The event advisers are the backbone of IOFs foot orienteering events. Regardless if they are advising organisers of World Ranking Events or High Level Events such as World Cups or World Championships, they provide an important contribution in supporting organisers to deliver events with high quality and optimal fairness.
In the weekend of 23rd and 24th November, around 70 foot orienteering event advisers took part in the annual online event adviser seminar managed by IOF WOC Project Manager, Áron Less from Hungary. Áron also managed the first presentation where the Senior Event Advisers of EYOC, JWOC and the three World Cup rounds were asked to present selected issues from the events in 2024 and what could be learned from them – before Áron presented important learnings from this year’s World Orienteering Championships. Áron started the presentation by stating that when issues occur, in most cases there are only bad ways to solve them, but the event advisers have an important role in keeping cool and bring the event forward the best possible way under the circumstances.
Safe sprints
Safety in sprint competitions is a key focus area for IOF in these years and everyone with an interest in sprint are encouraged to study this video developed by Daniel Wolf of Czech Republic. The video was praised by the participants for its clear recommendations about a difficult subject.
Fredrik Johansson from IOF Map Commission gave from Melbourne, Australia an update on the recent work done by IOF Map Commission in updating Mapping standards and checklists for the quality assurance of maps – as well as the recommendations for use of paper and plastic bags.
Sunday: Eventor, Rules and Check Points
Day two, Sunday, started with a presentation from the relatively new Foot Orienteering Commission member David Roach (LUX) about what to check when using IOF Eventor. With good support from IOF Eventor responsible, Henrik Skoglund (SWE), he made clear what to be aware of when using IOF Eventor during the various phases of a World Ranking Event.
Finally, IOF Rules Commission Chair, David Rosen (GBR) had two presentations. After having presented the most relevant Rules updates, he outlined the most important check points for an Event Adviser in a World Ranking Event – points that were all selected from the curriculum of the IOF Event Adviser Clinics. David even had the nerve to present an error-filled control description and ask the participants for corrections. This led to an interesting debate among the many experienced experts!
The presentations slides from the seminar can be found in IOFs web page using this link and the video recordings of the presentations can be found here in the IOF High Level Event Seminar Youtube site. Everyone with interest in organising events are encouraged to study the material.
HLES 2025 in Budapest
Speaking of the IOF High Level Event Seminar – the 2025 edition will be held on site in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday 1st February and Sunday 2nd February. There, organisers of World Championships, World Cups and other High Level Events meet with event advisers and IOF Officials to learn from each other to secure the quality of future events.
Everyone with interest in organising high level events are more than welcome to take part in the seminar – the invitation will be made available in IOF Web page during December.