Friday 17.4.2026: Open Training Parksprint in Westpark with SI Timing
Saturday 18.4.2026: 3 sprints following the ‘head-to-head’ principle (see below) in Riemer Park
Sunday 19.4.2026: Long distance city run as per City Race European Tour through Munich’s old city with the Frauenkirche, Vitualienmarkt and Marienplatz.
The city of Munich has granted us permission to use Riemer Park, therefore we can announce the location for the “head-to-head” sprints on Saturday 18th April. Riemer Park is a huge landscaped park on the grounds of the old Munich airport. It hosted the Federal Garden Show in 2005, which means it features some interesting, winding layouts, even on two levels. The park is easily accessible via the U2 underground line: from Messestadt Ost (the Munich Trade Fair Centre), it's only an 800-metre walk to the WKZ (Event Centre) at Riemer See (Riem Lake) which has a kiosk!
During October, we took advantage of the great autumn weather and tested the courses in Riemer Park, paying particular attention to all possible route options: what is faster – going right or left, over the hill or around the outside?
We've also expanded the city centre map. Odeonsplatz will be the Event Centre on Sunday for the urban long-distance race and is now on the edge of the map, right next to where the four underground lines intersect, so there should be no problems with reaching us. It’s a great location to explore the city from after the race, starting with a stroll through the Hofgarten park which is right beside the Event Centre.
The Munich O Fest design has been finalised and is available in a classic orienteering shirt version as well as a sprint singlet version. The design and samples are below. We tested some samples, made a few small changes to the design, and you can now order the shirt from our webshop, pay and collect it up at the event, then proudly show off that you were orienteering in Germany's most beautiful city! We always print a few extra shirts for impulse buyers, but pre-ordered shirts are cheaper than the shirts for sale during the event.
Stanja, our designer, combined the best of Munich on the shirt: the colours, black and yellow, represent Munich; the Münchner Kindl (Munich Child) searches for its checkpoint with a pretzel and compass; the Munich skyline which features the Olympic Tower, Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady), the Chinese Tower in the Englischer Garten, the Victory Gate, and the City Hall tower. The specially designed pretzel font, complete with salt crystals, finishes off this eye-catching design!
We have thought hard about what orienteers enjoy about an event: sprints; mass starts; close contact with opponents; all-out sprints to the finish line; “…if I’m travelling this far, I want to do several runs.”; and short waiting times.
From these observations, we have developed the concept of a head-to-head sprint, based on the knockout sprint…..but without the knockout. Each runner gets to run in all three sprint rounds!
For the first round, each category will be divided into groups of 4 to 6 runners. Each group will start at a set time. The group winner will receive 10 points, the 2nd will receive 9 points, continuing to the 6th who will receive 5 points.
For the second and third rounds, the category groups will be redrawn, so that you get to run against different runners in your category (although this depends a bit on the total number of runners in your category). The point scoring for the group results is repeated, and the runner with the highest combined score from all three sprints wins.
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