Register for Kainuu Orienteering Week by November 30, 2024, for the Best Rates!
Published: 14.11.2024
By registering for Kainuu Orienteering Week by November 30, 2024, you can save over 40% on participation fees compared to the final registration phases for competition categories or the on-site fees for open courses and Kainuu MTBO Week.
New for 2025: Discounted Early Bird Rates for Individual Days in Open Courses!
Next summer, Kainuu Orienteering Week offers more flexibility than ever for open-course participants: you can now enjoy early bird discounts for individual days as well.
This is the perfect time to secure your spot for an exciting summer of orienteering and vacationing in Vuokatti, Sotkamo, and enjoy a variety of open courses, competitive categories, and the beautiful trails of Kainuu MTBO Week at the best possible rates.
– For open courses (for ages 14 and up), the early bird day rate is only €18, while the on-site rate is €30, says Orienteering Week’s Secretary-General Jukka Liuha. For those under 14 in open courses, and for Family Orienteering (Family-RR), the early bird daily rate is just €12, compared to €20 on-site, Liuha adds.
Early Registration Makes Event Organization Smoother
Kainuu Orienteering Week has used tiered pricing for years to encourage early registration and thus facilitate event organization.
– Last year was the first time we saw a significant number of early registrations for open courses as well, Liuha notes. I’ve been organizing Orienteering Week for 15 years, and it’s surprising to see participants finally starting to register early for open courses too. In orienteering, especially open categories, early registration is still much lower compared to many other sports tourism events, such as ski marathons, trail runs, and marathons, Liuha reflects.
Organizing a large orienteering event requires considerable resources and work compared to other events mentioned above. Therefore, we’re aiming to get participants to register earlier. In Finland, the expectation of very affordable evening events, held weekly nationwide, may have influenced the low early registration rates for open courses, Liuha speculates.
Orienteering Week Offers a Complete Experience for Open Course Participants
According to Liuha, the fees for Kainuu Orienteering Week’s open courses can’t be compared to evening events, as Orienteering Week offers a comprehensive experience for open-course participants as well. Services include high-quality restaurant and café options at the competition center, childcare and adventure courses for young children, warm showers and extensive sanitation facilities, shuttle buses and continuous transportation from parking areas, daily prize draws for open courses, a full online results service, professional commentary, and diverse event communication to create a memorable atmosphere. Additionally, there will be vendors with orienteering equipment and the KRV shop with local entrepreneurs and a wide range of products.
Most importantly, open-course participants get to navigate world-class maps and courses. The Orienteering Week maps are updated in May just before the event, ensuring they are completely up-to-date. The courses are designed by experienced professionals who have crafted orienteering routes for countless major events over the years.
The main difference between open courses and competition categories is that open categories don’t offer placement prizes – otherwise, open participants receive the same services as those in the competition categories.
High-Quality Event at an Affordable Price
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about rising costs and registration fees – and it’s true that costs have increased significantly since the pandemic, which has also impacted our event. Despite the higher organizing costs, we believe Kainuu Orienteering Week still offers great value for money: for the entire week’s registration, you get four competition days, making it just €12–€18 per event at the early bird rate – an incredible deal when compared to other sports tourism events, like marathons, ski races, or adventure events.
In 2025, Kainuu Orienteering Week will be held for the 57th time, taking place in Vuokatti, Sotkamo, from June 29 to July 4, 2025. The event center will be at the historic Heikkilä homestead, a familiar spot to many cross-country skiers in Vuokatti. The competition terrain is also the model area for Jukola 2027, as the competition area is right next to Jukola’s event terrain.
After Orienteering Week, participants can continue their orienteering journey at the World Orienteering Championships and public competitions in Kuopio from July 7 to 12, 2025.
