Podravci and Savinjčani national champions 2019...

Podravci and Savinjčani national champions 2019 in mountain orienteering.



At the Slovenian Mountain Orienteering Competition (SPOT), organized under the auspices of the Youth Commission of the Alpine Association of Slovenia by the mountain clubs of the Smrekovec league, 53 best teams from all over Slovenia competed. In individual categories, the national champions became competitors from OŠ Petrovče (A) and the mountain clubs Poljčane (B, C and E) and Polzela (Č and F). The most successful high school students, university students and adult members qualified for the international mountain orienteering competition, which will take place in the autumn in Bosnia and Herzegovina.







In the area of the municipalities of Nazarje, Mozirje, Šoštanj and Velenje, on 18 and 19 May, 230 competitors from four regional orienteering leagues demonstrated their orienteering and mountaineering knowledge: Gorenjsko-dolenjska, Podravska, Savinjska league and Smrekovec league. The Saturday daytime and night races were a challenge only for competitors in the most demanding categories C, Č and I, while on the Sunday orienteering climax, competitors from the remaining categories also gathered. Mountaineers had to demonstrate, in addition to excellent orienteering knowledge, ability to move in demanding terrain, general mountaineering knowledge and good physical fitness, also practical knowledge of the mountaineering school material and additional material on the Smrekovec mountain range, and on the course they were awaited by practical tasks from orienteering, first aid, mountaineering knots, nature conservation, as well as knowledge of mountains and mountain huts. The organizers placed great emphasis on practical knowledge and general education, and for competitors in more demanding categories, they spiced up the competition with the use of a defibrillator, searching for an avalanche transponder, drawing control points, knowledge of topographic signs, measuring azimuth and knowledge of map scale.







The Slovenian Mountain Orienteering Competition 2019 crowned new national champions in mountain orienteering on 19 May in Šoštanj: in category A (pupils up to 6th grade of primary school), the team from OŠ Petrovče (PD Žalec) won, in categories B (pupils from 7th to 9th grade of primary school), C (high school students from 1st year up to 18 years) and E (members over 40 years), the unbeatable members of PD Poljčane were, in categories Č (young people from 19 to 26 years) and F (families), the teams from PD Polzela defended the title of national champions. In less demanding open categories G1 (primary school students) and G2 (others), victories went to PD Tržič and PD Zabukovica, in the more demanding open category I (comparable to C) to PD Borovnica. The top three teams in categories C, Č and E qualified for the international mountain orienteering competition, which will be held in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina.







SPOT 2019 RESULTS - top three teams in individual categories, national champions are in categories from A to F. Teams in categories C, Č and E are qualified for the international mountain orienteering competition.







Category A: OŠ Petrovče (PD Žalec), PD Dobrovlje Braslovče, PD Šoštanj



Category B: PD Poljčane, PD Šoštanj, PD Žalec



Category C: PD Poljčane, PD Borovnica, PD Zabukovica



Category Č: PD Polzela, PD Poljčane, PD Borovnica



Category E: PD Poljčane, PD Zabukovica, PD Dobrovlje Braslovče



Category F: PD Polzela, PD Pošte in Telekoma, PD Ruše



Category G1: PD Tržič, PD Polzela, PD Šoštanj



Category G2: PD Zabukovica, PD Vuzenica



Category I: PD Borovnica

DFSPOT 2019 Results







Just like last year, the most successful mountain club at SPOT was PD Poljčane, where orienteering has a more than 40-year tradition, and this year they became national champions in as many as three categories and celebrated another second place. "This year's competition stood out with innovative tasks at control points, where we also learned a lot from very informative controllers. We would highlight the well-executed first aid knowledge check by GRS members, the search for a buried avalanche transponder was also very interesting, which some of us encountered for the first time. We would praise the well-made and corrected maps, which were more accurate than usual, although the distances between control points were sometimes too long. We were lucky with the weather, as we managed to almost completely avoid the rain. Our goal was to qualify for the Balkan championship in mountain orienteering," said the competitors from Poljčane, who will represent Slovenian colors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the autumn. The national champions in the high school category C were again Klemen and Tajda Španring, Špela Belec and Žan Skerbiš, in the adult category E, Gvido Španring, Danijel and Robert Belec, Primož Koražija and Sašo Skerbiš celebrated, otherwise long-time national champions in category D, their first victories were celebrated by older primary school students in category B: Jernej and Tine Rupnik and Jakob Čobec.







In the student category Č, Martin Rafael Gulin, Andrej Kronovšek, Žan Luka Šumečki and Simon Hudales from PD Polzela defended the title of national champions, who with the highest number of points were also the absolute winners of SPOT 2019: "We would praise the organizers who took care of even small details: they allowed a visit to the leather museum while waiting for the announcement, prepared a good Saturday dinner and original tasks at control points. We liked Uroš Kuzman's task and the emphasis on understanding and using mountaineering knowledge, instead of just asking bare facts. The courses were nice, although we wished they were technically more demanding and more challenging. However, the numerous ascents at least physically quite exhausted us and we are satisfied with what we showed."







PD Polzela also celebrated in the family category F, where the Jazbec family won, who this year also had the youngest competitor in the team, four-month-old Lucija, Tanja and Matija, and second-grader Manca and fourth-grader Nace are already seasoned orienteering cats: "Mountain orienteering is our favorite way to spend time in nature, as it means not only movement but also practical knowledge. At control points, the children first have the opportunity to answer practical questions - both about first aid, which they learned at winter camp, and protected plants as well as theoretical questions, they also have a compass and together we orient the map and find the direction. The result is not important to us, but that we progress in knowledge and skills, as it is a great skill to learn with a map."







The mountaineering youth is also tempered in orienteering elsewhere in the Savinja region, as the winners in the youngest category A come from OŠ Petrovče, who acquire knowledge also on mountaineering trips and camps of MO PD Žalec. "This year's SPOT will remain in my memory forever, especially because of our team's victory, but otherwise it was very varied. I liked the course, which was not easy, but not too complicated either. The terrain variety was just right, the nature we saw along the way was very beautiful. It seems good to me that the start and finish are at different points. I would especially praise the food at the end and the possibility of sports on the playground while waiting for the announcement," said the leader Blaž Krulec, the team also included Eva Rehar, Maks Jelen, Naja Držan and Izabela Ilijaš.







The competition leader Jure Grudnik, president of PD Šoštanj, was also satisfied: "SPOT 2019 is behind us. We are glad that most competitors highly praised the organization and the location of the event and thus rewarded all the effort of the organizers. They were enthusiastic about the exceptional nature of the Smrekovec mountain range and I believe that many will return to our area to visit the mountains or one of the many natural sights. I would like to sincerely thank all volunteers from the mountain clubs of the Smrekovec league: PD Šoštanj, PD Velenje, PD Vinska Gora, PD Nazarje, PD Škale-Hrastovec, PD Ljubno ob Savinji and PD Rečica ob Savinji for their help in organizing the competition, more than 50 participated. Thanks also to all supporters and sponsors of the competition. Congratulations to all the best teams in individual categories and all others for participating."





Mountain orienteering competitions are one of the most popular methods of learning orienteering, which is also encouraged by the Youth Commission of PZS, and the head of its Orienteering Committee Tina Arh put the icing on the cake: "Praise to the organizers for the excellently executed competition, which enthused the competitors with innovative tasks and well presented the Šaleška valley to them. I am also satisfied with the participation, which was quite high compared to previous years in terms of the number of qualified teams, and I hope that this positive trend will continue. This year's SPOT was the last one in which we competed under the old rules, next season several long-awaited novelties await us."