22nd IARU Region 1 ARDF Championships 2019

[IK0ZCW]

Wednesday, 18 September 2019 07:43
Written by S57CT



This year the Slovenian Amateur Radio Society ZRS hosted the 22nd IARU Region 1 ARDF Championships in Rogla. The Championship was accepted two years ago and its preparations were carefully managed by the preparations committee. For the Championship itself we selected Rogla - a high mountain location, better known for its skiing and snowboarding competitions, and other winter recreational activities it has to offer. 26 teams from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine from the IARU Region 1 member societies came to our ARDF Championship in Slovenia, as well as a guest competitor from the USA, who competed out of competition.



The Championship begun with the arrival of the competitors and a trial of the model event technique, and later continued with a ceremonial opening of the Championship. Speeches were given by Mag. Boris Podvršnik – the mayor of municipality of Zreče, Dr. Stanislav Pejovnik – the chairman of the Association of organisations for technical culture of Slovenija, Bojan Majhenič, S52ME – President of Radio Amateurs of Slovenia, and Ole Garpestad, LA2RR – the vice president of IARU, who also officially opened the Championship.

There were about 315 competitors in the Championship and they competed in 4 different disciplines: foxoring, sprint and two classics in the HF and VHF band. 110 sets of competition medals, prepared for the best competitors in ARDF, were awarded to 20 representative teams.



List of medal recipients:

Single rating Team Rating
Country Gold Silver Bronze Country Gold Silver Bronze
RUS 11 9 5 CZE 5 7 5
CZE 8 12 8 UKR 5 4 2
UKR 8 5 10 RUS 4 4 6
LTU 4 4 3 LTU 4
GER 3 1 4 GER 3 1 4
POL 3 1 SWE 1 1
HUN 2 1 1 SVK 2 2
SVK 1 4 4 HUN 1 1
BUL 1 3 1 BUL 1
KAZ 1 2 GBR 1
BLR 1 1 1 NOR 1
SLO 1 1 NED 1
SUI 1 2
GBR 1
ROM 1
MDA 1
DEN 1

The whole championship was a product of excellent cooperation of about 50 members of the Slovenian radio amateurs team. Especially worth mentioning are the transmitter technicians as they are crucial for the successful completion of the competition, as well as everyone who helped at the start and finish line. A great contribution was also made by Jiri, OK2BWN, who helped with the technical equipment that we lacked. A great help with the preparation of the equipment were also Thomas and jury member Michaela.

A big thank-you also goes out to the jury, who made sure the competition ran correctly and without interruptions.

Jury members were:

Dušan Ćeha YU1EA SRS Chairman of the Jury
PA Nordwaeger SM0BGU SSA Jury Member
Karl-Heinz Schade DL7VDB DARC Jury Member
Roussko Roussev LZ1RT BFRA Jury Member
Željko Belaj 9A2QU HRS Jury Member
Lucien Vidal F4DKA REF Jury Member
Igor Lazarev US0VA UARL Jury Member
Michaela Bednarikova OK2MWN CRC Jury Member
Franci Žankar S57CT ZRS Siting Referee, Technical Director
Tomi Kordež S53CO ZRS Secretary of the Jury

The first two contests in foxoring and sprint took place in close proximity to the Rogla hotel settlement. The special feature of the first contest was returning to the hotel by a 4-seater chairlift. For the classics contest the competitors moved to a location 6 km away. A fairly demanding terrain, full of water, that could have been even more difficult, had the weather forecast from a week earlier come true. Luckily, though, rain only interfered with the last contest on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the first classics contest included some problems with a competitor that needed medical attention, and a rescue party that searched for a missing competitor. This required a lot of extra energy and organisation within the team. Saving the competitors life and the return of the lost competitor the next day concluded the longest contest yet - a long 22 hours. A record which I hope will not be exceeded in the future.

Slovene radio amateurs made sure that the competition was also accompanied by a casual gathering - Slovene day, as well as hamfest, which was enjoyed by all participants at the end of the Championship.

The results and analysis can be seen at the championship's official website: http://ardf2019.hamradio.si/

The organisers' effort was validated soon after the end of the Championship with numerous excellent compliments regarding the punctuality and great management.

Thank you all for participating and congratulations to the best competitors.

Vice president of the organisation committee and jury member, Franci Žankar - S57CT