Record turnout for Latvia's 10th Orienteering Night

On the evening of September 18, Latvia held the anniversary 10th edition of its Orienteering Night, held simultaneously in 22 cities for the first time. The three-hour rogaining courses attracted a record 7,183 participants across 2,293 teams, making it one of the country's largest sporting events by participation.

This year the event was held for the first time in Balvi and Lielvārde. The largest turnout was in Riga, where 1,546 participants in 489 teams registered for the start in Grīziņkalns — the first time a single city crossed the 1,000-participant mark. Liepāja (445 participants) and Jaunmārupe (443 participants) also saw strong turnout.

International participation

Participants came from 12 countries, including the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the United States, Denmark and Italy. Several teams from Lithuania competed in Daugavpils and Liepāja.

Families and generations

More than a third of teams — 892 — registered in the family category, which requires at least one participant under age 14. The youngest participants included seven babies born this year, while the oldest competitors were aged 87 and 86. In Riga, one participant marked his birthday by competing with relatives and friends on a team called "Jubilāra sapnis" (Birthday Dream).

Results

In Riga, the team "VEBĀ" (Valters Āboliņš, Edgars Bernāns) won with 143 points out of a possible 166. "Rāpot iespējams" topped the family category, "Āpši" won among women's teams, and "Treknie putni" took the veterans' category. The event was organized as part of the European Week of Sport by the Latvian Orienteering Federation together with the Ministry of Education and Science and local orienteering clubs.