Spring’s Tiomila is cancelled
Tiomila will not be held in Valdemarsvik as planned. Once again, it is the corona pandemic that has led to the orienteering classic being deferred.
And once again, the Tiomila Association is investigating whether
Tiomila can be moved to the autumn.
Tiomila was cancelled twice during 2020. According to the original plan, the competitions should have been held in Upplands-Bro in early-May, but the decision was taken one month before that to move the relays, time-wise to the autumn and geographically to Idre Fjäll.
However, the corona infection made large events impossible throughout last year, and in the summer the decision was taken that Idre Fjäll would also be postponed.
Planning for a Tiomila in Valdemarsvik on 1-2 May had been in progress for 4 years prior to 2021. However, the Tiomila Association, the organizer in Valdemarsvik and the Swedish Orienteering Federation have now decided in consultation to also cancel the competitions on 1-2 May.
”The corona pandemic has severely affected us, and, based on current circumstances, we see no prospects of being able to hold a Tiomila in Valdemarsvik on 1-2 May. It is regrettable in the light of all the time our volunteers have put in,” says this year’s General Secretary Kjell Holmström
The parties waited for the latest report from the Public Health Authority (Folkhälsomyndigheten) to the government concerning adjustments and exemptions in the new Pandemic Act before making the definitive decision. However, the report did not contain any information that justified changing the decision. The conditions that were evaluated included restrictions on crowds, restrictions on travel from other countries, risk of spread of infection during the competition, financial outcome, as well as the associations’ interest in registering in the current situation.
The decision to cancel the event on 1-2 May does not come as a surprise, and work is underway to see if and when it might be possible to hold a Tiomila in the autumn.
”We will now seriously investigate whether we can instead arrange it for the autumn. The first task is to look into whether Valdemarsvik can move its event,” says the Tiomila Association’s chair Christer Nordström, who hopes to be able to provide more information shortly.
What is going to happen with the weekend of 1-2 May is also a question that will be hastily investigated.
”There is a very high demand for a forest relay out among the country’s elite clubs. To start with, we are discussing with the Tiomila Association whether they would be interested in working to bring about a substantially downscaled elite event on the weekend in question.
Otherwise, there may very well be other interested parties,” says Tomas Stenström, sports manager at the Swedish Orienteering Federation.
For contact:
Tiomila Association: Christer Nordström, +46 (0)10-480 55 70
Local organizer/Valdermarsvik: Kjell Holmström, +46 (0)70-839 00 35
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- Last Updated: Wednesday, 03 February 2021 13:13
