Over the past ten days, the Finnish city of Turku hosted the World Masters Orienteering Championship. This competition is the largest of all those organized by the International Orienteering Federation. It is held for runners over the age of 35, with no upper age limit. This time, it brought together around 4,300 participants.
The event consisted of two Sprint races (a qualification and a final) held in Turku, and three forest races (qualification, middle-distance final, and long-distance final) which took place in the forests surrounding Naantali, Sauvo, and Kurala. There were also two Model Event days with free training sessions.
Competition-wise, Finnish athlete Sole Nieminen stood out, as at 97 years old, she completed all the races and won three gold medals in the over-95 category. The Catalan representation included over 60 runners.
The Catalan orienteering federation, FCOC, participated in the closing ceremony. As organizers of the WMOC 2025, FCOC president Josep Maria Santiago, received the IOF flag from its president, American Tom Hollowell. The 2025 competition will be held in Girona with secondary venues in Pals, Besalú, Banyoles, Les Planes d’Hostoles, and Rupit. It will open on August 8th at the Fontajau Pavilion and will continue until the 15th of the same month. Registrations opened a few days ago, and participants from Catalonia, Spain, France, Brazil, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Finland have already registered. The Catalan organization aims to reach a record number of participants and represented countries. It will also include parallel events for younger participants and for all physical and technical levels, including those who have never tried orienteering before.
As Josep Maria Santiago said when receiving the flag, for the FCOC this is an opportunity to promote this sport in Catalonia and to introduce Catalonia to orienteers from around the world. “We want the people of Catalonia to discover this wonderful sport, and at the same time, for orienteers from around the world to discover our wonderful country and make it a regular destination for training and competition.”
