Both events were held in typical Finnish pine forest with good visibility. On Saturday the competition was a TempO course with 24 controls at eight different control stations. The top scorers had only one mistake. The top three was Antti Rusanen FIN 163 sec, Lennart Wahlgren SWE 177 sec and Lauri Kontkanen FIN 194 sec. The full result list can be found here.

The second day was a PreO course in a very detailed area suitable for PreO. Totally eleven competitors managed to get all 18 controls on the course correct and therefore the results on the four timed controls decided the final result. Winner was Lars-Jacob Waaler NOR 18 points and 16 second. Four competitors shared the second place all with 18 points and 20 seconds, they were Marko Määttälä FIN, Antti Rusanen FIN, Lauri Kontkanen FIN and Marit Wiksell SWE. The full result list can be found here.

The standings in the overall European Cup after four competitions can be viewed here.

National federations are asked to identify and enter suitable candidates by 8 June 2013. To view the invitation, please click here.

National federations are asked to identify and enter suitable candidates by 1 July 2013. For more information, please visit the Clinics section of our website.

Matthias Merz, Switzerland, will be the coordinator of the new IOF Foot Orienteering Athletes’ Commission. Merz is a 29-year-old top orienteer who won two silver medals at the World Orienteering Championships last year, and finished third in the overall World Cup.

At the moment he is a professional orienteer: “I have a very flexible arrangement with my work. I work part time (70%) during winter months (half year) as a civil engineer. During competition season I can concentrate on my training, travelling to other countries and competing. I like this arrangement because it is varied. In autumn I usually look forward to doing something else and working again on some projects meanwhile in the spring I’m waiting for perfect training circumstances”, he says.

Merz says he hopes that as the Athletes’ Commission chair he can bring in the runners’ perspective in the development of orienteering: “When competing in World Cup, World Championships or other events I’m faced to decisions made by the IOF. During the last years there were also changes to the programme or rules so orienteering should become a better product for TV and general public. Some of these ideas I didn’t like. But just complaining or refusing this it is not very constructive.  If we can make the sport more interesting without losing the excitement for runners it’s fine. That I see as one of the tasks for the Athletes’ Commission.”

The rest of the Athletes’ Commission members will be published shortly. The Commission will liaise with and provide advice to the IOF Council and the Chairperson of the Foot Orienteering Commission on matters such as rules, event programmes, fairness and other matters relevant to the elite athlete and elite international foot orienteering. This is done via the Athletes’ Commission chairperson.

The events took place in the National Stadium in Warsaw, and in most crowded shopping malls in Krakow and Lodz, city centres, parks and meeting places in other arenas.

The president of the city of Lódz taking part in orienteering.

For more information, please visit the organiser’s homepage.

In this issue:

A Word from the IOF President
Road to Cali: Edgars Bertuks
Behind the Scenes: Hans Jorgen Kvåle
North South East West: Turkey
Once upon a time… EMTBOC
News in brief
WOC 2013 – the biggest mapping project in Finland

The IOF received the good news earlier this week from CISM, and at the same time the thanks for the excellent support of the technical delegates during the 2nd edition of the CISM World Winter Games in Annecy in March 2013.

The 52nd World Military Ski Championships take place on 24 – 29 March 2014. The disciplines at the Championships will be: Giant Slalom (M, F), Cross Country Skiing 15 km Free (M), 10 km Free (F), Biathlon Sprint (M, F), Patrol (M, F), and Ski Orienteering Middle Distance (M, F).

Founded in 1948, the International Military Sports Council (CISM) is one of the largest multidisciplinary organisations in the world. The ultimate goal of CISM is to contribute to world peace by uniting armed forces through sports; and the motto under which CISM operates is “Friendship through Sport”. Ski orienteering is a permanent sport at the CISM World Military Winter Games, which have so far been held twice: in 2011 and 2013.

More information on the World Masters Orienteering Championships can be found on the website www.wmoc2013.it. The website is very informative and there is even a possibility to chat with the competition organiser!

Altogether 64 questionnaires were filled in by athletes, coaches or teams for the four events comprising the World Championships and the World Cup series. The Commission was happy to see that in general participants were satisfied with the quality of the events. The feedback was sent to the organisers of the events and will be used for Event Adviser and Organiser education. The MTBO Commission will continue its event evaluation programme in 2013 to ensure continuous improvement of the quality of the major IOF events.

You find the summary of the evaluation here:

Evaluation of MTBO IOF Events 2012
Evaluation MTBO World Cup 2012, summary of remarks