PWT Academy meets India/2

Recently, Giulia – Project Manager of PWT Academy, visited the Lovely Professional University of Jalandhar, Punjab (LPU) with the help of Dev Balhara. 

Successful meetings were held with Dr Sorabh Lakhanpal, Associate Dean at Division of Students Affairs and Dr. V. Kaul, Professor and Associate Director – Division of Sport, who are keen to introduce orienteering and add a new sport to the 26 already practiced at the LPU. 

The campus of the University is very big, 6km square, more than 25.000 students, 150 programs, students from more than 26 countries, and it is suitable to host both orienteering seminars but also orienteering races. 

PWT and India

Recently, Giulia – Project Manager of PWT Academy, visited Dev Balhara in India.

Dev, back in 2020, was the one contacting Park World Tour with the goal of introducing orienteering in his country. 

In 2022, PWT Academy, with the cooperation of IOF, organized an online seminar of 5 classes to introduce orienteering to 35 participants, mostly Physical Education teachers.

Some days ago, Giulia met Dev in person and started discussing practically about the possibility to introduce orienteering in the Indian school system, and to start thinking about an international event where orienteers from all over the world can run in this fascinating country.

It was a pleasure to present the 25 years Memory book of PWT to Dev, wishing for a long and bright cooperation.

Mauritius 3 days orienteering is approaching

We would like to remind that the registration for Mauritius 3 days orienteering is still open.

Would you like to experience a whole new country for orienteering (and maybe also spend a nice holiday at the same time)? Join us in Mauritius in November. More info here: Mauritius 3 days.

During the year, PWT has handed a number of vouchers for elite athletes. The winners of ASOM as well as the individual sprint World Champions from Denmark have been awarded with vouchers including Mauritius 3-days with full board.

World Champion Megan Carter-Davies is already looking forward to joining the Mauritius 3-days orienteering. The other voucher winners are Simona Aebersold, Kasper Fosser, and Matthias Kyburz. If a voucher winner would choose to not take part in Mauritius, the voucher will be handed on to another elite runner chosen by PWT.

While the vouchers include Mauritius 3-days with full board, we would also like to help the athletes with their flights. Here, we are calling for your support.

You can support, for example, by buying the PWT 25-years anniversary book ‘Made for loving it’.

Another option is a sponsorship agreement with PWT. For this, please contact: jkpwt@hotmail.com and giulia@parkworldtour.org.

O-Ringen Academy 2022

PWT and PWT Academy was responsible for organizing the O-Ringen Academy 2022, arranged in conjunction with O-Ringen in Uppsala, Sweden, between the 22nd of July and the 31st of July. The O-Ringen Academy is a place for orienteering runners from different countries and on different levels, including beginners, to meet and exchange their experience and learn new. Last time when the O-Ringen Academy was arranged, in 2019, 45 orienteers from 13 countries participated.
This year, there were orienteers from Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Japan, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Turkey.

The Academy activities consisted of several seminars related to orienteering, held by the PWT and also visiting speakers like Albin Ridefelt. The seminars included topics such as organizing an international orienteering event, map drawing, how to involve more the kids in the schools through orienteering, etc. The Academy participants also joined the Global Development Conference organized by the IOF, which included many interesting workshops about different aspect of orienteering.

During the days, the Academy participants obviously took part in the O-Ringen races while also presenting orienteering maps and activities from their own countries in the Academy tent. The evenings were filled with race analysis, shared dinners, and nice time together. The participants could also enjoy visits of some special quests: Peo Bengtsson shared the memories of his life in orienteering (6046 orienteering races so far!) and how O-Ringen started; and Per Ola Olsson presented how to start to draw an orienteering map.

In the tent, there was also the possibility to buy the PWT 25 years memory book as well as the new Memories of the Winners book, which includes stories from all the WOCs since 1966. The tent was also frequently visited by several world champions and elite orienteers, both current and more experienced ones.

Thank you for all the participants. May our paths merge again soon in the future of Orienteering.

ps. Don’t forget Mauritius 3-days Orienteering in November. Registrations are still open!

Mauritius 3 days vouchers to Kasper and Simona

It was not just World Championship medals that were awarded yesterday in Vejle, Denmark, as also vouchers for Mauritius 3 days were handed out to the best man and woman. Although, the Women’s winner Megan Carter-Davies had already won a voucher earlier this year in ASOM. Hence, as per the rules set by PWT for awarding the vouchers, the voucher was handed out to silver medalist Simona Aebersold. The Men’s gold medal along with the voucher was won by Kasper Harlem Fosser.

Welcome to Mauritius Kasper & Simona!

ps. The registration is still open – everyone is welcome! More info here: Mauritius 3 days.

Through hail and rain

First came the hail, then flooding rain down narrow lanes of Lagonegro, Italy 11.3.2006.

Martina Fritschy was one of the o-navigators among obstacles seen and unseen on the map.

Photo: Lucie Navarová
Map: Rudi de Ferrari (& course), Roman Horký, Martin Lejsek

”The most challenging sprint course I have ever run”, said the only woman to finish in a time below 20 minutes. Who? Find the flow in Made for loving it. Orienteering for a new generation – a book from the Park World Tour to You.

PWT supports Eef Van Dongen in pursuit of World Games success

One of the main purposes of PWT has always been to support rising young orienteering stars in their pursuit of international O-success. Especially, PWT has provided support for athletes from “smaller” orienteering countries to help them have more equal changes in competing.

On this line, PWT is supporting Eef van Dongen (Netherlands) in her trip to the 2022 World Games. The games will be held in Birmingham, USA on 7-17 JULY 2022. World Games website.

Recently, Eef has produced some promising results in the international orienteering field. For example, in 2021 Sprint WOC at Czech Republic, she finished 16th. You can follow Eef’s path in her Instagram: eefvdongen

The ability of PWT to support young athletes comes partly from the sales of the Park World Tour 25 years memory book Made for loving it. The net proceeds from the book sales are used to support international youth orienteering as well as the PWT idea of taking orienteering to new destinations around the world. If you still have not acquired the book, you can get your copy here: https://www.parkworldtour.org/?product=made-for-loving-it

Among the favourites

Pinar Narter was Turkey’s first Park World Tour starter, cruising through La Favorita Park in Palermo, Italy 4.3.2006.

Photo: Lucie Navarová

For a while, local runner Michele Ciancia managed to keep up with Christian Nielsen in this first international orienteering event on the island of Sicily.

Photo: Lucie Navarová

What made Christian a worthy race winner? Read all the PWT maps and courses – and the stories behind them – in Made for loving it. Orienteering for a new generation.

Caught speeding

Photo: Anders Vestergård

The local police in Yuxi, China, with apprentices Martin Johansson and Ewan McCarthy, have stopped Øystein Kvaal Østerbø after the Park World Tour final 10.11.2005. ”You can’t judge the courses just by looking at the map at home. When you move through the terrain at a speed of sometimes below 3 minutes per kilometre, even the easiest of courses become challenging,” explains the champion.

Photo: Anders Vestergård

Who succeeded Simone Niggli-Luder on the women’s throne? And how many nations were represented on the 2005 final tour?
Catch more of the elite orienteers’ thoughts and experiences in Made for loving it. Orienteering for a new generation – and get out running yourself.