MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN ORIENTEERING FEDERATIONS Thursday, August 12, 2010 in Trondheim, Norway 1. Opening and Roll call The meeting was opened at 19.45 by the President of the European Working Group (EWG), Helge Søgaard. 2. Establishment of the number of votes present 20 federations were present at the start of the meeting, namely AUT, CZE, DEN, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, HUN, ITA, LTU, NOR, POL, ROU, RUS, SUI, SVK, SWE, TUR, and UKR. BLR joined the meeting before item 7 Selection of event organisers, i.e. 21 votes were present during item 7. BUL joined the meeting after all votings had taken place. Thus, a total of 22 federations took part in the annual meeting. 3. Election of Chair, Minute taker, and three Tellers Helge Søgaard (DEN) was elected to chair the meeting and Erik Nielsen (DEN) to take the minutes. Elin Sjödin Drange (NOR), Marcel Schiess (SUI) and Pierre Durieux (FRA) were elected as tellers. 4. Approval of agenda The agenda was approved. 5. Approval of the minutes from Lillafüred, Hungary 2010 In accordance with the rules the minutes had been distributed to the federations together with the call for the meeting. The minutes were approved. 6. Report on actions taken by the European Working Group The EWG written annual report had been distributed to the federations together with the call for the meeting. The President of the EWG, Helge Søgaard (DEN), presented the report to the meeting, extended his warm gratitude to the organisers of the championships held since last meting and wished the organisers of next year s championships good luck. a) European Championships Events 2010 EOC (BUL) ETOC (SWE) EYOC (ESP) SKI-EOC (ROM) SKI-EYOC (ROM) b) European Championships Events 2011 MTB EOC (RUS) EYOC (CZE) Page 1
SKI EOC (NOR) SKI EYOC (NOR) c) Other Issues The President of the European Working Group (EWG) commented that for the first time last year a written Annual Report was produced to present the actions taken by the European Working Group (EWG) and some of the items on the agenda for the forthcoming year. As the report was well received it was decided to do it again this year. The reasons for this being: to fulfill the obligations to inform the European federations properly of the work and activities in the EWG, to inform the IOF Council and other IOF bodies of European regional issues, and to attract their attention on the importance of regional work, and to produce a working tool to ourselves to structure and organize our work. The President further added some background information and some remarks of a more political character. Regional Development Iceland During the last year we have seen some very important progress in the spread of regional orienteering. Through some years the Nordic countries have tried to develop and to support orienteering on Iceland, with great success. During the last year active people on Iceland have formed a club with more than 40 members, and they organized an international 2 days event in June this year with locally produced maps. It is expected that Iceland very soon will apply for membership of IOF. The Nordic countries have, as good neighbours, supported two persons from Iceland to attend the O ringen Academy, provided technical support to map drawing, course setting and other matters. Regional Development Balkan In the Balkan region a lot of activities take place initiated by a former member of the European Working Group, Zoran Milovanovic, from Serbia. Several meetings have been held in a working group called the Balkan Orienteering Working Group to improve cooperation in the region, future format of regional championships, and which is very important, to support orienteering activities in new countries such as Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Cyprus. Most recently these efforts have resulted in the formal constitution of a sub regional group called South East European Orienteering Group (SEEOG). The EWG has been invited to participate in the next meeting in the SEEOG that will take place in Bulgaria in September, and it is our intention to participate and thus further strengthen the support to the group s activities. It is our opinion that high attention and focus on the regional spread of orienteering is essential for our sport. Both expanding orienteering in the present member countries, because there is a huge potential in expanding the number of active orienteers in countries with a huge population, as well as provide support to new member federations. Page 2
We recommend that even higher focus is put on regional development in the work and activity plans of the IOF. Creating good stories for the international press, arranging big events and championships and creation of sportsman icons are all based on recreational orienteering, local events, clubs and regional activities with a lot of orienteers. There is plenty of room in the forests worldwide, so let s try to expand orienteering by increasing the numbers of active participants. Development Seminar The written report mentions our intention to organize a Development Seminar in 2011 or 2012. We would like to do this in cooperation with the IOF Council and federations. The idea is to exchange experiences, to share ideas about the development of our sport, to disseminate the outcome to new orienteering countries as well as existing federations, and to encourage the development of regional orienteering activities. The program should contain items as practical matters, structure, finance and organization matters covered by keynote speakers, as well as workshops and discussions to create recommendations and directions for future strategies for the development of regional orienteering. To fulfill this ambitious program, we need a lot of help from active person in your federations. Please address the European Working Group with relevant persons, who would invest the necessary time to create such a seminar for the benefit of us all. Cooperation with IOF The President referred to his verbal report from last year in which he mentioned that the regional work seems to take place in the outskirts of the IOF, and that an increase of attention to regional matters would be appreciated from the IOF Council, Commissions and others. The President appreciated that things have improved, for instance by the grant of a yearly sum of EUR 1.000 to cover our costs and the always very efficient support from the Secretariat in Helsinki. However, we feel that there is still plenty of room for improved coordination and communication with the IOF council and commissions. The European Working Group is never consulted concerning issues handled by the Council or the technical commissions. We have to stress, that the European Working Group acts for and upon the interests of the European Federations, and as an official IOF body. We would be very pleased to accept invitations from the Council to discuss how to improve the cooperation with the IOF bodies. Increased demand for Organizers of International Events. During the last 10 15 years the demand for organizing and hosting a World Orienteering Championship has increased. Lately we have seen new and expanded procedures for the Event Advising by expanding the numbers of Event Advisors into a whole team. The demands for TV coverage, big screen on the arena, VIP facilities and a lot of other tasks has increased during the last 10 years. The President emphasized that increased quality of our international championships, including the best possible media coverage for our sport is of course a must. However, it is Page 3
my opinion that the line of expectations towards organizers of these events has been pushed too far, and in some cases even crossed, including the risk that it could be difficult to attract future organizers of, for instance, the World Championship. If the organizers are forced to live up to these demands and expectations, they face a huge economical risk. The improved demands could have the result, that only wealthy and rich federations, in numbers of orienteers and in cool cash, may apply for these events. Do we want that only Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Switzerland can afford to host these events, or do we want to give this opportunity to minor orienteering countries in the future? Perhaps the solution to this issue is different levels of expectations or further financial support? Perhaps we should even discuss whereby the present format of the World Orienteering Championship is suitable to fulfill the dream of entering the Olympic programme? In my opinion the format of The World Games is more suitable for this goal. Final Remarks Finally I would like to thank you all for participating in this meeting and for your support to our work. I would also like to thank the members of the European Working Group for investing their precious spare time and especially a great THANK YOU to my friend Mr. Erik Nielsen, who takes care of all the daily hard work, making it very easy to be the President of this organization. Thank you for your attention. CONCLUSION: The Assembly approved both the written and verbal report by acclamation. 7. Appointment of event organisers a) Ski-EOC 2012 and Ski-EYOC 2012: Application from Russia. RUS briefly presented the application and informed the meeting that further discussions about the practicalities of the championships had to be conducted with the Ski O Commission. When finalised further information will be published. Russia was appointed as organiser of Ski EOC 2012 and Ski EYOC 2012 by acclamation. b) EYOC 2012: Application received from Estonia, France and Romania Estonia: The event was proposed to take place in the beginning of July 2012 in Värska. Further information about the bid from EST is found in the PP presentation in Annex 2. France: The event was proposed to take place during the last weekend in June in Bugeat with an entry fee of EUR 180.00. Further information about the bid from FRA is found in the PP presentation in Annex 3. Romania: The event was proposed to take place during the last weekend in June in Calimanesta with an entry fee of EUR 180.00. Further information about the bid from ROU is found in the PP presentation in Annex 4. CONCLUSION: Voting: Estonia: 6 votes France: 10 votes Romania: 5 votes France was appointed as organiser of EYOC 2012 Page 4
8. Proposals from member Federations One proposal had been received. The proposal came from Czech Republic and had been distributed to the federations with the call for the meeting. The proposal read: The Annual Meeting shall elect a Working Group for a two years term. It means change from one year term to two years term. After a short debate the proposal was unanimously adopted. 9. Election of the Working Group a) President: Helge Søgaard (DEN) re elected by acclamation b) Secretary: Erik Nielsen (DEN) re elected by acclamation c) 4 members of the EWG: Three of the four current members accepted re election, namely a. Juraj Nemec (SVK) b. Vincent Frey (FRA) c. Dusan Vystavel (CZE) All three members were re elected by acclamation. The fourth current member, Erich Simkovics (AUT), did not accept re election. To replace him the EWG suggested Tatiana Kalenderoğlu from Turkey who was elected by acclamation. 10. Decision concerning the next meeting The next meeting will take place in association with WOC 2011 in France. The exact date and time will be fixed later depending on the IOF meeting schedule. 11. Any other business A question from UKR about information about European Masters Games 2012 was clarified by SUI who informed that the games will actually take place in Liniano in 2011. RUS expressed their support to EOF having closer cooperation with IOF and argued that EOF should be allowed to decide their own rules. The matter was clarified by IOF Vicepresident Marcel Schiess, SUI, and Erik Nielsen, EWG, who both assured RUS that this was already the case. Meeting closed at 20.50 Page 5
Working Group contact details President Helge Søgaard: hs@do f.dk; mobile +45 4061 5761; Secretary Erik Nielsen: en@ndoro.dk; mobile +45 2069 2437, fax +45 4637 2999 Members Juraj Nemec: juraj.nemec@umb.sk, phone +421 484 466 318, +421 905 164 820 (mob), fax +421 484 466 666, Vincent Frey: vincent.frey@ch.unilog.com, phone +33 389 637 346 (h) Dusan Vystavel: orienteering@geodetika.cz, phone, fax: +420 582 330 238, mobile phone: +420 602 730 417 Tatiana Kalenderoğlu: tatiana@maceraakademisi.com, phone: +90533 467 13 11 (mobile), +90212 281 79 75 (work), fax: +90212 325 0702, Page 6
ANNEX 1 Overview of European Orienteering Championships European Orienteering Championships 22/08/10 EVENT EOC ETOC EYOC SKI-EOC SKI-EYOC MTB-EOC Organizer BULGARIA SWEDEN SPAIN ROMANIA ROMANIA 2010 Time 28 May - 6 June 4-6 August 1-4 July 8-15 February 8-15 February IOF Event Adviser Karl Johan Clemmensen (DEN) Vibeke Vogelius (DEN) Marek Petřivalský (CZE) Juraj Nemec (SVK) Juraj Nemec (SVK) Organizer CZECH REPUBLIC NORWAY NORWAY RUSSIA 2011 Time 23-26 June 31 January - 6 February 31 January - 6 February 14-18 September IOF Event Adviser Leif Damborg (DEN) Juraj Nemec (SVK) Juraj Nemec (SVK) Arbo Rae (EST) Organizer SWEDEN SWEDEN FRANCE RUSSIA RUSSIA 2012 Time 14-20 May 14-20 May 29 June - 1 July IOF Event Adviser Jørgen Holmboe (NOR) Jørgen Holmboe (NOR) Organizer 2013 Time IOF Event Adviser Organizer 2014 Time IOF Event Adviser Disciplines Classes Sprint, Middle, Long, Relay 2 individual, 2 team Sprint, "Normal", Relay Sprint, Middle, Long, Relay Middle, Long Sprint, Middle, Long, Relay Women, Men, Relay Open, Paralympic W-16, W-18, M-16, M-18 Women, Men, Relay W-17, M-17 Women, Men, Relay Number of participants 6 W, 6 M, 2 relay teams x 3 runners 6 persons in each class, 2 teams in each class 4 runners in each class*, team score 6 W, 6 M, 2 relay teams 4 runners in each class 6 athletes in each class, 2 relay teams Number of medals 36 24 n/a 36 n/a 36 Acronyms EOC ETOC EYOC SKI-EOC SKI-EYOC MTB-EOC European Orienteering Championships European Trail Orienteering Championships European Youth Orienteering Championships European Ski Orienteering Championships European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships European Mountainbike Orienteering Championships * 3 W and 3 M in each class if the number of federations is more than 25 Page 7
ANNEX 2 Estonia bid for EYOC 2012 Page 8
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ANNEX 3 France bid for EYOC 2012 Page 11
EYOC 2012 Bugeat Corrèze - France EYOC 2012 «Beautifull, inexpensive and excellent terrains» Bugeat Corrèze - France When: When? Where? Access June 29th July 1st 2012 Air: Paris Clermont Ferrand Limoges (Ryanair( Ryanair) Train: Many connections Road: Motorway (Lyon-Bordeaux) Motorway (Paris-Toulouse) 1
Bugeat International Sports Center (training camps, Olympic preparation of French and Cuban boxing teams, ) Bugeat Accommodation for 200 persons in the sport center ( 200 more beds in close vicinity). Meals can be taken together at the sport center. An «Olympic Village» atmosphere! Costs for the whole competition: : 180 euro including entry fees, accommodation,meals, and local transport. Bugeat Beautifull countryside with many touristic possibilities. Excursion will be organized for the teams. Terrain Training map directly at the event center. 2
Terrain Sprint map in the near vicinity of the event center Terrain Long Distance and Relay terrains no further than 10 km from the event center Organisation Club: Corrèze CO Corrèze CO is an experienced organiser - international : Corrèze International Open (Event - WRE Sprint et Medium) May 2009. - national : French Club Championship in 2006 and 2009; National Team relay in 2008; French University Championships in 2010. Partners Sports ministry Limousin Region Conseil Général G de Corrèze Communauté de Communes Bugeat- Sornac 3
Dear O-friends, O With the patronage As I now look back, my victory in the EYOC 95 was the real start of my orienteering career and therefore it always had a special taste. That's also why I have much respect for this competition which gives the first big emotions to young orienteers. I got the chance recently to both enjoy Bugeat terrains and organizer's abilities. And I have not a single doubt that it would be just the perfect place to organize this event. I am sure that all the runners could bring back lot of experiences, emotions and enjoyments as well from there. EYOC 2012 en Corrèze A French department and an entire Region focussed on international sporting events An «Olympic Village» atmosphere (all accommodation in close proximity, meals taken together ) Limited costs: : 180 euro for the whole competition Experienced organizers High quality terrain and maps In 2012, I would be really happy to support the young rising stars in the finish arenas - I am already sure it will be an exciting event! Thierry GUEORGIOU 4
ANNEX 4 Romania bid for EYOC 2012 Page 16
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