Roland Ludwig

When did you start orienteering, and why?
When I was 12, my father read in the local newspaper about a regional orienteering event. We ran together in the category “family” and since then I am addicted :-) The passion for different types of maps (not only orienteering) and the great way to explore new places around the world still excites me today!

However, during my young ages, I was mostly going to regional events, and quite lazy in trainings and ambition. My passion was in music, I spent my free time playing the trumpet and took orienteering not too seriously.

What’s your earliest orienteering memory?
Running my first orienteering event alone, is still in my head. The nervous night before, the readiness at the start and the proudness in the finish is still very much in my memories.

When I was 15, with a group of young orienteers, we took the bike and went quite spontaneously through the Black Forest to a 3-days orienteering event in the area of Strasbourg. This is probably when my excitement about international orienteering in all different terrains begun!

What’s your funniest or most interesting orienteering story?
Not really an orienteering event, but during a winter long-jogging with runners from my club: We started off together and after some time the group became a bit scattered due to different speeds. At one point, I ran together with a good (female) friend and we chatted all along. After quite some time, we realized that we are at the same point as we have been before, running a full circle in about 60 minutes… As we were not familiar with the area and had no map with us, after more than 2.5 hours running, we finally managed to find in a small village a friendly guy who drove us back to the meeting point. You can imagine how the rumours started to spread afterwards…

Do you have any photos from your orienteering past that you’d be willing to share, and say a few words about?

50k orienteering race in 2004, towards the end ;-)
 

Representing LuxO in Switzerland!

Are there any results you’re particularly proud of?
Not really. I was never a great runner, but it still satisfies me today when I have a good race with only little mistakes. The best result (and also easiest way to reach a podium) was probably the 2^nd place of the Hong Kong Champions League overall standings in the year 2000 :-)

Would you dare to share your biggest mistake in orienteering?
Tiomila night leg with the Luxembourg team: We were already quite behind competitors when I went into the freezing cold forest at night. The first controls went well, however about in the middle of the course, I took probably a too straight route and missed one of the controls and was searching for it quite a while – without success. Only after the race, I realized that I was very close to the control but did not manage to spot it ☹ I felt really bad for the entire team ☹ Sorry again, I’ll try to make it up at the Jukolas!

What is your favourite terrain (terrain type or specific location)? Any least favourite?
I love the Jura terrain in general, as it is rather flat and technically challenging, without the (too) rocky parts of the Swiss Alps. Though, maybe after June this year, my new favourite terrain will be in Idre Fjäll, looking forward to participate in a 3 days event :-)

As least favourite, you probably would expect from me a typical Swiss midland terrain. But there is a worse one: Some orienteering maps in Hong Kong are dark green, no way to get through the jungle!

Give an example of a typical control point in your "home terrain".

We have our second home in Flims-Laax (area of WOC 2023). The variety of terrains between 500 and 2500 meters above sea level is fantastic – just for running, or training, races but also as a course setter.

Another one that is worth going: The supposed forest of the WOC 2003 in Rapperswil (my town of living) was destroyed 2 weeks before the WOC and the relay was moved to another place. Now, after more than 20 years, the forest can be used again for orienteering, Jonas (my son) will be the course setter end of October this year for the season ending event.

How did you find out about orienteers in Luxembourg?
Good question – I don’t quite remember. We lived from 2012 for 4 years in Luxembourg (and afterwards 7 years commuting). During that time, I have probably found some information about orienteering in Luxembourg online before the club was founded and then joined for an event. I remember well the picnics with families at orienteering events around Luxembourg, where we met some of you!

Why do you think orienteering is a sport worth doing? What has orienteering given you as a person?
Orienteering means a lot to me. Not only as a runner, but even more as an organizer and event advisor. I had the chance to be the president of one of the largest orienteering clubs in Switzerland (home club of the Hubmann brothers) during my studies – I learnt a lot for my lifetime. And I enjoy a lot to give back my know-how to young, motivated orienteers who want to organize and plan orienteering events.

Rapidfire:
- Sprint or forest? –  Forest – though the city of Matera comes close to it :-)
- Thumb or plate compass? – Thumb
- Night or day? – The older I get, the more it is day
- Beer or crémant (after a race)? – Beer in Belgium, wine in Italy
- First leg or last leg (in relay)? – Middle legs