Preview 2027 · Hamburg-OL

German Sprint Championships (WRE) and a WRE middle distance in the Hamburg region

4–5 September 2027 · OSC Hamburg & SC Klecken

Five years after the last sprint championships on the Elbe, the German Championships return to Hamburg in 2027.

Saturday, 4 September: German Sprint Championships in Blankenese

On Saturday the German Sprint Orienteering Championships in Blankenese are decided, also counting as a World Ranking Event (WRE). Qualification and final are held on the same day. The Treppenviertel on the Elbe slope — narrow alleys, countless steps and a surprising amount of climb — promises route choices rarely seen in German sprint orienteering, with a view of the river included. Spectators can follow the final in the heart of the district.

Narrow stone stairway between hedges and a wall in Blankenese, with the Elbe in the background — Blankenese: steps, alleys and a view of the Elbe

Sprint map of the Blankenese hillside with stairs, paths and houses down to the Elbe beach — Map extract, Blankenese: sprinting on the Elbe slope

Sunday, 5 September: middle distance in the Schwarze Berge

Sunday brings a World Ranking and German national ranking event over the middle distance in the Schwarze Berge, in Neu Wulmstorf just south of Hamburg. Around the Karlstein boulder lies varied mixed forest shaped by the Ice Age: undulating moraine terrain with hills, hollows and gullies, and fast beech forest alternating with pine and carpets of blueberry.

The Karlstein, a large glacial boulder in the beech forest of the Schwarze Berge — The Karlstein, which gives Sunday's terrain its name

Orienteering map around the Karlstein with dense contours, hollows and gullies — Map extract, Karlstein: middle distance in fine relief

Around the races

Arriving early? On Thursday and Friday, 2–3 September, training in Seevetal-Ramelsloh gets you used to northern German forest. On Friday evening a separate prologue in the Wildpark Schwarze Berge opens the weekend, planned as a German Park Tour race.

OSC Hamburg and SC Klecken look forward to a championship weekend in the north.

Photos and maps: OSC Hamburg / SC Klecken