O-Ringen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
O-Ringen, or Swedish 5-Days, is a multiday orienteering race. It has been held annually since 1965. The first competition included only 156 competitors, but at its peak in 1985, exactly 23,000 competitors took part. O-Ringen for 2006 was held in the Swedish province of Hälsingland during July 15th-21st. 11,500 orienteers from 32 different countries were registered to participate in this year's competition.
This race attracts significant media coverage in Sweden and winning O-Ringen is often considered second only to the World Championships in prestige.
Competitors are assigned start times for the first four legs (days) of the race, but the fifth and final leg is different from the previous four in that it consists of a "chasing start": the overall leader at that point in the competition starts first, and the remaining competitors start after the leader by the total amount of time that they are trailing the leader by. For example, a competitor who has run a total of five minutes slower than the leader over the course of the first four days will start five minutes after the leader on the final day.
