The O-Ringen (previously called the “Swedish 5 days”) is an orienteering competition that takes place annually in different areas of Sweden. Orienteers from all over the world come to the competition. For orienteers around the world a trip to the O'ringen 5-days is their Mecca. This race attracts significant media coverage in Sweden and winning O-Ringen is often considered second only to the World Championships in prestige. The competition takes place in July, and takes place over 5 days, where every active day is a competition stage. Competitors are assigned start times for the first four stages of the race, but on the fifth and final stage a "chasing start" is used. In a chasing start the overall leader in each class starts first and the remaining competitors start according to the total time they trail. This means that the first runner over the finish line on the final stage is the winner.
| O-Ringen | |
|---|---|
 Finish line during the 2005 event in Skillingaryd | |
| Status | active |
| Genre | sporting event |
| Date(s) | July |
| Frequency | annual |
| Country | Sweden |
| Inaugurated | 1965 |
History
editThe O-Ringen was started in 1965 in Denmark, Skåne and Blekinge by elite Swedish national team runners Peo Bengtsson and Sivar Nordström. They organised the competition at short notice from July 19-23 to fill the days between two already-organised weekend events in Simlångsdalen and Kallinge. Due to a lack of available high-quality maps, the first day was organised in Hillerød, Denmark. After being publicised in Skogssport and Idrottsbladet, 156 participants attended the first event, during which guest of honour Torsten Tegnér was forced to help with organisation due to a lack of volunteers. The events were organised in the evenings to allow for people who had to work during the day. Following the first event, participation levels then steadily increased.[1]
O-Ringen received its name from the union of Swedish national team runners that Bengtsson and Nordström were first part of; the union was started with the purpose to improve international orienteering in 1962 by ten Swedish national team runners, including most Swedish competitors at the 1962 European Orienteering Championships. Some of the first members included European Championships medallists Bertil Norman and Emy Gauffin. The O-Ringen union was important in organising the event through to 1978, and held some administrative roles until 2003.[1]
Up until today the highest participant level was in 1985 in Dalarna/Falun were there were 25 021 participants.
The O-Ringen was included in the World Cup orienteering series in 1998, 2007 and 2008.
In 2009 there were prize money in the Elite series, the main classes for both the men and the women, totalling to half a million kronor. The final result in the junior elite classes will count towards the Silva Junior Cup.
From 2008 multi-sport has been represented at the competition in the form of the O-Ringen Multi. The competition on the Tuesday will be a part of the Swedish Multi-sport Cup.
The O-Ringen Academy is a training program which consists of three sections; International, Leadership and Sports. The International section focuses on training orienteers from all over the world who want to learn more about orienteering in order to develop the sport in their home countries. The Leadership section is a leadership training course in the form of seminars and speeches. The Sports section is more concerned with the physical side with training camps of different sorts, including a week for juniors before the O-Ringen.
Records
edit- The first ever stage of the Swedish 5-Days was held in Denmark.
- Ulla Lindkvist has the most titles in the women's class with eight wins.
- Lars Lönnkvist has won the men's class four times
Statistics
edit
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "O-Ringens historia - O-Ringen". www.oringen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2019-07-03. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
- ^ "Vinnare Damklassen". Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ^ "Vinnare herrklassen". Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ^ "Tidigare O-ringen". Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "O-Ringen Åre överträffade målet - trots utmaningarna". Retrieved 28 July 2023.
External links
edit- The 1973 edition at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)