ISF WSC Orienteering 2017: Challenging and funny Long Distance opened the Championships

Students from seven countries won gold medals in the Long Distance's eight Finals, which filled the first day of the ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships 2017.

After an one-year break, the ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships are back for their 17th edition. Searching for their path in the wonderful "Bosco della Ficuzza", in Palermo (Italy), 638 competitors from 27 countries showed their value in the first of two big finals, a Long Distance as demanding as fun.

In the School classes, the 12 medals were distributed by representatives of schools from seven countries, with the gold going to France, Scotland, Finland and Estonia. In either case, the winners got comfortable victories over their opponents, highlighting the advantage of Scotsman Matthew Gooch (Aboyerne Academy), of more than two minutes over Vit Stefan and seven minutes (!) over Lukas Link, both from Zakladni a Materska skola Studenec, Czech Republic. Another important note goes to the French Guilhem Elias (Lycée Honoré d'Urfe), the “king” of the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC 2016, where he won two gold and one bronze medals, here performing again at the highest level.

In the Selected classes, Austria was in evidence thanks to the triumphs of Jannis Bonek (M1 class) and Elena Zainer (W1 class), with the remaining victories going to the Spanish Gustav Wiren (M2 class) and the Belgian Laurence Defraigne (W2 class). It's fair to remark the excellent presence of Spain, that still achieved two silver medals, and Slovakia, without gold medals, it's true, but with two silver and two bronze medals. The big surprise, however, goes to the Belgium Laurence Defraigne, by winning the W2 class, with a ten-second advantage over the Spanish Laura Fidalgo, second placed. In the eight finals, Gustav Wiren's triumph was the largest, with a 3:24 advantage over the second-placed, his team mate Florencio Garcia, while the narrowest win was registered in Selected W2, where the Austrian Elena Zeiner won the Slovakian Tereza Smelikova for just two seconds.

Results

School M1

1. Guilhem Elias (Lycée Honoré d'Urfe, FRA) 46:42 (+ 00:00)

2. Sabin Coupat (Lycée Honoré d'Urfe, FRA) 48:04 (+ 01:22)

3. Emil Aselius (Eksjo Gymnasium, SWE) 48:23 (+ 01:41)

School M2

1. Matthew Gooch (Aboyerne Academy, SCO) 40:57 (+ 00:00)

2. Vit Stefan (Zakladni a Materska skola Studenec, CZE) 43:07 (+ 02:10)

3. Lukas Link (Zakladni a Materska skola Studenec, CZE) 48:06 (+ 07:09)

School W1

1. Jasmiina Rantala (Mäkelänrinteen Lukio, FIN) 43:59 (+ 00:00)

2. Johanna Källvik Leufven (Eksjo Gymnasium, SWE) 45:22 (+ 01:23)

3. Isa Envall (Eksjo Gymnasium, SWE) 47:52 (+ 03:53)

School W2

1. Johanna Laanoja (Pölva, EST) 36:54 (+ 00:00)

2. Merryn Stangroom (Ulverston Victoria High School, ENG) 39:30 (+ 02:36)

3. Tereza Chrastova (Zakladni a Materska skola Studenec, CZE) 40:29 (+ 03:35)

Selected M1

1. Jannis Bonek (Austria) 49:01 (+ 00:00)

2. Jakub Dekret (Slovakia) 50:31 (+ 01:30)

3. Jakub Chupek (Slovakia) 53:38 (+ 04:37)

Selected M2

1. Gustav Wiren (Spain) 45:28 (+ 00:00)

2. Florencio Garcia (Spain) 48:52 (+ 03:24)

3. Peter Molloy (Scotland) 49:18 (+ 03:50)

Selected W1

1. Elena Zeiner (Austria) 49:26 (+ 00:00)

2. Tereza Smelikova (Slovakia) 49:28 (+ 00:02)

3. Elia Olsson (Sweden) 50:47 (+ 01:21)

Selected W2

1. Laurence Defraigne (Belgium FR) 41:41 (+ 00:00)

2. Laura Fidalgo (Spain) 41:51 (+ 00:10)

3. Dorota Smelikova (Slovakia) 43:40 (+ 01:59)

Results and further information at http://www.isfsports.org/wsc-orienteering.

[Photo: ISF WSC Orienteering 2017 / facebook.com/ISFWSCorienteering]

Joaquim Margarido

WMOC 2017: Australia achieved 12 out of 23 Sprint World titles

With 12 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals, Australia had a blazing presence in the Sprint finals of the World Masters Orienteering Championships 2017, taking place in Auckland, New Zealand. Individually, the highlight goes to Natasha Key, Petteri Muukkonen and Tsvetan Todorov, who defended successfully their world titles achieved in 2016.

The World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC), the biggest sport within the 2017 World Masters Games, saw today the first of two finals of its competitive program. One day after the qualifying series, the Sprint final took place at the famous Albert Park, in the heart of Auckland, New Zealand, together with the University City Campus. A total of 1553 competitors took part in the Finals, of which 841 were in the A finals – those giving access to the world titles -, representing 32 countries.

As said before, Australia was the great winner of the day, with its representatives reaching a total of 12 gold medals, six in the men's sector and the same in the women's. Natasha Key and Herrmann Wehner were the stars of the vast array of 114 Aussies in the A Finals, the first one being able to hold the Sprint World Title in the W45 class, reached in August 2016, in Tallin (Estonia), and the second one by achieving the gold in the M90 class. It was still in the W45 class that a podium was completely filled by the colors of Australia, achievement only equated by Sweden in the M80 class.

Australia tops the medal list

Natasha Key was not the only athlete to defend successfully the world title as both Finn Petteri Muukkonen (M40) and Bulgarian Tsvetan Todorov (M50) did so, with the particularity of Todorov's gold being achieved for the third year in a row. Overall, there was 15 countries winning medals in this first Finals, ten of them having achieved gold medals. With 12 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 3 bronze medals, Australia has shown a huge ascendant over the other countries. Following on the top 10 list is Sweden (2 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 3 bronze medals), Norway (2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze), Finland (1 gold, 1 Silver, and 3 bronze), Bulgaria and Denmark (1 gold and 1 silver each), the United States and Switzerland (1 gold and 2 bronze each), Japan (1 gold and 1 bronze) and the Czech Republic (1 gold medal).

Finally, two or three notes of curiosity. The tightest triumph came at the M35 class, where the Australian Matthew Crane beat the Norwegian Rune Olsen for just 4 seconds. The Czech Jana Hankovska also didn't take it easy in the W75 class, winning over the Russian Liudmila Labutina by the difference of 7 seconds. In the M45 class, the fight for the gold involved three athletes, with the Australian Grant Bluett holding the win with a 10-second lead over the Bulgarian Ivaylo Ivanov and eleven seconds over the Austrian Michael Stockmayer. On the other hand, the widest advantage belonged to the Norwegian Inger Vamnes, in the W80 class, leaving the second-placed New Zealand's Ann Scott at 7:35. The 2:52 advantage of Natasha Key over her compatriot Catherine McComb in the W45 class, or the triumphs of the Australians Sue Haley (W85) and Hermann Wehner (M90), for margins higher than 2 minutes, deserve also a word.

Sprint World Champions

W/M35 – Anna Sheldon (Australia) and Matthew Crane (Australia)

W/M40 – Jo Allison (Australia) and Petteri Muukkonen (Finland)

W/M45 – Natasha Key (Australia) and Grant Bluett (Australia)

W/M50 – Su Yan Tai (Australia) and Tsvetan Todorov (Bulgaria)

W/M55 – Pavlina Brautigan (United States) and Warren Key (Australia)

W/M60 – Jenny Bourne (Australia) and Geoff Lawford (Australia)

W/M65 – Silvia Baumann (Switzerland) and Keld Johnsen (Denmark)

W/M70 – Birgitta Billstam (Sweden) and Greg Chatfield (Australia)

W/M75 – Jana Hankovska (Czech Republic) and Toshio Onoe (Japan)

W/M80 – Inger Vamnes (Norway) and Peo Bengtsson (Sweden)

W/M85 – Sue Healy (Australia) and Paul Forseth (Norway)

M90 – Hermann Wehner (Australia)

Complete results and further information HERE.

[Photo: Malin Fuhr / orienteering.org]

Joaquim Margarido

Spanish Trail Orienteering Championships 2017: Søren Saxtorph and Inês Domingues were the winners

Inês Domingues and Søren Saxtorph won their classes and were the great figures of the 2017 Spanish Trail Orienteering Championships. Internally, Santiago Pérez and Miguel Ángel Garcia achieved their first TrailO Spanish titles.

As usual during the Easter season, the Spanish Orienteering Federation organized, this time with GOCAN club, the 2017 Spanish Orienteering Championships, whose program included a PreO competition. With courses set by Hector Lorenzo, the event was held in Miraflores de la Sierra (Madrid) and was attended by 126 competitors from Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Israel, the United States and South Africa. In the Paralympic Class, the Spanish Miguel Ángel Garcia (ADOL) wasn't an easy opponent for the super-favorite Søren Saxtorph (Ballerup OK), Denmark, holder of four individual medals at World Championships. Both answered correctly to 23 out of 25 tasks and both missed one of the timed controls, being the victory to the Nordic competitor because of his faster answering speed in the timed station.

In the Open Class, the Portuguese Inês Domingues (COC) showed once again all her talent, being the only competitor to answer correctly all tasks. To this immaculate performance, Inês added a "supersonic" answer time in the timed station, clearly below the average of the other competitors. One point less than the winner were classified eight competitors, with another Portuguese, Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia), getting the best time in the timed station and achieving the second position. In the third position were placed two competitors with equal time of answer in the timed controls: the very young Danish Karoline Saxtorph Schulz (Ballerup OK), one of the great revelations of the recent World Championships, and Santiago Pérez (COMA), thus achieving his first national title.

Results

Open class

1. Inês Domingues (COC, POR) 25 points / 12 seconds

2. Jorge Baltazar (GDU Azoia, POR) 24 points / 36 seconds

3. Santiago Pérez (COMA) 24 points / 40 seconds

3. Karoline Saxtorph Schulz (Ballerup OK, DEN) 24 points / 40 seconds

5. Arturo Garcia Dingra (Escondite-T) 24 points / 77 seconds

6. Alex Tello Lacal (Valencia-O) 24 points / 91 seconds

7. Jorge Valente Barrera (Imperdible) 24 points / 92 seconds

8. Javier Arufe (APA Liceo) 24 points / 98 seconds

9. Ana Belén Calvo (UPV-O) 24 points / 116 seconds

10. Juan Pedro Valente (Imperdible) 23 points / 43 seconds

Paralympic class

1. Søren Saxtorph (Ballerup OK, DEN) 23 points / 84 seconds

2. Miguel Ángel Garcia (ADOL) 23 points / 100 seconds

3. Carlos Riu (COMA) 18 points / 112 seconds

4. Sergio Martin (COHU) 18 points / 116 seconds

5. Alice Rouillard (Montsant Orientació) 11 points / 180 seconds

[The Portuguese Orienteering Blog thanks Miguel Ángel Garcia for his kind attention in providing all the information]

Joaquim Margarido

JK 2017: Victories of Geir Myhr Øien and Sarah-Jane Barrable in the TrailO stages

To British orienteers, Easter matches with Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering. This year's competitive program included two TrailO stages, the first of the season in the UK, with victories of Geir Myhr Øien in TempO and Sarah-Jane Barrable in PreO.

JK's TrailO competition was attended by 60 competitors in the TempO stage and 42 in the PreO stage, mostly British, but also representatives from Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Norway. And it was precisely a Norwegian who showed up at his best by winning the TempO, a stage planned by Scott Collier, with Charles Bromley Gardner in the role of Controller and played on the campus of Brunel University in London. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK) answered in 204 seconds to the 30 tasks of the course (six timed stations, with five tasks each), getting a 150-second penalty for five wrong answers. The final 354 seconds guaranteed him a comfortable win over one of the best British specialists in TempO, the young Tom Dobra (UBOC), credited with 467 seconds overall. The fight for the bronze medal was titanic, with the German Anne Straube (OD) scoring 482 seconds and beating the Norwegian Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL) for one second and the British Nick Barrable (SYO) for two seconds. Still a word for the British Anna Harris (DEE), the most accurate with only two wrong answers, but with an answer time of 494 seconds, which meant that her final classification was not beyond the 8th place.

Designed by Ian Ditchfield and Peter Huzan and supervised by Dick Kighley, the PreO stage took place in Owibeech and featured an 18-control course, plus a two-tasks timed station. Mark Nixon (FVO) was almost perfect over the course, but he was charged by the time pressure on the last two controls, missing both and finished with 15 points overall and the third place. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) and Kenny Leitch (SO) got 16 points overall and Sarah-Jane was faster than her direct opponent in the timed station, keeping the victory. One final word to the difficulty inherent to the control nº 4 and also to the second timed control, registering abnormally high percentages of incorrect answers (93% in the first case and 86% in the second case).

Results

TempoO

1. Geir Myhr Øien (Ringsaker OK, NOR) 354 seconds

2. Tom Dobra (UBOC) 467 seconds

3. Anne Straube (OD, GER) 482 seconds

4. Sigurd Dæhli (Løten OL, NOR) 483 seconds

5. Nick Barrable (SYO) 484 seconds

6. John Kewley (MDOC) 496 seconds

7. Alan Hickling (SAX) 507 seconds

8. Anna Harris (DEE) 554 seconds

9. Matthew Leitch (EUOC) 557 seconds

10. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) 561 seconds

PreO

1. Sarah-Jane Barrable (SLOW) 16 points / 95 seconds

2. Kenny Leitch (SO) 16 points / 110 seconds

3. Mark Nixon (FVO) 15 points / 79,5 seconds

4. Peter Suba (WSX) 15 points / 87 seconds

5. John Crosby (NATO) 15 points / 95 seconds

6. Charles Bromley Gardner (BAOC) 15 points / 99 seconds

7. Nick Barrable (SYO) 14 points / 31 seconds

8. Tom Dobra (UBOC) 14 points / 78 seconds

9. Christine Roberts (EBOR) 14 points / 145 seconds

10. Simon Greenwood (SAX) 13 points / 84 seconds

Complete results and solutions at http://www.thejk.org.uk/.

Joaquim Margarido

Spanish Orienteering Championships 2017: Anna Serralonga and Antonio Martinez were the main figures

The Holy Week ended and, with it, the Spanish Orienteering Championships CEO 2017, which called to Canencia and Miraflores de la Sierra (Madrid) close to 1,900 competitors. Three days, five races and 27 medals distributed in the Elite category, mostly achieved by the Valencian Community and Catalonia, are a few numbers of a great event. Individually, Antonio Martínez and Anna Serralonga were the main figures.

Organized by GOCAN – Grupo de Orientación Complutense y Actividades en la Naturaleza, Spanish Orienteering Federation and International Orienteering Federation, the CEO 2017 kicked off on Friday, 14th April, in Pinares de Canencia with the Middle Distance, a very technical and fast race in which no one was saved from mistakes. In the Women Elite class, Esther Gil (Colivenc), was the fastest, ahead of the favorite, Anna Serrallonga (Go-Xtrem) and Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O). Among the Men, Luis Nogueira (COMA) achieved a surprising gold, ahead of Antonio Martinez (Colivenc), who was also a favorite. The bronze was taken by Eduardo Gil (Tjalve).

Friday afternoon, took place the always exciting Relay races, in which Catalonia and Valencia fought hardly for the victory, both in Men and Women Elite classes. The women's team of Catalonia would take the gold for the second year in a row, ahead of the Valencian Community and Castilla la Mancha. In the men's class, the Valencia team climbed to the top of the podium, ahead of Andalusia and Catalonia, who contested the silver in a tight and intense final.

10 individual medals for Colivenc

The second day of competition was dedicated to the urban races, having Miraflores de la Sierra as the perfect stage for two amazing moments. Scoring for the IOF Sprint Orienteering World Ranking, the Sprint had in the athletes of Center Esportiu Colivenc (Alicante), Violeta Feliciano and Andreu Blanes, the big winners. The podium was completed by Ona Ràfols (COC) and Anna Serrallonga, in the Women's class, and Eduardo Gil and Antonio Martínez, in the Men's class. During the afternoon, time for the Mixed Relay where Catalonia achieved the first and the second positions, ahead of Castile and Leon, third placed.

The third day of competition was reserved for the Long Distance that will surely be the hardest of the season, not only for the demanding courses but also for taking place after two intense days. After 1 hour and 21 minutes of race, Anna Serrallonga got the victory by just eight seconds over Esther Gil. The bronze would be achieved by Violeta Feliciano. In men Antonio Martinez would take the gold ahead of his team mates, Andreu Blances and Roger Casal. Looking on the overall standings, the Center Esportiu Colivenc took 10 out of 18 possible medals in the individual races, being possible to say that the Valencians were stronger in the individual races, while the Catalans got the most out of the Relay races.

Results

Long Distance

Men Elite

1. Antonio Martinez (Colivenc) 1:14:28 (+ 00:00)

2. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 1:17:07 (+ 02:39)

3. Roger Casal (Colivenc) 1:22:01 (+ 07:33)

4. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 1:22:50 (+ 08:22)

5. Pau Llorens (COB) 1:23:35 (+ 09:07)

Women Elite

1. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 1:21:44 (+ 00:00)

2. Esther Gil (Colivenc) 1:21:52 (+ 00:08)

3. Violeta Feliciano (Colivenc) 1:27:23 (+ 05:39)

4. Ona Ràfols (COC) 1:28:39 (+ 06:55)

5. Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O) 1:36:42 (+ 14:58)

Middle Distance

Men Elite

1. Luis Nogueira (COMA) 28:10 (+ 00:00)

2. Antonio Martinez (Colivenc) 29:46 (+ 01:36)

3. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 29:51 (+ 01:41)

4. Marc Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 30:08 (+ 01:58)

5. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 30:24 (+ 02:14)

5. Roger Casal (Colivenc) 30:24 (+ 02:14)

Women Elite

1. Esther Gil (Colivenc) 37:43 (+ 00:00)

2. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 38:47 (+ 01:04)

3. Annabel Valledor (Badalona-O) 42:38 (+ 04:55)

4. Ona Ràfols (COC) 42:57 (+ 05:14)

5. Esmeralda Ruiz (Sant Joan) 45:28 (+ 07:45)

WRE Sprint

Men Elite

1. Andreu Blanes (Colivenc) 13:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Eduardo Gil (Tjalve) 13:45 (+ 00:08)

3. Ricardo Ferreira (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:47 (+ 01:10)

3. João Mega Figueiredo (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:47 (+ 01:10)

5. Gregory Ahlswede (Escondite-M) 15:06 (+ 01:29)

Women Elite

1. Violeta Feliciano (Colivenc) 13:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Ona Ràfols (COC) 13:34 (+ 00:09)

3. Anna Serralonga (Go-Xtrem) 13:57 (+ 00:32)

4. Mariana Moreira (FPO Portuguese Team) 14:00 (+ 00:35)

5. Amparo Gil (COB) 14:21 (+ 00:56)

Relay

Men Elite

1. Comunidad Valenciana (Roger Casal, Andreu Blanes, Antonio Martinez) 1:38:49 (+ 00:00)

2. Andalucia A (Jose Manuel Garcia, Javier Ruiz de la Herran, Luis Nogueira) 1:45:44 (+ 06:55)

3. Cataluña A (Marc Serralonga, Biel Ràfols, Pau Llorens) 1:45:59 (+ 07:10)

4. Madrid A (Greg Ahlswede, Alvaro Benavente, Alvaro Prieto Del Campo) 1:52:09 (+ 13:20)

5. Cataluña C (David Tarres, Llei Viles Bonet, Eloi Marti) 1:53:34 (+ 14:45)

Women Elite

1. Cataluña A (Ona Ràfols, Amparo Gil, Anna Serralonga) 1:30:32 (+ 00:00)

2. Comunidad Valenciana A (Violeta Feliciano, Esmeralda Ruiz, Esther Gil) 1:39:15 (+ 08:43)

3. Castilla-La Mancha A (Carmen Patiño, Maria Rodriguez, Guadalupe Moreno) 1:48:03 (+ 17:31)

4. Cataluña B (Marta Sanchez, Laura serra, Annabel Valledor) 1:50:13 (+ 19:41)

5. Castilla Y León A (Marina Garcia, Marta Perez, Amanda Pons) 1:52:45 (+ 22:13)

Mixed Relay

1. Cataluña A (Ona Ràfols, Pau Llorens, Marc Serralonga, Anna Serralonga) 45:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Cataluña B (Laura Serra, Biel Ràfols, Pol Ràfols, Amparo Gil) 51:51 (+ 06:26)

3. Castilla Y León A (Marina Garcia, Diego Lázaro de Juan, Cosme Sánchez, Yara Bores) 53:33 (+ 08:08)

4. Cataluña C (Andrea Guillen, Eloi Martí, Sebastián Ordoñez, Laia Gil) 56:41 (+ 11:16)

5. Aragón A (Jara Gracia, Israel Fuentes, Jesus Chicharro, Esther Arias) 56:51 (+ 11:26)

Complete results and further information at http://ceo2017.es/.

[Photo: Ampa Gil-Brotons]

Joaquim Margarido