The SEEOC 2025 – South East European Orienteering Championships including Masters, held this year in central Bulgaria, are now over for 2025. All medals have been awarded and the atmosphere was truly enjoyable.

The forest races were set in Skumsale, Strelcha with featured an oak forest covered mountain, sprinkled with huge granite megalithic rocks, which proved extremely technical, while Panagyurishte town hosted the final sprint.

The championships featured Middle, Long, Relay and Sprint races from Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th September.

Athletes from the 12 regional countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Türkiye) that are part of the South East European Orienteering Association (SEEOA) competed for titles. In the WRE classes athletes from other countries (this year:- Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong China and South Korea) also entered.


Photos: Damir Gobec and official SEEOC photos

Middle 
The Championships started with a middle distance event. The huge granite megalithic rocks soon proved challenging for most runners – especially for those not used to such type of terrain. Ionut Zinca from Romania showed he was in peak fitness and won ahead of Anatoli Fomiciov from Moldova and Cansel Sarac from Türkiye. Surprisingly, the home favorite Bulgarian male runners did not match the speed of the medal winners. However, their female compatriots blitzed the opposition and won both gold and silver medals. Andreya Dyaksova won ahead of Kristina Sirakova followed by Elif Gokce Avci Ataman from Turkiye.

M21E SEEOC MIDDLE DISTANCE 4830m

Ionut Zinca, Romania 36:06
Anatoli Fomiciov, Moldova +1:44
Cansel Sarac, Türkiye +3:02
Ahmet Kacmaz, Turkiye +3:33
Ivan Sirakov, Bulgaria +5:31
Sahin Demir, Turkiye +6:16

W21E SEEOC MIDDLE DISTANCE 4100m

Andreya Dyaksova, Bulgaria 44:02
Kristina Sirakova, Bulgaria +1:26
Elif Gokce Avci Ataman, Türkiye +1:28
Meri Chkripeska, North Macedonia +3:55
Liliana Gotseva, Bulgaria +4:03
Olesea Cecan, Moldova +5:41

Middle distance W21E course

 

Long distance
The day was very hot for the challenging long distance event, which gave new winners in both Elite classes. Home runner Boyan Ivandjikov had a strong run in M21E and with a 2’35” margin, he had a clear win in front of middle distance champion Ionut Zinca from Romania. Cansel Sarac from Türkiye had another good run and won his second bronze medal of the Championships. In the women’s elite class, Elif Gokce Avci Ataman, from Türkiye, showed stamina and speed over the long distance and won ahead of home favorite Andreya Dyaksova. Another Bulgarian, Liliana Gotseva, secured the bronze medal.

M21E SEEOC LONG DISTANCE

Boyan Ivandjikov, Bulgaria 1:26:35
Ionut Zinca, Romania +2:35
Cansel Sarac, Türkiye +2:43
Sahin Demir, Türkiye +6:23
Endre Jancsik, Romania +8:18
Vasili Fomiciov, Moldova +9:05

W21E SEEOC LONG DISTANCE

Elif Gokce Avci Ataman, Türkiye 1:19:21
Andreya Dyaksova, Bulgaria +1:43
Liliana Gotseva, Bulgaria +2:35
Andra Anghel, Romania +3:29
Kristina Sirakova, Bulgaria +4:58
Judit Divin, Romania +7:41

Long distance M21E course

Relay
Relay day is always something to remember but this time it was surprisingly close and exciting right up until the very end of the event. The organizers used the same finish arena as for the middle distance and long distance. Before the race, hot favorite Bulgaria and runner up Romania, were expected to lead the race and have a tight fight for the win.

However, on the first leg it was Türkiye who lead across the hand over line, followed by Croatia and Moldova. Romania had over three minutes to catch up and home favorite Bulgaria were over four minutes behind. The second leg did not change the placings. However, the leading teams now had only 30 seconds between them! The pressure was on and the team tension was electric. In the third and final leg Bulgaria made a huge effort to overtake Romania but the margin stayed the same behind the leading pack.

Strongest on the last leg was Cansel Sarac from Türkiye, who secured the surprise win for his team ahead of Moldova and outsiders Croatia, who all had good steady runs. Of note should be the exceptional contribution to his team by last leg Croatian junior, Jakov Lesjak, who won the middle and long distance in M20 classes on the previous days.

Although the Bulgarian mens team did not pick up a medal, the home crowd had a reason to celebrate as Bulgaria won the female relay by a significant margin, ahead of Romania and Türkiye, with only one change in the order on the last leg where Romania had a fast run and overtook Türkiye for the silver medal.

SEEOC RELAY

M21

Türkiye (Kacmaz, Demir, Sarac) 1:47:58
Moldova (V. Fomiciov, A. Fomiciov, I. Fomiciov) +0:26
Croatia (J. Vujanic, F. Vujanic, Lesjak) +2:37

W21

Bulgaria (Gotseva, Sirakova, Dyaksova) 1:55:57
Romania (Divin, Roman, Anghel) +7:08
Türkiye (Gokce, Aydin, Onal) +13:13

 

Sprint
After three days in the lovely forest, the final event was held in a small town of Panagyurishte, which actually hosted the whole Championships. The courses were very fast and almost flat, with only one big climb. In both Men and Women 21E classes the Championships had new winners – Stefan Yordanov from Bulgaria won the men’s class and Buket Aydin from Türkiye won the womens’ class.

M21 SEEOC SPRINT

Stefan Yordanov, Bulgaria 16:23
Ahmet Kacmaz, Türkiye +0:04
Sahin Demir, Türkiye +0:05
Ionut Zinca, Romania +0:40
Ivan Sirakov, Bulgaria +0:48
Aleksa Bankovic, Serbia +0:59

 

W21 SEEOC SPRINT

Buket Aydin, Türkiye 15:36
Elif Gokce Avci Ataman, Türkiye +0:07
Maya Nedyalkova, Bulgaria +1:02
Liliana Gotseva, Bulgaria +1:15
Andreya Dyaksova, Bulgaria +1:17
Betul Onal, Türkiye +1:50

Although the Elite classes and World Ranking Events were the focus of the whole Championships, it was especially pleasing to see so many youngsters in M/W16, M/W18 and M/W20 classes fighting for podium positions and medals at these South East European Championships. Analyzing the results we can see some new names emerging for the future in the elite classes. Notable names to watch out for are:- Nea Eržen from Slovenia (two wins and a silver medal) in W18; Jakov Lesjak from Croatia (two wins on long and middle distance in M20 and bronze in Relay M21); and sisters Sara and Dora Delić from Croatia (gold in Relay W16, gold and silver in long, and sprint and silver and bronze medals in middle distance in W16 class). The results of the youngsters from all participating teams showed that orienteering in South East Europe looks positively promising.

Last but not least were the Masters classes. The South East European Masters Championships has proven that the masters runners are super competitive and day after day we witnessed a fierce fight for the best positions on the result lists, from M/W35 to M/W80+ classes.


SEEOC overall winner of the team event Bulgaria ahead of Türkiye and Romania

The results of all four days of the competition also counted for a Team Event in SEEOC and SEEMOC classes separately. Best team in SEEOC was Bulgaria ahead of Türkiye and Romania. In the Masters’ classes the golden cup went to Bulgaria, with runners up Romania and Türkiye respectively.

During the event, The South East European Orienteering Association, (SEEOA), held their General Assembly, where delegates from all countries discussed future events and the development of orienteering in South East Europe. The next South East European (Masters) Championships will be held in Zlatibor, Serbia in 2026.


SEEOA General Assembly – delegates from all countries present at the Championships

Text: Diana Bridger / Damir Gobec