The Champions Are Decidedat Târgu Jiu

From 1 to 4 September 2011, Târgu Jiu is hosting the National Foot Orienteering Championship, the most important competition organised at national level by the Romanian Orienteering Federation.
Of all the sports practised outdoors, none can surpass orienteering for its unique combination of mental challenge and physical fitness.
The appeal of this sport lies in its extraordinary variety, as it is regarded both as a sporting competition and as a recreational activity, in which people from 7 to 70 take part. It is first and foremost an adventure, a call addressed to athletes and ecologists alike, as well as to all those who enjoy a day spent in nature.
The challenge of reading a map and using a compass technically, together with the tension of competing, makes problem-solving increasingly difficult over the course of the competition.
Depending on the category in which they choose to compete, it is the competitors who decide what they want to get out of this sport: competition (the men's – M and women's – F categories), undiscovered talent or training for better physical fitness (the Open category), or recreation (the family category).
THE ORIENTEERING COMPETITION
The competitors will use a simple compass and a detailed orienteering map. Knowing where you are at every moment is the secret to completing the whole course successfully, but the essential thing is the skill of reading the map correctly.
After taking the start, the competitor will move quickly towards the first control point. Unlike other outdoor sports, orienteering (as a sport) does not dictate the route the athlete has to follow. Knowing how to choose the right route is the key to this sport and an essential part of its unique appeal.
At each control point the competitor checks whether the code on the map and the one at the control match. The control points must be found and punched in order.
The National Foot Orienteering Championship comprises 4 events: sprint (1 September), middle distance (2 September), long distance (3 September) and polygon (4 September), and a high-performance system called SportIdent is used for timing the competitors.
On 1 September 2011 the competition was opened with the sprint event, organised in "Constantin Brâncuși" Park and the central area of the city. More than 200 competitors took part in this stage, arriving from all over the country, as well as athletes from Ukraine and Hungary.
Depending on the category in which they competed, the athletes covered distances of between 1.2 km and 2.7 km.
The competition comprises 15 categories, namely different age categories for women and men, an OPEN category, open to people of any age, and, a novelty for competitions organised in Romania, the family category, in which the members of a family take part – a category from which the future champions are expected to emerge.
In this last category 10 teams took part, 9 of them families from Gorj, who managed to claim the first three places in the ranking.
The winners of the first day were: Vlad Peles (Palatul Copiilor Miercurea Ciuc), Emil Minoiu (Universitatea Craiova), Paul Pricop (Club Atletic Roman), Ionut Zinca (Universitatea Craiova), Arpad Tokes (CS TranSilva Cluj), Zoltan Boros (HSE Szetendre), Bobarse Iuliana (Palatul Copiilor Târgu Jiu), Maxim Mihaela (CS Otopeni), Croitoru Cristina (EcoSport Vâlcea), Agnes Neda (CS TranSilva Cluj), Andra Anghel (Universitatea Craiova), Veronica Minoiu (Universitatea Craiova), Agnest Tomorodi (HSE Szetendre), Nina Maiorescu (Mentor Silva) and the Mija Mary family (Palatul Copiilor Târgu Jiu).
The next competition event, the middle distance, will take place on 2 September 2011 in the Rasova forest, starting at 10:00.
The competition centre is at Hotel Sport in Târgu Jiu, and further details can be provided by Canavoiu Alexandru 0762.325.903 and Dionisie Roșca 0767.247.646.
We thank our partners: the Drumeții Montane Association, the National Authority for Sport and Youth, Târgu Jiu City Hall, C.S. Pandurii Târgu Jiu, the Târgu Jiu Children's Palace, Eco Sport Club and the Students' League of "Constantin Brâncuși" University.