World Orienteering Championships to be broadcast worldwide

The Nokian Tyres World Orienteering Championships, WOC, held in Estonia 1 – 7 July, will be broadcast throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The championships will be broadcast live in Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden. Highlights programs will be broadcast in 139 countries around the world.

- We are very happy that we have been able to further increase the visibility of orienteering and WOC through several new broadcasting deals, says Tom Hollowell, IOF CEO. We have also established a consistent quality in our live productions and are glad to see a continued interest from core markets. We are still awaiting last-minute answers from several other broadcasting partners, among others in North America, so the above numbers might grow slightly.

Live broadcasts

Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden will send the full live package including all medal races. Switzerland is receiving the full live package to tape to create their own programming and the Czech Republic will broadcast overall highlights.

- As an organiser, we are very happy that this fantastic event and views of beautiful Estonia will be broadcast to such a big audience in many parts of the world. It’s proof that orienteering is a growing TV sport and proof of our many years of dedication to make this event happen, says Markus Puusepp, event director WOC 2017.

In addition, through a partnership with Broadreach Media, highlights programs from each event in the IOF Orienteering World Cup (including the Nokian Tyres World Orienteering Championships) will be broadcast in another 137 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The full live productions will also be available globally via LIVE Orienteering at www.liveorienteering.com.

[Press release from the International Orienteering Federation 2017-06-22]

World Orienteering Day: A continued success

On Wednesday May 24th 2017, the second World Orienteering Day took place all over the world. It has proved an even greater success than last year, with over 288 000 participants all around the world taking part in an orienteering event. This is new record, with 35 000 more participants than last year.

In the end, 288 007 participants at 2265 locations in 79 countries have been part of something bigger, World Orienteering Day. Turkey is showing a fantastic result and has increased the number of participants with more than 75% compared to last year. As a final result, Turkey registered 86 436 WOD participants. Amazing!

From Antarctica to Greenland, from Singapore to Cameroun, from Ecuador to Kosovo, from Indonesia to Cyprus, hundreds of thousands of youngsters participated in World Orienteering Day. Following the idea “Be part of something bigger-Colour the World”, people all over the world took part in locally organised orienteering events, and celebrated the biggest world-wide orienteering event ever. World Orienteering Day is a very important tool to attract young people to the sport of orienteering, and it has been a success even in many countries where orienteering is not so well-known.

Hard work paid off

-Trying to repeat and surpass a successful first event is always daunting, as was the prospect of World Orienteering Day 2017. A lot of hard work has gone into building on last year’s achievement, and I am very happy to see that it has paid off. World Orienteering Day would not be possible without the initiative and dedication that can be found in the orienteering community, so I want to say a great thank you to everyone who organised a WOD event, as well as to our generous sponsors who helped make the event possible for many of us. I hope you all had a great day of celebration of our sport and congratulations on beating the World Record together! says Leho Haldna, the President of International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

There are many great examples from a lot of countries with increasing participants compared to last year. Amongst them were Serbia and the young IOF member Egypt, who did fantastic work with WOD this year and increased their number of participants by 103% and 43% respectively. This is a remarkable improvement! The largest WOD event was implemented at Hunan University in the city of Changsha in China with 3160 participants and the smallest one was carried out in an apartment in USA. This is orienteering; you can do it everywhere and anytime!

Reaching new territories

We also have to welcome new countries and territories as Cambodia, Lebanon, Philippines, Kosovo, Isle of Man, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mauritius, Luxembourg and Antarctica. Without World Orienteering Day it has been quite difficult to get all these countries involved in orienteering.

- The global reach of the World Orienteering Day project made it clear already last year that it is an important way to spread orienteering, especially to young people. This is particularly important as it is in line with the key objective of the IOC Olympic Agenda 2020: engaging youth through sport. It has been inspiring to follow the many events on the WOD website and to see the wide spread of events. I am already looking forward to next year’s event, Leho Haldna concludes.

[Press release from the International Orienteering Federation 2017-06-14]

Clare Durand: "I'm the only serious Trail Orienteer within a three hour drive"

To talk about Clare Durand is to talk about resilience. It’s in Lancaster, in the desert north of Los Angeles, in the United States, that we’re going to find her. Clare studied Geography and Computer Science, worked for the government making military maps, worked on movies and television as an assistant director and taught Mathematics. She’s now directing local musical theatre productions, is an active volunteer with the Girl Scouts and is writing a series of children’s spy novels. Enough? It seems not. She’s also building a small business, organizing local orienteering races and training. In the midst of this whole bustle, Clare doesn’t neglect her own preparation, as she’s one of the most prominent and committed North American Trail Orienteers.

How did Orienteering came to your life? Why Orienteering and why not Gymnastics, for example?

C. D. - As a child, I was a competitive swimmer. But I stopped swimming at the age of 15 to have more free time. I did a single trail-based orienteering event during college with a colleague but didn't pursue it. A few years later, I had moved to the East Coast and attended a beginner's event that I read about in the newspaper and was hooked. I've always really enjoyed maps, navigation, and hiking, so it's no doubt this was the sport for me.

Do you remember when you first did TrailO? Was it love at first sight?

C. D. - I first did TrailO at a demonstration event in Wyoming, around 2000. I did very well. This was exciting to me, because I am not a naturally talented runner, which makes it more difficult for me to have high placings in Foot Orienteering. But TrailO was something I could really excel in.

What do you see in TrailO that makes it so special?

C. D. - What makes TrailO special is it's availability to people of all mobility challenges and it's purity as a map reading challenge. But I think it does make it difficult to get people practicing TrailO. Most outdoor enthusiasts want to be more active, and I'm sure it must be difficult for someone who cannot enter the terrain to understand the map in the same way that those of us who also do FootO can.

We are used to see you representing the US team in the World Trail Orienteering Championships. How do you assess your results so far? Would you expect something better?

C. D. - I've been disappointed to not have some higher placings, especially in PreO. I have had a few really excellent single day performances, but have not accomplished this for two days in a row when it counts. I've been encouraged by my continued improvement in TempO. Last year I came close to making the final, which is a big jump from being near the bottom of the standings in Italy. It's hard to keep up with the amount of TrailO that goes on in Europe. My competitors are getting much more practice. I also have never won the U.S. Championships in TrailO. That's a big target for me.

What is the most difficult part of being Trail orienteer in the United States?

C. D. - Lack of events and training opportunities. The U.S. is a very large place with very few Trail Orienteers. I'm the only serious Trail Orienteer within a three hour drive, so there is no one to help me train near home. Any local events are put on by me, but since I am also putting on most of the local Foot Orienteering, it leaves little time for TrailO. Similar conditions exist for most of our team members.

Please, complete the sentence: For having a strong TrailO team, the United States would...

C. D. - (…) Commit to having many more TrailO events throughout the country and have Trail Orienteering training camps. Our team is not attracting new people. We need to attract more new orienteers and especially figure out how to bring Trail Orienteering to the Paralympic population who might be interested in our sport.

You were the course setter of the 2017 US TrailO Championships, recently said held in Camp Sherman, California. Are you happy with your work and with the overall event?

C. D. - I was very happy with the course. The competitors had high praise and really enjoyed it. I did have to throw out one control, but this was fine, since I agreed with the complaint once I looked at the situation. I wish we had a better turnout. Less than 20 people competed in the Trail Orienteering events. The last time I set the U.S. Champs (2009), we had over 50 people compete. So this shows how Trail Orienteering is on the decline in the U.S.

What are your goals for the season?

C. D. - I am hoping to go to Lithuania, but am having difficulty fitting it in my budget, so I'm still working on that. A trip from California to Europe is very expensive. If I can go, my goals would be to have two excellent PreO days, possibly reaching the awards level, and to make the TempO final.

Would you like to share your biggest dream with us?

C. D. - I have many big dreams related to my different pursuits. I dream that orienteering would become popular enough in the U.S. that we would have events every weekend in every city. In TrailO my biggest dream would be to achieve the gold medal in PreO at the World Champs.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

C. D. - I think that it is difficult to attract people to TrailO because orienteering is an inherently active sport and TrailO is not. I sometimes wonder if we should develop some sort of Paralympic wheelchair sprint event to bring more athleticism to the Paralympic format.

Joaquim Margarido

Latin Countries Cup 2017: Victory for Portugal

With eight individual victories and 74 points overall, Portugal won the 23rd edition of the Latin Countries Cup which took place in Asiago, Italy. With two victories each in the Elite classes, João Mega Figueiredo and Andra Cecilia Anghel were prominent individual figures.

Sub-Regional event of the International Orienteering Federation, the Latin Countries Cup came back to Italy and to the beautiful scenery of the Asiago Plateau, for another edition. Included in the Highlands Open HOP 2017, the event was organized by A.S.D. Erebus Orientamento Vicenza and Italian Orienteering Federation, gathering teams from Spain, Portugal, Romania, Italy and Brazil. The program started in Turcio with the Middle Distance race, in which Romania achieved the lead in the standings with three individual victories, against two victories of Italy and one of Spain. However, the favouritism of Italians and Romanians would have an amazing response in the second stage, a Sprint that took place in Marostica, in which the Portuguese team got five individual triumphs, against one victory from Spain.

The stage of Long Distance took place in Monte Corno and, in it, Portugal returned to be the most effective team, adding three more victories to its own account, against two triumphs of Spain and one of Romania. In the sum of points reached in the three stages, Portugal registered a total of 74 points, achieving its second victory in 23 editions of the Latin Countries Cup, after the victory on home ground seven years ago. Romania with 65 points, Italy with 61 points and Spain with 56 points finished in the immediate positions. Brazil, winner of the previous edition organized in Chile, closed the standings with just 4 points. Italy gives now the testimony to Uruguay that will be in charge of the organization of the 24th edition of the Latinum Certamen, in 2018.

Results

Middle Distance

Men/Women Elite – Ricardo Scalet (Italy) and Andra Cecilia Anghel (Romania)
M/W20 – Mihai Andrei Tintar (Romania) and Ágnes Néda (Romania)

M/W18 – Enrico Mannocci (Italy) and Inés Pozo (Spain)

Sprint

Men/Women Elite – João Mega Figueiredo (Portugal) and Mariana Moreira (Portugal)
M/W20 – Ricardo Esteves (Portugal) and Beatriz Sanguino (Portugal)

M/W18 – Alvaro Casado (Spain) and Helena Lima (Portugal)

Long Distance

Men/Women Elite – João Mega Figueiredo (Portugal) and Andra Cecilia Anghel (Romania)
M/W20 – Ricardo Esteves (Portugal) and Beatriz Sanguino (Portugal)

M/W18 – Alvaro Casado (Spain) and Inés Pozo (Spain)

Latin Countries Cup 2017

Overall standings

1. Portugal 74 points
2. Romania 65 points
3. Italy 61 points
4. Spain 56 points
5. Brazil 4 points

More information can be found at http://www.fiso.it/.

[Photo: Jose Ángel Nieto Poblete / facebook.com/ja.np.56]

Joaquim Margarido

City Race Euro Tour 2017: Orienteering in focus in seven big european cities

Between 7th May and 12th November, 2017, Orienteering will be in focus in seven major European cities. Bringing together the efforts and interests of Paris, Antwerp, Bristol, Treviso, Porto, Barcelona and Bilbao, the 4th edition of the City Race Euro Tour puts sport and tourism once more hand in hand.

Paris was the venue chosen for the inaugural presentation of the 2017 City Race Euro Tour. Starting in the French capital on 7th May, the event will take in Belgium (Antwerp, 13th and 14th May), Great Britain (Bristol, 10th and 11th June), Italy (Treviso, 17th and 18th June), Portugal (Porto, 22nd to 24th September) with the finish in Spain (Barcelona, 4th and 5th November and Bilbao, 11th and 12th November). “Think hard, run fast, feel good” stands as the motto of these seven major Orienteering events in seven major European cities. The Tour targets everyone, leading competitors and also beginners.

The idea of creating the Euro City Race Tour was the result of a partnership established in 2012 between the organising groups of the London City Race and Porto City Race. The outcome of combining the social and sporting interests proved indeed heartening, and then to decide to extend the invitation to other organisations took only a brief moment. Edinburgh and Barcelona joined Porto and London in the first edition. Krakow and Seville joined the event in 2015 and Antwerp, Malaga, Firenze and Lille were ‘newcomers’ in 2016. With a good recipe for success, the European City Race gives the public and the media visibility to increase the popularity of Orienteering, attracting crowds to applaud runners in an urban environment.

First races in Paris and Antwerp

Held for the first time ever, the Paris City Race called to Montmartre, one of the main tourist attractions in the French capital, 393 competitors from 15 different nations. It was quite unusual to see people running, maps and compasses in their hands, through the little streets, parks, restaurant terraces and stairs, side by side with painters at Place du Tertre or tourists searching for the places where Georges Seurat, Erik Satie Vincent Van Gogh or Pablo Picasso lived about one century ago. It was in this nostalgic and, at the same time, life-buzzing atmosphere, that the French Juste Raimbault (CLSG Melun) and the British Caroline Craig (North Gloucestershire OC) were stronger than their opponents, achieving clear victories in the Elite category.

One week later, the third Antwerp City Race attracted to Antwerp’s city centre 273 competitors from 18 countries. The event took place on the Het Steen map, a mix of old and new city centre with a passage on the Quay of the Schelde, towards the castle ‘Het Steen’ and the finish on Antwerp’s main square. In the Men’s Elite race, two of the best Sprint specialists fought hard for the victory, with the Belgian Yannick Michiels (TROL) getting a nearly two-minute win over the New-Zealander Tim Robertson (Fossum IF). In the Women’s Elite, the New Zealander Laura Robertson (Edinburgh Southern OC) was 43 seconds faster than the Spaniard Anna Serralonga (TROL) in taking first place.

Results

Paris City Race, 7th May 2017

Men Elite

1. Juste Raimbault (CLSG Melun, FRA) 1:03:23 (+ 00:00)

2. Fleury Roux (NOSE, FRA) 1:04:34 (+ 01:11)

3. Julien Le Borgne (Quimper 29, FRA) 1:04:43 (+ 01:20)

4. Pierre Boudet (Garde Rép., FRA) 1:05:12 (+ 01:49)

5. Maxime Chabance (NOSE, FRA) 1:08:20 (+ 04:57)

Women Elite

1. Caroline Craig (North Gloucestershire OC, GBR) 57:04 (+ 00:00)

2. Celine Finas (T.A.D., FRA) 1:00:13 (+ 03:09)

3. Francesca Taufer (U.S. Primiero, ITA) 1:03:05 (+ 06:01)

4. Clarissa Ricard Borchorst (AC Beauchamp, FRA) 1:03:49 (+ 06:45)

5. Nathanaëlle Gerbeaux (GO 78, FRA) 1:04:28 (+ 07:24)

Antwerp City Race, 14th May 2017

Men Elite

1. Yannick Michiels (TROL, BEL) 31:42 (+ 00:00)

2. Tim Robertson (Fossum IF, NZL) 33:39 (+ 01:57)

3. Tristan Bloemen (C.O. Liège, BEL) 34:21 (+ 02:39)

4. Tomas Hendrickx (K.O.L., BEL) 36:00 (+ 04:18)

5. Benjamin Anciaux (TROL, BEL) 37:30 (+ 05:48)

Women Elite

1. Laura Robertson (Edinburgh SOC, NZL) 35:19 (+ 00:00)

2. Anna Serrallonga (TROL, ESP) 36:02 (+ 00:43)

3. Miek Fabré (Omega, BEL) 36:31 (+ 01:12)

4. Kim Geypen (Omega, BEL) 37:29 (+ 02:10)

5. Caroline Craig (North Gloucestershire OC, GBR) 40:28 (+ 05:09)

All information can be found at http://cityracetour.org/.

Text and photo by Joaquim Margarido

[See the original article at http://orienteering.org/orienteering-in-focus-in-seven-big-european-cities/. Published with permission from the International Orienteering Federation]