The 2025 World TrailO Championships begin with two PreO days in Hungary – and then Slovakia takes over, organizing the Relay and TempO competitions. 170 competitors from 24 nations will be taking part in the championships, which run from Tuesday until Sunday.
This year’s top TrailO event has attracted 41 physically challenged competitors (P class) from all over the world together with 129 competitors in the Open (O class). There is an increase in the number of juniors entered, the outcome of a campaign to attract even more young people in a discipline of orienteering with a very big age range. Many of these, such as the Czech star Ondřej Macek who will be defending the TempO crown at these championships, are proving to be very talented.
Sümeg, a town north of Lake Balaton in Hungary, is the venue for the first stage. For the PreO competition, where only two control tasks each day have timed answers, some spectacular terrain has been chosen. The first day will be held at an abandoned basalt mine with its many rocks, ledges and ridges, whilst the second day is in an area with traces of former mining activity in mixed-visibility forest terrain. Specially enlarged maps (1:2000) are being provided for parts of this competition, to help participants cope with the complexity of the rock detail. The standard map scale is 1:3000 with 2 m contour interval.
The PreO medals are decided on the sum of the two days. Defending champions from 2023 Michael Johansson, Sweden (P class) and Arno Grønhovd, Norway (O) will be striving hard to retain their titles.
Terrain with complex rock and contour detail can be expected Photo: ETOC 2024
The Championships then move to Slovakia, with the Event Centre in the capital Bratislava and the competitions sited in a hilly area north-east of the city. There are two days of competition also in Slovakia: first the Relay for teams of 3, which has both PreO and TempO components, and then the day after, the TempO Qualification and Final. In TempO all tasks are timed, and the first 18 from each of two qualification heats progress to the final.
The relay area is a semi-open area with an old quarry and a steep-sided valley, whilst the TempO competitions will be held in deciduous forest with areas of small stones, linked with a castle park. Finland and Germany will be defending their P and O class titles respectively from 2023, along with the TempO winner from two years ago, Ondřej Macek; in TempO, P and O classes compete together on equal terms.
Reports and leading results will appear here on each competition day. Full information on every aspect of the event can be found in Bulletin 4, which can be accessed on the event website www.wtoc2025.org.
Competition Programme
Wednesday 27 August PreO 1
Thursday 28 August PreO 2
Saturday 29 August Relay
Sunday 31 August TempO Qualification (a.m.), Final (p.m.)