Orienteer Pod

Episode 72 and we’ve finally got the first guest of the year for you!Emil Wingstedt joins us to talk about winning World Championships, dominating European sprints, and why coaching Ralph might be the greatest challenge of his career. From four consecutive European sprint titles to life as a national coach (and occasional IOF outlaw), Emil shares how he went from a decent junior to one of the best orienteers of his era.We dive into training philosophy, brutal interval blocks, relay pressure, sprint evolution, and why committing fully to your own path matters more than copying someone else’s.There’s also talk of embargo breaches, control-moving at championships, near-misses in Århus, and the fine art of packing Ralph’s race bag.

Episode 71 and the boys are finally back together, attempting to recap what we’ve actually been up to lately.Tim is playing it smart with his injury and sticking to shorter races, Magnus is battling winter and Ralph has invested in some very serious-looking ankle braces in the name of “performance”. Matching outfits were involved for reasons still unclear.Somewhere between training updates and life admin we talk actual orienteering, drift into Winter Olympics chat, and compare how badly our nations are doing. There are a few small controversies, the usual apologies, and Ralph getting ready for Portugal O Meeting — hoping everything holds together this time.

Episode 70 marks the return after a suspiciously long break. New year, big promises: structure, regular releases — all said confidently before immediately talking over each other. We apologise for disappearing, announce a bold new plan, and realise mid-episode that it might already be failing.Tim finally reveals the unresolved cliffhanger from last year: 25 days into 2026 and he still hasn’t run. Injuries, creative definitions of “training,” and whether the year really counts yet are all debated. We look back at last season’s predictions, make fresh ones for 2026, and roll straight into resolutions we probably won’t keep. The apology section makes an inevitable return, loose ends get tied up, and Orienteer Pod is officially back.

Episode 69 somehow became exactly what it was always destined to be: long, rambling, and only loosely about orienteering. Magnus is finally back online after disappearing to altitude camp in Uganda, where “easy runs” apparently mean getting dropped by half-marathon world record holders and learning life lessons over chai, chapati and Ludo. Tim is busy limping between the sofa, the treadmill and the X-ray department, while insisting everything is totally fine. Ralph mostly tries to keep the conversation on track and fails.We cover Park World Tour races in China, not the orienteering but whether Yannick Michels could beat 500 schoolchildren in a fight or a relay. We hype up the annual 3x3km Christmas Challenge, will any of the boys even start the session? There’s also European XC chat, questionable footwear choices, altitude bragging, Strava chaos and no guests.

This episode goes fully off-script. Magnus rage baits Ralph by appearing in Uganda with no warning, Ralph insists his rep counting was correct (it wasn’t), and Tim posts a respectable 10K and pretends it’s no big deal. Somewhere between Squadrats, gold-labelled races, wolves, lap-button etiquette and arguing about numbers, we completely lose control of the episode.

Episode 67 arrives with peak winter energy: low motivation, high confusion, and plenty of unnecessary opinions. Rep counts are getting out of hand, Magnus has downloaded yet another pointless app, Ralph is still recovering from the abuse he took last episode while Tim struggles with old man injuries and heavy leaves..We catch up on the chaos, question our own training choices, give interior design tips, and pretend we know what we’re doing as the dark months settle in.

The boys gang up on Ralph for running a ridiculous number of reps — 18 this time — of his favourite session. Somehow it’s totally fine for Tim to have 35 seconds of recovery though, because that’s “normal”. Magnus escapes any training-based abuse after (once again) deleting Strava right after maybe winning the October mileage challenge.We get nostalgic for old-school orienteering: where are the results boards and hand-drawn courses? Has the march of technology destroyed the sacred art of comparing splits with your mates?Meanwhile, Tim smashed a trail race (though not quite as much as Eef van Dongen), Ralph’s been getting rained on in the UK and training with the national team, and we finally read some words from Silvan Ullmann — the course setter behind the Swiss World Cup Knock-Out sprint.

Closing out the international orienteering year with an episode filled with just pure yappage.Tim has been at 25manna, but can't remember which teams got disqualified. Magnus has made a comeback on Strava topping the leaderboards. Where has this sudden burst of motivation come from and will Garmin vs Strava cause problems? Ralph brings old man energy as usual as he complains about even more things.Also in the episode, the usual apology section, Ralph presents the UK, JEC results, and we clear up some points from last episode.

World Cup Final in Uster — the last big showdown of the season. Ralph pulls off a 360 but fails the 90, Tim somehow beats us both, and Magnus keeps searching for that elusive breakthrough. We dig into the chaos of KO indoor sprints, from barrier controversies to whhether the format is even a good idea.

In this episode, the boys are preparing for the final round of the World Cup in Uster, Switzerland. Tim is on a romantic training camp in Italy — but what long object did Wife Emma pull out of his body? Magnus has been forest orienteering with an added challenge, and Ralph is spoiling for a fight with the Swiss team.