Happy birthday to you, happy
birthday to you... On the day that Portuguese Orienteering Federation
celebrates 25 years of existence, it is towards Portugal that we turn
our attention, recovering a text originally published in the IOF's
newsletter 02/2014 [HERE]
and now updated.
In this big world of orienteering,
Portugal is not only the small and beautiful country where the sun
shines and produces warmth in winter and where, in Carnival mode, the
Portugal O' Meeting takes place; add to this the huge variety of
terrain and the many training camps for all tastes and sizes. Combine
the organisational capacity of the clubs, the quality of the mappers
and course planners, the willingness of the athletes and the
hospitality of the Portuguese people, and you have a cocktail of
ingredients able to attract thousands of orienteers from around the
world to the Portuguese forests every year.
The day when the Portuguese
Orienteering Federation celebrates its 25 years, we make appointment
with the history of orienteering in this “garden by the sea”.
Camilo de Mendonça, Higino Esteves and Augusto Almeida, three of the
five Presidents that Portuguese Orienteering Federation has had
until the present day, join us on a fascinating journey of four
decades, helping us to understand the era between the pioneer moments
of the 70s and 80s and the moment of blowing the 25 candles.
Once upon a time...
Nobody knows for sure when orienteering
came to Portugal. It is recognised, however, that it was in the
military environment that it was first tried, there remaining over
the years in an apparent limbo, unable to overcome the thick and dark
walls of the barracks and get out to the public in general.
The first sure records about an
orienteering event in Portugal are from 1973 and the first Armed
Forces National Championships, held in Mafra, near Lisbon. But it is
in the early 80s that orienteering in Portugal changed direction,
giving rise to the welcome process of “demilitarisation”. It is
around this time that the first contacts with civil society were
established and the first proper orienteering maps were made public
and accessible to all.
Camilo de Mendonça, the first
President of the Portuguese Orienteering Federation, remembers those
pioneering times: “What I remember the most were the numerous
training and dissemination activities carried out throughout the
country, and the contact with people coming from many different age
groups and professional backgrounds. They ran at the time as eager
pioneers to disclose the sport to a population that has embraced it
enthusiastically”, he says.
“Running and orienteering”, an
inconvenient concept
Coming from an activity known as
“running and orienteering”, orienteering as we knew it first had
to fight a battle to withdraw from its original name the word
“running”, something that could eventually demotivate those who
didn’t like to run and also cutting out the numerous possible other
disciplines, including people with disabilities or those wishing to
practice it by bike or on horseback.
Starting in 1985 several experts,
especially from Sweden, came to Portugal to co-operate in teaching
and mapping. This initiative involved the creation of infrastructures
for the reception of training groups that would come to Portugal in a
mix of tourism and orienteering. It proved highly successful, because
on these groups were some world-class athletes who participated in
the races. And two particular visitors, Sven Kinborg and Rolf
Anderson, were professional cartographers whose work resulted in the
preparation of maps all over the country.
Peo Bengtsson, the “father” of
Portuguese orienteering
The collaboration and the immense
interest of the IOF helped in the work of spreading the sport and
monitoring the process of evolution. The foundation of the Portuguese
Orienteering Federation, on November 19th 1990, and the consequent
accession of Portugal to the IOF as a full member, turned out to be
the logical corollary of the whole process. “It was a time when we
overcame all the difficulties, motivated by the ideal of seeing the
birth and growth of orienteering,” recalls Camilo de Mendonça.
In addition to the investment in staff
training abroad, the tourist visits based on orienteering and the
consequent organisation of “international” events eventually
attracted the attention of the media and led to orienteering becoming
known by the public in general. The great promoter of “tourism
orienteering”, Peo Bengtsson, is considered by many as the “father”
of orienteering in Portugal. Other major developments also occurred,
in particular visits of teams from various countries such as Sweden,
Switzerland and Finland.
It is also around this time that Anne
Braggins, accompanied by several personalities from different
countries, carried out some demonstrations of Trail Orienteering in
Portugal. The organisation of the first Iberian Orienteering
Championships, in 1992, was another important step towards the
promotion of relations with Spain, not only based on the competitive
aspects but also through holding clinics in several areas.
“All parents can look back on the
enjoyment of the early years of their children”
In 1994 Camilo de Mendonça came to the
end of his term as President. They were years of intense dedication
to a cause at the expense of almost everything else, and he felt it
was time for the sport to move to a new phase in its life. That
moment came naturally and orienteering went on its way with Higino
Esteves, a man who had accompanied Camilo de Mendonça for some time
and who was, at the time, the solution of natural continuity.
Camilo de Mendonça and his last words:
“I think the way we devoted ourselves from the first moment (whilst
recognising the sacrifices that we subjected our families to and the
damage caused to our careers), the financial resources that we
applied in the project and especially all our effort and enthusiasm,
all contributed to the rapid development of orienteering.”
“This is the feeling that we all
have, and for us a still more rewarding reason. All parents can look
back on the enjoyment of the early years of their children. Watching
them grow and make blunders, educating them for better or worse, it’s
all part of the process. They have their genes, and the records
are always there to remember. They gain autonomy, they mature, they
generate a larger family, but are always our children! I don’t
believe any parents repent of having generated something.”
Higino Esteves, the second President
When in March 1994 Higino Esteves
accepted the responsibility to hold the destinies of the Portuguese
Orienteering Federation, the great challenge was to amplify the
promotion of the sport within the general public, especially in
schools, and to develop orienteering as a sport, with quality events
that appealed to practitioners from all over the country. Thus
appeared the first National Orienteering Championships (today known
as the Portugal Cup), with a set of events supported by the
Portuguese Federation in order to raise the organisational quality.
Higino Esteves recalls: “The early
days were very difficult. We needed an office, a phone, a fax, a
computer, a full-time technician, an administrative service, a car
painted in white and orange...”
In March 1995 the Portuguese
Orienteering Federation’s first Head Office was set up in Mafra, in
the same place where it would work uninterruptedly for seventeen
years. “It was an important moment, coinciding with the
organisation of the Mafra O’ Meeting which was attended by the
IOF’s then Secretary General, Lennart Levin as well as the
Directors of the Portuguese orienteering clubs – I think at that
time there were already 14 (!) - and several representatives of
national sports bodies. The Federation now operated as a sports
federation, in fact in the service of all practitioners, and most of
all for potential practitioners.”
A place on the map
Among the highlights of the eight years
that he was at the helm of the Portuguese Orienteering Federation,
Higino Esteves recalls his participation in the IOF Congress, in July
1996 in Jerusalem, where he promoted his application for being an IOF
Board member, as well as the application for the organisation in 1998
in Portugal of the IOF’s Congress commemorating the orienteering
centenary and also the application for the organisation in Portugal
of the final round of the 2000 World Cup. Despite the hard battle
with some of the major powers in our sport, it was with excitement
that he witnessed the success of all three applications. Higino
Esteves was the first Latin to sit on the IOF’s Council and
Portugal won, in short, a place on the orienteering world map.
Another highlight relates to the
foundation of the Brazilian Orienteering Confederation on January
11th 1999, a ceremony in which Higino Esteves was present on behalf
of the IOF but of course also as President of the Portuguese
Orienteering Federation. Also the victory of Joaquim Sousa in the
Latin Countries Cup in October 1999 was the first major international
result in the Elite category, at a time when Portugal was still in an
embryonic stage in development of the project for Elite Competition.
And we cannot forget the Portugal O’
Meeting which began in 1996. When in 2002 Higino Esteves left the
Portuguese Orienteering Federation’s destinies to his successor,
his mood was of satisfaction for the accomplishments achieved and
full confidence in the future of orienteering. “I had the privilege
of working with a team of giants. As people, as sports officials, as
orienteering athletes”, he concludes.
To take care of finances
In 2002 the economic and financial
situation of the Portuguese Orienteering Federation was anything but
comfortable. For Augusto Almeida, the man who succeeded Higino
Esteves in the lead of the institution, the challenge was to restore
the needed credibility: “In my way of seeing things, it is
unthinkable to live beyond the financial capability of any citizen or
institution. Hence the first concern had to do with the resolution of
the financial troubles and then restoring the good name of the
Federation with the strategic partners – local authorities, the
army, the Institute of Sport”, he recalls.
This mission was accomplished, and so
it was time to face a new phase in the Federation’s life with the
creation of measures focusing on youth, either through facilities in
the affiliation process or in supporting teams who work with young
people. Quickly the number of young participants grew from a few
dozen to many hundreds, and with visible results both nationally and
internationally.
In 2007, Portuguese orienteering
enjoyed the first gold medal in its history, won by Diogo Miguel at
the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Hungary. In the
following year, Vera Alvarez won the gold medal in the World Schools
Orienteering Championships in Scotland.
World Masters Orienteering
Championships 2008: a milestone
During the presidential term of Augusto
Almeida, the 2008 World Masters Orienteering Championships is an
indispensable reference point. The interest of the Portuguese
Government and its commitment to support the event, along with good
preparation and homework well done, were determinants. The final
result was fantastic and none of the nearly 3,500 participants from
around the world proved to be indifferent to the quality of the
event. Augusto Almeida reveals the secret of success: “Our sport
spins in the strict sphere of volunteering. Indeed we have very good
people, people where everything they do, they do perfectly. There is
an outlook towards very positive, sustained work that makes the
results appear. There are many people working towards the same goal
and that makes for great, consistent and rigorous application”, he
concludes.
The first decade of the new millennium
ended with the organisation in Portugal of another great event.
Indeed, the World MTB Orienteering Championships held in 2010 in
Montalegre, in the north-east of the country, resulted in a week of
intense competition at the highest level. The event was sadly marked
by a serious injury suffered by the Czech Republic athlete Hana
Dolezalova, but once again the quality and organisational capacity of
Portugal was strengthened.
It is also at this time that Portuguese
Trail Orienteering re-emerged in an organised and consistent manner,
based mostly on the work done within the DAHP – the Adapted Sports
Centre of Prelada Hospital. And a word for the establishment on
November 26th 2007 of the Orientovar, the Portuguese orienteering
blog that quickly established itself as a true platform of
convergence for orienteers world-wide.
Economic crisis hangs evolution
process
In recent years one can see that there
has been increased attention given to Portugal and its orienteering.
Maybe not so much for the athletes’ results – although Davide
Machado has reached 7th place in IOF’s MTB orienteering ranking,
and presence in the World Orienteering Championships A-Finals is now
much more common – but more especially for the quality of its
organisation. And here the Portugal O’ Meeting emerges as an
authentic flag of the sport in Portugal, especially since 2007. Year
after year, the number of foreigners who attend the country around
the Carnival days is increasing, getting the best out of both the
competitions and the favourable weather conditions at that time of
year, and the many training camps that are on offer.
In terms of membership, Portugal has
now 2284 affiliated in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation, with
145 new members entered in 2015 so far. But the numbers are not more
than numbers, and the reality is that the numbers of Portuguese
participants on the courses organised week after week all over the
country have been decreasing, as a result of the country’s very
punitive economic situation. At least, this is the opinion of Augusto
Almeida: “If we remember that since 2003 our society has been
losing purchasing power, in many cases in a quite dramatic way, it is
easy to realise that, in times of containment, people have to cut out
what is secondary. And this is the fundamental reason for the poor
adherence to current events and to the sport. Fortunately, in the
case of youngsters the situation is less acute. The clubs that work
with the training offer good conditions, providing support for the
various costs. But as soon as the socio-economic conditions of the
people improve, we will see a new ´boom´ appearing almost
immediately”, he says with optimism.
New and larger challenges
2013 was another remarkable year for
the level of organisation in Portugal. First it was the World Schools
Orienteering Championships and later the European Youth Orienteering
Championships, and then the final round of the MTB Orienteering World
Cup as well as the World Masters MTB Orienteering Championships that
brought to Portugal orienteers from all over the world. In 2014,
Portugal hold in Palmela and Sesimbra de European Orienteering
Championships and the European Trail Orienteering Championships. In
2015, MTBO returned to Portugal with the European Championships and
the World Master Championships. In 2016 it will be time for
receiving again, this time at Bairrada region, the World MTB
orienteering Championships and still the first round of the
Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering in Lisbon. Last but not
least, Portugal was appointed for organizing the World Trail
Orienteering Championships, in Viseu, in 2019.
Only very sporadically now do we hear
the question “What is it orienteering?” The competitive level of
our athletes in various disciplines is growing exponentially. 2015 is
a very good example of that, with Luis Gonçalves and Inês Domingues
reaching, in Croatia, the 6th and 7th places in the TempO Final of
the World Trail Orienteering Championships. The challenges are always
great, because the organisational level already achieved is quite
high and still evolving very positively. Above all there is concern
about “democratising” the importance of the various disciplines.
Foot orienteering, Trail orienteering, Adapted orienteering, Adventure Racing, MTB
orienteering and, in 2016, also Rogaining, are disciplines that,
irrespective of their various merits, deserve equal attention for a
sustained growth.
Joaquim Margarido
