Presentation Anne Margrethe Hausken
November 27, 2008 by Niels-Peter Foppen
“I will never forget O-ringen in Sälen… Winning 3 WC-races in a row, getting the WC overall victory there even with the two final races to go [...]“ – Anne Margrethe Hausken. Below Hausken is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.
Nominated for: dominating the sprint distance in international orienteering – and also dominating the world cup.
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 Anne Margrethe Hausken
World of Orienteering / Ultimate Orienteering – Give a short presentation of yourself.
Anne Margrethe Hausken - Born: 1976. Grew up in Karmøy (an island on the western coast of Norway). Moved to Oslo in 1995 for studies (Master of Pharmacy) and – later on – work (Ph.D.) Club: Halden SK since 2008 (previously Torvastad IL, Baekkelagets SK). I attended my first orienteering lessons when I was 6 and started competing when I was 9. When I was younger, I also competed in athletics, cross-country skiing and ski-orienteering.
WoO / UO -What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
AM H - I will never forget O-ringen in Sälen… Winning 3 WC-races in a row, getting the WC overall victory there even with the two final races to go – and in the end also winning O-ringen for the first time. The great atmosphere with nearly 25 000 participants and the nice surroundings in Sälen made it something really special!
WoO / UO – What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
AM H – I enjoy that kind of voting and it’s an honour for me to be nominated. I realize that it’s difficult to compare different achievements… Anyway, it’s a proper way of remembering a lot of impressive moments given to the orienteering world by different athletes throughout the year!
WoO / UO – What are your main goals for the future?
AM H – In September I enjoyed “WOC 2010 kick-off” in Trondheim with our national team. I remember being an enthusiastic spectator when Norway organised WOC in 1997 – and I guess it would be great to fight for medals on home ground in 2010. I hope to enjoy elite orienteering for some more years and would like to work hard to improve my skills. What is so fascinating about orienteering is that the perfect race doesn’t exist, however I would like to come closer to it. I also hope to raise my average level of performance.
WoO / UO – Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
AM H- Oh, that’s a difficult question! There are so many nice places to orienteer, and probably I haven’t visited the best places yet… Last winter I was really satisfied with both Evora (Portugal), Åhus (Sweden) and the area north of Riga (Latvia). I with to visit Slovenia some day as I hear they have mapped some quite technically demanding areas there. Bulgaria is also on my list, and I will perhaps go there this winter. If you haven’t been to the Norwegian “Døla-uka” or “Nordvestgaloppen” yet, I would recommend those. And if you’re looking for WOC 2010 relevant training outside Trondheim we have our Open Ultralong Distance Championship 2009 in Odda with great surroundings – as my parents have a cottage in this area I know those mountains very well!
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?
AM H – I think week 18 was pretty tough. Anders, Olav, Audun and I went directly from Tiomila to Latvia (at first Liepaja, later north of Riga). Normally I do some alternative endurance training every week, but that week my 13 sessions were 13 hours of running (11 orienteering sessions) and 3 hours of strength training (basic stabilising training + different specific injury preventive strength training). I mostly ran with low intensity, but also ran fast four times:
- Two middle distances: No controls in the forest. The boys started behind me, so I tried to speed up when they caught me up…
- One short relay training: We joined the GB national team. Full speed… Considering their later WOC relay gold I guess I would like to join them some other time too J
- One loop training: We put out controls for one loop each and ran the other ones fast.
This week gave me some extra self confidence in front of EOC in Latvia. Also a similar week in Åhus (Sweden) in February was important for that championship. Running a lot of technique training in varied and difficult terrain is to me a good way to improve my skills and build my self confidence.
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?
AM H -I am working perhaps 25 percent on my PhD that I will probably finish next year.
This year I did 690 hours of training. That was my third year in a row with approximately 700 hours of training.
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?
AM H- This year I ran 420 hours, and 180 of these were orienteering. I mostly run in the forest or on paths and forest roads. Running on asphalt is not my favourite, but it happens from time to time. I did some athletics when I was younger, and when I was 19 (in 1995) I did 3000m in 10.14. After becoming a senior my first steps on a track were made on a 3000m test with the national team in November 2005, where I did 9.55.
