China (mainland)

World Cup Finals in China!

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The highlight of the year, World Cup Finals in China, is finally starting!

The middle distance event starts at 11:30 (05:30 CET) on Saturday, with paid online TV from 14:00 (08:00 CET).

The sprint relay is on Sunday (paid online TV from 14:30, NOTE WINTER TIME IN EUROPE = 07:30 CET). Individual sprint is on Tuesday afternoon.

Sprint terrain is unique in China with villages even more thrilling to orienteer than Italian old towns. But, according to this article (in Swedish), the Swedish federation captain Hånan Carlsson thinks Chinese forest terrain is unique with “paved paths, deep caves and old graves”! (Also read Jan Kocbach’s analysis on WorldOfO.) (And yes, the “grave” symbol in ISOM2000 that was removed in ISOM2017, owed its existence to these Chinese graves that are scattered across plots of land with good feng shui.)

If you want to see this unique terrain in orienteering action, you might have to spend some bucks unless you’re in Finland or China with TV broadcast (Czech TV will only broadcast sprint relay).

Asia

Tropical O-Week a unique experience for international orienteers

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Explore orienteering in Asia! Upptäck orientering i Asien! 齊來探索瑞典定向!

The 10-day Tropical Orienteering Week ended last Sunday with a 6 km orienteering race on the beaches near Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan, Malaysia.

8 races in 10 days is quite a challenge for many orienteers, but it comes with a reward—the six venues used for the O-Week (including the Polytechnic used for the World and National Ranking Events) are varied in character, and the runners had a good time enjoying the coastal town with a view of the South China Sea.

A sample of what happened on the beach—check out ORIEN.ASIA’s Facebook page to learn more! (Special thanks to the Gerai Achik Patta restaurant for providing the arena for the last two races.)

On a side note—Tropical O-Week is the first event where runners can get metrunner-points, and use them to redeem goodies later. Find out more about metrunner!

It’s a crazy orienteering month

A lot of orienteering stuff is going on in October, and our calendar is stuffed with happenings for the month!

Taiwan and Japan have had high level events after the Malaysians—although a typhoon disrupted orienteers’ plans for the All Japan Orienteering Championships last weekend. Still, that didn’t stop orienteers from looking east towards Asia, and activities are all around!

What’s next?

On Sunday 20 October METVIGATOR hill x city long distance race will take place again in Hong Kong, under the auspices of MetOC.

Orienteering World Cup Final will take place in Guangzhou and Foshan starting from next week, bringing international orienteers to the bustling southern Chinese metropolis!

And don’t forget the Thailand International Orienteering Championship in Chiang Mai. Register before the end of October to secure your souvenir T-shirt and accommodation!

… and what’s more?

After Malaysia (which will be doing one more WRE in December), more Southeast Asian countries will be offering World Ranking Events next year! Indonesia’s events are confirmed, and more are in application. Looks like we’re going to have an exciting 2020 in Asia!

Malaysia

Tropical O-Week and WRE in Kuantan, Malaysia

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The second World Ranking Event (WRE) hosted by Malaysia took place in Kuantan last weekend. Orienteers from 10 countries/regions joined one of the largest orienteering events in Southeast Asia.

The WRE is part of the Tropical Orienteering Week, a cooperation between the Malaysian Orienteering Federation and ORIEN.ASIA. The O-Week includes eight races over ten days, the first half of which has ended with a sprint in Taman Bandar (city park) on Monday. Among the participants are orienteers from Scandinavia and Hong Kong; they are staying for the entire O-Week and are using the opportunity to explore the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Kuantan is the capital of the state of Pahang, and faces the South China Sea. Besides Malays, it is also home to a large Cantonese-speaking population. The main driver of orienteering development in Kuantan is Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (POLISAS), where teachers and students are enthusiastic in orienteering. Kuantan is not particularly known for tourism, but its pristine beaches, like Teluk Cempedak and Tanjung Lumpur, provide a good opportunity to attract more travellers in the future.

Tanjung Lumpur beach

Malaysia will also host a WRE on 6–8 December 2019, at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Shah Alam, Selangor.