The Czech O-Tour 2025 series consists of eight individual orienteering races over four weekends from winter to autumn. The program includes 2 middle distances, 4 sprints and 2 long distances. It is organized by the Czech Orienteering Federation with the cooperation with the local clubs. The Czech O-Tour is for all generations, for experienced orienteers as well as those who are orienteering beginners. The organizers set themselves several goals:

• help the developement of orienteering n locations where it is not so developed
• help the clubs in the organization of large races and to pass on the know-how that
• bring more fun and non-traditional formats to races (e.g. shoe testing, O-bazaar, labyrinth)
• to create an spectator races to high level events in the Czech Republic
• offer the best possible conditions for orienteering beginners and hobby athletes
• promote orienteering in the best light

Series rules

• The best 7 results from 8 races are calculated.
• The winner of the class in each race gets 100 points, the other percentage less points according to the time loss up to twice the winner’s time.
• After each race, the winners of each class will be awarded, in children categories 3 best will be awarded.
• At the end of the series, the 3 best competitors in the overall ranking of the given class will be announced.
• In addition to the individual competition, there will also be a year-round club competition.

Four weekends

4 active weekends are beeing prepared:

• January 26, 2025 – ZOO Praha – A longer sprint race between penguins, elephants and gorillas? No problem!
• April 5, 2025 – Žacléř – 2 races (WRE sprint and longer sprint) at the Jan Šverma mine, a former underground coal mine
• July 18–20, 2025 – Moravský kras – 3 races (long, sprint, middle) together with the European Youth Orienteering Championships
• October 25–26, 2025 – Krušné hory – 2 forest races (long and middle) in the beautiful mountain terrain near Lesná during the autumn holidays

Orienteering forest

The forest is a gym for orienteering runners. We have teamed up with the Ivan Dejmal Foundation and we want to develop a project to increase the stability of forest stands. One of the basic problems of our forests is the occurrence of monocultural tree species, and because of this a number of places have been affected by bark beetle calamity. For each competitor registered for the Czech O-Tour 2023 series, we will plant one tree (usually edible, beech, larch or linden), which are necessary for more stable and natural forests in the long perspective. For the winner of each stage, we will plant. In the autumn months (October to November), each participant or winner can plant their seedling directly. This also applies to other participants and interested parties who want to contribute to the planting of the Orienteering forest. We will map the entire planting into a very detailed orienteering map, where for each seedling we will show the names of all donors, participants of the entire series or winners.

2022

The first year of Czech O-Tour series returned to the terrains of WOC 2021. We negotiated throughout the autumn of 2021 with representatives of various institutions or nature conservation authorities in order to allow everyone to run in the same terrains like the best competitors in the world at the World Orienteering Championship 2021. As it was not possible to organize a large-scale event in July in the area of relays and the long distance in the Kokořín region, the organizing team tried to turn the negative news into a very unique event, which has no analogues worldwide: a slightly different year-round series in the best terrains of the WOC. The World Orienteering Championships 2021 were successfully held on July 3 – 9, 2021 in the Czech Republic in 4 locations: Terezín, Doksy, the Jizera Mountains and the Kokořín region. The center of the whole event was the town of Doksy. 307 competitors from 40 countries took part and it was the largest sport event in the Liberec Region in the year 2021. Results, photo galleries, maps and other information can be found on the WOC 2021 website.

Czech O-Tour 2022: 3 stages, 7 races (Terezín, Jizera Mountains, Kokořínsko), 7411 competitors in all races together.

2023

The second year of the Czech O-Tour spread from the north of Czechia to the greater part of the Czech Republic. In the spring, the race took place in Pilsen, where the organizers held such a general test before the Junior World Orienteering Championship in 2024. During the autumn holidays, the competitors visited Kubova Huť in Šumava, where they could run in beautiful weather in unique mountain terrains. And we may have helped kick off a landmark in a somewhat forgotten region. But the beginning of August was the best – the Czech O-Tour was run together with the World Cup in Česká Lípa and the sandstone rocks of Kokořínsko! Throughout the year, we offered a rich accompanying program – an orienteering labyrinth, o-bazaar, shoe testing tree planting, a cinema or a fencing school.

Czech O-Tour 2023: 3 stages, 8 races (Pzeňsko, Kokořínsko, Šumava), 9114 competitors in all races together.

2024

The third edition of the Czech O-Tour 2024 was marked by three weekends from spring to autumn in 3 unique locations. On the program were three middle distances, three sprints and three long distances. In early spring, we managed to organize two sprints at the Mirakulum amusement park, where the interest far exceeded our expectations. The summer was again in the spirit of joining a big international event, this time the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Pilsen. And the autumn round ended the Czech O-Tour where else but in the mountains, this time in the Beskydy Mountains, where orienteers after 23 years could again run in the Roznov open-air museum and went to the start of the final race by chair lift. And it wouldn’t be an O-Tour if there wasn’t something extra – the novelties were the encryption game in the arenas or the testing of comapsses, the traditional orienteering bazaar, the labyrinth or the children’s kindergarten.

Czech O-Tour 2024: 3 stages, 9 races (Mirakulum, Plzeňsko, Beskydy), 10796 competitors in all races together.