On the left, Eric running the WOC 2012 Long Qualifier (photo courtesy World of O).
This is a transcript of an interview with Eric in February, 2025. It has been edited for clarity and length.
Cristina Luis: All right, Eric, tell me your orienteering origin story.
Eric Bone: My origin story starts in high school, my sophomore year. I was sitting in Spanish class next to one of my track and cross country teammates. She had a flyer from a teacher at the school who’s involved in Cascade Orienteering Club (COC) and decided he was going to try to recruit cross country team members for the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League (WIOL). I leaned over and was like, “what’s that?” And she’s like, “yeah, I’m not interested in this.” And she showed me the flyer and I was like, “Okay, cool. This looks like a lot of fun.” And so I’m going to go to this lunchtime meeting in my freshman biology teacher’s classroom. He had brochures and maps and stuff like that and kind of just talked a little bit about what orienteering was about.
I thought, “This sounds cool.” I brought home a brochure and showed my mom and my brother and said, “let’s do this.”
And so we went to the practice event that Saturday which was in a local park on Mercer Island, near Seattle. We were hooked. We liked it and just kept at it from there. So the school league was my start, and both my brother and I were in the league that first year. And then the next season we kind of got a bunch of our friends from the cross country team and the chess team and other friends of ours to join the Garfield High School orienteering team and we had I think 20-25 people or so. We were pretty good salespeople.
Yeah, it sounds like it. And so then obviously you took it far, you’re still on the US team. You must currently be by far the longest tenured member of the team.
Yeah. Possibly of the people on the team now. I think 1994 was my first year on the team.
So that’s pretty quick really from when you started orienteering.
Yeah. I mean, I took it quite seriously from the beginning. I quickly decided it was the sport I wanted to focus on and just worked pretty diligently at it.
So basically from the beginning you were just like, “this is it, I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it well?”
I mean, I guess I’m naturally a competitive person. And it’s not even competitiveness exactly. It’s more like I like to apply myself to whatever I’m doing, it’s more just like I’m a rule follower. I’ve always been a bad student, but I’ve wanted to be a good student. I’ve wanted to pay attention. I wanted to learn things…
If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it well.
I think it was easy for me to do that with orienteering because it gave me so much I just loved. It wasn’t even–some people say they love maps. For me, that wasn’t it. It was running around outside, it was just super exciting. And discovering new places.
So I think that was more because I was a runner before I was an orienteer, and I was more just drawn to the adventure aspect of it, just running around and jumping over things and challenging myself.
I mean orientering is always a challenge, it never stops being challenging…
Right. Right.
…because there’s always something new every time you turn the map over. It could be even if it’s the same venue, it’s a different course. I think that that kept me coming back. .
You talk about going to new places and adventures. What are your favorite places that you have traveled to because of orienteering?
Yeah. I mean, that’s a hard one because I’ve been to so many places and I can’t even bring them all to mind. You know what I mean? There’s places that would be on candidates for my favorite that I’m not even thinking of right now. But I think the thing like among the WOCs that I’ve been to, I mean that’s an easy one. I just felt like Ukraine was an excellent WOC. because it was just so amazing to be in Kiev. And so that I just look back fondly upon that experience, in particular among the WOCs that I’ve been to. [Photo of Eric competing at WOC 2007, courtesy WOC 2007 photographers.]
There have been so many good times and so many wonderful experiences, visiting new places, but that’s the one that really sticks out because it’s different enough to be a really interesting place to go because of the Eastern Orthodox religion and the history. And I mean, it was just amazing in Kiev, I mean, of course, being the capital, I mean, it was just a great experience. Often when you’re orienteering, you’re off in some little dusty corner of the country.
Right.
So being in this big city with all this history and culture and the infrastructure to explore and really enjoy it was a great experience.
So of all of these orientating experiences you’ve had, which one or ones are you most proud of?
Boy, it’s so hard to pick something because I’ve had many runs over the years that have been really satisfying. I think I do really like the times that I’ve had a great performance and possibly won or placed. The first thing that pops into my head is winning four intercollegiate titles. That was something that was very meaningful to me at the time because I was really trying to get more consistent. At that time in my orienteering I was still making a lot of mistakes and so to be able to pull that out was not a given at all.
Those are individual varsity titles?
Individual titles, yeah. And we did, I think, win the team title as a University of Washington team a couple times if I remember right, but I’m not 100% sure about that. But the four in a row individual titles…
That’s some domination.
…it was like, “okay cool, I’m a legit orienteer, I can win things.” So that was a good experience for sure in terms of really being a confidence builder and feeling like I’d accomplished something as an athlete.
Just because of where I was at in my career, I still feel a lot of satisfaction about the North Americans in 2012 in Pennsylvania. I had a quite good run in the middle and I don’t think I won the race outright, but I think I was second overall or something like that. But I was the North American champ because the winner was Lacho Iliev from Bulgaria.
Yeah. That’s right.
So that’s another one that comes to mind. But the thing that I like is just finishing a race, whether I win or don’t win, and just knowing that I really had a really good run and just got into that state of feeling like I’m moving well. I’m really concentrated, I’m hitting things.
Even now that could happen for me and I would feel very satisfied with it but I wouldn’t be winning, just because my speed is not what it once was.
Right. I remember that you’ve always had a pretty analytical approach to how you did post race analysis. Do you still do that?
I mean honestly nowadays it’s very impressionistic, I think there’s a time for different approaches in one’s development. I think there was a time when I would go through each leg and I would analyze it in great detail. I’d draw my route and I’d say, “I hesitated here.”
Okay, what was that about? I didn’t have a plan or I didn’t look. So, I’d be kind of dissecting things in minute detail and diagnosing things that lost 5 seconds or something. I’m not doing that so much anymore. Once in a while maybe I’ll go through a course with that level of scrutiny, but now it’s more broad brush, just kind of recognizing the patterns and saying , “okay, today I needed to work on X,” or “I wasn’t prepared in this way,” or something like that and then trying to do a little better next time.
So it’s pretty high level now I think versus the granularity that I used to approach things with.
And do you think that granularity is what helped make you good and consistently good?
I think it was part of it. I mean, I think you have to know how you have to be able to find patterns in your performance that are going to reveal areas for improvement or areas to focus on. And sometimes improvement just means having the right idea in your head when you start a race, it doesn’t necessarily mean, I went and practiced a skill a bunch of times.
It could mean that, but it might just mean going in with the right sort of prompts in your head, “today I’m going to compass” or attackpoints, or whatever the thing is that you need to think about to optimize how you’re running that day. I’ve always just been very interested in the mental game with orienteering, for a long time. I mean a lot of sports are very mental, especially when you’re trying to get to a high level, but I think especially with orienteering because you have both the running component and the technical component. And then the technical component can be subdivided into all these skill areas. And it’s different in different terrains. The interplay of performing the skill and your mental attitude that gets you ready to do that performance becomes very important. What kind of brain do you have on your shoulders when you’re at that start line? And is that the brain you need to do the things you need to do to be successful that day?
Cultivating the right mindset and of course the right physical preparation is very important too. if you feel horrible then it’s harder to focus on navigating.
You mentioned “the brain you have on your shoulders when you’re at the start line”. So I have to ask you now–you’re sort of notorious for arriving at the start with zero extra time. And in fact the first year that I went to WOC as a team official my job was to make sure you got to the start on time.
So you were the Eric Wrangler.
And I don’t know that I actually had any control over that. But at the time you told me that that’s part of how you like to be mentally prepared. What are you doing?
Remind me which WOC was that?
That was Denmark in 2006.
2006. Yeah. But did I make it to the start on time?
Yeah. I think you made it not necessarily on time, but before the next call up.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, on time enough.
Yeah. You ran up with your shoelaces untied. You said something about just needing to have things to do. You got there basically on time but you still had things you had to do.
Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, that’s par for the course.
So that’s on purpose.
I don’t know if it’s on purpose. I mean, I think it’s not exactly on purpose. I mean, I’ve had good runs when I’ve been late, missed my start. I’ve had good runs when I’ve been on time for my start or even a few minutes early. So, I think that’s not necessarily a strategic component of my preparation. I’d say more just has to do with the way I function. What I will say is that sometimes what I find is that if I’m just going through the motions and I’m just very mechanical about, “okay, what do I need to do to get myself to the start at X time?” Sometimes that kind of mentality can leave me underexcited or something or not ‘stoked’ enough or not dialed in enough mentally because it’s like a different track. Almost like–I don’t know how to explain it but I think there’s a timer in my head. There’s a level of work that goes into getting ready and getting to the start and I think there’s part of my brain that’s a little bit sleepy and a little bit kind of underactivated, and so there’s a ramp up to go from that state of activation to a high level of activation where you need to be for performing well and orienteering. So it’s possible, and I wouldn’t put money on this but, not that there’s any way to find out for sure, but it’s possible that there’s a sense in which having a little bit of urgency helps get to that higher level of mental activation.
I was going to say a sense of urgency.
Yeah. Yeah.
It’s just not there until you make it.
So once there’s no leeway in the schedule, once it’s, “okay, I really have to go to make it to the start,” then I think it’s easier to crank up the level of mental activation.
Right. That makes sense.
Sort of nervous arousal or whatever you want to call it. Yeah. And there’s an optimal level for different people, I think for me it’s pretty high. And that’s also why I’ve done well in big races, because if you’re someone whose optimal level is lower, then when you get on a really big stage it’s going to be too much.
I think because I’m a little more type B, I guess, or something, that enables me to thrive on a higher level of nervousness. Or at least operate. I don’t know about thrive, but certainly function, versus shutting down or making silly mistakes.
Right, yeah, I mean I definitely experienced that, where it is too much. And that I never find the first control or…
Totally. Yeah. And I’ve experienced that too. I’m not immune to that either by any means.
I find that there’s a certain amount of stress that definitely enhances the focus. If I see somebody else, that helps me focus more, right, that there’s another person there. And so, for some people, it’s too much of a distraction.
Yeah. Right.
Like you said, everyone is different. Do you think people learn to perform better in bigger events because the stress level goes down or because they’ve learned to function with the higher stress?
I think it’s usually the former, but it’s possible that you can also just adapt and learn to cope with higher stress. But what I thought I heard from the sports psychologists that I’ve heard talk about this is that for most people it’s an innate setting to some degree. And so it’s more like your approach is more how to take pressure off if that’s what you need or how to dial up the pressure if that’s what you need.
I was just listening to an interview with a sports coach yesterday, actually, where he talked about helping athletes be less focused on the result and be more in the moment. And that is definitely one of the things that can change the level of stress when you are on the start line of a world champs race. If you’re focused on the process then that can help bring the level of stress down to where you won’t just blow up the first control.
Yeah. And you see that when you’re watching an athlete in a field event in the Olympics and they have their little routine that they do that cues them. They’re creating a kind of a sameness of the conditions. So, they’re like, “I know how to perform under these conditions.”
So their little movements and stuff kind of cue them into that very cultivated situation.
Right, and it brings them into, “I’ve done this before. I’m just doing the same thing. It doesn’t matter that there are 20,000 people watching me.”
Exactly. Yep. It just becomes rote.
It’s exactly the same thing.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that reminds me, I remember you would say–and I found this to be really comforting–that, “today is a great day because today we get to go orienteering.”
Exactly.
And I don’t know if you still say that, but I feel like that’s a great way to help bring it down for some people, it’s just saying, “I know how to do this.” Anyone who’s showing up at the World Champs has done this [orienteering] hundreds of times. More people are paying attention to these results, but it’s the same sport and you’ve done it before.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I don’t actually say that a lot, I say that occasionally, but that’s my attitude,…
I think that I liked it so much that when I heard you say it, maybe only once or twice that you said it, but you said it in such a prime moment, people are eating breakfast and they’re silent because they’re stressed or we’re getting ready to go and you’re just like, “It’s a great day. We get to go orienteering.” That’s just a great attitude.
Speaking of high performance events, you are on the National Team again. Are you going to be at the Team Trials?
I will be there.
Right. Gunning for a spot in Finland.
I’m gunning for a spot. I am not holding my breath for one, but to me it’s always fun to have the most competition that I can get.
Yep.
So to me I want to go to the team trials because that’s where it’s at. I want to go to races where other team members are there. So really for me I mean it’s still fun, if it stops being fun, I won’t be there anymore. But as long as it’s fun to me, that’s what it’s about. It’s like if I’m like, hey, this is the funnest thing I can do right now, that’s cool, I want to keep doing it.
Yeah. I signed up for the trials age group…
Yeah. Awesome.
Because yeah, it’s fun to test yourself against the fast kids.
Totally. Absolutely. Yeah.
You talked about how you love being outside and adventures and that’s what you do for work too, right?
I heard somewhere–maybe it was on this meditation retreat I did or maybe it was somewhere else–but I heard, and I think this is probably true for a lot of people, that when you really enjoy something you really want to share it with other people. To me having a company where I’m putting on outdoor events is just…I don’t know, I just feel so lucky to be doing this job, and that’s the work I do. I put on trail running races. I put on urban and wilderness navigation events, short rogaines. Mostly short, sometimes we do 24-hour ones, but those are more work, so fewer and farther between. But yeah, I just think it’s just fun to be able to support a community around those events and give people more options of stuff to do because I just know I’m just trying to put myself in other people’s shoes and say I know how much I appreciate all the rich offering of events that are out there. Including the ones you’re working on. Thank you for that. But, there’s so many great events out there and it’s just such a treat to be able to do. So, that’s kind of why I think I’m doing what I’m doing rather than quitting and getting a minimum wage job and probably on an average year making more money at it. Or at least as much.
I think that what you said about when you really enjoy something, you really want to share it with other people definitely resonates.
Winding down here, I want to know if you have tips for the younger orienteers out there who want to be the next Eric Bone, by which I mean they want to be successful and have longevity.
I think a lot of that comes down to doing what you enjoy. If you enjoy orienteering and you keep the focus on that enjoyment and you enjoy applying yourself and trying to be good at something, if you have that combination of traits, then that’s all you need, you just keep the focus on that. I think a lot of people, including myself, who orienteer are discerning and are very good at noticing differences and deviations and deficits in particular. So I think it’s easy to get into a mindset of focusing too much on the negative things.
I think for longevity and also for skill you need to be able to balance that out. I don’t want to just have a bad race and then have only negative takeaways from it. No matter how bad or how good your race is you can always have a balanced perspective. There’s always things that could have been better–maybe you just had a fantastic race and maybe that’s the time to just be like, “yes this was awesome!” But most of the time there’s always something you could have done better. There’s always something that was good about it. And even if you didn’t do anything right, you were out in nature, you were having fun, you were doing something that’s good for you, that you enjoy. So, I think for me that’s the game right there.
It’s doing something that you really love and that provides all the motivation you need, just the fact that it’s such a fantastic thing and then you have the right attitude toward it, which you can cultivate. I mean, it’s all about how you think about it and it’s all about mental practices, about purposely being balanced. Let’s say you’re someone who works with a coach, and maybe your friend tells you, “Gosh, you’re always complaining, you’re always saying, ‘I had a bad run,’ even when you’re placing really well, or whatever. Maybe it’s time to make a practice of finding something good to think about, too. I don’t know. That would be my advice. But as with most free advice, it’s take it or leave it. It’s worth every penny you paid for it.
It’s interesting that you went for the mental side, the attitude, as opposed to “do more cross training” or “take more rest days”, or whatever. Earlier, you talked about the change in how you analyze races and whatnot, and the big theme seems to be the mental side, the attitude.
Yeah. All of those things are important, too. And it’s situation dependent, that’s going to vary person to person, but I think the most general advice I can give is the advice about just enjoy it, enjoy it and cultivate the approach that you’re there to have fun, and that you enjoy it. And if you enjoy competing, great.
If you don’t enjoy competing, then don’t worry about how well you do. Just enjoy the experience. So, yeah, you just have to make it work for you.
That seems like very good advice, not just for orienteering but for many things in life, right?
Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah. I mean, I’m not good at many other things, so I couldn’t say for sure, but right.
Okay, I need to congratulate you on somewhat recently becoming a father, right?
Quite recently in terms of the history of my life. Yeah, I became a father in April of this past year.
I guess it’s a small percentage of your lifespan.
Yeah. So, we’ve got a nine and a half month old now, his name’s Andrew and he likes the outdoors. He has not been on a course yet. He has been to an orienteering event just to meet people and hang out. He enjoys people. So he was happy about that. He was happy to meet some more folks and he’s a social guy and so he enjoyed it.
And soon he’ll like beeping…
Yeah, hopefully. I mean, we’ll see. I’m just prepared for him to hate orienteering and for him to do something else…
Right? But every kid likes the beeping…
At least we’re going to do some beeps, I think, one of these days. So, yeah, we’re going to do some beeps, for sure.
And I mean, he’ll definitely be doing some more cheering in the backpack before too long here. We just haven’t really gotten around to taking him around a course yet in the backpack. But I don’t think It wouldn’t mean anything to him at this point. Pretty soon he’s starting to have opinions about things and he’s starting to be more perceptive…
For sure! Eric, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me.
I’ve enjoyed it. Yeah, Thanks for choosing to do a profile on me.