Discussion: Best orienteering how to book for the experienced

Been meaning to do some at home studying for a while now and was wondering if folks have recommendations for the best book for an experienced orienteerer who wants to improve his technique?

i just know one in norwegian and one in german, will not help that much will it?

if you really want something good, write an email to thierry g. he had some lectures about his way to success with power point slides. i reckon if you ask kindly he will send a copy to you.

I wrote up a summary of Tero's powerpoint presentation at Ottawa, CA last year and it is here

Modern Orienteering Training by Wilf Holloway. No longer modern, but it was years ahead of its time.

I couldn't find "Modern Orienteering" on Amazon, but I did find "Murder at the 14th Control and other Short Stories" by Wilf Holloway..... which I did order. Maybe I'll pick up some tips!

There's a new book been released by Carol McNeill who has written guides in the past, also some extra sections with input from some GB squad members, some more info here:
http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/soa/page/a-ne...

You were lucky to find "Murder... ". Its been out of print for many years and Amazon lists it as unavailable. You'll find it entertaining, but other than learning how to make your compass into a lethal weapon, you probably won't pick up many tips from it.

I like "Orienteering: The Skills of the Game" by Carol McNeil. Alhough a lot of it is beginner oriented, it is pretty thorough and you'll fill any gaps in your basic skill set as well as picking up a few new ideas and strategies.

If anyone has a copy of "Murder..." they'd like to unload, let me know. My copy disappeared after being loaned out several years ago.

I have a copy of "Murder..." but it isn't for sale. I found it on eBay several years ago. They are out there but seen pretty infrequently.

You could always come to the silent auction at Canadian Champs. This year there were two copies, at least one of which was re-donated after being purchased at the previous year's auction. Maybe the same will happen next year...

Best advice for experienced orienteers is 1) orienteer a LOT so you figure out what your weaknesses are and 2) attend any training camps you can.

If you don't have access to either of these try to talk to other experienced orienteers.

If you have the navigation down pat, speed will follow.

@mike You should have given a spoiler alert! Now I know the murder weapon and the location, just not who did it. (But I suspect the motive was map-grabbing.)

Classic mis-direction. Actually, the compass is in a different short story in the collection. No need to worry. It will still surprise you.

Google turned up a couple of sources of "MOT".

It is no book, but you might find some useful info at http://o-training.net/ . And if you don't find the info you need there and find it elsewhere, you may add it yourself as it is a wiki :-)

'World Class Orienteering' also by Wilf Holloway is very good. It combines Holloway's insights with very good articles by famous orienteers when they were at the top of the game - names like de st Croix and Gagarin from this side of the pond, Peck, Wolf and Hanselmann from Europe, plus many others. WCO was published in 1980 but the accounts of training programs for individuals and teams are still relevant today. It is also fun to read for Holloway's orienteering fiction included in the book where he seemed to relish in giving disastrous results to those with a reputation for following others.
(Yes I know, PG is still at the top of his game)
The 25 year old Orienteering Ontario book Orienteering Skills and Strategies by Ron Lowry and Ken Sidney is well written, well illustrated and also still very relevant today. There are probably boxes of it around somewhere.

"The 25 year old Orienteering Ontario book Orienteering Skills and Strategies by Ron Lowry and Ken Sidney is well written, well illustrated and also still very relevant today. There are probably boxes of it around somewhere."
This is an excellent book but that, along with the Instructor's Manual (also by Ken and Ron) seems to be out of print with no plans to update and reprint...too bad since they are excellent reference material.

Carol McNeil's book will be good.

There is a recently updated booklet by Gareth Bryan-Jones which is well worth a read if you can get hold of it:

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/soa/page/orie...

I'd also recommend the Level 2-3 "Coaching Certification Manuals" from the Canadian o-federation. These are a bit old (1985 and '90) but much more interesting for athletes than they might sound.

Level 2, ~90pages by Ron Lowry, has good coverage of the usual advanced techniques, training, analysis, etc that appear in other o-books (I have most).

Level 3, ~140pg. by Ted de St Croix (10th at WOC Long 1985), skips all of that and is basically bonus material for national team coaches and athletes, covering stuff like race strategy in different terrain types, optimum speed, terrain running technique, relay racing, fitness testing, training plans, elite training camps, relaxation/concentration/visualization techniques, team selection, and even international travel issues. I haven't seen any other english book with such elite focus.

I think I bought mine from Gale ten years ago, it looks like he still has them.

Wow, Murder at the 14th Control and Other Stories is becoming more precious than gold!

i wrote with wilf. he said me, that "Murder at the 14th Control and other Short Stories" will be republished in the middle of 2012!

Wow, it more than tripled in the last couple weeks. If he really republishes that will destroy the value of my retirement plan... wait 40 years then sell the book. At this rate it should be worth a few million by then...

So how's that different from a 401k plan containing dollars that devalue as the gov't prints new money?

As mo suggested last year, "Murder at the 14th Control" and "Modern Orienteering Training" are now available again. The stories that accompany "Murder..." may be slightly different, but Holloway is hinting at another book with the others plus some new material, also a book on mental training.

What is the difference between the $39.50 version and the $245 version in the above link, does one actually contain gold?

If you read the reviews in this months compasssport you would think twice about paying event the lower price for it!

I would but the website tells me the printer is broken so I won't be getting my copy anytime soon.