Slovenian Mountaineering Orienteering Competition Concluded

At the Slovenian Mountaineering Orienteering Competition (SPOT), organized under the auspices of the Youth Commission of the Alpine Association of Slovenia on May 20 and 21 by the mountaineering societies of the Gorenjsko-Dolenjska Orienteering League, 47 top teams competed. In individual categories, the national champions became competitors from OŠ Braslovče (A) and the mountaineering societies Gornja Radgona (B), Zabukovica (C), Poljčane (D), Šoštanj (E), and Žalec (F). The most successful youth and adults qualified for the international mountaineering orienteering competition, which will take place in Serbia in the autumn.

In the area of the Brezovica municipality, on May 20 and 21, 202 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 night races were a challenge only for competitors in the most demanding categories C and D, while on the Sunday 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 Circular Mountaineering Trail Pentlja, with practical tasks on the course from knowledge of knots, orienteering, knots, and alpine flowers, and at the finish, tasks from first aid.

The Slovenian Mountaineering Orienteering Competition Rakitna 2023 crowned new national champions in mountaineering orienteering on May 21 on Rakitna: in category A (pupils up to 6th grade of elementary school), the team from OŠ Braslovče (PD Braslovče) won, in category B (pupils from 7th to 9th grade of elementary school) PD Gornja Radgona, in category C (youth up to 20 years) members of PD Zabukovica were again unbeatable, in category D (adults over 18 years) members of PD Poljčane became national champions, in category E (adults over 45 years) the team from PD Šoštanj, and in category F (families) the team from PD Žalec. In the elementary school open category G (comparable to B), they celebrated in PD Polzela, in the open category I (comparable to E) in PD Zabukovica.

The top three teams in categories C, D, and E qualified for the Balkan Mountaineering Orienteering Competition (BMUMOC), which will take place in Serbia in the autumn.




In recent years, the most successful mountaineering society at SPOT has been PD Poljčane, where orienteering has a more than 40-year tradition, and this year they again became national champions in one of the categories. "The orienteering competition was well organized, the orienteering itself was just demanding enough, the courses were beautiful and long," summarized the impressions Klemen Španring, a member of the winning Poljčane 7 team in category D.



The young mountaineers from category B team Prežvekani čigumiji PD Gornja Radgona also rejoiced in the victory. Their mentor Anita Mlinarič summarized their thoughts: "The young mountaineers of the team very much enjoy participating in orienteering competitions. This type of competition brings them a lot of personal satisfaction. Genuine connections are strengthened among competitors, as well as a sense of self-confidence and trust in themselves. They say they learn a lot new."

Mountaineering orienteering competitions are one of the most popular methods of learning orienteering, which is also promoted by the Youth Commission of PZS. This year's organization of the national competition was taken over by the mountaineering societies of the Gorenjsko-Dolenjska Orienteering League: PD Borovnica, PD Tržič, PD Vrhnika, and PD Ljubljana-Matica.

"We are glad that the competition is back in full swing. 47 teams participated in the national competition - 13 in the two-day race and 34 in the one-day, totaling 202 participants. Teams that have been participating in orienteering for years came to the competition; most teams are from the eastern league. I have been competing at SPOT since my high school years. In recent years, I have often been among the organizers. Being the competition leader is, despite previous experience, an incomparably more demanding project. I am glad that the weather was dry despite the poor forecast and even sunny on Sunday. I hope the competitors enjoyed the course and went home with the most pleasant feelings," drew a line under SPOT Rakitna 2023 the competition leader Ana Suhadolnik from PD Borovnica.