The IOF Council has considered the developments around the outbreak of the Corona virus (Covid-19) at a national and international level. The IOF respects and supports the activities undertaken by national and international health authorities in containing the spread of the virus and on lessening the effects on important functions in society and on high risk groups. The IOF would here also like to recognize our national member federations who are fully supporting local decisions in their countries and have taken appropriate actions.
Based upon the current situation where strict participation restrictions are in place in most countries, and where cross border travel is highly restricted, the Council has decided the following:
- All IOF major events which had been planned up to May 31 are cancelled or postponed. This affects the European MTB Orienteering Championships (EMTBOC) in Portugal, the European Trail Orienteering Championships (ETOC) in Finland and the first round of the Orienteering World Cup in Switzerland. The IOF has been working with the respective organisers to see if alternative dates can be found.
- The IOF has approved the organisers request to move the EMTBOC in Portugal to the new dates October 2-7, same location. For ETOC and the World Cup more information will be given once this is known.
- All World Ranking Events planned to be held up to May 31 are also cancelled. Organisers are being contacted by the IOF Office to assess if the events can be re-scheduled for a later date.
- For IOF events to be held in June and July, the Council will continue to monitor the situation and will discuss and decide upon any further effects on these events at its scheduled Council meeting April 3-4. (The meeting will be held digitally) The IOF is already in contact with these organisers regarding contingency planning.
- World Orienteering Day 2020 which was planned to be held in the timeframe May 13-19 is cancelled. The IOF would still encourage planned activities to be held as long as they can be done so in accordance with the recommendations of local and national health authorities, but the IOF will not be registering activities or encouraging mass promotion. World Orienteering Day will come back even stronger in 2021.
In the current situation the IOF recognizes that our events are not the most important issue to be considered but we encourage the global orienteering community to continue to exercise and take part in appropriate local orienteering activities in accordance with local and national health recommendations. Be safe.