Orienteering, O-ringen 5-day event Jönköping July 21-26, 2025

Orienteering is going back to my Swedish roots; it was my first serious sport. I still love it; it is a hard physical challenge with a serious mental component. Orienteering is a big sport in Scandinavia; my American friends fell off their chairs when the world championship was headlined and shown on the national news television.

Oringen 5-day competition is one of the most important events for age group racers. This year, over 15,000 participants from 10 years old to over 90 competed every day! 

I signed up for the female 65-69 long course, there is also a short course and an easy course in each age group. There were about 120 people overall in my age group. Each day, my course lasted about 45 to 70 minutes for me to complete.

Five different finish lanes to accommodate incoming runners.

I definitely have lost my edge in pure orienteering skills which is not surprising as I have only practice about twice a year for the last 35 years. Fortunately, I did not make any serious orienteering errors, so I was satisfied. The final time is calculated cumulatively over the 5 days, and I finished in 24th place. 

But I also met serious runners in my class, I did not place in the top three a single time from last checkpoint to finish which is pure running. I was usually 4th... I am not used to run on uneven ground.

Overall, the weather was great the whole week and it was a lot of fun. I had increasing pain in my right foot and after the last day, I could barely walk. I have not been to a doctor, but I suspect I had an exhaustion fracture. After O-ringen, I went on a family vacation which allowed my foot to rest and after about 4 weeks it was fine again.

I am in awe of the orienteering community; the organisation is an enormous undertaking. Different courses for all ages and abilities, preprinted maps for everyone, hundreds of checkpoints placed in the deep woods and electronic timing with leg times between checkpoints. 

Then add parking, bussing, showers, toilets and food for all these people in a rural setting without infrastructure. After it is all done, the entire setup will be moved to a new place the next day, 5 times! Oh, I forgot, add MTB orienteering with all the same classes on top of that.

Entry fees are very modest, a few hundred US dollars for the entire week. Compare that to an ironman.

It works because people are disciplined and cheerful, they follow instructions and directions. There is no luxury in orienteering, the outfit is not glamorous, no one cheers on you in the woods, bathrooms and showers are outdoors. There is a lot of walking from parking and bus stops to the event center, further walking to start points etc. If it rains, you still are outdoors the entire event that take many hours. People are there with their small children and dogs. Often whole families are active, especially the grandparents!

I do credit my background in orienteering to have prepared me mentally and physically for all types of endurance racing. Orienteering is hard.

Setup for MTB orienteering