In December 1995, the Finnish broadcasting company Yle started the preparations in Vaskiluoto, Vaasa, with the live-broadcasted Park World Tour premiere 13/6/1996 in sight. Journalist and commentator Leif Lampenius (pictured on the right of TV director Raimo Piltz, on the site two weeks before the event), recalls the first steps of an important evolution:
Long since, it was a major privilege to play a tiny role in the early years of the PWT. I do really think about all that, now and then, and it still feels valuable for me.
I remember how interesting and inspiring it was to work with all the broadcasting productions of a new type. We felt we joined something that certainly was going to be important in the evolution of the sport of orienteering.
It felt like a kind of trend setting. And I think it really was. Especially I remember the early stages in Vaskiluoto in Vaasa, in the fortress island of Suomenlinna in front of Helsinki, and the one in the city centre of Jyväskylä with its ridge. And I recollect them with warmth.
At that time people in general did not necessarily believe in orienteering as a TV sport. But changes of that viewpoint started. And, as we know, during the following decades much more has happened. And that has been a very enjoyable progress. Orienteering is today an exciting TV sport. A happy story.
Leif Lampenius, TV journalist and commentator Borgå, Finland
TV director Raimo Piltz and commentator Leif Lampenius realised the first live-broadcasted PWT events. Having checked the course in Vaasa, two weeks before the premiere, they sat down in the sunshine.
Find the stories behind the 25 Park World Tour years in the book “Made for loving it”. Order it here.
We wish to inform you that due to the COVID situation and the current restrictions in Czech Republic, where the book is being printed, the book publication event will be postponed. The restrictions in Czech will also cause a small delay to the shipping of the books. We will be able to ship your books at the beginning of December.
We are sorry for any inconvenience that this will cause to you, and we trust in your understanding.
ps. The books will be shipped on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning those who have ordered the book earlier will be the first to get it.
We’re keeping a positive attitude and working hard for our beloved sport and its memories. #strongertogether
Unfortunately, it came to this. The Covid-19 situation in Czech has worsened to a point, where the best solution was to cancel the events. See official announcement in Euromeeting web site.
We are hoping to be able to organise the 25 years Celebration & Race next year!
This also means that the PWT book publication event will change form. More info about this will come later. (Shipping schedule stays the same – starts in November).
Park World Tour 25 years memory book is now available to be pre-ordered.
The anniversary book Made for loving it features the history of the Park World Tour, from 1996 to 2020. The book includes close to 350 pages, 1.000 photos, maps from all the 119 PWT events, memories from runners throughout the years, plus a lot more.
The book will be published during the PWT 25th anniversary celebration & race held in accordance with Euromeeting 2020. The shipping of the books starts in November 2020.
The net proceeds from the book sales will be used to support the PWT idea and international youth orienteering.
Based on the decision to include Sprints in WOC 2021, the organizer has decided to include a Sprint also in Euromeeting 2020. As there were already plans set for the PWT 25th anniversary celebration race (sprint) just before the Euromeeting, the organizer and PWT have decided to merge the two.
Thus, the PWT 25th anniversary celebration race will also be the Euromeeting 2020 sprint event. This means that the race will follow official standards for sprint orienteering event, and there will not be a limit for 25+25 participants but the entry will be according to the Euromeeting regulations.
The PWT / Euromeeting Sprint event will be held in Železný Brod on October 28th. More information about the event can be found in the updated Euromeeting Bulletin: https://woc2021.cz/euromeeting/bulletins/
We are pleased to announce that the plans and organizing of the PWT 25th anniversary celebration race are progressing.
Jaroslav Kacmarcik recently had a meeting with the WOC 2021 and Euromeeting 2020 event director Jan Picek, who will also be acting as the event director for the PWT race. The race is scheduled to be held 28th October, just before Euromeeting.
More detailed information about the PWT race will come later along with the Euromeeting bulletins, but we can already say that a Czech TV sport channel will be producing a live broadcast from the event.
We are continuing the work with the memory book for the 25th years celebration of Park World Tour. We wished to have the book ready for Sprint WOC 2020 in Denmark, but since WOC has been cancelled, we are organizing a separate book release and anniversary celebration event later on this year.
As one of the first PWT races was held in Czech, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary in Czech Republic, in connection with the Euromeeting 2020 and WOC 2021 pre-training camp. So, save the date: 28th October 2020!
A competition for 25 men + 25 women from 25 different countries on a 1:2500 scale map; one course of 2500m for all classes; 25000 CZK for the winners. 25 VIP guests and a special celebration prize by lucky draw: 1 man, 1 woman, 1 VIP guest/team. More info about the event coming later.
Naturally, we will follow the situation with the pandemic, but we are optimistic that the celebration and the race can be organized. We wish that all countries will be able to participate, according to the upcoming safety regulations for travelling.
ps. We have also updated information regarding other upcoming events, as due to the pandemic situation and different restrictions, the events along with many details are yet to be confirmed.
For more information about Euromeeting and WOC, visit the official WOC2021 web site
Concerning the ongoing pandemic and its influence on international orienteering calendar (IOF events), PWT keeps following the situation. If necessary, rescheduling of PWT events may take place. For longer PWT tours, the aim is typically to keep them after the main international O-season. Thus, we closely follow the decisions made by the IOF, the international orienteering calendar as well as the possible adjustments made to it.
PWT is in contact with its partners and we are prepared to adjust dates of events where possible. More information when the situation updates. Until then, take care.
The PWT working team is small these days and the work is on a voluntary basis, but we make the best of it. To introduce the team, below you can read a short Q&A with Tuomas and Giulia.
1. Who are you? Age, club, etc.?
2. What is your background, your work, hobbies?
3. What do you know about PWT?
4. You work as a volunteer for PWT, do you have time for it?
Tuomas Kari:
1. First, I am an eager orienteer. I come from Finland, and on a club level I represent Angelniemen Ankkuri (from Salo), which is the one and only club for me as I have represented it all my life, ever since I started orienteering at the age of seven. Thus, I’ve been with the club for almost 30 years now. At the moment, I live in Jyväskylä, where, by the way, a PWT event was held back in 1997.
2. I work as a postdoctoral researcher. My main research interest is the use of technology in everyday life, especially in the context of health and wellness. Hence, I am also professionally interested on how people use digital technologies to support their physical activity and exercise (orienteering among them). Besides my work and orienteering, I don’t really have time for other hobbies, but I am an avid foodie keeping a close eye (and mouth) on the food and restaurant scene.
3. I ran my first PWT race in Lonigo, Italy in 2008. Before that I had followed PWT competitions from the Internet, magazines, and I even remember some TV broadcast from the early days. Since the race in Lonigo 2008, I have actually been present at every single PWT race; always as a runner, though not all competitions I’ve been able to start due to injuries. Having said that, I’ve also been doing volunteer work for PWT since 2012; first some years mainly with the web site (writing under the alias Madi), but later on with a growing role, also helping out with other activities and tasks. During this time, I have come to learn various stories and the history of the Park World Tour. The amazing work that PWT has done for orienteering promotion since 1996 is impossible to present in few words – I will just say it has my utmost respect.
4. I lead a busy life with generally rather long working days. To balance it, I do my daily runs and take part in different orienteering activities and competitions. Thus, “free time” is often somewhat minuscule. However, for a good cause that I find important and meaningful, such as the PWT idea, I am always willing to make time for. It does not feel like “work” when it is something close to your heart and something you see value in. I am happy to be able to help and promote the PWT idea.
Giulia Zenere:
1. I’m Giulia, I’m Italian, I live between Venice and Verona, I’m 35 this year.
2. I played basketball for 20 years, and tried many other sports: swimming, tennis, volleyball… I met orienteering during the middle school, but I didn’t continue with it. I graduated in languages, then I travelled in Australia for 1 year to improve my English. When I came back in 2010, I started to work with Park World Tour Italy and I continued until December 2019. After a couple of years of yoga practice, in 2015 I started a Yoga Teacher Course and I became Yoga Teacher, which is actually my current work. In the last couple of years I also had the possibility to teach yoga combining it with orienteering events of Park World Tour Italy 🙂
3. I know Park World Tour aims to spread orienteering around the World and to make it accessible to everyone. This is also the aim of Park World Tour Italy, which by the way gave me the possibility to visit many big Italian cities and small villages, together with other Mediterranean countries. I know Park World Tour introduced new ideas and new format like the sprint race into the orienteering World, and I had the possibility of listening to many stories about the past times by Jaroslav Kacmarcik, Jörgen Mårtensson, and Gabriele Viale.
4. I am currently a Yoga teacher, and I have some free time during the week. For me, working as volunteer for Park World Tour is a nice way to meet new people from around the World and keep traveling around. Orienteers are nice people! And I like very much the atmosphere that PWT can create 🙂
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![[photo tuomas]](https://www.parkworldtour.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/tuomas_intro.jpg)
![[photo giulia]](https://www.parkworldtour.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/giulia_intro.jpg)