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Happy New Year from the IOF
Asimple orange and white marker can awaken so many feelings. Sometimes frustration, but also the excitement of the challenge, and especially the joy and exuberance of finding one exactly where you expected it! We applaud the resilience and creativity of the global orienteering community in keeping Orienteering alive and well in 2020 with appropriate social distancing and respect for the pandemic. We look forward to a 2021 where we hopefully can once again share the challenge of finding those elusive flags, together. Happy New Year!!
World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships 2021– 2024
The World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships 2021 (WMMTBOC) which were scheduled to be held in Slovenia May 13‑16 have been cancelled due to the effects of the Covid‑19 pandemic. Due to the cancellation of the event, the IOF Council at its meeting on Friday January 15th made a number of decisions regarding the organisation of WMMTBOC. The WMMTBOC 2021 will move to Portugal and be organised together with the MTBO World Cup round there on October 8‑10, 2021. The Event Centre is located in the town of Abrantes. The cancellation of the World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Slovenia is unfortunate but the right decision. The holding of an event solely for masters categories in May is simply too early relative to the progression of the pandemic, according to IOF CEO Tom Hollowell. With vaccination programs rolling out across the world we are very hopeful that we can offer our masters MTBO athletes a safe and successful event in Portugal in October. We would like to commend both organisers for their willingness to find solutions in these difficult times. The preparations for the 2021 event will not be lost as Slovenia has been appointed the organiser of the WMMTBOC 2023. The event will be held in Slovenj Gradec some time in May 2023, with exact dates to be confirmed. Denmark had applied for the WMMTBOC 2023 and have been offered and accepted the appointment for the WMMTBOC 2024 event instead. The event is to be held in Viborg with dates to be confirmed. The WMMTBOC 2022 was previously appointed to Bulgaria to be held on September 15‑20, 2022 in and around Targovishte. This event remains unchanged in the calendar.
Other IOF News
• The Russian anti-doping organization RUSADA has been suspended for two years effective December 17, 2020.
During the period until December 16, 2022 Russia may not apply for or be awarded a World Championships event.
Russian athletes participating at IOF World Championship events would compete as neutral athletes, i.e. they could not compete in Russian Federation uniforms nor would the
Russian national anthem be played at awards ceremonies.
The regulations would only be in place for World
Championships in senior elite classes, i.e. they would not impact age‑category championships (EYOC, JWOC, Masters events). It would only impact World Championships, where athletes would not be allowed to compete for Russia. • An U23 class in the World Cup and an U23 Championships, for the disciplines MTBO and SkiO, would be introduced beginning from the 2022 season with a team size quota of two U23 athletes per Federation. This would be for a trial period of 4 years, and the decision would then be evaluated against the goals set forth. Each member Federation would receive an additional quota of two U23 athletes for the
World Cup. • IOF Council approved the proposal from the Environment and Sustainability Commission (ESC) for the IOF to join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) “Race to Zero” campaign. The proposal entails that the IOF organisation, i.e. Council, Office and
Commissions structure commits to a carbon reduction plan to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 and to attain carbon neutrality by the year 2040.
