Presentation Minna Kauppi

November 25, 2008 by Niels-Peter Foppen

“The highlight was definitely the performance and the victory in WOC middle distance as I really had thought to make IT [...]“ – Minna Kauppi. Below Kauppi is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.

Nominated for: winning the bronze medal at EOC middle distance and relay, the silver medal at WOC sprint, the gold medal at WOC middle distance, the gold medal at WOC relay and winning the gold medal with her team at WOC relay and to winning the silver medal overall in the World Cup 2008.

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from this page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.

Interview with Minna Kauppi

World of Orienteering / Ultimate Orienteering – Give a short presentation of yourself.
Minna Kauppi - I’m Minna Kauppi, I’m almost 26 years old and have been doing sports all my life. I was really competitive a a child so it was just natural for me to become an athlete. I just thought that i would have become a cross-country skier or a runner as I wanted to do everything full speed and it was hard with the map at first. I’ve always been such a spontaneous and wild that concentration was and still is quite demanding for me. At the moment, I’m studying all kind of stuff at the university but I usually have time for studies only in the fall. All the rest of the year I’m concetrating on orienteering and enjoying myself. I live together with my boyfriend, Pasi Ikonen, in Jyväskylä but i’m origianny from Asikkala which is a rather small place in Southern Finland.

WoO / UO -What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
M K - The highlight was definitely the performance and the victory in WOC middle distance as I really had thought to make IT (orienteer as well as I can and win the gold) there and I did, so I was just all smiles then!

WoO / UO – What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
M K – Of course, it’s an honour but at the same time I think that there are many other people who’ve done fine results and achievements this year. However, I wont complane if I’ll be on top of the list:)

WoO / UO – What are your main goals for the future?
M K – I would like to continue doing sports for a couple of years and I really hope to get myself doing things the way I’m able to. I still have a lot to improve in orienteering both mentally and physically and I have to work on them in order to get some more golden ones. On the other hand the biggest goal is to ENJOY doing those things and allow one self to take it easy too.

WoO / UO – Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
M K – There are so many diamonds but if I name a few. For extreme o-challenges you should visit the stone labyrints in Czechs or in France (Le Caylar area). In Finland, Ilomantsi offers you great and detailed depressions and re-entrants.

The most enjoyable places to run and look around while orienteering are maybe in Northern Norway, on the fells of Sweden or Finland and I also enjoy the sandy beach terrains in Portugal or Spain (for instance Alicante).

In Finland I would travel to Rokua or to Turku reagion for a real enjoyment but you can also come to Jyväskylä and make your attitude better ;-)

WoO / UO – Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
M K – It’s hard to say which of the weeks is hardest but this is a quite good example of what I did just before EOC (i couldn’t concentrate on EOC as I had to catch up in training afer injury so much). There are not so many hours but quite many tough trainings. The weekend before I had had 2 competitions. There are also small trainings in order to improve my running technique as the knee problem had cased som oter problems in my running too.

* Monday: Am: A long o-training with Pasi in Högsand. 2h10min, Pm: Running + running technique 55min 3.05
* Tuesday: Am: Pair relay 3×8-10min under anaerobic threshold. 1.40h Pm: Easy orienteering in Hanko 45min 2.25
* Wednesday: Am: Running 30min, running technique 15min. Pm: Cycling 60min 1.45 + MASSAGE
* Thursday: Am: Running with rising speed. 10min warm-up, 10min under aerobic threshold, 10min Under anaerobic threshold, 10min on anaerobic threshold, 10min under ana. threshold, 10min under aerobic threshold, 15min warm-down. 1.15 Pm: Strength 20min and running 30min +10min running technique= 60min. 2.15
* Friday: Cycling 45min, easy orienteering and running 90min, cycling 70min. 3.25
* Saturday: Intervals 2min (1min rec.), 3(1), 5 (1,5) x3 + 10×30s “easy” speeding. 1.20
* Sunday: Running 30min, running technique 20min, running 45min. 1.35

I trained approximately 600h ast year but this year I suppose it’s going to be less than that due to problems and lazyness

WoO / UO – Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
M K – I’m almost professional even though I’d rather think of myself as not too professional. it doesn’t sound that nice to me:) But of course I’m a student too and I study quite normally during the autumns. Springs and summers are just for orienteering and training. I trained approximately 600h ast year but this year I suppose it’s going to be less than that due to problems and lazyness :-)

WoO / UO – In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
M K – I usually run on small paths but of course during the winter I also do more trainings on asphalt. I only run in the woods as I orienteer. Unfortunately I haven’t really competed in 3000 nor in 5000m but I’ve run 5000 once just testing and the time was 17.00. For 3000m I only have this unofficial 9.5? and it was done after an interval training.