MTBO America

Adrian Jackson kicking ass and taking names at the 2010 WOC.

Maybe it’s the ascent, maybe it’s because we have a soft place in our heart’s for Australia, or maybe its because we feel Australia always gets the shaft in MTBO reporting, but regardless we found the untold story of this year’s World MTB Orienteering Championships to be the continuing ascension of Australia’s top MTBO athlete (and our favorite), Adrian Jackson (AUS). Jackson, with another career best with 3 more WOC Medals (1-Gold, 2-Silver), put Australia in 3rd Place overall with his wins alone. Jackson was unable repeat his Long Distance 1st Place victory in last year’s WOC in Israel, but was able to take 2nd Place with only 2-minutes separating Jackson from Anton Foliforov of Russia.

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Juniors and Beginners are the future of the sport of MTBO.

To expand the sport of Mountain Bike Orienteering, every race director should include beginner courses in each of their MTBO events. Nicknamed “Brownie Events” by Australian MTBO racers, serious riders are known to get “brownie points” by bringing beginner riders to their events.

The concept behind the brownie event is similar to the White courses held during Foot Orienteering meets with junior- or beginner-level courses consisting of an un-timed loop-course of 1- to 1.5-miles, and timed loop-course of 2- to 3-miles. During an event these beginner course are designed to reduce the chance of new riders getting lost, allowing riders come back to the start/finish within a short amount of time, and to allow beginners to have positive experiences to build from.

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The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) is the final authority on all MTBO competition rules.

New Competition Rules for 2010 MTBO Events

The IOF Council has approved new Competition Rules for IOF Mountain Bike Orienteering Events effect 1 January 2010 and replace the July 2008 version. These rules cover the World MTB Orienteering Championships, World Cup, Junior World MTB Orienteering Championships, World Masters MTB Orienteering Championships, Regional MTB Orienteering Championships, and IOF World Ranking Events in MTB Orienteering.

MTBOA shows you what’s changed and why you should (or should not) care!
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Missing: Mountain Bikes in the latest IOF O-zine!

The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) released their latest O-zine (an on-line quarterly newsletter) on October 20, 2009, with one glaring omission: absolutely no coverage of this August’s Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships! Oh, they provided a small little box titled World ranking, Top 10 (As of 12 October), but that too had ANOTHER glaring omission: No Australians! Now I like Foot Orienteering as much as the next guy, but when the top organization for Orienteering leaves out a World Championship, especially the Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championship, one has to wonder why. So I ask… why? Read the rest of this entry »