Our 2025 Championships - the results

Sunday 14 December was a big day for our club – it was our 2025 Championships event.

Organiser and planner David R had decided that the club should make the most of the map of Luxembourg Ville, updated for the O2Lux weekend back in June. He therefore set some challenging courses which used almost all of the mapped area and gave lots of route choices. Indeed, the small area at the north end of map has never been used before – so the event was the first time anyone has ever orienteered under the Rout Bréck. And there aren’t many events (certainly outside Switzerland) where getting to the start needed three different modes of transport!

We were lucky to have support from Boulder Klub Lëtzebuerg, who very kindly allowed us to use some of their facilities. Their side room made a warm, dry base for us, which was much appreciated on a cold, damp December day on which it seemed to forget to get light.

The event was also the last of the 18 in the 2025 series of “O2Lux” events – less formal Saturday or Sunday events that are held either in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or nearby in Belgium’s Province of Luxembourg. So, it wasn’t just our own club members taking part – we welcomed visitors from as far away as Brussels, Liege, and Nancy. The excellent Luxembourg Ville terrain clearly has pulling power, as there were very nearly 100 starters on the three courses taken together.

As usual, the full results are published on the Helga web results website – go to https://helga-o.com/webres/index.php?lauf=6443. And if you want to see the GPS tracks for the route choices that some of the fastest runners took – or would like to post your own route – the Livelox website has the full story, showing every little navigational slip. See  https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/176043/O2Lux-2025-18

So, who are our champions? Our National Champions are the athletes who recorded the fastest times for their courses. The men’s title for 2025 goes to Cedric Guthier, who completed the 8.5km optimum route course in 44.34. He was 2.32 in front of second-placed Ondřej Kotecký, and a lot further ahead of third-placed Francisco Montoya, who was narrowly in front of the LuxO gentlemen’s pack. Our women’s champion for 2025 is our talented junior athlete, placed 5^th out of over 100 athletes in the under 16 class in last summer’s European Youth Championships, Marie Anna Kotecká. She came home in 34.56, well ahead of her mother Miša in second place. Elisabeth Schintgen just pipped club secretary Orsi Lukóczky for the third spot.

Our Club Champions are however decided differently, as has been the case ever since LuxO started back in 2016.  Orienteering is a sport for all ages, and so a database of statistics that shows how fast each age group runs relative to the men’s 21 class (who run fastest) is used to adjust running times. The different lengths of the men’s and women’s courses are also factored in. In this way, all 37 club members who ran in our 2025 Championships (a record number) compete on an equal basis. And in a spirit of generosity, we ignore some technical disqualifications – this year several runners didn’t punch at the finish checkpoint or the last control, even though it was clear that they must have been there. The full results are attached!

Our women’s Club Champion is Marie Anna. Here, the statistics don’t cause the overall results to change, as at least in theory Marie Anna (D-16) and Miša (D45) are supposed to run at exactly the same speed. But Orsi moves up to claim third spot.

For the men, Ondřej (H45) takes the title – which is becoming a bit of a tradition! Second place this year though goes to speedy H65 André Pierlot, clearly in good form at the moment following an impressive 5^th place in a huge H65 field at the Toledo City Race in Spain at the end of November. But Cedric was still fast enough to position third – but only a few adjusted seconds ahead of young Tom Winbomont, who runs for Celtic Diekirch and, impressively, was trying orienteering for the very first time.

So, it’s all over for Luxembourg Orienteering for 2025. The control flags are drying out, and the accounts for the event are being checked. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Championships, and especially to club members who helped out with the organisation on the day as well as having their runs. José, Atte, and Orsi did a great job up at the “mountain station” at the top of the funicular, to keep the start going on a raw, cold morning, and Chris, Jan, and Jonas gave up time later in the day to collect all the controls in.

The O2Lux series for 2026 however starts on 3 January. The first event is being hosted by one of our neighbour Belgian clubs, ASUB, over near Étalle, beyond Arlon. More information on the O'Punch website at https://www.opunch.org/in/event/3770 .

• 251214_club_champs_adjusted_results.pdf