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

ISF WSC Orienteering 2017: The party is over!

After achieving the gold in the Long Distance race, Guilhem Elias and Laurence Defraigne returned to be the fastest in the Middle Distance that closed the ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships 2017. Portugal was represented on the Championships' podium by Vasco Mendes, following an excellent performance which earned him a bronze medal.

The ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships 2017 came to an end in Palermo, Italy. The Middle Distance race that ended the competition was attended by 650 competitors from 27 countries, distributed by four School classes and four Selected classes. In the School classes, the highlight is, of course, the French Guilhem Elias (Lycée Honoré d'Urfe), who achieved his second gold medal at the M1 class after beating the Swedish Emil Aselius (Eksjo Gymnasium) by more than 1:30. The Austrian Peter Brabek (BG / BRG Fürstenfeld), the Swedish Isa Envall (Eksjo Gymnasium) and the English Merryn Stangroom (Ulverston Victoria High School) were the winners in the M2, W1 and W2 classes, respectively. The last two athletes also repeated their presence on the podium, after Envall's third place and Stangroom's second place in the Long Distance race, three days ago. Still in the W2 class, a word for the Estonian Johanna Laanoja, second placed today, after being the Long Distance's winner.

As for the Selected classes, the Belgian Laurence Defraigne did the same as Guilhem Elias and won her second gold medal in these Championships, after beating the Austrian Jana Hnilica for an advantage over than one minute, in the W2 class. In the M1 class, the Slovakians Jakub Chupek and Jakub Dekret and the Austrian Jannis Bonek returned to the podium, albeit in a different order, being the gold for Chupek, this time. Spain also repeated its presence on the top of the podium, with Florencio Garcia, second-placed in the Long Distance winning the M2 class. The Swedish Elia Olsson, achieved the silver medal in the W1 class, after getting the bronze in the previous race. In this class, the victory went to the Austrian Ilvy Kastner. One last word for the young Vasco Mendes, third placed in the Selected M2 class, introducing the name of Portugal to the 12-country batch with honours to climb to the Championships' podium.

Results

School M1

1. Guilhem Elias (Lycée Honoré d'Urfe, FRA) 29:30 (+ 00:00)

2. Emil Aselius (Eksjo Gymnasium, SWE) 31:07 (+ 01:37)

3. Matias Salonen (Mäkelänrinteen Lukio, FIN) 32:57 (+ 03:27)

School M2

1. Peter Brabek (BG/BRG Fürstenfeld, AUT) 32:11 (+ 00:00)

2. Felix Lunn (Kenilworth School & Sixth Form, ENG) 32:37 (+ 00:26)

3. Grant Mcmurtrie (Aboyerne Academy, SCO) 34:03 (+ 01:52)

School W1

1. Isa Envall (Eksjo Gymnasium, SWE) 31:04 (+ 00:00)

2. Tuuli Heikkilä (Mäkelänrinteen Lukio, FIN) 33:52 (+ 02:51)

3. Jasmiina Rantala (Mäkelänrinteen Lukio, FIN) 35:02 (+ 03:58)

School W2

1. Merryn Stangroom (Ulverston Victoria High School, ENG) 26:06 (+ 00:00)

2. Johanna Laanoja (Pölva, EST) 26:40 (+ 00:34)

3. Tereza Chrastova (Zakladni a Materska skola Studenec, CZE) 27:23 (+ 01:17)

Selected M1

1. Jakub Chupek (Slovakia) 33:29 (+ 00:00)

2. Jannis Bonek (Austria) 35:10 (+ 01:41)

3. Jakub Dekret (Slovakia) 36:36 (+ 03:07)

Selected M2

1. Florencio Garcia (Spain) 32:20 (+ 00:00)

2. Edmund Grierson (England) 33:56 (+ 01:36)

3. Vasco Mendes (Portugal) 36:37 (+ 04:17)

Selected W1

1. Ylvi Kastner (Austria) 40:31 (+ 00:00)

2. Elia Olsson (Sweden) 41:04 (+ 00:33)

3. Frida Vikström (Sweden) 43:16 (+ 02:45)

Selected W2

1. Laurence Defraigne (Belgium FR) 22:15 (+ 00:00)

2. Jana Hnilica (Austria) 23:26 (+ 01:11)

3. Luboslava Weissova (Slovakia) 24:06 (+ 01:51)

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

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

Joaquim Margarido

Portuguese Orienteering Championships 2017: Mariana Moreira was the brightest star

Confirming her predominance in the Portuguese orienteering panorama in recent years, Mariana Moreira achieved the Middle Distance title for the fourth year in a row, in the Women Elite class. In the Relay, COC – Clube de Orientação do Centro recovered the Portuguese title in the Men Senior class, while CPOC – Clube Português de Orientação e Corrida, got the title for the second year in a row in the Women Senior class.

The 23rd edition of the Portuguese Orienteering Championships of Middle Distance and Relay took place last weekend in the city of Vendas Novas. Organized by the ADFA – Associação dos Deficientes das Forças Armadas and the Portuguese Orienteering Federation, the event was attended by 436 athletes, representing 40 clubs. This event was sadly marked by the fact that the Men Elite class didn't find results, following a protest concerning a technical error and the consequent avoidance of the course.

On a fantastic weekend for orienteering's practise, Mariana Moreira (CPOC) performed at the highest level, achieving her fourth Middle Distance title so far. The athlete won with a time of 31:07 and a 1:32 advantage over Raquel Costa (GafanhOri), second-placed and almost seven minutes over the third-placed, Rita Rodrigues (CMo Funchal). In the remaining classes, a special word goes to José Fernandes, athlete from the Clube de Orientação do Minho, for is third title in a row in the M55 class, and to Alexandra Coelho (GD4C), Luísa Mateus (COC) and José Grada (Ori-Estarreja), who revalidated their titles in the W45, W55 and M75, respectively. In all of the 26 national titles awarded, the COC was the great “beneficiary” with eight individual titles and eight collective titles.

COC gets eight Relay titles

Mariana Moreira was again in evidence in the Relay race, contributing decisively to the victory of her club in the Women Senior class. The CPOC got an initial advantage of more than two minutes over the GD4C, but a disastrous second leg almost knocked out the aspirations of Oeiras' team. In the decisive leg, however, Mariana Moreira was far above all her opponents, recovering a disadvantage of approximately seven minutes and offering the victory to CPOC with the overall time of 1:57:55. COC and GD4C occupied, by this order, the remaining places on the podium. As for the Men Senior class, the COC dominated from start to finish, getting the overall time of 1:36:37. Despite an impressive last leg, Tiago Romão was unable to recover the ten minutes that separated him from the lead, achieving for the CMo Funchal the second position with the time of 1:41:56. Ori-Estarreja closed the podium, nine minutes after the winners.

Overall, COC was again the great winner, achieving eight national Relay titles. Clube de Orientação do Minho and CPOC, with two titles each, and Pinhal Novo Secondary School, Grupo Desportivo dos Quatro Caminhos, ADM - Ori-Mondego and Clube de Orientação e Aventura do Litoral Alentejano, with one title each, fill the list of National Champions of Relay 2017.

Results

Middle Distance

Women Elite

1. Mariana Moreira (CPOC) 31:07 (+ 00:00)

2. Raquel Costa (GafanhOri) 32:39 (+ 01:32)

3. Rita Rodrigues (CMo Funchal) 37:52 (+ 06:45)

4. Emília Silveira (CN Alvito) 41:07 (+ 10:00)

5. Inês Pinto (GD4C) 41:57 (+ 10:50)

Relay

Men Senior

1. COC (Paulo Franco, Gildo Silva and Celso Moiteiro) 1:36:37 (+ 00:00)

2. CMo Funchal (Rita Rodrigues, Miguel Silva, Tiago Romão) 1:41:56 (+ 05:19)

3. Ori-Estarreja (António Amador, Bruno Nazário, Rafael Miguel) 1:45:59 (+ 09:22)

4. GafanhOri (Manuel Dias, Raquel Costa, Manuel Horta) 1:54:33 (+ 17:56)

5. CN Alvito (Paul Roothans, Sérgio Ferreira, João Mega Figueiredo) 1:56:36 (+ 19:59)

Women Senior

1. CPOC (Betariz Sanguino, Beatriz Moreira, Mariana Moreira) 1:57:55 (+ 00:00)

2. COC (Catarina Castelão, Inês Domingues, Helena Lima) 2:03:53 (+ 05:58)

3. GD4C (Inês Pinto, Liliana Oliveira, Inês Alves) 2:13:57 (+ 16:02)

4. .COM (Zélia Viana, Ana Castanheiro, Paula Serra Campos) 2:29:50 (+ 31:55)

5. Ori-Estarreja (Joana Marques, Cristina Nazário, Inês Aires) 2:33:00 (+ 35:05)

Complete results and further information at http://cnvendasnovas.weebly.com/.

[Photo: Fernando Costa]

Joaquim Margarido

ISF WSC Orienteering 2017: Hand in hand!

The ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships' second day was dedicated to the Friendship Team Event. Purpose: different nationalities, gender, level - team spirit - three common control points and arrival hand in hand!

210 Athlete Teams and 38 Coach Teams participated in the ISF World Schools Orienteering Championships' Friendship Team Event. Fun and co-operation between the young people rather than competition was, as always, the aim of this event that took place today in the old city centre of Palermo.

Even not being the most important, the results shown an Israeli-Polish-Estonian team winning the competition in the Athletes class. In the Coach class, the victory has gone to an Israeli-Slovenian-Scottish team. Congratulations to everybody!

Results

Athletes class

1. POL-ISR-EST (Gracjan Cuprys, Manor Noam, Leana Jete Korb) 27:26 (+ 00:00)

2. POL-LAT-SCO (Krystian Peterburski, Katrina Dzene, Tristian Samulski) 27:46 (+ 00:20)

3. NZL-POR-SCO (Caroline Nel, Ana Raquel Henriques. Louis Macmillan) 28:10 (+ 00:44)

4. LAT-LAT-NZL (Karlis Stradins, Aiga Irbe Bluma, Petra Buyck) 28:22 (+ 00:56)

5. LAT-EST-NZL (Ilgvars Caune, Annita Laanejõe, Olivier Burns) 29:06 (+ 01:40)

6. BEL-EST-POL (Thiels Liam, Sander Pritsik, Aleksandra Polewka) 29:37 (+ 02:11)

Coach class

1. ISR-SLO-SCO (Odet Verbin, Klemen Kenda, Young Lynn) 29:17 (+ 00:00)

2. SVK-POL-SLO (Pavol Polacek, Barbara Nowak, Monika Ravnikar) 30:15 (+ 00:58)

3. CHN-ISR-BEL (Guoxing Zhong, Avihay Beyar, Clara Cox) 31:49 (+ 02:32)

4. NZL-ESP-POR (Kieran Woods, Ana Herreros Valiente, Maria Amador) 31:53 (+ 02:36)

5. ESP-UKR-NZL (Antonio Gil, Olena Rudakova, Karine David) 32:14 (+ 02:57)

6. POL-CHN-NZL (Honorata Paterek, Jieyuan Luo, James Olever) 33:05 (+ 03:48)

Complete results can be found HERE.

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

Joaquim Margarido

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