Sports, Sports | Big in Sweden, almost unknown in Norway: Gaute and Vilde tried their luck
With the map attached to the handlebars, Gaute Nysæter and Vilde Aakre Leistad maneuvered themselves across the paths in the area around Skien Fritidspark as they fought their way through the paths on wheels in cycling orientation.
They are well acquainted with orientation, not quite as experienced on the bike seat and with the map attached to the handlebars.
– It is actually very fun, and a nice change from regular orienteering, says Gaute Nysæter and Vilde Aakre Leistad, who both do orienteering – and have practiced orienteering for many years. They had both participated in a race in cycling orienteering before.
With cycling orientation in their hometown, they both started.
– It is tempting to repeat, of course, although we probably think regular orientation is a bit more fun.
– Do you want to take part in cycling orienteering later as well?
– Yes, we will. It goes fast here, and it’s exciting, the o-runners from Skien answer OK.
On Saturday, a sprint was arranged in the morning and a middle distance in the afternoon. Gaute won class H15-16 over 3.0 kilometers with a time of 29.49, while Vilde as the only participant in D15-16 came in at 28:29 in 2.8 kilometers.
In the intermediate distance a few hours later, Vilde got the time 26:26 after 4.4 km, while Gaute took third place in H15-16 (4.9 km).
Will increase interest
Cycling orienteering (abbreviated MTBO), where you cycle according to approximate o-maps on trails in the terrain, arose in the late 1990s. In Norway it was popular for a few years, before it died out.
A couple of years ago, it was taken up again, and now it is working to increase sports interest in Norway, such as in Sweden and many other countries. In the neighboring country, cycling orienteering is very popular, and also among other things come under the big o-festival O-ring (formerly 5-day).
– We want the interest in cycling orienteering to be great in Norway, and this season closer competitions are arranged. We will gather many uninterested people. It is an exciting and fast-paced sport, says Hans Jørgen Kvåle, who has played the sport himself and was previously Norway’s best athlete in ski orienteering. Now he travels around to help with such races, and to help raise interest.