GMU Opens Permanent Orienteering Courses
On Saturday 14 October 2023, GMU officially opened its network of permanent orienteering courses, one of the largest in the country. The project was made possible thanks to cooperation between Gdynia Maritime University with the Gdansk Forestry Agency (Nadleśnictwo Gdańsk).
In September 2022, an agreement was concluded between GMU and the Forestry Agency. The GMU Permanent Orienteering Courses were officially opened 13 months later by Rector Professor Adam Weintrit.
The network of control points will be used for sport, leisure, and teaching purposes, including the teaching and practice of navigation skills. The project is open to all and can be used by children, school pupils, students, residents of Gdynia, as well as individuals who practise orienteering at a competitive level, said HM the Rector. I would like to thank the Gdansk Forestry Agency for its cooperation, and special thanks and congratulations I would like to extend to Dr Piotr Kopacz and all those involved in the project.
Representing the Forestry Agency was Mariusz Tokarczyk, who highlighted the important role of cooperation with the local community:
Tourism in various forms is the future of the area. We are open to all types of cooperation, we will certainly take care of the new infrastructure and support further initiatives.
During the ceremony, the President of the Pomeranian Regional Association of Orienteering, Jerzy Porzycz, drew attention to the development of this form of sport and recreation in our country:
This is the 143rd Green Control Point in Poland and one of the largest, as it covers almost 10 km2. In terms of the number of such facilities, we are currently in 4th place in Europe. So we have quite a number of such facilities in Poland.
President Jerzy Porzych recognised the network with a "Golden Certificate" which he presented to the Rector. The certificate is presented to the Orienteering Courses, which have many control points over a large area, and is the most important certificate for this type of route awarded by the Sports and Nature Foundation of the National Committee for the Organisation of Foresters' Orienteering.
The GMU Permanent Orienteering Courses are a network of courses made up of wooden posts known as control points spread over a 9 km2 area of forest within the Gdynia city limits (Zwierzyniec and Cisowa forests). The newly opened project includes two official starting points: Grabówek and Demptowie. There are eight courses with four different levels of difficulty, depending on distance, which ranges from 3.5 to 16.8 km when measured in a straight line.
Dr Piotr Kopacz of the GMU Faculty of Navigation emphasised that the project is designed so that orienteers can enter any part of the forest and decide which course to follow using the control points:
I am very pleased that we have managed to create something that can be used by everyone. The use of the courses is of course free of charge, added Dr Kopacz. - I invite you all to take walks with a map at any time of year, and I hope that the project will serve the community for years to come.
After the official opening, many of those present set off with a map to explore one of the new orienteering courses.
