The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) is the international governing body of the sport of orienteering. The IOF governs four orienteering disciplines: foot orienteering, mountain bike orienteering, ski orienteering, and trail orienteering. The IOF was founded in 1961 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1977.
Orienteering is a sport that combines both a physical and a mental element. The basic idea in orienteering is to proceed from course start to finish by visiting a number of control points in a predetermined order with the help of map and compass. In order to choose the best possible route, orienteers look at the characteristics of the terrain, and the winner is determined by the fastest time to complete the course. What is unique to orienteering is that an orienteer must navigate and make quick decisions while running at high speed.
Orienteering is a low-cost sport suitable for both genders and all ages. On June 1st ad 2nd, the event of International Orienteering marathon was organized in Albania, Shkodra and Fishta. For the first time in Albania there have been 140 participants from 20 countries and 3 continents. The goal of this event in Albania was to bring tourists to Albania, to change the past image of Albania and to introduce this sport to Albanians.
There were about 25 control points with electronic equipment, to prove passage to the runners.
After the request of the Federation, the volunteers of the Albanian Organization of the Order of Malta assisted in this event with the First Aid Service.