Savinjsko-Podravsko-Šaleški national champions in...

Savinjsko-Podravsko-Šaleški national champions 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 mountaineering clubs of the Savinja League, 42 best teams competed. In individual categories, the national champions became competitors from the mountaineering clubs Galicija - POŠ Trje (A), Žalec - OŠ Petrovče (B), Zabukovica (C), Poljčane (D and E), and Šoštanj (F). The most successful primary school students, youth, and members qualified for the international mountain orienteering competition, which will take place in the fall on Pokljuka.

In the area of the municipalities of Tabor and Prebold, on May 21 and 22, 170 competitors from five regional orienteering leagues demonstrated their orienteering and mountaineering knowledge: Podravska, Savinjska, Gorenjsko-Dolenjska, Rogaška League, and Smrekovec League. The Saturday daytime and nighttime races were a challenge only for competitors in the most demanding categories C and D, while on Sunday's orienteering highlight, competitors from the remaining categories also gathered. Mountaineers had to demonstrate, in addition to excellent orienteering knowledge, the ability to move in demanding terrain, general mountaineering knowledge, and good physical fitness, also practical knowledge of mountaineering school material and additional material on the Savinja Mountaineering Trail; on the course, practical tasks from orienteering, mountaineering knots, and protected plants and animals awaited them, and at the finish, first aid tasks. The organizers introduced some novelties at this year's SPOT, including ideal time on the course, thus placing greater emphasis on mountaineering knowledge and spatial orientation.

The Slovenian Mountain Orienteering Competition Savinjska 2022 crowned new national champions in mountain orienteering on May 22 in Prebold: in category A (pupils up to 6th grade of primary school), the team POŠ Trje (PD Galicija) won, in category B (pupils from 7th to 9th grade of primary school) OŠ Petrovče (PD Žalec), in category C (youth up to 20 years) members of PD Zabukovica were unbeatable, in categories D (members over 18 years) and E (members over 45 years) members of PD Poljčane became national champions, and in category F (families) the team PD Šoštanj. In the less demanding primary school open category G (comparable to B), they celebrated at POŠ Tabor (PD Tabor), in the medium demanding open category I (comparable to E) at PD Fram. The top three teams in categories B, C, D, and E qualified for the Balkan Mountain Orienteering Competition (BMUMOC), which will be held in Slovenia, on Pokljuka, from September 30 to October 2, 2022.

SPOT 2022 RESULTS - top three teams in individual categories, national champions are in categories A to F. Teams in categories B, C, D, and E are qualified for the international BMUMOC mountain orienteering competition.

Category A: POŠ Trje (PD Galicija), PD Dobrovlje Braslovče, POŠ Tabor (PD Tabor)
Category B: OŠ Petrovče (PD Žalec), PD Polzela, PD Gornja Radgona
Category C: PD Zabukovica, PD Borovnica, PD Poljčane
Category D: PD Poljčane, PD Polzela, PD Ruše
Category E: PD Poljčane, PD Polzela, PD Šoštanj
Category F: PD Šoštanj, PD Zabukovica, PD Vitanje
Category G: POŠ Tabor (PD Tabor), PD Žalec, PD Zabukovica
Category I: PD Fram, PD Velenje, PD Borovnica

In recent years, the most successful mountaineering club at SPOT has been PD Poljčane, where orienteering has a more than 40-year tradition, and this year they became national champions in two categories and celebrated another third place. "We would praise the organization of the competition; the courses and tasks were very well prepared. We felt good at school and they took good care of us. But since running is the best part of orienteering for us, we are a bit disappointed with the novelties in mountain orienteering. Now, those who perform better in the theoretical part get more points. It makes sense to emphasize knowledge, but still we wish there was more emphasis on running," summarized the impressions of the winning team members in category D: Rok Skerbiš, Nejc Belec, and Jaša Gričnik. In the adult category E, Gvido Španring, Dani Belec, Sašo Skerbiš, Lovro Rap, and Renato Rupnik celebrated, otherwise long-time national champions in category D.

The youngest winners came again from OŠ Petrovče or its POŠ Trje, who acquire knowledge also on mountaineering trips and camps of the youth section of PD Žalec and PD Galicija: "Mentor Teja Plešnik enthused us about orienteering. We have been competing for two years, but we prepared for this year's competition in the last three weeks. The course was excellent, not too difficult at all. We are happy that we found all the points, that we were also good in theory, and we are very excited about the victory. The best part of orienteering is arriving at the finish, when you see that you arrived on time and then have a lot of time left for playing sports on the playground and socializing with other competitors." In category A, pupils from POŠ Trje Izak Miglič, Nika Ogrizek, Iza Marčič, Lia, and Nal Ašenberger celebrated the victory, in category B the team from OŠ Petrovče Maks Jelen, Blaž Krulec, David Zupanc, and Lovro Kovač Murko.

Mountain orienteering competitions are one of the most popular methods of learning orienteering, which is also promoted by the Youth Commission of PZS, and the head of its Orienteering Committee, Tina Arh, presented this year's novelties: "I am very happy that after three years we finally held the national competition again, and the participation also positively surprised me, given that we could organize the competitions only in the second half of the season. This year, SPOT took place for the first time according to the new rules, which we adopted in 2019 after extensive public discussion and have already thoroughly tested at competitions. An important change is the introduction of 'ideal time' for completing the course, which, following the example of scout orienteering competitions, ensures that time points are deducted only after a certain time has elapsed, thus limiting the advantage a team can gain by running. In orienteering running, anyone can test themselves at competitions under the auspices of the Slovenian Orienteering Federation, but among us, a desire formed in the public discussion to devote greater emphasis to excellent orienteering and mountaineering knowledge."

"After two dry years when there were no mountain orienteering competitions at all, we are very happy that we could prepare the competition again and that 42 teams participated in the national competition - there were ten in the two-day race and 32 in the one-day, together around 170 participants. The teams that have been participating in orienteering for years came to the competition; it saddens me a bit that most teams are from the Savinja Valley or from the eastern league, only PD Borovnica from central and western Slovenia participated. There were more teams a few years ago, but it shows that special corona measures applied in schools and pupils from different grades could not socialize, so there was no mountaineering activity," drew a line under SPOT Savinjska 2022 the competition leader Matjaž Žohar - Biba from PD Žalec and thanked more than 50 volunteers from the mountaineering clubs of the Savinja Orienteering League who helped with the organization: PD Dobrovlje Braslovče, PD Galicija, PD Liboje, PD Polzela, PD Prebold, PD Šempeter, PD Tabor, PD Vransko, PD Zabukovica, and PD Žalec.