Nopesport

Well with only 258 days to go until WOC'05 here's a host of information to get you interested and see you through these dark days of winter.

Hanne Staff & Bjørnar Valstad have recently published on their website Staff-Valstad.com Part 1 of a guide to the World Champs in Japan. Part 1 (of 4) covers interesting details of Japanese Orienteering history, topography, climate, culture, food, accommodation and style of living. Future articles will cover maps, techniques and route choice. The full article (in english) can be found here

Pasi Ikonen has posted some information, photos, maps and videos from the recent WOC camp & PWT in Japan which can be found here.

Further information on WOC in Japan from a British perspective can be found on Oli Johnson & Jenny Whitehead's website with WOC05 info here

Another great source is Rob Plowright's website. Sadly no longer being updated due to his involvement in planning the WOC sprint this is still a useful source of sample maps. With a collection of WOC training maps made by likely WOC mappers, as well as some other Japanese maps and example route choices this is a great source for winter map geeking. Find the maps here

The official WOC05 Japan website is here