Vol. 24, No.2
AUGUST, 1999
(Slightly adapted for better web presentation.)
Cover Illustration(on printed edition): The northwestern quarter of the 1:50 000 map used for this year's Maxi Moose II Rogaine, Cobequid Mts, Nova Scotia.
Rob Hughes in Upper Kingsclear
In this issue you will find results for the spring and early summer events, together with a collection of "feature articles". These tend to be generated by a select band of correspondents who (thankfully) continue to churn out material year after year. So I am again exhorting readers out there who are not in the habit of writing, to please do so. We need variety...what about some gritty accounts of the tribulations of the COC's, or the World Championships in Scotland, from those who were there, for the next edition? New Brunswick supplied five out of nine members on the national squad, not bad. Please write.
In terms of local events there has been the usual selection, which is amazing when you consider our modest membership numbers. As well as classic and score events, the clubs have been offering clinics and special events such as the Scout Jamboree and Shad Valley orienteering day (the 15th year this has been offered). On top of all that was the Maxi Moose II Rogaine. Attendance at events has varied quite a bit, with busloads at the Falcon Cup but a disappointing low turnout at the May 30 Score-O at Rockwood Park. Now we're looking forward to the fall schedule to wrap up the season. Bring your friends along.
Now and then you'll see references to the "O-Net" in these pages. "What might this mean?", you muse to yourself. It could be summed up as "stuff you can read on the internet, supposedly about orienteering, when you have nothing better to do". If you have an internet account, you can subscribe to this on-line orienteering bulletin board-type discussion. You then get one or two emails a day, some of which touch upon orienteering. With winter coming up, you may be tempted. If so, send off an email message to orienteering-REQUEST@Graphics.Cornell.edu. You will then start getting information on, among other things, orienteering. The discussion tends to be dominated by US and UK contributors - you have been warned. But it might be a good forum for publicising the 2000 COC's.
The email address for all submissions to ONB Notes is rustics@brunnet.net. We guarantee to talk about orienteering (mostly). See you in the woods.
Rob Hughes
Alex Whaley and I made up a team for the second Maxi-Moose, held May 22-23 in the Cobequid Mountains of Nova Scotia (an area east of the Wentworth ski hill). This was our second rogaine in that area (the inaugural "Moose" took place in May 1997). The competition area covered approximately 150 square kilometres, mostly rolling hills in the northern section, with mixed forest, quite a lot of which was nice "runnable" woods. The southern part is undulating plateau, much of it poorly drained, with small lakes, beaver ponds and numerous streams. In the southern part the woods are much more variable and very thick and nasty in places. There were 42 control locations, on average about 1.5-2 km apart. Our goals for the event were to cover 50 kilometres or more in the 24 hours of the event, and to find more controls than last time - preferably at least 20. We did manage to achieve both of these goals.
Conditions were not at all nice for this rogaine. Despite a near-perfect weather forecast the day before of partly cloudy skies and 16C for both days of the event, the reality was very different. An overcast sky persisted all through Saturday and Sunday. Not only that, but is was raining or drizzling most of the time as well. The low cover of stratus cloud came down to ground level overnight, producing extensive fog, which was present on the hilltops all day long. And it was cold!! At the start, every conceivable kind of outfit to cope with the weather was on view: capes, oilskins (some of which covered vast backpacks), see-through plastic jackets, hats of all kinds, and many inventive applications of duct-tape. Gore-Tex too of course. Equipment being toted by some included major tents, and even saws!
The mass start was quite a sight, as the turn out was large. The event had been selected as the 1999 North American Rogaine Championships, which had the result of attracting a substantial showing of US competitors. This included rogainers from 10 different US states. Some competitors came all the way from California. Six Canadian provinces were represented, making this probably the most "international" orienteering event ever held in the Maritimes.
Start was 12 noon Saturday with the finish 24 hours later, except for those doing the 6-hour option. 68 teams did the 24-hour "classic" and 6 teams the 6-h rogaine, for a total of more than 170 participants. Rogaining seems to be getting more and more popular. Even for those who travelled long distances, the competition time probably exceeded the travel time, certainly for the 24-h event. You get your money's worth on a rogaine!
Our team's plan was to travel west from the event centre and call in at the Freda Wales warming hut (on top of the Wentworth ski hill, on the western edge of the competition area) for a bit of rest and recuperation, before continuing our loop back to the centre and the finish, each leg of the loop being about 25-30 km in length. Route planning was done with aid of a piece of string, arranged over the map in various configurations. We had done several long training hikes of 30-40 km and were confident we could cover at least 50 km over 24 hours. We reduced our pack contents to the bare essentials to reduce weight - this was definitely a good move.
Basically our plan worked, although we were severely slowed down during the night. This delay meant we arrived at the rest hut much later than expected, had a relatively short stay, and had to return back on day 2 only picking up 4 additional controls on the way. We still got 23 controls in total though, which was quite pleasing. This was good enough to give us 3rd place overall in our category (mixed).
We found the night navigation especially tough. In addition to being very dark (quite common at night, we had to admit), we had to deal with thick fog plus rain and drizzle, with visibility often only 2 or 3 metres. The temperature was around 5C, which made hypothermia a risk. We had no problems with cold, but a number of teams did, and were forced to finish early or take extended breaks in the shelter locations. There were several twisted ankles, with one team reportedly having to withdraw before even reaching one control, really bad luck.
The map was basically a standard 1:50 000 topo map with some updates and enhancements. The depiction (or non-depiction) of trails was perhaps the most difficult aspect to deal with in terms of navigation challenges. Another obvious factor was fatigue, and the associated shutting down of mental processes. This effect came to the fore on day 2 and was largely responsible for us making a pretty silly navigation error when on the "home run" back to the event centre. We were able to recover and get back on time, but it showed how quickly things can unravel under these kinds of circumstances. So -next time we will go in with that much more experience.
The performances of some of the elite teams were very impressive. It's interesting that, although many of those taking part are names familiar from the work of orienteering, there were almost just as many "new" names. Rogaining tends to attract a slightly different group of people. Top teams included Peter Gagarin and Ernst Linder from Massachusetts/New Hampshire, who came in first overall, not only getting all the controls, but returning two hours early! Amazing! Second overall was a Canadian team of Eric Cyr and Francis Falardeau from Quebec, who found all but 3 of the 42 control locations. For complete event results and commentary, as well as event notes from several other teams, take a look at the following web page: http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/rogaine/99spring/narc99_r.htm
Mike Fellows
Beginning in Mid-April, the Fredericton Foxes held weekly training sessions. The sessions were held on Wednesday night in Odell Park and lasted for 10 weeks. The sessions were generally well attended by both beginners and regular club members. All in all approximately 40 people came out over the 10 weeks, with 10 to 15 regulars attending most of the sessions.
To humour the current president of the Foxes (me) we did not charge any fees for the sessions or require people to join the club. This was a blatant attempt to pull in new members with no "up-front" barriers. I look forward to seeing the results of this grand experiment at the summer and fall meets. Remember, orienteering is always more fun with more people, so grab a friend and drag them out to a meet (they will thank you for it later!).
The final training session was held on June 23 in the UNB woodlot, where we held an informal meet. There were 2 courses. The easier course would have been a difficult course 1, while the harder course would have been close to a course 3 in difficulty. The results were:
Course 1 (2.6 km) 1. Valk Family 47:32 2. Colleen, Sky & Josh 70:25 Course 2 (3.7 km) 1. Lucy Hughes 38:14 2. Chris Justason 38:48 3. Alex Whaley 41:05 4. Daven Hughes 41:37 5. Lorne Seeley 42:42 Tom Seeley DNF Rob Hughes DSQ
Thanks to all members who came out, improved their skills and got into shape this spring. I expect to see some fast times this summer and fall. And thanks to Rob Hughes and Alex Whaley for acting as assistant coaches. The heavy toll of their coaching responsibilities obviously accounts for their unfortunate performances in the final session. Thanks also to David Fellows for helping out.
(Editor's note: Having had a while to think up an excuse (or rather a good reason) for DSQ'ing) I think the best one is "Alex and I were still recovering from the rogaine" ).
Remember:
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least be able to find you - so teach them how to orienteer"
See you in the woods.
Mike Fellows
Rob Hughes (unofficial report)
This event was held in Odell Park, Fredericton on July 10. No official records were kept, but a score event with about 22 controls was set up by the indefatigable Mike Fellows, with pre-race briefing and general asssistance from Liz Smith, Gary Daneff, David Fellows, Rob Hughes and Stig Skarborn. About 50 high school children from across Canada in the Shad Valley program took part. This was one of the days this summer when it rained, and everyone got very damp, but seemed to enjoy themselves.
July 11-17
Luella Smith
The 1999 Maritime Scout Jamboree was held from July 11 to 17 at Kouchibouguac National Park. Troops from all over the Maritimes, Ontario, as well as Maine, New Jersey and as far away as North Carolina attended the event. Orienteering, along with pioneering and the obstacle course, were the most popular programs of the week. A total of 425 scouts and leaders participated in a Score-O format which featured 11 course 2 controls and 7 course 3 controls. Thirty five Venturers and leaders had an additional 6 course 4 controls for a total of 24 controls. This likely represents the largest orienteering event in the Maritimes this year. First Alma Scouters Ed and Luella Smith ran the orienteering program, assisted by Venturers Heather and Victoria Smith and Daniel Sinclair.
The results were as follows:
SCOUTS: 18 Controls: Holy Family (Bathurst) 2:05:21 4th Moncton (Will Fitch) 2:07:10 17 Controls: 1st Gaspereau 2:05:00 Troop 175 2:14:45 1st Ritchie Lake 2:21:10 16 Controls: 4th Riverview 1:57:43 6th Hampton 2:22:22 15 Controls: 7th Fredericton 2:42:00 14 Controls: Troop 648 2:40:34
Scouters: Garth Holder of 1st St. Michael's got 18 controls in 1:38:00 while Pat and Dominique Phelan of 4th Moncton did the same in 2:19:48.
VENTURERS: 24 Controls: Troop 358 (3 Teams) 2:05:25 Troop 770 (2 Teams) 2:17:10 1st Hanwell (1 Team) 2:54:00 2nd Berwick (3 Teams) 2:57:00
Service Team Challengers: Erin Quan and Andrew Wetmore from St. Mark's Venturers got the 24 controls in 2:29:00 while Victoria Smith from 1st Alma did the same in 1:54:45.
Stig Skarborn
Orienteering always needs qualified coaches. Becoming a certified coach involves three stages, theory, technical and practicum. Five levels of coaches are recognized, with Level 1 suitable for teaching beginners. Level 5 is the highest level and is typically suited for those coaching world class athletes.
The theory component is not sports specific, and will be of interest to anyone either coaching others or participating in sports themselves. The course is usually given by very competent individuals, and is a fun experience in my opinion. The technical component is sports specific, and is given by Orienteering New Brunswick from time to time. The practicum consists of the time spent actually coaching (=teaching) others.
The Centre for Coaching Education of New Brunswick is offering Theory Level 1 and 2 Courses in the fall. The courses are given either in French or English in locations throughout the province. The Level 1 Course has a course length of 13.5 hours and costs $25. The Level 2 Course has a course length of 19 hours and costs $40. Check with your club for assistance with fees.
Information on dates and locations can be obtained by checking the Centre for Coaching Education of New Brunswick website at www.coachnb.com, or by calling Pierre Turmel at 444-3888 or sending an E-mail to pierret@gov.nb.ca
Staff researcher, a.k.a. Editor
Orienteers are supposed to be able to navigate, find their way, not get lost. A compass is OK, but what if you don't have a compass? How many other ways are there of finding north, or south? The following are some ways which have been suggested (gleaned from O-Net, and various other undisclosed sources close to the ONB editor). Do you know of more? If so, write in to ONB Notes!
* Look at a weather vane on a church or a building.
* Check a sun dial. They face south (in the Northern hemisphere, - north if you're Down Unda!)
* Wait for winter and see which way the birds fly. (Except not all birds fly south....)
* In winter snow is on North side of mountains (N hemisphere).
* Sunflowers point towards the sun and follow it during the day
*Satellite dishes face south!!
*Use a GPS unit.
*Look for an old church. They are usually built in a cross shape with the short arms of the cross oriented N-S. Good if in Europe or old cities.
* Take an orienteering map, orient it and south (or north) should be obvious.
* Take a magnet, wipe a needle with the North (usually red) end, mark the end you wipe towards - that end will point to north (or is it south!) if you hang it by its middle.
Another useful trick is to stick a stick into the ground such that it points directly at the sun and casts no shadow. Wait a few minutes, and the subsequent shadow will point to the East.
*In vineyards, the rows of vines are planted East-West. This planting technique is not limited to any particular region, though. The leaves of the grapes (and nearly every other plant) grow facing equatorially regardless of the hemisphere.
*Moss grows on the shady side, which usually happens to be north.
From: Sidney A Sachs <sidneysachs@juno.com>:
"If you can see the sun and know what time it is and live north of the Tropic of Cancer, it is very easy. Place the hour hand of your watch on the sun and half way to 12 is south. Reason: The earth spins once every day and the hour hand on a watch goes around twice in the same time. Therefore, the hour hand moves twice as fast as the earth spins. At noon, the sun is the highest in the sky. If you are above the Tropic of Cancer, the sun will already be to your south. Of course if you live in New Zealand and other point south of the Tropic of Capricorn, this method will point to north"
Rob Hughes with botanizing hat in place.
A year or so ago at Bluebell Mountain I was about half way round the course 5. It was a nice June day. I was going along OK (so far). Control 5 ..small hill, more like a big knoll. There it is....punch, then down the hill and across the stream. Nice patch of ferns. What a nice spot! Under these trees, then over the track....a quick look down and WRAGGHHH! I was in the middle of a large patch of poison ivy. There was no way out but through it and ahead, trying to avoid the plants as much as possible.
Poison ivy! In May, several NB orienteers who went south to the UNO Boulder Dash in New Hampshire brought back some unwanted souvenirs from that event, in the form of rashes and blisters courtesy of this plant. Not nice. But - this is not some exotic species, found only in the deep south, or Ontario. Poison ivy is also alive and well, and widespread here in New Brunswick. There's a small patch right in my own front yard, a bigger patch just across the road - more still on other roadsides not far away. In addition to the Bluebell O-map, I have seen it at Ing's Interval (Hillsborough), and it's probably to be found on other orienteering sites we use all the time. According to the Flora of New Brunswick, poison ivy has been found from Grand Manan island, north to Bathurst and the north shore, and east to the Moncton area. Basically, everywhere except the central northern highlands. So it is worthwhile being on the lookout for this plant when orienteering.
"Leaflets three - let it be" is a useful phrase to remember: although poison ivy leaves can be quite variable in appearance, they are always arranged with three leaflets, usually hanging or drooping down. Each mature leaflet is about 2-3" long and about half that in width. Superficially, Virginia creeper looks like poison ivy, but it always has 5 leaflets. The older leaves of poison ivy are often shiny, and the younger, emerging ones a reddish or burgundy shade, with whitish downy hairs. In my experience, poison ivy almost always looks extremely healthy - maybe because nothing eats it. The leaves turn bright red in fall, then drop off, revealing clusters of white berries. Many birds do feed on these, with no apparent ill effects. All parts of the plant, leaves, twigs, berries and roots, contain urushiol, the oily compound which causes blisters and rashes on contact. While a first exposure may lead to few symptoms, sensitivity usually increases on repeat exposures. Some people are hypersensitive, and exposure leads to a systemic allergic response requiring medical attention.
Although there are both climbing and trailing kinds of poison ivy, you are much more likely to encounter the trailing kind in New Brunswick. Although the climbing variety does occur, it is quite rare and appears to be restricted to parts of the lower Saint John river system, around Grand Lake in particular. The trailing type of plant is usually about 30 cm tall, or less. Poison ivy has underground roots which spread sideways. Because of this spreading habit, it's often found in extensive patches. Poison ivy especially likes sandy or gravelly soils. It's most likely to be seen on roadsides, bordering sandy tracks, along abandoned rail lines, and on sand and gravel bars along stream beds. This is the situation where I found it on the Bluebell Mountain map. So caveat orienteeror, keep a special eye open for poison ivy when navigating along sandy tracks, or meandering streams.
If you come into contact with poison ivy, wash exposed skin as soon as possible with lots of cold water. The toxic agent is absorbed into the skin within three minutes, so the quicker you wash, the better. Warm soapy water is more effective at removing the plant residue, but will also remove natural skin oil which slows down absorption of the poison ivy oil. Various other cures are suggested such as swabbing with alcohol. A folk remedy is to put the juice of the jewelweed plant on the affected area. Remember to wash your clothes, too, if they have been in contact with poison ivy.
There are some other plant relatives of poison ivy which you could come across. In Canada, poison oak only grows in the extreme west, on Vancouver Island. It's quite similar to poison ivy in appearance. Poison sumach grows in southern New England (southern Maine, NH, Mass and points further south) as well as all of southern Ontario and in the St Lawrence valley in Quebec about as far east as Montreal, including the Eastern Townships area. Poison sumach is a tall shrub or small tree, restricted to wooded swampy areas. Ordinary folks are unlikely to come into contact with it, but as we all know, course setters have been known to set courses which offer the orienteer the option of going around - or through - the occasional swamp. The toxic effects of poison sumach are reputed to be more severe than those of poison ivy.
It's interesting that poison ivy, oak and sumach are in the same plant family that provides us with cashew and pistachio nuts. We're definitely in the wrong climatic zone for them, unfortunately.
Editor on the web
FAQ= Internet jargon for "frequently asked questions". if you have internet access then the following site is worth a read:
http://www.cam.org/~gouletc/decl_faq.html
It contains all sorts of useful and interesting information on compasses, magnetic anomalies (useful information for citing after a bad run). An abbreviated list of contents follows.
WHAT IS MAGNETIC DECLINATION?
HOW DO I COMPENSATE FOR DECLINATION AND INCLINATION?
WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE DECLINATION?
HOW DO I DETERMINE THE DECLINATION?
WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM MEASURING GEOMAGNETISM?
Classic event
Men (16 km)Women (10 km)
1 Kirsi Bostrom, Finland, 1:17:56
2 Hanne Staff, Norway, 1:18:29
3 Johanna Asklof, Finland, 1:18:32
4 Yvette Baker, Great Britain, 1:19:09
The competition was fierce, and
unfortunately none of the Canadian
team members qualified for the classic
finals.
Short Event
Men (4.5 km)
1 Jorgen Rostrup, Norway, 25:48
2 Juha Peltola, Finland, 26:11
3 Janne Salmi, Finland, 26:14
4 Jani Lakanen, Finland, 26:15
52 Mike Smith, Canada, 33:24
Women (3.6 km)
1 Yvette Baker, Great Britain, 25:55
2 Lucie Bohm, Austria, 26:57
3 Frauke Schmitt Gran, Germany,
27:48
4 Sanna Nymalm, Finland, 27:50
20 Pam James, Canada, 30:19
Well done to Mike and Pam for making the finals in the short event.
Both the men and women's relay events were dominated by the Scandinavians: Norway, Finland and Sweden took the top 3 places (in the same order) in each case. The Canadian team finished 24th (men) and 17th (women). Notable other results included the British team taking 4th place in women and 5th in the men's relay.
Roving O-correspondent, aka Editor, going through the diktionary
OK, here are the answers from the Swedish quiz in the last edition.
Lerig c) muddy
Troett b) exhausted
Kontroll a) control
Alldeles slut c) exhausted
Oeppning a) a clearing
Klippa c) control punch
Skog b) forest or woods
Utshasad d) exhausted.
Hygge b) a hedge
Sjoe a lake
Sump mark a) a bog
Tjaerr a) a bog
These are all the words you are likely to need if you go orienteering in Scandinavia. And finally...is there a word in Swedish which means "lost"?? To date, no suggestions have been forthcoming.
Ray St-Laurent, somewhere or other.
The meet package, as well as any advance information that appears on the Internet, offers additional opportunities to attract participants and to skew the advantage in favour of our local athletes.
Advance publicity could offer a free round trip ticket anywhere Air Atlantic flies. We would make this offer valid only for non-maritime residents. Not only would this appeal to those from afar, it minimizes the likelihood of a Maritimer pointing out that Air Atlantic now flies nowhere.
Another contest could be to offer a $1000 to any foreign entrant who can name the capital of Canada. Americans will typically say Toronto or Montreal. A few might actually say Ottawa. I doubt anyone will correctly reply that the capital of Canada is C.
The COF rulebook does not specify that meet packages, or even maps, must be identical for all competitors. How convenient.
I think it is time visitor's meet packages had real meat. A slice of baloney would fit in nicely. Other famous New Brunswick souvenirs can be included for little additional cost: a few squashed mosquitoes, a french-fried potato, and perhaps a small smelt. Leave room for a Moosehead Ale 'Scratch-n-Sniff' pad. Imagine the excitement as each visiting competitor opens their sealed meet package. First they will be greeted with a bouquet of New Brunswick. Then they get to remove the little treasures we packed for them. I expect that they will be reminded of our thoughtfulness whenever they re-experience nausea.
Remember to put in a suitable welcoming message for all visitors. Congratulate them for not succumbing to the wild exaggerations of the hazard of the moose in heat.
Explain that our friendly mosquitoes are not known for transmitting malaria. Include pictures of New Brunswick varieties and malaria mosquitoes. Visitors could vigilantly examine each mosquito that befriends them to be their foster parent. I suppose with global warming it is possible that malaria mosquitoes could reach our shores; yet another reason to provide pictures of the little suckers.
To make things easier for our foreign friends, give them a larger control card. Something twice the size of the map might be interesting. Each punch location would be made much larger so there would be no danger of mispunching. Because of the extra room we can include course descriptions for each control in several languages: English, French, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, German, Romanian, Polish. Hmmm, if we make the cards large enough, we could include the language of every country in the IOF. Granted, it will no longer be possible to hold the card between two fingers but it could be worn as an attractive cape. Not only would we be considerate of all nations, we could start a new orienteering fashion. It pays to be nice.
Another nice touch would be to include insoles of lead in their meet package. We are near a nuclear power generating plant. Those who might be concerned with neighbourhood radiation somehow permeating the soil will be happy to lug around the additional weight of lead insoles for their peace of mind.
We are too conservative in our map designs. It is always the same old thing: paper with coloured splotches and squiggly lines. Here is another opportunity to experiment with our visiting friends.
We could make all the colours transparent while the map itself would be clear plastic. An athlete could learn to appreciate being able to see through the map to avoid obstacles under foot.
As a variation, we could have the colours gradually fade when exposed to sunlight. As the race progressed the map would be come more and more clear. By the end of the race the athlete would be holding a crystal-clear sheet of plastic. The fading of information will not be a problem for the so-called world class elite; they should have the map memorized by then.
Perhaps we should consider the environmental impact of all this plastic. Select a plastic that is biodegradable in the sunlight. As the colours fade, the map would become brittle and decompose into harmless little fragments.
Granted, a fading, disintegrating map might be too challenging for some juniors. For them we can provide a heavy-duty topographical map; a three-dimensional map where hills will be depicted as raised bumps. Of course this makes the map impossible to fold. One advantage is that the map can be read simply by feeling the surface. This is a definite boon for stragglers, since they can find their way back in the gloom of dusk.
These maps, or Braille-O pads, might be good enough to be used by totally blind persons. Here is a chance to perform a public service and increase orienteering membership.
Focused sponsorship provides an opportunity for enhanced corporate support of these COCs. An obvious choice is the Ford Contour for contours. Johnson's Glade could sponsor thickets while Mercury Sable underwrites sandy soil. A good choice for hills might be the Mitsubishi Ellipse. Perhaps Toyota 4Runner would sponsor the entire course 4.
Unpleasant features require more imaginative linking. Perhaps pungent marshes could be shared among several deodorant brands. Green fight areas would seem appropriate for Weed Wacker. Logged areas, always a pain in the butt, suggest Preparation H.
I will leave the implementation details for
others. It is time for me to sit back and let
others take the heat bask in the warm
applause.
(gleaned from the WOC'99 web site..we await the NB competitor's accounts in next ONB Notes!)
"The World Championships are coming to Inverness" - words that will raise excitement in the heart of every orienteer. The pressures of competing at the world championships are far higher than at any other race, the two year build up and the feeling of your country's eyes on you make this race a pinnacle of pressure as well as prestige!
What is certain is that the winners of each race will have to deal with running fast over tough, varied terrain while dealing with a wide variety of technical challenges. The forests are among the best in Scotland and the classic, short and relay all use markedly different terrain types, ranging from tough hilly, rocky forests to fast runnable moraine. Also within each forest there are many changes of terrain, vegetation, runnability and technical difficulty.
Likely winners of the women's race include Yvette Baker who won 2 silver medals in Germany in 1995, Hanne Staff who won gold in 1997 in Norway or possibly Katalin Olah who has two classic gold medals from 1991 and 1995 or someone else? The men's race is equally interesting with Petter Thoresen (golds from 1989, 1993 and 1997) or Johan Ivarsson (top results over many years), or perhaps Steve Hale as he uses the home advantage to great effect. My tips for the relays are Norway in the men's race and Switzerland in the women's (but watch out for both British teams as the effect of the new performance coach, Goran Andersson, kicks in).
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