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Ski Orienteering World Cup - a long and tough season ahead
Sixteen races in four rounds: the 2010 Ski Orienteering World Cup season will for sure be one of the longest and toughest ever to be held. One of the highlights will be the third round in Romania, where the whole ski orienteering world family will gather for the European Championships (World Cup races 9-12), the Junior World Championships, the World Masters Championships and the European Youth Championships.
New innovations include two races on one day – a morning sprint followed by an afternoon sprint relay – and a mixed sprint relay where teams consisting of one man and one woman race three legs each, i.e. six legs in all. The European Championships/World Cup races in Romania will be televised by the central/Eastern European sports channel SportKlub, the first race transmitted as an edited programme in the evening and the other three races live.
The season kicks off on Friday 15th January in St. Petersburg, Russia with four races including the ‘double sprint’ day. There is then a 2-week pause before competition resumes again in Uzana, near Gabrovo in central Bulgaria. Here there are four races including the mixed sprint relay.
A 3-day break allows the bandwagon to move north through Bucharest to the Romanian ski resort Miercurea Ciuc. There are four days of racing here between 10th and 14th February. One month later, the final round will be staged at Ånn in Jämtland in northern Sweden, close to the border with Norway and west of Östersund. The last of the four races here is an ultra-long competition with mass start, a fitting finale to a long season.
The IOF website will carry reports and leading results from all the World Cup races shortly after they are over, and from the Junior World and World Masters Championships.
2010 Ski Orienteering World Cup Programme
Round 1 – St. Petersburg, Russia
1 15th January Middle distance, mass start
2, 3 16th January Sprint; sprint relay
4 18th January Long distance
Round 2 – Uzana, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
5 2nd February Sprint
6 3rd February Long distance, mass start
7 5th February Middle distance
8 6th February Mixed sprint relay
Round 3 – Miercurea Ciuc, Romania (also European Championships)
9 10th February Middle distance
10 11th February Long distance, mass start
11 13th February Sprint
12 14th February Relay
Round 4 – Ånn, Sweden
13 13th March Sprint
14 14th March Middle distance
15 16th March Relay
16 17th March World Cup Final – Ultra-long distance, mass start
Junior World Championships, Romania
10th February Middle distance
11th February Long distance, mass start
13th February Sprint
14th February Relay
World Masters Championships, Romania
11th February Long distance
13th February Long distance
