The international Mountain Bike Orienteering season starts Thursday as the AXIØMA European Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships and CX 80 World Cup gets underway in Lithuania.
The championships will accommodate both the seniors and juniors (W20, M20) as well as the youth classes (W17,M17).
Sprint, Long Distance and a Mixed Relay await the seniors from Friday through Sunday, while the junior and youth athletes get a jump start with a Middle Distance on Thursday and finish the championships with a Relay.
The terrains around Ignalina in eastern Lithuania offers a variety of challenges to the MTBO-athletes, from a hilly Long Distance to a gently sloped Sprint with paved streets and walkways.
Last year’s European champions from the Long Distance in Portugal, Camilla Søgaard (DEN) and Marcus Jansson (SWE) will get a chance to defend their titles and two-thirds of the Czech Republic team, that won the Mixed Relay (Krystof Bogar and Vojtech Ludvik) are heading to Ignalina as well for their defence.
In addition to being European Championships, the races in Lithuania kicks off this year’s CX 80 World Cup as well with Rounds 2 and 3 in Sweden (WMTBOC) and Bulgaria respectively later in the season.
CX80 produces a number of multifunctional products and specialised greases and is an official partner of the International Orienteering Federation.
The World Cup title partner will be onsite during the championships and will be handing out prize money for the overall leaders of the World Cup.
If you’re not travelling to Lithuania, it will be easy to follow the MTBO action from home, as the three senior competitions will be possible to watch at IOF Live for free.
Sundays Mixed Relay will additionally be broadcasted on national Lithuanian TV.
EMTBOC and EJYMTBOC Program (all local times, UTC+3):
Thursday, May 19
10.00 EJYMTBOC, Middle Distance
Friday, May 20
10.00 EMTBOC and EJYMTBOC, Sprint
10.15– 13.15 Web-TV
Saturday, May 21
9.30 EMTBOC and EJYMTBOC, Long Distance
11.30 – 14.20 Web-TV
Sunday, May 22
10.00 EMTBOC, Mixed Relay and EJYMTBOC, Relay
11.45 – 14.00 Web-TV