Sicily is an Italian island with good air connections to the Nordic countries and the rest of Europe. MOC 2011 is the 7th edition of the Mediterranean Open Championship.

In 2006 MOC also visited Sicily, but then the event was on the northern part of the island. This time MOC offers a program which not only containing of three qualitative competitions on maps of best quality. MOC will also give all competitors a good lesson in history – and much more!

MOC 2011 will consist of 2 sprint races and 1 middle distance race in the final stage.

What is Mediterranean Open Championship really? Is it just a normal international multi-day orienteering race, or is it an open championship?

- The Mediterranean Open Championship is an orienteering race format with PWT style races and forest races with different formats (sprint, middle and long distance), Gabriele Viale answers. Participation is open, for all the national representative teams in addition to the Mediterranean countries ones. The first edition of MOC was held in March 2005 in the Apulia region with stages in Carovigno, Gallipoli, Otranto and Brindisi.

The MOC concept: The experiences from the Park World Tour (PWT) made it clear the demand for strengthening a big international orienteering event in the Mediterranean area every year. A new long-term concept developed by the PWT Italia.

The MOC – Mediterranean Open Championship is also a way:

a) of communicating values, emotions, traditions and culture
b) to exploit the Mediterranean as Eco Tourist and Sporting resort in the less popular months

“ELITE Winners of MOC”
2005: M21: David Brickhill-Jones (AUS); W21: Ieva Sargautytė (LTU)
2006: M21: Michal Smola (CZE); W21: Dana Brožková (CZE)
2007: M21: Alexei Bortnik (RUS); W21: Simone Niggli-Luder (SUI)
2008: M21: Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA); W21: Marianne Riddervold (NOR)
2009: M21: Mats Haldin (FIN); W21: Vendula Klechova (CZE)
2010: M21: Matthias Kyburz (SUI); W21: Helena Jansson (SWE)

How is the weather usually on Sicily at the end of March?
- Temperatures between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius.

How will the organiser calculate overall results after tree races?
- Each race will count for the overall.

How many competitors are expected for the MOC 2011?
- We have now about 300 entries. So the target is 600 runners.

Have these areas (maps) been used for orienteering before?
No, never!

Here follows a few words about the interesting areas from Claes Nideborn, who just ended the mapping of the three MOC 2011 maps.

We will start MOC with a sprint race in the historical centre of Sciacca which is a more than 1000 years old hilly coast town. The urban construction of the oldest part of this town is in Arabic style. This means that the winding narrow streets follow the nature and give very good possibilities to interesting road choices. The orienteering challenges here will probably be very similar to what the elite runners can meet in the WOC-sprint in France next year.

In 1968, Sicily suffered a very tragic earthquake in which near 400 people died and 70,000 people become homeless. Today a new town of Gibellina is rebuild on a more safety place 20 km from the ruins. In the area of the old main town a 300 m x 250 m big monument is formed like a big maze in cement. Every narrow street is formed in Arabic style and the ghost-town of ruins in the area around will be a very interesting terrain for the second stage.

The last stage is close to where most of the runners will stay in Selinunte. I think this will be the first time in history that a big orienteering competition will use a terrain with visibly remains from the antiquity. In the 3 km² of the “Parco archeologico di Selinunte” there are six more or less preserved temples. Fantastic scenery to run in. The terrain is open, but in some parts really detailed, that requires a major focus by all competitors.

All participants will also get many chances to try the local food and wine. In the week before MOC 2011 there are good opportunities for quality orienteering training on various maps at a suitable distance from the MOC 2011 area.

Sprint Training Camp (coaching by Janne Salmi – Finland):
The days before MOC 2011 the organisers will be arranging a 4-days high-quality MOC Sprint Tour on Sicily together with Janne Salmi. Totally there will be four trainings and four competitions (both sprint and middle distance) and Etna Sky-running. Furthermore analysis of the competitions and training-advices. And coaching and Tour-guiding by Janne Salmi. It is hoped that these trainings and competitions will be a mix of forest and urban terrain. Just after this tour the organisers offer transportation to the first stage of MOC 2011.

MOC Sicily Tour Week (holiday, fun and sun):
For those who do not want to participate in the Sprint Training Camp the organisers will also be arranging several cultural and adventure based experiences during the days before MOC 2011. But first of all this will be ”holiday, fun and sun”!

Some pictures from the organizer


MOC 2011 sin hjemmeside