Asia

World Orienteering Day: where to try orienteering in Asia?

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It’s time for World Orienteering Day again! The week-long initiative by IOF will start tomorrow (15 May) and last until 21 May.

WOD was originally intended for school orienteering, but has now become a convenient occasion for orienteers around the world to promote their sport. While Europe still has the majority of WOD events registered on
worldorienteeringday.com, Asia has quite some remarkable activities in remarkable places, with Taiwan registering 9 events (as of 14 May), 7 each in Indonesia and Japan, and a staggering 12 in tiny Hong Kong!

Here are some of the activities you should learn about:

Nepal: forest (and school orienteering) on high

For the outdoor-loving, Nepal is perhaps synonymous with the highest mountains in the world. To go to Nepal often means to conquer the Himalayas, if not to see its exotic towns and villages (or other similar activity, however stereotyped).

But what about orienteering? Probably not many orienteers know that Nepal has become an IOF member this year. Besides, they even got this map of a small forest, behind a school!

Hong Kong: the metropolis continues to shine

Hong Kong is one of the earliest places for orienteering in Asia. Indeed, it has one of the highest numbers of WOD activities in East Asia this year (12 activities registered as of 14 May).

Besides school orienteering, Hong Kong will be hosting downtown events, park orienteering, and an online trail orienteering course for WOD.

Macau: old town meets new sport

What do you know about Macau besides its Portuguese past, its UNESCO-recognised old town, and its casinos? Well, as an orienteer, I’d say it has orienteering! Although Macau is a relative newcomer in the sport, it’s learning quick from its neighbour across the sea.

Macau’s WOD activity will be in Guia Municipal Park, which hosts historical structures including a church, a fortress, and air raid shelters.

Taiwan: beautiful island with active orienteering

The beautiful island (which is what Taiwan’s other name, Formosa, literally means) has been active in the orienteering scene for quite a while, being a short hop by plane from Hong Kong. In fact, Taiwan will host its sprint championship this weekend at Huafan University, a Buddhist university near Taipei.

Japan: WOD in a super-metropolis

Japan is the only Asian country to have hosted the World Orienteering Championships (in 2005), and this year’s WOD activity will be no less impressive. And this means orienteering in Tokyo, one of the most bustling metropolises of the world.

The WOD activity will be at Shinagawa Season Terrace, an urban park with mall and conference facilities right next to Shinagawa Station. Also, the Japanese will be showcasing NaviTabi, their GPS tracking service for orienteering.

China (mainland)

Chinese students in Orienteering World Schools Championship

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Students from the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Secondary School participated in the Orienteering World Schools Championship in Otepää, Estonia last week.

The Chinese students are the only East Asian team in the Championship (the school also participated in the last edition in 2017). Israel is the only other fully Asian country in the Championship this year, along with Eurasian countries Turkey and Russia.

The students got overall 18th in class M1 School and 14th in class M2 School. In class M1 Selected, Chinese students came 14th overall.

The Orienteering World Schools Championship is organised by the International School Sport Federation (ISF). The ISF is in charge of international sport competitions for students 13 to 18 years of age. The orienteering event usually takes place every second year. 600 young athletes from 23 countries took part in the 18th edition this year.

The Championship consists of a middle distance race, a long distance race, and a friendship team event. The overall results are the total time of the team in the middle and long distance races. The friendship team event consists of mixed teams, each with members from different countries.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Secondary School is based in Zhongshan where Dr Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China, was born, north of Zhuhai and Macau. The boarding school was founded in 1934 by Sun Fo, Sun Yat-sen’s eldest son, and is today a top-grade school of Guangdong Province. Within the orienteering community, the school is famous for its active orienteering activities. Its large campus of half a square kilometre has hosted public orienteering competitions.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Secondary School
Asien

De 3 grejorna om Asien du bör veta inför sommaren

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Sommaren kommer, dags att tänka på semestern? Självklart eller? Då får du läsa de här uppdateringarna.

1. Japan: AsJYOC i augusti

Asiatiska Junior och Ungdom Mästerskapet (AsJYOC) kommer till Japan i augusti. Hokuto är väster om Tokyo, mitt i bergen. Publiktävlingar tillkommer, så ett skäl att besöka Japan kanske?

Arrival at Tokyo Haneda. Hokuto is in the mountains west of Tokyo (northwest of Mount Fuji).
Haneda flygplats, Tokyo (arkivbild)

Kom ihåg att årsräkningsnamnet (年号 nengō) byter den 1. maj 2019 från Heisei (平成) till Reiwa (令和). Det sker i samband med kejsaren Akihitos abdikering; dess son Naruhito blir kejsare precis idag.

2. Taiwan: många tävlingar

Taiwans orienteringsscen är ännu livligare med fler tävlingar och orienterare. Vid månadsskiftet maj/juni har det redan Moxina 2-dagars (25–26 maj) och Taoyuan borgmästarcupen (1–2 juni).

Taiwan och närliggande Hongkong (ca. 1 timme flyg emellan) har många orienteringstävlingar. Du kan lätt ingå de två ställena i en resa. Fler tävlingar utforskar du på schemat.

3. Malaysia—1½ vecka på staden och stranden i öster

Hoppas att du inte har glömt vår Tropical O-Week! På 10 dagar i oktober har du 8 tävlingar (inkl. 1 WRE) i staden Kuantan på Malaysias östkust.

Malaysia kanske dyker inte längst upp på din semesteridé för orientering. Det är dags att försöka något annorlunda! Malaysia har vackra stränder och smakande mat, precis som dess grannland Thailand. Orientering har börjat utvecklas i Sydostasien—där orienterarnas gemenskap växer snabbt och regelbundna tävlingar nu finns.

Tanjung Lumpur (kartläggning pågår)
Tanjung Lumpur (kartläggning pågår)

De lägsta priserna för O-veckan slutar precis idag (1 maj). Undvik att betala €20 mer—anmäl nu!