News

New race format – PreO Sprint

by

Starting 26 May 2025, a new format, PreO Sprint, has been approved by IOF as the third format of trail orienteering. It is the equivalent of a “middle distance” orienteering event, where PreO is a “long distance” event and a TempO is a “sprint distance” event.

Similar to traditional PreO, a competitor in a PreO Sprint race also moves along a course and answer multiple-choice questions within a time limit, with the number of correct answers being the primary ranking criteria. However, there are a few distinguishing differences between a PreO Sprint and a traditional PreO race:

  • The time limit is much shorter. The standard decision time is 1 minute per control, plus the time required to move along the course. The time limit of the whole course must be 30 minutes or less. In contrast, the standard is 3 minutes per control in a traditional PreO course.
  • There can only be A and Z answers, i.e. all the decisions made is to decide whether there is a flag placed at the control or not, unlike in traditional PreO where there can be up to 5 flags (A to E) to choose from.
  • There are no timed stations. The time used on the course is the tie-breaker, unlike in traditional PreO where the time used is irrelevant as long as it is under the time limit.
    • In order to be fair between able-bodied and paralysed competitors, the course should be set to be as short as practicable, with minimal movement from the decision points required to solve the tasks correctly. The total course length must not be longer than 15 m per control. Furthermore, there is also a handicap factor which is applied to P-class competitors on the time used.

The challenge of PreO Sprint is to read and interpret the map in complex terrain and make accurate decisions quickly, therefore, simple terrains suitable for TempO, like urban areas and parks, may not be appropriate for PreO Sprint.

The first PreO Sprint World Ranking Event was successfully held in March 2026 in Dolný Lopašov, Slovakia, in the same terrain used for the relay race in World Trail Orienteering Championships 2025. The following was the race map in the first race.

World Ranking Scheme update

by

The World Ranking Scheme of TrailO began operation in 2018, which used a scoring method of 0-15 for each competition, the lower the better. As this method is abnormal, in order to unify the scores of all orienteering disciplines, the scheme was changed in May 2023 to be 10-1000 for each competition, the higher the better, and applied retrospectively to 1 January 2023. Between January and May 2023, World Ranking Event results in the original scoring (including Hong Kong Trail Orienteering Championships 2022 (PreO)) have been amended to the current scheme.

After the change of the scoring method, due to the difference in the PreO and TempO formulae, the original scores of 0-15 cannot be mapped to the current scores of 1000-10. Using the top ranked athlete back then, Antti Rusanen, as an example, on 31 December 2022, his best 6 results included 4 PreO and 2 TempO races, however, after the new scoring became in force on 1 January 2023, his best 6 results included 5 PreO and 1 TempO races instead. At the same time, Juha Hiirsalmi, who was ranked the 2nd originally, dropped to the 7th in the new scheme.

TrailO competition summary and team selection criteria

by

OAHK announced on 22nd January the Hong Kong team selection criteria this year and the guideline for local competitions, which are summarised below:

Local competitions

There will be qualification competition and annual championship each year. There will be advanced and beginner classes, and in the annual championship, elite class as well. In particular, the elite race will be held according to WRE (world ranking event) standard, and in beginner class, there cannot be Z answer and all control descriptions must have text description available.

The qualification criteria for elite class in the annual championship is also listed in the documentation as well, which include:

  • top 10 elites in the last year’s annual championship
  • top 5 in the advanced class in the last year’s annual championship
  • the key officials (event organiser, controller, at most 2 course setters) of last year’s championship
  • top 5 in the year’s qualification competition in the same year (excluding those already qualified)
  • the key officials (event organiser, controller, course setter) of the qualification competition
  • those with outstanding results in overseas race approved by TrailO committee

The full documentation is available on OAHK’s website (in Chinese only).

Team selection criteria

The selection criteria for Hong Kong team for the world championship this year, to be held in Hong Kong, will be from WRE results and also from a selection race this year, which is a two-step process:

  1. 2 representatives are chosen according to the best 1 valid WRE result on 31th August 2020.
  2. The representatives chosen above will organise a selection race, which the remaining 1 representative for PreO and 2 representatives for TempO are chosen.

The full documentation is available on OAHK’s website (in Chinese only).

World championship 2019

by

The world championship this year was held in Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal from 23 June to 29 June. The programme included 2 days of PreO, a relay, TempO qualification with 2 parallel classes and final.

PreO 1 and PreO 2 were held in Quinta do Valongo and Quinta dos Ciprestes respectively with 65 participants.

There were 28 controls and 6 time controls in PreO 1. The winner in open class was Pinja Makinen from Finland who got perfect score, while Hong Kong athletes Chun Ho Ho, Chi Hang Liang and Yau Chiu Hui got 24, 23 and 22 points and ranked 45, 54 and 58 out of 65 participants respectively. The winner in para class was Pavel Dudik from Czechia with 27 points.

There were 30 controls and 6 time controls in PreO 2. The winner in open class was Robertas Stankevic from Lithuania who got 29 points. Yau Chiu Hui did better in PreO 2 and got 25 marks, ranked 38, Chun Ho Ho and Chi Hang Liang got 24 and 23 points and ranked 49 and 56 respectively. The winner in para class was Michael Johansson from Sweden with 27 points.

Pinja Makinen became the final winner in PreO in open class with 56 marks. The results of Hong Kong athletes in order were Chun Ho Ho, 48 points, ranked 49; Yau Chiu Hui, 47 points, ranked 52; Chi Hang Liang, 46 points, ranked 58. Ola Jansson became the final winner in para class with 53 marks.

The relay was held in Cidral with 3 x 10 controls for PreO, and 5 time controls for each competitor. There were 21 countries participating. Finland won the race in open class with 116 seconds, with no mistakes in the whole race. Hong Kong ranked 19 out of 21 with 658 seconds. Czechia won the race in para class with 9 countries with 710 seconds.

The TempO qualifications were held in Cidral with 6 time stations, with 5 controls each. There were 2 heats, red and green, and the top 18 competitors in each heat qualified for the final. Wing Kei Ng and Yau Chiu Hui belonged to red heat, Chun Ho Ho and Chi Hang Liang belonged to green heat.

The red heat was won by Antti Rusanen from Finland with 208 seconds. Wing Kei Ng and Yau Chiu Hui scored 593 and 621 and ranked 34 and 35 out of 38 respectively.

The green heat was won by Pavel Kurfurst from Czechia with 256 seconds. Chun Ho Ho and Chi Hang Liang scored 430 and 478.5 and ranked 23 and 28 out of 37 respectively.

The TempO final was held in São Pedro Vir-a-Corça with 8 time stations, with 5 controls each. Marit Wiksell from Sweden won the race with 294 seconds. No Hong Kong athletes were qualified to the final.

AsTOC 2019 and WTOC 2020 embargoed areas have been announced

by

The embargoed areas of Asian Trail Orienteering Championships (AsTOC) 2019 and World Trail Orienteering Championships (WTOC) 2020 have been announced. These areas cannot be used for any orienteering activities with immediate effect until the event has been completed.

The embargoed areas of AsTOC 2019, published on Google Maps, include:

  1. Hong Kong Sports Institute, On King Street Park, Shing Mun River Promenade Garden No. 2 (Fo Tan)
  2. Lai Chi Kok Park
  3. Tsing Yi Park
  4. North District Park, Fanling Wai

The embargoed areas of WTOC 2020, published on Google Maps, include:

  1. Chong Hing Water Sports Centre (High Island)
  2. Lion’s Nature Education Centre (Tsiu Hang)
  3. Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre (Tsiu Hang)
  4. Wu Kai Sha Youth Village
  5. Yuen Tun
  6. Tai Tong

PreO qualification has been completed

by

The PreO qualification race this year was completed on 13th October in Lai Chi Kok Park, organised by OAHK with MOPC. The key officials were Vivian Chung (controller), Ka Sing Ng (event organiser) and Chi Kin Chau (course setter).

The race was divided into elite, advanced and beginner classes. Advanced class was further divided into advanced open and advanced youth, sharing the same advanced course for qualification purposes. Beginner class was further divided into beginner open, beginner youth and family, sharing the same beginner course.

There were 8 started competitors in elite class, 9 in advanced classes, and 7 in beginner classes (excluding guest competitors). There were 21 controls and 2 time controls in elite class, but 1 control was voided. The medallists in elite class were, in order, Yuen Wang Ki (19 points, 83 seconds), Kwong Man Fai Timothy (17 points, 22.5 seconds) and Cheung Kwok Wai (17 points, 82 seconds). In advanced class, there were 18 controls and 2 time controls, but 1 control was voided. The medallists in advanced open class were, in order, Ronald Yeung (14 points, 45 seconds), Ho Hui Nam (14 points, 88 seconds) and Wong Sze Ha Elyse (14 points, 89 seconds).

The top performers of this race in advanced classes are qualified for the elite class of Hong Kong Trail Orienteering Championships (PreO) this year.

Full results, race maps and solution map are available.

The international race season of 2018 has finished

by

Prague Trail Autumn marked the end of WRE races in TrailO this year. 1 athlete from Hong Kong, Michael Chun Chi Tsang participated in the competitions, in both PreO and TempO, and got 74th place out of 96 in PreO, and 52th place out of 91 in TempO.

The winner in PreO was Tomáš Leštínský from Czechia, who got 26 points out of 27, while the winner in TempO was Antti Rusanen from Finland, who scored 290.5 seconds for 35 controls.

The are 12 Hong Kong athletes in the TrailO world ranking list at the end of this year, 3 of them are in the top 100, including Yau Chiu Hui (46.80, 83rd), Michael Chun Chi Tsang (50.19, 94th) and Chi Hang Liang (53.88, 99th).

The top 3 athletes in the world this year are Antti Rusanen (1.49), Pinja Makinen (4.88) and Jan Furucz (5.48).

TempO qualification has been completed

by

The first qualification race this year was completed on last Sunday in Tin Shui Wai Park. The race was stage 2 of Y2Y TrailO League, in TempO format. The key officials were Kwong Man Fai Timothy (controller), Hui Yau Chiu (event organiser) and Tsang Michael Chun Chi (course setter).

The race was divided into advanced and beginner classes. There were 4 time stations, with 4 controls in each station in both classes, with the possibility of zero answers in advanced class but not in beginner class.

There were 32 started competitors in advanced class and 10 started competitors in beginner class. Among them, there were 2 competitors came from Japan, Chino Koji and Noritoshi Matsuhashi, placed at the 9th and 17th in advanced class respectively. The medallists in advanced classes were, in order, Liang Chi Hang (128.5 seconds), Cheung Kwok Wai (178 seconds) and Chau Chi Kin (185 seconds), the medallists in beginner classes were Lam Wang Hong Nerio (251 seconds), Yiu Yiu (254.5 seconds) and Lo Chun Hei (271 seconds).

The top performers of this race in advanced class are qualified for the elite class of Hong Kong Trail Orienteering Championships (TempO) this year.

The results and solutions can be downloaded from Y2Y website.