were very good, the maps were 1:10 000 with 5 metre contours and both areas were quite hilly. The course lengths were short, 2.6 k and 2.5 k. Since there would only be 80 competitors in the final, Dick in M 70 had to finish in the top 40 in his group of 73 for the two days. It was close as I ended up with a 38, 36th the first day and 42nd the second day. Pat finished 33 out of 45 in the W70 class and all 45 were in the final.
Each day when we finished and punched at the finish we walked about five steps to where we would "punch" again and a computer printer would print out our split times for the course that we had just completed. All this was Finn Arildsen's responsibility and it went well for him except for a backup caused by not enough computer capacity on the first day. Later, at the event centre, I was able to buy a copy of the split times for everybody in M70. I was impressed by this and also by the fast times of my competitors.

The Final Day

The final course length for M70A was 4.6 k with 14 controls. The start times were based on the times for the first two days with the best times starting last. Consequently Dick started very early. Looking at my notes now shows that we got up at 4:30 am and when we went down to the lobby at 5:00 am. there was our breakfast waiting for us. It had been no problem at all to arrange for a wake up call and an early breakfast. Pat did not start quite so early because of her 33 out of 45 standing. Pat's standing in the final was 28 out of 45. Dick was 74 out of 75 (with 5 mispunching) in the M70 A final. Don't forget the other 50 in the M70 B final!

The Closing Ceremonies

The awards presentation and closing ceremonies were held in an arena behind the Event Centre. The winner in the M65 class was Per-Olaf Bengston from Sweden whom we had known for many years. Peo operates World Wide Orienteering Promotions which organizes Orienteering tours to many countries. He has brought tours to Canada and Pat and I joined his tour to The Czech Republic in 1998. When we arrived in Borlange, Sweden this year for the O-Ringen we found that Peo had been one of the main persons responsible for starting and developing that competition many years ago.

The Banquet

When we were planning the trip to Denmark and the WMOC, Ted told us not to miss the banquet as it would be outstanding. We went to the banquet and we found that it was very good. . The food was excellent, the seating arrangements were good, we sat with the Canadian group, which was nice. After dinner there was dancing to a lively band. One of the highlights of the evening was watching Flemming Norgard having such a good time. Flemming was the chief organizer of the WMOC and was happy of course that everything about the competition went so well.

O-RINGEN DALARNA 1999

The trip to Borlange Sweden

We had made arrangements with Ulla Engelby to travel with her and her friend by car to Goteborg, Sweden. Ulla picked us up at our hotel Saturday morning and we enjoyed a pleasant journey to Frederikshaven, Denmark. and then quite a long ferry ride to Göteborg, Sweden. Ulla drove us to the train station in Göteborg, and helped us get a train going North in Sweden but not to Borlange. Ted was to pick us up at a town south of Borlange later in the evening but our train was delayed and we worried about letting Ted know about that. The train was crowded and we mentioned our problem to a young man sitting in the aisle with us. No problem he said, as he pulled out his cell phone. We gave him Ted's number and we talked to Ted. Later, since we knew that Ted was very busy with his work at the O-Ringen we decided that it would be better if we got off the train in Orebro and stayed overnight and traveled to Borlange by train the next day. I went searching for the young man with the cell phone and we found that he was getting off at Orebro as well. He then called his girl friend in Orebro and yes, there is a nice hotel near the station at Orebro. When we got off the young man and his friend escorted us to the hotel which was close by. It was another friendly Swedish encounter.The next day which was Sunday we enjoyed walking around the town before taking the train to Borlange around noon. Ted met us at the station and drove us to his house which was on the edge of the day 5 map! Maureen was scheduled to leave for England on Tuesday for the World Masters Track Championships and so it was only a short visit we had with her.

Day 1-4 of O-Ringen

Each of the five days was a different adventure.This included getting to the special train in Borlange, getting to the correct start area (there were seven different start areas each day) and then the Orienteering adventure itself.

Day 1 or Etapp 1 was only a short trainride to the Southeast. Each of the five days was close to the railway line, which meant only a reasonable walk to the meet finish area and then a walk to the start area. Day 2 was a short train ride to the North West. Day three was the longest train ride to Hedemora about 40 km to the South East.

Day 5 of O-Ringen

The last day was at Borlange, The organizing club was the StoraTuna club. This was Ted's club, and he and Lars Sjokist were involved for over a year with course planning and organizing for this final day of O-Ringen. Ted planned courses for two of the seven start areas for a total of 32 courses. Pat and I walked to the start from Ted's house. This was a long walk even though the house was on the edge of the competition map. When we arrived at the start, Pat found that the first fifteen for the first four days in her category were to wear numbers and Pat was no. 11. She improved that by finishing in 9 th place which was a very good result.

The Weekend after O-Ringen

Saturday was a busy day for Ted since there was much work to do to dismantle the computer and printer equipment and return it. Saturday we did some walking the nearby woods and then went to visit Lars and Karen who live near Ted. We gave one of our small globes from the WMOC to their two boys. Later we went by bus to the event centre to meet Ted and look at the exibits there.

On Sunday, the Odells had invited us to visit an outdoor theatre near Falun with them. We drove to their house where we transferred to their Audi, the same car that we travelled with them in Switzerland quite a few years ago. Over hill and dale we drove to a lovely restaurant past Rattvick where we enjoyed a very good Swedish meal. We then drove to the outdoor theatre which was in an old and large limestone quarry. Our next stop was by a lake where we swam and had another of Lola's picnic lunches including her wonderful ginger snaps.

The Trip Stockholm, London and home to Ottawa.

Our flight home from Stockholm via London was Tuesday morning and Ted was flying to London Monday afternoon for some IOF meetings at the World Championships in Scotland. We took the train and bus to a nice hotel near the airport and Pat and I stayed overnight and Ted left in the afternoon on Monday after having a swim and lunch with us at the hotel. We arrived back in Ottawa Tuesday evening after a pleasant trip.