Summer was a real adventure for our club: while some of our members were competing at the highest level, others were conquering steep mountain peaks, others took on the challenge of drawing a topographic map for the club's training sessions, and still others were introducing more and more children to our wonderful sport.
International competitions
Marta Ruseva, Vihra Ruseva and Apostol Atanasov represented our country at 4 of the biggest international competitions:
- The Junior World Championships for juniors under 20 near Trento, Italy.
- The European Youth Championships for under-18s near Brno, Czech Republic.
- The European Championships for men and women in Hasselt, Belgium.
- The South-East European Championships near Strelcha, Bulgaria.
At the end of June, Marta travelled with the national team to Italy. There she tested her strength and skills against the best athletes from around the world, and although it was only her first appearance, she showed that she is one of our country's most promising athletes. Marta handled the extremely technical courses superbly and was the best-placed Bulgarian woman, and the fact that she has 2 more years at such championships ahead of her can only encourage us that she will keep developing her potential and performing better and better in 2026 and 2027.
Just 2 weeks after the end of the Junior World Championships, sisters Vihra and Marta took part in the next big championship – the European Youth Championships in Brno. This was Vihra's debut, and the pressure of such a big event certainly affected her performance. Our young athlete has 3 more championships of this kind ahead of her, which is plenty of races and plenty of time to perform at the level she has shown in races at home. During the year Vihra won 5 of the 7 selection races and in one of them finished 2nd, just one second behind the winner. Her older sister Marta was flawless on the long and complex legs during the championships, but unfortunately made quite a few errors that are unusual for her, and in the end this kept her away from top-30 positions that were well within her reach.
In the last weeks of summer, our athlete and coach Apostol Atanasov travelled alongside the fastest Bulgarians to compete at the European Sprint Championships in Belgium. Apostol showed good form in the selection races at home, finishing 3rd at the national sprint championship, but the gap to the best athletes in Europe is huge. The strong competition and the few places available for the finals proved an insurmountable barrier not only for our coach but for all the Bulgarian athletes.
The last international championship of the summer was on home soil – the South-East European Championships, held near Strelcha. Once again Marta and Vihra were part of the national team, and once again Marta showed enviable map-reading skills. In the very first race, the older sister won a 🥉bronze medal, just 20 seconds behind silver. The next day, in the long distance, Marta was leading up to the 10th control (of 12), but a lapse in concentration on her route to the penultimate control cost her a full 5 minutes, leaving her in 4th place. The relays were a great stage for both sisters – Marta ran the first leg and handed over in 2nd place just 1 min down; that position was held after the 2nd leg too, but in the end a loss of over 15 min on the final leg cost our W18 relay team a medal. Vihra ran the 2nd leg of the W16 relay. She started her race in 4th place, over 5 min behind, but Vihra did very well and not only cut the gap but also handed over in 2nd place. In the end, W16 finished 🥉3rd after the final runner of the Croatian team produced a phenomenal run, completing the course more than 6 min faster than every other athlete.
Summer training and hiking
This summer our club introduced more than 250 children to orienteering. Back in May, we started our free training sessions in Druzhba, Kolyu Ficheto and Marno Pole parks. Over the last 4 months, the number of these sessions has passed 50!
The main reason the summer sessions were held in Marno Pole and Druzhba was our club's commitment to produce a map under the Kompas-2 project. Over 3 months, Georgi Mitsov and Rosen Hristov not only learnt to use mapping software for making topographic orienteering maps, but also prepared courses of varying difficulty, and every week a new challenge and a new piece of the map awaited us.
Our club also helped teach children during the summer camps organised by the Trapezitsa 1902 Tourist Society. Pupils from Ruse, Stara Zagora and Silistra learnt the basic map symbols, learnt how to set a map using a compass and completed a competition course.
Another Trapezitsa 1902 Tourist Society initiative that many of our members joined was the trek along the E4 mountain route. After conquering the iconic Kom–Emine route last year, this year the same group completed the shorter but equally challenging route across five mountains – from Vitosha through Verila, Rila, Pirin and Slavyanka
Koprivshtitsa camp
Alongside the South-East European Championships, our club also organised a camp in Koprivshtitsa. 27 club members took part in extra training sessions outside the programme of the championships and the accompanying Begun Cup races. Training took us to the picturesque areas around Hisarya, the village of Matenitsa and Panitsite above Kalofer, as well as through the streets of Strelcha and Koprivshtitsa, while the Begun Cup itself was held in the streets of Panagyurishte and in the Kachulata Mogila, Kiselitsata and Skumsale areas in the Strelcha Pass.
Despite an extremely demanding training programme, our athletes showed that they are on a par with the best in South-East Europe:
- Anton Hristov posted the 6th-best time in the M20 middle distance
- Yana Petrova posted the 6th-best time in the middle and the 4th-best time in the long distance in W20
- Rosen Hristov posted the 4th-best time of all in the M16 long distance
- Apostol Atanasov won the M21E World Ranking sprint race
Team relay entry
Here's what's coming up – straight after the start of the school year, our club will travel to the Romanian town of Curtea de Argeș to compete in a 7-leg team relay. The relay follows a format similar to the most popular team relays in Central and Northern Europe, such as the 25-leg relay in Sweden and the Polish team championships. What all these relays have in common is that each leg is run by a member of a different age group, which makes every edition highly unpredictable. In 2016 a relay in a similar format was held in Bulgaria, and our team won its first edition.
New beginners' groups
With the start of the school year, our club is opening its doors wide to anyone who would like to join our training sessions. By the end of September we will hold 6 more free sessions:
- 16.09 and 18.09 – from 18:00 in Druzhba Park
- 23.09 and 25.09 – from 18:00 in Gabrovski Park
- 29.09 and 30.09 – from 18:00 in Kolyu Ficheto Park
From October, club training will take place at Ivaylo Stadium on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 18:00