The Saxon-Bohemian Orienteering Days are surrounded by various myths and stories. The unifying element has always been the desire to act together and across borders in orienteering in the region.
Teamwork for SAXBO, Photographer: Jürgen Döring
Even before the first SAXBO race, orienteers from Germany and the Czech Republic met for joint activities. At an autumn orienteering event at the beginning of the 90s, the entry fee still consisted of a cold drink containing hops. Even then, participants traveled in several buses to complete an orienteering run in the region and to exchange ideas with like-minded people.
The first official SAXBO took place in 1993. Following an idea of Miroslav Horaček, the goal was to organize a "run without borders". In this two-day event, 664 participants started one day each in the Czech Republic and in Germany.
In 1995, the orienteering group OK Chrastava was founded from the Slavia Liberec club, which from then on organized the SAXBO together with the orienteers from Zittau. In the first joint year, the races were used by numerous national runners from Denmark, Hungary, Poland and Germany as a direct preparation for the World Championships to be held in Detmold in August. The starting list included such names as Thoresen, Jorgensen, Ropek, Olah, Norgaard, or Andersen. There were a total of 873 participants from 12 nations.
Shared experience SAXBO, Photographer: Daniel Härtelt
In 1997 there was for the first time a special permission from both border authorities, which allowed the Czech starters to arrive in Jonsdorf on foot over the "green border". At a time when the Czech Republic was not even in the EU, 919 participants came to the SAXBO.
In 2000 the German Championships Classic Distance were part of the Saxon-Bohemian Orienteering Days. 970 enthusiastic orienteers traveled to Oybin.
In 2003 there was another big highlight with a world ranking race (1st stage SAXBO). In 2004 there was again a national ranking run in May within the Saxon-Bohemian Orienteering Days.
Competition center and award ceremony for SAXBO, Photographer: Thomas Wagner
In 2006, for the first time, it was actually a cross-border competition. Starting from the competition center in Lückendorf, the border was crossed several times during the 3-stage orienteering event. For this purpose a special permit had to be applied for at the border authorities of both countries.
Since then, there have been up to 1000 entries for the event year after year.
In 2019, the 1000 mark was then also broken for the first time in the results list. A total of 1045 enjoyed the competitions in the rocky areas around Lückendorf.
With a little luck, the tradition could continue in the Corona years with the 2020 competition (420 participants in Lückendorf) and 2021 competitions (390 participants in Jonsdorf and 612 participants in Chrastava), as well as with free training offers.
For the 30th edition in 2022, about 850 participants finally started in the forest near Liberec and Jonsdorf.
With the German championships over the sprint distance and in the sprint relay in Zittau as well as a national ranking race over the long distance in Jonsdorf, the 31st SAXBO was a 3-day event in which a total of 4 races were held. Almost 1500 participants took part in the forest stage.
Children's offer to SAXBO, photographer: Daniel Härtelt