A successful start into the crucial phase

The organizing committee (OC) of the Senior World Championships in orienteering (WMOC) 2012 hosted a festive event in Bad Harzburg’s castle Bündheimer Schloss to kick off the crucial phase of the project. Invited were political, administrative, business, sports and press representatives and especially all volunteers.

It was an informal meeting between sponsors and decision-makers, between the people working in the background in order to set up a successful event 2012 and the official supporters. In his speech OC-president André Kwiatkowski radiated optimism: more than 2500 participants from 39 countries from New Zealand to Canada and from Brasil to Finland have already signed up for the WMOC 2012. This number was reached eight months before the kick-off, making the goal of 4000 participants seem not too far away.

Kwiatkowski stressed the inclusive character of the WMOC 2012. “The keyword is unity. Culture, nature and sports unite”, he introduced the motto of the event . “The Senior World Championships in orienteering 2012 in the Harz mountains unite. They unite young and old. They unite all political, administrative and forestry-related decision-makers in the Harz mountains. They unite cultural initiatives and sports clubs of the region. And they also unite regional and superregional sponsors”, Kwiatkowski said.
The OK-president paid particular attention to the venues Bad Harzburg, Goslar, Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Drei-Annen-Hohne. “With these four venues”, Kwiatkowski said, “the WMOC 2012 connects not only villages, municipalities, cities and counties but even two states. If the prime minister of Sachsen-Anhalt Dr. Rainer Haseloff follows the example of his colleague in Niedersachsen, David McAllister, and also becomes patron of the event, the WMOC 2012 even connects two state prime ministers who just last week decided to market the Harz mountains together anyway.”

With participants from professional and popular sport teams the WMOC also combines sport and tourism, the latter being an important part of the event as it is set in a culturally highly valuable cultural region. “And after all the WMOC 2012 connects people”, finished the OK-president. His speech was followed by a short introduction of orienteering in general and the WMOC 2012 in particular given by OK-vice president Eike Bruns.

Photos

(by Eleonore Pohl and Werner Beckmann/Goslarsche Zeitung)