At the Student Championships Puglia is the Italian champion in Trail-O
Martina Scarati, Laura Vizzielli, Gennaro Santoro and Nicolai Maria Giancipoli: representing the Grazia Deledda Institute – San Giovanni Bosco di Ginosa in the province of Taranto, they are the 2022 Italian champions of Trail-O!
A confirmation for the institute, already titled in 2017 and 2019, the result of a long process of promotion and training for the regional dissemination of the orienteering and Trail-O. A process that, for about 20 years, has involved Apulian teachers, with regular technical courses to acquire the qualification to teach the discipline, and students, through the activation of extracurricular projects to love this sport and test in the Student Championships.
Guided by Professor Giovanni Materano, representative of Trail-O for FISO Puglia, proud of the important result achieved at the finals of the Student Championships in Folgaria from 23 to 26 May. A victory that considers the best way to honor the year of the World Masters Championships, a goal to which all sporting and orienteering Puglia has worked hard.
“Since the provincial and regional stages, which boasted a massive presence of institutes, the boys have been really good – says prof. Materano – but I was sure they had great possibilities. We worked a lot during the year, training in the historic center of Ginosa, taking advantage of our beautiful ravine and the pine forest. I trusted in their ability to read map but obviously victory, as in any sport, was not a foregone conclusion. In our team we also had the youngest athlete of all the teams present. I am happy above all because for the boys, after a two-year stop, this adventure was pure oxygen”.
How were the competitions? “Despite the inevitable tension, we won the first race in Costa di Folgaria woods with a 7-point advantage and on the second day, held in the historic center of the beautiful Trentino town, we were able to keep the lead and win, followed by Feltre on the podium for Veneto and Oristano for Sardinia”.
What is Trail-O for you? “FISO has been far-sighted in associating a Trail-O race with every orienteering competition. I have been teaching for 42 years and I have fully embraced this discipline because it is emblematic of the values of sharing and social inclusion that sport should always be the bearer of, allowing athletes and parathletes, albeit very young, to live the same sporting experience together. I want to thank the Federation, the Provincial and Regional School Offices and the School Principal Marina Agostino for the important work carried out. Trail-O demonstrates how a different culture is possible!”
