Two or three things I know about it...

1. ASUL Sports Nature won the first ever French Orienteering Championships of Sprint Relay. Formed by Juliette, Marian, Lucas and Isia Basset, the “quatour” got the victory over Nature Orientacion Saint Étienne and ACA Aix-en-Provence. The next day, time for the French Orienteering Championships of Middle Distance which were attended by 2,200 competitors. The winners in the Elite classes were Isia Basset (ASUL Sports Nature), with a two-minute advantage over Eva Jurenikova (ACA Aix-en-Provence), and Lucas Basset (ASUL Sports Nature), with nearly three-minute advantage over Olivier Blanc-Tranchant (O’Jura). Finally, NOSE – Nature Orientacion Saint Étienne(with Thibaut Magne, Jasmina Gassner, Odile Perrin, Rémi Baudot, Amélie Chataing, Clement Flori, Corentin Roux and Matthieu Perrin) got the French title of clubs, with GO78 and ACA Aix-en-Provence following on the podium places. Complete results and further information at http://www.ffcorientation.fr/actus/2017/04/26/retour-sur-le-championnat-de-france-des-clubs/.

2. Great scenery, wonderful weather and challenging courses were the best ingredients of a perfect MTBO weekend in Austria. Starting the best way, Tobias Breitschädel (ASKÖ Henndorf) showed his qualities on the shorter distances and prevailed before Bernhard Schachinger (HSV Ried) and Andreas Rief (OLC Graz), achieving the National MTBO title of Middle Distance. Junior and Relay World champion, Andreas Waldmann (OLT Transdanubien), had problems at the Middle Distance, but managed to perform highly on the second day, winning the Long Distance race with more than 5 (!) minutes over Bernhard Schachinger (HSV Ried). In the Women Elite class, foreign guests were very strong on both days, with Algirda Zaliauskaite, Lithuania, winning the Middle Distance and Hana Garde, representing SK Bratislava, unbeatable in the Long Distance. Best Austrian on both days was Marina Reiner (Naturfreunde Villach). She got the Austrian title in the Middle Distance before Sonja Zinkl (LZ OMAHA) and Michaela Gigon (OLT Transdanubia), second and third placed, respectively. The event was attended by 120 competitors from Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Germany.

3. The town of Sobotka, onn the foothills of Slesza mountain, Poland, hosted the second edition of the Central European Youth Orienteering Cup and was just as successful as the Event premiere in the Czech Republic, in 2016. More than 100 young runners, from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia took part in the three-day races in different categories (M/W-16 and M/W-18). The races started with a Sprint event, followed by a Middle Distance race and finishing with an exciting Relay. The Hungarian Csilla Gardonyi (W16) and Ferenc Jonas (M16), and the Czech Tereza Janosikova (W18) won the two individual races and were the biggest names of CEYO Cup. The Czech Vit Horcicka won the Sprint in the M18 class, while Jakub Dekret won the Middle distance race in M1, which was a premiere victory for Slovakia. Relay teams from Hungary were the most successful, beating the Czech Republic in both Men and Women 16 classes. The W18 category turned out to be the most dramatic, with the three best relay teams running for medals and it wasn’t until the final part of the last leg where the results were decided. On the other hand, the two Czech relay teams showed their qualities and easily ranked first and second in the M18 category, while there was a fierce competition for the third place won by Germany. “The event was a good rehearsal for us for the upcoming World Games in July,” said Wojtek Dwojak, the event manager. Hungary will host the Cup next year from 6th to 8th April 2018. Everything to know at http://ceyoc2017.pl/en/.

4. Would you like to create the trailer for the Swiss Orienteering Week 2019 or do you know someone who would be suitable for it? Swiss O Week 2019 has just published an announcement in which organizers are seeking a team that will produce a preview video for SOW 2019. Sought out is a film team that produces a 5- to maximal 6-minute-long preview video highlighting the Swiss O Week 2019. The video will be published on the SOW-homepage as well as other different social media channels that will be covered by SOW 2019. It is planned to use the preview video for the national as well as the international market and will be deployed accordingly. If language and/or text is featured in the video, the English language should be used, if necessary, with sub-titles.The preview video is intended to give first impressions of the used course areas and of the competition centre of the SOW 2019 in Gstaad. It should encourage the viewers to sign-up early for the SOW 2019. Deadline for submitting the offer is 20th May 2017. All information about this subject can be found HERE.

Joaquim Margarido

EYOC 2016: All maps

Warm-up maps, complete results and further information at http://eyoc2016.pl/.

Joaquim Margarido

EYOC 2016: Guilhem Elias is the king of the Championships

Athletes from nine different countries achieved medals on the last day of the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016. With one gold and two bronze medals, Finland was to the highlighted team, eventually winning the team competition. Individually, Guilhem Elias got his second gold in a row (after the bronze in the first day) and is, for sure, the EYOC 2016's king!

With the Sprint stage, ended in Jarosław, Poland, the 18th European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016. Marked by the four gold medals achieved by Finnish athletes in the three days of competition, the EYOC 2016 also noted some nice surprises, such as the excellent performances of Hungarian team, and others not so nice, as was the case of Sweden that, only on the last day, showed a bit of what its athletes know and can do. A word on the organizational work, offering excellent maps and terrains, but failing in the winning times predictions for the forest stages and found serious difficulties to provide live results to those who intended, from home, follow the races.

Gold medalist in the last EYOC's Long Distance, the French Guilhem Elias got another gold, this time in the Sprint, with the time of 10:19. The fight for the remaining podium positions was really tight, with the next five athletes separated by eight seconds. The Czech Michal Boranek and the Finnish Leo Matinheikki were second and third, respectively, with more twelve and fourteen seconds than the winner. In the W16 class, the Finnish Inka Nurminen was the winner with 10:46, after being 17th in the last edition of EYOC. An excellent 27 seconds win on one of the gold medalists in yesterday's Relay, the Hungarian Csilla Gardonyi, with the Swiss Elaine Deininger finishing third with the time of 11:31. Both Guilhem Elias and Inka Nurminen stepped onto the Championships individual podium for the second time, after their bronze in the Long Distance stage. Guilhem got also the gold medal in the Relay and can be considered the EYOC 2016's king.

In the M18 class, Kasper Fosser took the gold for Norway, winning with the time of 12:03. Seven seconds later, the Swedish Henrik Johannesson was second, while Akseli Ruohola, Finland, finished third with the time of 12:16 against 12:17 from the Swedish Simon Larsson, fourth placed. The Portuguese Ricardo Ferreira stood at the podium's door by five seconds, finishing seventh with the time of 12:35. Finally, Poland closed its participation in EYOC on home ground the same way as started, with a gold medal in the W18 class. Not by Zuzanna Morawska this time, but by Kinga Krolik, with the excellent mark of 12:46. Nineteen seconds after the winner, the gold medalist last year in the W16 class, Tereza Janosikova (Czech Republic) got the second place with more 19 seconds, and Agnes-Rebeka Néda, Romania, got the third place, 41 seconds behind the winner. With 1595 points, Finland won the Team Competition, with the Czech Republic in the second position with 1500 points and Hungary being third, with 1326 points.

Results

M16

1. Guilhem Elias (France) 10:19 (+ 00:00)

2. Michal Boranek (Czech Republic) 10:31 (+ 00:12)

3. Leo Matinheikki (Finland) 10:33 (+ 00:14)

4. Anton Lukashevich (Russia) 10:35 (+ 00:16)

5. Alastair Thomas (Great Britain) 10:38 (+ 00:19)

6. Boyan Ivandjikov (Bulgaria) 10:39 (00:20)

(…)

28. Pedro Moniz (Portugal) 11:21 (+ 01:02)

30. Manuel Oliveira (Portugal) 11:25 (+ 01:06)

35. Tomás Lima (Portugal) 11:31 (+ 01:12)

45. André Henriques (Portugal) 11:54 (+ 01:35)

M18

1. Kasper Fosser (Norway) 12:03 (+ 00:00)

2. Henrik Johannesson (Sweden) 12:10 (+ 00:07)

3. Akseli Ruohola (Finland) 12:16 (+ 00:13)

4. Simon Larsson (Sweden) 12:17 (+ 00:14)

5. Tuomas Heikkilä (Finland) 12:24 (+ 00:21)

6. Alvar Palmen (Finland) 12:30 (+ 00:27)

7. Ricardo Ferreira (Portugal) 12:35 (+ 00:32)

(…)

29. João Bernardino (Portugal) 13:17 (+ 01:14)

33. João Magalhães (Portugal) 13:20 (+ 01:17)

102. Ricardo Tenreiro (Portugal) 16:32 (+ 04:29)

W16

1. Inka Nurminen (Finland) 10:46 (+ 00:00)

2. Csilla Gardonyi (Hungary) 11:13 (+ 00:27)

3. Eliane Deininger (Switzerland) 11:31 (+ 00:45)

4. Grace Molloy (Great Britain) 11:41 (+ 00:55)

5. Anna Safronova (Russia)11:47 (+ 01:01)

6. Teele Telgma (Estonia) 11:50 (+ 01:04)

W18

1. Kinga Krolik (Poland) 12:46 (+ 00:00)

2. Tereza Janosikova (Czech Republic) 13:05 (+ 00:19)

3. Agnes-Rebeka Néda (Romania) 13:27 (+ 00:41)

4. Zsófia Sarközy (Hungary) 13:40 (+ 00:54)

5. Vilma Von Krusenstierna (Sweden) 13:52 (+ 01:06)

6. Tereza Miklusova (Slovakia) 13:59 (+ 01:13)

(…)

54. Patricia Romão (Portugal) 16:17 (+ 03:31)

66. Beatriz Sanguino (Portugal) 16:52 (+ 04:06)

79. Joana Marques (Portugal) 18:30 (+ 05:44)

Complete results and further information at http://eyoc2016.pl/.

Joaquim Margarido

EYOC 2016: Two gold medals for Finland in the Relay

By achieving two gold medals in the Relay, Finland was the EYOC 2016's top team for the second day in a row. France and Hungary got the other two gold medals.

Dedicated to the Relay, today's program of the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016 took place in Korzenie, southwest of Jarosław. 24 teams of three elements each participated in the M16 class, 28 in the M18 class, 20 in the W16 class and 25 in the W18 class. Again, the athletes faced tough and challenging courses, with the winning timings revealed extremely larger than expected by the organizers.

In the W16 class, Hungary achieved a historical triumph, with Dorottya Hajnal, Csilla Gardonyi and Hanga Szurom winning the first EYOC Relay gold ever for their country. The last time Hungary was on the Relay podium was ten years ago, in Soria, Spain (silver in the W18 class), but today they did even better, breaking an amazing sequence of five victories in a row for the Czech Republic in this class. Hungary got a nearly four minute win on the Czechs, spending the time of 2:01:13 overall. Switzerland got the third position, with more 6:55 than Hungary. Defending its European gold, France was able to succeed in the M16 class, with Guilhem Haberkorn, Mathis Gennaro and Guilhem Elias finishing their courses with the time of 1:57:09 overall. Switzerland got the second place, and Russia was third, with more 00:11 and 02:38 than the winner, respectively.

Finland dominates in the older category, winning both M18 class and W18 class. Before this, just the Czech Republic had been able to win the same classes in the same year, which happened for three times, in 2005, 2009 and 2011. In the W18 class, they were stronger than the Czechs, winners in the last two years, getting a good 1:18 win with the overall time of 2:17:07. Almost six minutes after the winner, Poland was third placed, with Zuzanna Morawska getting her second medal in the competition. In the M18 class, Aaro Julkonen, Akseli Ruohola and Tuomas Heikkilä performed really well, winning in the time of 2:17:40, against 2:21:03 from Norway, second placed. Poland repeated the bronze, with more 3:43 than the winners, while Sweden, the last edition's winner, was “out of the race” today, finishing 9th with more 10:32 than its neighbour Finland. To ending this chronicle, just a curiosity: In eighteen editions of EYOC, this is the second time that the Czech Republic don't get a single gold medal in the Relay. Before, it just happened in 2008, in Solothurn, Switzerland.

Results

M16

1. France (Guilhem Haberkorn, Mathis Gennaro, Guilhem Elias) 1:57:09 (+ 00:00)

2. Switzerland (Mattia Gründler, Silas Hutzli, Fabian Aebersold) 1:57:40 (+ 00:31)

3. Russia (Nikolai Kudriavtcev, Konstantin Seleznev, Anton Lukashevich) 1:59:47 (+ 02:38)

4. Finland (Miika Tala, Mikko Eerola, Topias Arola) 1:59:52 (+ 02:43)

5. Hungary (Csongor Horvath, Marcell Szabo, Ferenc Jonas) 2:01:55 (+ 04:46)

6. Ukraine (Mykyta Zviahin, Mykhailo Piddubnyi, Konstia Samoilenko) 2:04:47 (+ 07:38)

(…)

21. Portugal (Tomás Lima, Manuel Oliveira, André Henriques) 2:35:20 (+ 38:11)

M18

1. Finland (Aaro Julkonen, Akseli Ruohola, Tuomas Heikkilä) 2:17:40 (+ 00:00)

2. Norway (Jorgen Baklid, Havard Eidsmo, Vegard Guldbransen) 2:21:03 (+ 03:23)

3. Poland (Marcin Biederman, Kacper Kuca, Fryderyk Pryjma) 2:21:23 (+ 03:43)

4. Slovakia (Jakub Chupek, Dusan Slama, Jakub Dekrét) 2:21:56 (+ 04:16)

5. Czech Republic (Jan Bendak, Otakar Hirs, Daniel Vandas) 2:22:22 (+ 04:42)

6. Switzerland (Chamuel Zbinden, Silvan Ullman, Andrin Gründler) 2:24:06 (+ 06:26)

(…)

10. Portugal (Ricardo Ferreira, João Bernardino, João Magalhães) 2:32:11 (+ 14:31)

W16

1. Hungary (Dorottya Hajnal, Csilla Gardonyi, Hanga Szuromi) 2:01:13 (+ 00:00)

2. Czech Republic (Jana Peterova, Eliska Hojna, Sárka Rückerova) 2:05:10 (+ 03:57)

3. Switzerland (Lea Widmer, Elisa Bertozzi, Eliane Deininger) 2:08:08 (+ 06:55)

4. Latvia (Signe Sirma, Magda Cigle, Agnija Caune) 2:08:38 (+ 07:25)

5. Russia (Elizaveta Rastegaeva, Kristina Smirnova, Anna Safronova) 2:08:52 (+ 07:39)

6. Denmark (Hedvig Gydesen, Birk Nielsen, Annika Simonsen) 2:10:30 (+ 09:17)

W18

1. Finland (Anni Haanpää, Amy Nymalm, Leenukka Hanhijärvi) 2:17:07 (+ 00:00)

2. Czech Republic (Apolena Malinova, Barbora Vyhnalkova, Tereza Janosikova) 2:18:25 (+ 01:18)

3. Poland (Kinga Krolik, Agnieszka Cych, Zuzanna Morawska) 2:22:59 (+ 05:52)

4. Hungary (Dalida Pataki, Vanda Vékony, Zsófia Sarközy) 2:25:00 (+ 07:53)

5. Sweden (Myrra Carlsson, Gabriella Bergander, Vilma Von Krusenstierna) 2:31:04 (+ 13:57)

6. Austria (Rosa Trummer, Tina Tiefenböck, Jasmina Gassner) 2:31:26 (+ 14:19)

(…)

17. Portugal (Beatriz Sanguino, Patricia Romão, Joana Marques) 3:25:13 (+ 1:08:06)

Complete results and further information at http://eyoc2016.pl/.

Joaquim Margarido

EYOC 2016: Gold for Poulsen, Vandas, Eerola and Morawska

The historic marketplace of Jarosław is ready to host the European Youth Orienteering Championships's Opening Ceremony. Time, so, to take a look on the Long Distance results. With one gold medal, one silver and one bronze, Finland is the most winning country on the EYOC 2016's kick off. On the other hand, Swedish performances were quite disappointing, with a 9th place as its best. Individually, the four competition classes revealed Malthe Poulsen, Daniel Vandas, Lotta Eerola and Zuzanna Morawska as the big winners of the day.

Started in Jarosław, in southeastern Poland, the 18th edition of the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016. Spread over four different classes of competition, almost four hundred athletes faced this morning the first race of a three-day program, in an extremely challenging Long Distance from a technical point of view and quite demanding physically, with the accumulated unevenness placed between the 205 meters (W16 class) to 310 meters (M18 class). Course setter of this stage in Helusz Zachód's map, Wojciech Dwojak will have overvalued the competitors, assigning winning times that eventually became shorter than what happened in reality.

In the W16 class, the Finnish Lotta Eerola was the fastest, finishing first with the time of 44:09. Third placed in the last year's EYOC, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the Bulgarian Andreya Dyaksova got the second place with more 1:37 than Eerola. Two seconds after Dyaksova, in the third position, one could see another Finnish athlete, Inka Nurminen. As for the M16 class, the Danish Malthe Poulsen [in the photo] was the winner with the time of 50:39, four years after another Danish, Aaen Mikkel, has taken the European Champion title for the second time in a row in the same class and distance. Topias Arola, Finland was second, 18 seconds after Poulsen, and the winner of EYOC's last edition, the French Guilhem Elias, got the bronze with more 49 seconds than the winner.

Playing before her own fans, the Polish Zuzanna Morawska was a well-acclaimed winner in the W18 class, finishing with the time of 50:26. Just 27 seconds after Morawska, the Austrian Jasmina Gassner was second placed, the same result achieved last year, but then in the W16 class. Tilla Farnes Hennum, Norway, finished third with more 1:01 than the winner. Finally, in the M18 class, Daniel Vandas, Czech Republic, went up again on the podium's highest place, after his winning in Strumica, in 2014, but then in the M16 class. Vandas victory is particularly relevant because it's a seven minute winning (!), on his team mate Otakar Hirs, the largest winning ever in EYOC's history. The fight for the bronze was really tight, with Andrin Gründler being stronger than the Norwegian Vegard Guldbransen by narrow 8 seconds.

Results

M16

1. Malthe Poulsen (Denmark) 50:39 (+ 00:00)

2. Topias Arola (Finland) 50:57 (+ 00:18)

3. Guilhem Elias (France) 51:28 (+ 00:49)

4. Nikolai Kudriavtcev (Russia) 51:50 (+ 01:11)

5. Anton Lukashevich (Russia) 52:07 (+ 01:28)

6. Silas Hutzli (Switzerland) 53:18 (+ 02:39)

(…)

56. Tomás Lima (Portugal) 1:13:08 (+ 22:29)

63. André Henriques (Portugal) 1:17:04 (+ 26:25)

76. Pedro Moniz (Portugal) 1:31:31 (+ 40:52)

OVERTIME Manuel Oliveira (Portugal)

M18

1. Daniel Vandas (Czech Republic) 52:12 (+ 00:00)

2. Otakar Hirs (Czech Republic) 59:19 (+ 07:07)

3. Andrin Gründler (Switzerland) 59:41 (+ 07:29)

4. Vegard Guldbransen (Norway) 59:49 (+ 07:37)

5. Chamuel Zbinden (Switzerland) 1:00:30 (+ 08:18)

6. Pierre Erbland (France) 1:01:13 (+ 09:01)

(…)

31. João Bernardino (Portugal) 1:10:06 (+ 17:54)

38. Ricardo Ferreira (Portugal) 1:12:54 (+ 20:42)

70. João Magalhães (Portugal) 1:26:04 (+ 33:52)

73. Ricardo Tenreiro (Portugal) 1:29:53 (+ 37:41)

W16

1. Lotta Eerola (Finland) 44:09 (+ 00:00)

2. Andreya Dyaksova (Bulgaria) 45:46 (+ 01:37)

3. Inka Nurminen (Finland) 45:48 (+ 01:39)

4. Lea Widmer (Swizerland) 46:36 (+ 02:27)

5. Jana Peterova (Czech Republic) 46:51 (+ 02:42)

6. Eliane Deininger (Switzerland) 49:18 (+ 05:09)

W18

1. Zuzanna Morawska (Poland) 50:26 (+ 00:00)

2. Jasmina Gassner (Austria) 50:53 (+ 00:27)

3. Tilla Farnes Hennum (Norway) 51:27 (+ 01:01)

4. Synne Strand (Norway) 52:34 (+ 02:08)

5. Vanda Vékony (Hungary) 52:43 (+ 02:17)

6. Tereza Smelikova (Slovakia) 53:01 (+ 02:35)

(…)

51. Patrícia Romão (Portugal) 1:10:48 (+ 20:22)

58. Beatriz Sanguino (Portugal) 1:12:54 (+ 22:28)

MISPUNCH Joana Marques (Portugal)

Complete results and further information at http://eyoc2016.pl/.

[Photo: Malthe Poulsen / facebook.com/Polle1503/]

Joaquim Margarido

EYOC 2016: Step by step

Until next Sunday, the city of Jarosław, in southeastern Poland, host the 18th edition of the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016. Nearly 400 athletes attend the event, which official competition starts today with the Long Distance and will end with the Sprint.

After Romania, in June 2015, the European Youth Orienteering Championships heads to Poland and to the city of Jarosław to its 18th edition. Having knowing its first edition in 1999, in Bad Schmiedeberg, Germany, the EYOC took place in 15 different countries so far, being in Poland for the second time, after Wyniki, Gdynia, in 2002.

“An inspiring competition, great fun and some unforgettable memories that will encourage to return to Jarosław once again”, are the wishes of Waldemar Paluch, Mayor of Jarosław. And it will certainly be, with as challenging competition to start, the Relay's big feast in the middle and the vertiginous Sprint to end the event in the best way.  

EYOC 2016 detailed program

1st July 2016 (Friday)

09:30 – 14.00 - Long Distance

14:00 – Deadline for Relay registration – names to legs – Event area

18:30 – Opening ceremony and Prize-giving Ceremony – Jarosław, Main Square

2nd July 2016 (Saturday)

09:30 – Start for Relay categories M18, W18

09:40 – Start for Relay categories M16, W16

09:50 – Start for Relay MIX

12:00 – Deadline for Sprint registration – names and starting groups allocation – Event area

18:30 – Prize-giving Ceremony – MOSiR Sports Hall

22:00 – Friendship Party – MOSiR Sports Hall

3rd July(Sunday)

07:30 – Closing pre-quarantine

08:15 – Closing quarantine

09:10 – 11:30 – Sprint distance
12:30 – Prize-giving Ceremony and Closing Ceremony – Finish area  

Note: All timings are in local time (GMT timezone).

Participants

The overall number of participants in this edition of EYOC is of 384, representing 33 countries. Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey are presented in Jaroslav at full strength, with four athletes in each competition class. Moldova, with one athlete, Croatia, Serbia and Australia, with two competitors each, are the countries with the lowest representation in EYOC 2016.

In the entries list, one can review some names that made history in the EYOC 2015, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as is the case of the French Elias Guilhem who will fight for renewing the Long Distance title in M16 class. The European Champion of Sprint in M16 class, the Swiss Nicola Müller, is another strong presence, competing this year in the M18 class. Other athletes who were present on the podiums in 2015 and return to EYOC this year are Pierre Erbland (France), Chamuel Zbinden and Elena Pezzati (Switzerland), Irina Lazareva (Russia), Jasmina Gassner (Austria), Andreya Diaksova (Bulgaria) and Amy Nymalm (Finland). France defends the Relay title in M16 class, Sweden in M18 class and the Czech Republic in W16 class and W18 class.

Portugal made its debut in EYOC 2005, in Sumperk, Czech Republic, so this is the 12th presence in a row. With teams in M16, M18 and W18 classes, Portugal reaches Jaroslaw with a strong ambition in good results, taking in the gold medals in Sprint of Diogo Miguel (Eger, Hungary, 2007) and Ricardo Esteves (Strumica, Makedonia, 2014), its biggest inspiration. Portugal will be represented by the following athletes: M16 - Tomás Lima, Manuel Oliveira, André Henriques and Pedro Moniz; M18 - João Bernardino, Ricardo Tenreiro, João Magalhães and Ricardo Esteves; W18 - Joana Marques, Beatriz Sanguino and Patricia Romão.

Terrain and useful information

Long: mainly deciduous forest, parts with good runnability, but also more dense parts with slow running, a lot of paths. Highly technical terrain, complex systems of valleys, landslides, small marshes. Difference of hill heights up to 70 m. 

Relay: mainly deciduous forest, good visibility and runnability, a lot of paths. Difference of hill heights up to 50 m. 

Sprint: Center of the old town with lots of small streets. Majority of the terrain has hard surface. Traffic in the event area is closed at all roads, however competitor shall be careful in case of vehicles outgoing from parkings and houses.


- Long Distance map will be in scale 1:10 000 instead of 1:15 000. This deviation from rules is approved by the International Orienteering Federation.

- In the Long Distance and Relay competitions legs shall be covered by clothing. In the Sprint terrain shoes with spikes are not allowed. Clothing for sprint competition is free.

- Competitors representing member Federations of the IOF, defined by the International Olympic Committee as belonging to the European continent, can compete in EYOC. Competitors representing other member Federations of the IOF can participate in EYOC but will not be eligible for European titles, medals or diplomas.

- The competition classes are M16 – men born 2000 or later; W16 – women born 2000 or later; M18 – men born 1998 or later; W18 – women born 1998 or later. Each country may enter a maximum number of 4 competitors in each class and one relay team/class.

Technical details

Further information

- The Opening Ceremony will take place at Main Square in Jarosław at 1st July at 18.30. Teams shall wait at 18.00 at Grocka Street. Organizers will direct participants. Each team is obliged to give one person for flag holding. There will be a small parade with orchestra to Main Square and then there will be the Prize Giving Ceremony of Long Distance competition.

- The climate of Poland is maritime and sometimes continental determined by the geographical location. The average monthly temperature in June/July is 19 degrees Celsius (66° Fahrenheit), but sometimes in the summer the temperatures rises to or above 30 degrees Celsius (86° Fahrenheit).

- During EYOC2016 34th edition of International Orienteering Competition Grand Prix Polonia will be organized. Competition will include 3 stages with total classification for classes from W/M-10 to W/M-80. All information about competition is published at http://gpp.eyoc2016.pl/.

For further information, please visit the Event's website, at http://eyoc2016.pl/.

Joaquim Margarido

EMTBOC 2013: (Even) more reactions!

Replying to the challenge by Portuguese Orienteering Blog, we continue to receive feedback about the European MTB orienteering Championships 2013. It is with great emotion that we share today the words of Michaela Gigon, Maja Rothweiler, Anke Danowski, Juuso Jutila, Laura Scaravonati and Davide Machado.

Michaela Gigon (Austria): Actually, I did not expect too much from the European Champs because I am working as a teacher now and in the EOC week we had the last exams and I thought I would not be able to go there at all. In the middle of May I got permission to go there. 
I am quite happy with my 5th place in the Middle Distance race, which I did after 13 hours of driving and 3 hours sleep. Even a medal was close: I was 3rd at the 2nd last control and messed it up to the last. In the beginning I was very confused by the many tracks in the forest and could not find out at all which were on the map and which not.
Long Distance was too fast for me, but I have never been a Long Distance specialist anyway.
It was a pity that I could not race the Sprint, which is one of my favourite disciplines. But the jury decided that only those could race in the second Sprint who had been on the start list for the original one on Monday. If I had known that it would be annulled I would have signed up...
The idea of Mixed Relay was fun, but the forks had too much difference in time: one minute time difference for the last control before the finish simply is too much. Generally it was too much riding and not enough orienteering involved. Even I, who did not do the two Sprints in the same terrain before, did not have to look too much at the map at the 2nd loop anymore.
The organisation was generally really poor. Jan definitely had too few people to help him. I would not even try to organize the Austrian Championships with such a small Staff. The question is if it is better to have such low quality races or no races at all. Both is bad for our sport. So I hope that we can find organizers for the next years who can do better.

Maja Rothweiler (Switzerland): I found the terrain for the races very suitable and challenging. Also the courses were interesting in general. But I didn’t like the first controls of the second sprint so much, because there were some important details missing on the map (e.g. depressions) and the fastest route was at least at the beginning off the tracks. I’m satisfied with the results of my races and I’m really happy that I managed it to get my first individual medal. In every race I did mistakes at the beginning. I would like to improve this until the World Championships in Estonia. As already mentioned, I didn’t found the quality of the maps very good, but I think it’s difficult to do good maps if there is so much woodworks. Furthermore I would prefer more details like depressions off the tracks if it’s allowed to ride there. The athmosphere under the participants was good, what I liked.

Anke Danowski (Germany): My overall impression of this Championships is good to ok, looking at my personal performance and the organisers performance. The standards of this Championships were far below a standard that I expect for events of this class. But so to say not everything was bad. I had fun during the races and that is an important aspect, speaking for the courses and the terrain. The map quality was low and the sprint map from Zamosc where it was originally planned to have the sprint race looked horrible. I'm wondering why the organisers speak with the police only two days before the race to restrict the area to the car traffic, which is a crucial point to organise an urban sprint at all. But the reaction and the new organisation of the sprint in the new terrain was good. The courses have been good and due to bad luck a gate was closed. Still the re-race was organised well as well. And it was most probably much better than to race at the bad map of Zamosc. It feels like organiser“s“ have good skills in organising events, but are disorganised and did not prepare the race week well, which is a pity and this should be avoided for future races. The maps looked like drawn in a hurry. And the few people of the very small organising team worked hard during the week, improving their skills as well. I hope there will be major changes in the organising team for next years MTBWOC in Poland.


For me personally I had fun during the races and I had partly better results than expected. In my training during the first half of the year I focussed on my riding skills. Technical riding and speed for a stage race with 3-4 hour stages, since my priority race for this year starts next week with the BC Bike Race in Canada. As expected, I made a few larger mistakes and did not do so well in route choices, however the direct orienteering in the forest went much better than expected with only a few moments where I lost concentration. Else concentration during the races was good. After the Middle race I knew that I could ride at a high level. And I could come home with a Top10 result in Sprint. For the Long Distance race I was not so well prepared in my head and made a few mistakes to much, mainly due to route choices. At the end I almost got a flat tire but came through the mass start race. However, so to say, the mass start did change the character of the Long Distance to more short routes and quick navigation, which is more typical for Middle Distance races. I prefer the classical Long Distance race with long/real route choices, although Mass Start races are pretty cool.

Juuso Jutila (Finland): Sprint and Long Distance were good races for me so I'm satisfied to my races. Specially the Sprint was an unbelievable race, I got my first medal at EOC/WOC at an almost perfect race so I'm more than happy. Now I have almost two months to practise to the World Championships which are my main goal during this season. I wait very much for the WOC races on august!
And then something about the EOC organization. The staff was too short, I guess. It makes much difficult to do all things between races and other arrangements. Few maps had small problems with descriptions of the paths so that is a suggestion for improvement in future, I guess. The organizers did their best and the atmosphere was good at all events so I had a nice week in Poland.

Laura Scaravonatti (Italy): If I have to use one slogan to sum up my twelve days at the European MTBO Championships I would use this: Less Poland for everybody! My goal was to place in the top 10 in Middle and Long Distance, the first step to achieving my ultimate goal of a good finish at the World Championships. As far as the Sprint Distance, it is not my favourite type of racing, thus I just needed to push hard and finish the best I could. With a 6th place in the Middle Distance and some struggles in the Sprint and Long Distance, my finishes throughout the week were not what I was expecting for. I have to work harder to improve my speed on the flat and to get bigger legs. Unfortunately, the results were only a small part of the "Poland Problemi!".

I am more picky and choosy than a very choosy and picky person and I know it's not easy to find organizers for international events. With that being said let me further explain the "Poland Problemi." We arrived at the official Training Camp on Wednesday and it commenced through Saturday. On paper it looked to be a great program: many courses, sport-ident but, it turned out that there would only be one map for three days and the map would be a size A, poor quality, and in three different scales. The accommodations were also less than poor. Our "hotel" was a school with dirty bedrooms, super dirty beds, terrifying bathrooms, mosquitoes nests, and food... I don't even know which bad adjective to use to explain what was supposed to be food.
We arrived at the "hotel" and were welcomed by thousands of mosquitos and an amazing Polish wedding party with the fattest groom I have ever seen! The wedding started on Saturday at 2 p.m. and did not end until Sunday at 10 p.m. (I guess that the groom was kind of Berlusconi of Poland). I think the music used the same sound system that U2 used during their World Tour: audible till Warsaw! While listening to these loud obnoxious sounds, dinner was served. Terrible is an understatement to describe the meal. Only bread, low cost ham, low cost cheese and fu**ing cucumbers. This meal, as well as all the others, were always cold and the quantity of food was not enough for us athletes. I didn't eat anything. I couldn't. However, the wedding music was much louder than my stomach rumblings so I could listen live Polish songs all night long, while I was laying in my bed. I'm still not sure if that helped my feeling to starvation or made it worse!
Sunday was my fifth day in Poland and I was ready to back home. After a night without sleeping, I spent all Sunday trying to focus on the Sprint while avoiding drunk people and still hearing music that made my ears cringe all day long. Same dinner, same bread, same low cost ham and same cucumbers. Despite the big sign written on the table, IN TWO LANGUAGES, that I cannot eat onions or garlic, every meal that was brought to me contained onions and garlic, and every meal I had to ask for a new plate without these things. Lunch with two dry potatoes saved from three meals ago, something that was fried in old oil, and an onion salad was my last Polish meal before deciding it would be better for me to live off my protein and soy milk powder.


On Monday we started with the Sprint race and at the finish I was quite happy for my 13th place, given my standards for that race being it was totally flat and extremely fast. But during cool down I found out that some girls found a locked high gate not marked on the map so the race, in the afternoon, was cancelled. Cool, so one Sprint is already too much for me and now I had to re-race it on the rest day. At this point I was definitely ready to fly home. The day after we had to race the Middle Distance. The forest this time was held in hell and by the end of the race it was game over for me. I decided not to race the last leg of men relay on Wednesday to save some mental energy and to avoid saying another thousand bad words in the forest because of their poor map quality, poorly written tracks and the mass amounts of organizational mistakes. Well, 24 hours of "rest" on Wednesday was definitely not enough to recharge my batteries. Counting the hours until I could say farewell to Poland, I re-raced the Sprint and had "to abandon" at the second control. My teammate Luca, and I, had all the problems that an unlucky MTBO biker can have in one full year (flat tire, lost rear wheel, broken frame, inversion of the control points...), all in only 50 minutes of racing.
Thank God I am back home in Italy, safe and sound, with a quiet bedroom, and GOOD food! Ciao Poland!

Davide Machado (Portugal): The expectations for the European MTB orienteering Championships were high. Physically I felt fine and the good result with Top-7 on Middle Distance left me confident for the Long Distance (queen race and my favourite). Unfortunately, it wasn't my turn and, after a good start, but at the same time very hard, I started to feel a strong stomach ache and I had to stop. After “throw away”, I decided to go and see what I could do, I managed to recover much of the lost time and consequently many positions, reaching the final in 27th position. Given the situation, this place has always been better than giving up, but at the same time left me disappointed because I expected something better.

Given the great experience that Poland has at the organizational level, theoretically we expected a good competition and without mishap, although some previous negative opinions for this organization. As for myself, I expected something better. It was my third time competing in Poland, however not everything went well. Logistically we noted a lack of support (material and human), but the biggest failures fell on the technical part, with major flaws in the maps, poor quality of the Middle Distance's map, and others. It somehow clashed a bit the quality of the event, particularly the cancellation of the women's sprint that was scheduled for the same day as the originally planned rest day. But there's more, the course changes in Relay's maps, changes they made “by the pen” over the maps previously printed and left some parts confused, and whose most notable case was the map of Denmark in the Relay race. Generally the courses were good (both physically and technically, as it should be), but the maps have not been mapped nor utilized as they should. The accommodation' standards, and talking about our case,was anything but perfect, the house where we stayed in wasn't even clean and we had to clean it up after travelling a full day. At least the organization did its best in the banquet, provided us a good time for socializing. However, we were there mainly for the competition.

Now is time to continue to work. These Championships are history and even with the disappointments, the Top-7 on Middle Distance left me confident for the World Championship, competition in which I will focus now.

Joaquim Margarido

Cecilia Thomasson: "The good results come with the happiness of doing the things you love"

Cecilia Thomasson is one of the names that makes the history of the recent European MTB orienteering Championships, which took place in Poland. To the European title of Long Distance, the athlete joined the silver medal in Middle Distance, winning in one shot the first medals of Sweden in major international MTB orienteering competitions.

How did you start in MTB Orienteering?

Cecilia Thomasson (C. T.) - The first time I tried MTB orienteering was at two competitions in Mora, in the summer of 2010. Since I had been an elite foot-orienteer earlier, to compete in mountainbike sounded really interesting with the mix. The first day Tove Alexandersson beat me by one minute, the second day I beat her by one minute.
I was really hooked then! But there were no more competitions in Sweden that year. I had to wait until the next year when Sweden arranged the World Cup event in Rättvik, which was my second competition! But I knew about MTB orienteering a long time ago, when I worked with Ingrid Stengård at a mountain lodge in northern Sweden, in 2003. Then, she told me about the sport and that it was quite big out in Europe, but at that time I lived another life.

What do you see in this discipline that makes it so special?


C. T. - It's the challenge of having high speed still having to read the map. I love to bike and the speed and flow that you get from biking. The mix is a perfect challenge for me.

After a couple of good races last season, we could see you in great shape in these European Championships and, after the silver medal on Middle Distance, you achieved the gold on Long Distance. How do you feel right now?


C. T. - I'm very very happy! I really can't understand that I was first and it's a unbeatable feeling that I want to feel again.

Can you tell me a little bit about your golden course?

C. T. - The feeling I had before the start was “today everything is possible, just take the chance if it's there!”. But it was a warm and quite easy course, so I had to focus on having a good pace and the navigation since I didn't feel very alert in the legs. In the end of the first loop I took a bad route choice and I thought that in the next loop I would have to do perfect navigation in that area if I wanted to be in a good position. On the last loop I got contact with Camilla Sögaard who came from behind. She was very strong and I couldn't get on her wheel. But I had read the last controls in advance and I knew where I should go. When Camilla did a mistake I overtook her and tried to push hard and it worked! I took the chance and I'm very satisfied that I dared to do it.
I must say that Long Distance is not my favourite distance; it may be the distance I'm best at, but it's only because of the easy orienteering at which I'm stronger. I like Middle Distance best, because of the mix of long and short legs and that you need to be focused all the time.

How important could the gold (and silver) medal be to the Swedish MTB orienteering?


C. T. - I hope that it will inspire some people to try the sport! In Sweden we have a very strong connection to Foot-O and, in some way, I like the navigation part in Foot-O more than in MTB-O. When people try MTB-O they get disappointed because the navigation is too easy and their biking skills are too poor. When you realise that it's another kind of navigation and don't compare it to Foot-O I think people can appreciate it more.


And what about the future? What are your main goals for the rest of the season?


C. T. - I will try to have as much fun as I can in the rest of the season. I love to bike and to compete and as long as I have these feelings I will continue with this kind of living.

Would you like to share with us your biggest dream?


C. T. - It's nothing big actually. I want to be a good doctor in the future and make difference for the people I help. In sports I want to have fun and to do MTB orienteering is a quite healthy way of living your life, meet new people and travel. I think that the good results come with the happiness of doing the things you love.

[Photo: Cecilia Thomasson]

Joaquim Margarido

EMTBOC 2013: More reactions!

The European MTB orienteering Championships ended last saturday but we are still receiving some opinions from the participants. We are proud to present you some final words from Kevin Haselsberger, Tõnis Erm, Jiří Hradil, Luca Dallavalle and Emily Benham.

Kevin Haselsberger (Austria): It was a good week, with a lot of challenges during and beside the races. I'm satisfied with the 6th place in the Sprint Mixed Relay together with Michaela Gigon. The results in Long Distance (13th place) and Middle Distance (15th place) are ok, but could be better. With the 7th place in the Relay race we are not satisfied, but the Austrian team will try the best to improve at the World Championships in August, in Estonia. Summa sumarum, let's say there is a lot of space for improvement during the next races.

In my opinion quite a lot of things went wrong during the organization of the EOC. But as Ingrid said [see Ingrid Stengard's Interview at http://portugueseorienteeringblog.blogspot.pt/2013/06/ingrid-stengard-looking-forward-to.html], the reason for this mistakes are maybe in the small organisation committee. I believe that it is important to think in athletes ways when organising events. There are not so many things that should work really well, but these are crucial for the event. For example courses, maps, safety, accommodation and food. Furthermore, I think that the IOF should support more the organizers of such events. It's very important for a sport discipline that there are enough and well organized events. Hopefully we will have four World Cup rounds again in the future.

As I wrote on my Facebook page, I'm not fully satisfied with my results. I know that I can do better and I had chances for better results.
I will train hard to get better and hopefully I can reach my goals step by step.

Tõnis Erm (Estonia): To sum up briefly: my races and results were ok, not excellent, but not bad either. The European MTB orienteering Championships organisation was very-very poor and I did not like these competitions in general.

Jiří Hradil (Czech Republic): The European MTB orienteering Championships were my first goal of the season and my wish was to by on top-3. So, two medals was a very good result for me. In the Sprint I had good feelings, but I made a big mistake on 13th control losing more than one minute. The Middle Distance was a very peculiar race, because on first control I caught Anton Foliforov and Samuli Saarela. So we're riding together until the 5th control. Until the 14th control I ran alone and then again with Anton and Jussi Laurila. So I was lucky, because it was a very fast group.

At the Long Distance, my legs were really heavy and I felt myself too tired. I was riding with Jan Svoboda, František Bogar and Martin Ševčík but in the end I made a better route choice (together with Anton Foliforov), I could take an advantage of 5 or 10 second advantage and I spent all my energies in the last three minutes.

The organization was very very bad. I liked the Sprint and Long Distance's terrains but the Middle Distance's terrain was bad for MTB orienteering. Every stage of Czech Cup is much more well organized than this EOC in all aspects!

Luca Dallavalle (Italy): In the Middle Distance I got nervous in the first part of the course, where the map was not so clear, and I made a big mistake of two minutes. After that, my race went quite good without big mistakes but I couldn't keep the high speed because I was alone all the time. Anyway with such a race I didn't expect to end on the 12th position. 
I liked so much the map, the terrain and the course of the Long Distance race. It is a pity that soon after the start I had mechanical problems with the rear wheel and the frame and I could not ride at full speed and with the concentration high. About the
Sprint Mixed Relay, I have to say that I like a lot this kind of format.
About results I, m not totally happy as I train more than previous year technically and I expected a little bit more. Now I 'm focused on WOC, my next goal.


About the organization, I think the accommodation and food were good and the races not so far. The only problem were the mosquitos. The maps were weak, especially on the Middle Distance, but I think that a good orienteer has to have mental flexibility and be able to ride also on this kind of map. I have a big respect for the winners.
The atmosphere among the riders was really friendly. I liked it.

Emily Benham (Great Britain): Generally, the quality of the races was good. The efforts of the organisers were thwarted by farmers felling trees and make new tracks in places. Some map printing problems led to less than optimal maps, but the athletes are experienced enough to deal with this.


About the organization, I spoke to Jan [Cegielka] at the banquet, and it sounds that the whole event was plagued by many many problems. This came across poorly to athletes, but from what Jan said, we were lucky to have an event to race at! I think we should offer constructive advice to make the World Champs in Poland next year a high quality event, rather than dwelling on the negative aspects of this event.
Personally, I like the Polish terrain. It suits my navigation and map reading style. The terrain is unfamiliar to most athletes so the top 6 places are unpredictable and open to more nations! This makes the competition more exciting for us athletes!

Joaquim Margarido