Bilkent Scores in Orienteering Event
It has been quite some time since the course PE205 Orienteering was first offered as a one-credit course, and students who have taken this course are encouraged to keep up their active sports life as orienteers. Now Bilkent has a keen group of orienteers who have started participating in competitions organized by the Turkish Orienteering Federation.
Stage 2 of the Turkish Orienteering Federation Orienteering Championships was held February 26 to 27 in Manavgat, Antalya. There were 5 orienteers from Bilkent University competing in different categories. Can Adalı (ME/II) and Fatih S. Hafalır (EE/V) participated in M21 Elite, Nilgün Öz (IE/II) in W21 Elite. 21 Elite is the most difficult class; sometimes successful runners are placed on the World Ranking List. There were two former World Champions, Matias Karlsson from Norway and Valentin Novikov from Russia, participating in M21E in Antalya this year.
All three Bilkent orienteers managed to successfully complete this extreme competition where around 10% of the runners in the Elite categories were unable to finish the course and were disqualified. Can, Fatih, and Nilgün took PE205 in the spring semester of 2009-2010 and have continued practicing orienteering.
Two other Bilkent orienteers, Aylin Güvener (BIM Graduate) and Ayşegül Turgut (POLS/IV) who took PE205 last semester joined the competition in the Open category. Ayşegül made it to 2nd place on the second day of the competition, and it was a proud set of Bilkenters cheering on while Ayşegül stood on the podium to receive her silver medal.