World of O News
Norway will organize the World Orienteering Championships 2019. This will be the first forest only World Championships in the “Split WOC” model with three disciplines; middle distance, long distance and forest relay.
The races will be organized in southeastern Norway in the Østfold-region – not far from Strömstad where this year’s championship will be organized. The competition center will be in Sarpsborg. Even if this is an area with a lot of orienteering activity, the area which will host all the final races has never been mapped or used for orienteering before.
Read the press release from the International Orienteering Federation below.
IOF: World Orienteering Championships 2019 goes to Østfold, Norway
After an IOF Council decision at its recent meeting in Warsaw, it is now revealed that Østfold in Norway will organise the World Orienteering Championships in 2019.
– We have received a very attractive bid from Norway for WOC 2019, and are pleased to be able to announce the award of the event to the region ofØstfold, says Tom Hollowell, IOF CEO.
– WOC 2010 in Trondheim was a celebration of our sport and advanced the event in many ways. As we now move to our new WOC program starting with 2019, we feel comfortable that we once again will see a strong development in cooperation with the Norwegian organisers.
The Event Centre will be located in Sarpsborg, a city of 60.000 inhabitants with excellent accessibility. WOC 2019 will be the very first WOC in the new format with alternating years of forest and sprint competition focus. WOC 2019 will include middle distance qualification and final, long distance and relay competitions. The competitions will take place in beautiful, challenging and mostly untouched forest areas. The area which will host all the final races has never been mapped or used for orienteering before.
The slogan for WOC 2019 is “Run for fun”, with the vision “Everybody goes orienteering with a smile.”
The Norwegian Orienteering Federation in general and Østfold in particular have extensive experience in organising high level events. Norway has hosted the WOC in 1978 (Kongsberg), 1997 (Grimstad) and 2010 (Trondheim). In 2015 Norway organised the World Ski Orienteering Championships, the Junior World Championships (FootO) and two World Cup races (FootO). Østfold is one of the most prolific organisers in Norway, having hosted the World Masters Orienteering Championships 2003, the Norwegian Championship Week in 2010 and the World Cup in 2015.
