Clinton Morse had notified the OUSA Board of Directors that he intended to step down as National Communications Manager at year end to pursue other retirement goals. With his sudden loss, the OUSA Board will look to fill his shoes sooner than expected.
Until OUSA can come up with a permanent solution, Barb Bryant has volunteered to coordinate our communications. She is seeking additional short-term volunteers to help with this task; please contact her at barb.bryant@nullorienteeringusa.org if you can volunteer. You may continue to send any messages related to communications to webmaster@nullorienteeringusa.org or newsletter@nullorienteeringusa.org and be confident they will be received by OUSA.
Photo by Nadim Ahmed
Orienteering USA is deeply saddened to announce the sudden passing of Clinton Morse, National Communications Manager, on July 12, 2024. He suffered a fatal heart attack after his morning run. Clinton was 62 years old. His untimely loss leaves a big gap in our hearts, and will be felt throughout the orienteering community. We offer our deepest condolences to his wife Ellen, his children Anna, Hayden, and Jackson, as well as to his extended family and friends.
He was a wonderful human being who also did a great deal of OUSA publicity, including the monthly newsletter, Year In Review, social media posts, and anything else he was asked. Clinton is most famous as the guy with the camera who was running around like a maniac near the O-meet finish line to take your photo. You couldn’t breathe, but suddenly you wanted to try to look good in the shot. He had a gift for highlighting our best orienteering selves, whether that was in words or in images.
Clint was a graduate of Cornell, and most of his career was in horticulture. He was the manager of the greenhouse and botanical collections at the University of Connecticut until his retirement in 2020. Besides his official OUSA role, Clinton was an enthusiastic orienteer, trail runner, and Rogainer, and was a mapper as well as a frequent course setter. Most recently, he single-handedly produced the Team Trials for the US World Orienteering Championship team at UConn, from maps to courses to results.
Photo by Nadim Ahmed
Team USA will race in the Knock-Out Sprint, the final race of this year’s World Orienteering Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland. The qualifying round starts quite early; TV coverage for the semi finals and finals starts at 11:00 a.m. Eastern / 8:00 a.m. Pacific. For live tracking and TV coverage, visit this page.
The qualification race will have 3 parallel heats with an interval start. The top runners in each heat qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter- and semi-finals have multiple sets of 6 runners with a mass start and forking. The final is just one race with 6 runners in a mass start with forking.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Orienteering USA will be held virtually on Tuesday, September 24th, 2024. One of the highlights of the AGM is the announcement of the annual Silva & Golden Service awards to recognize individuals who have contributed to our sport both at the national and club level. Nominations are now being accepted for both of these prestigious awards and are due by Sunday, September 15th.
Photo of 2023 Silva Award winner Andrea Schneider at NAOC 2023 in California.
The 52nd CISM World Military Orienteering Championships (the other WMOC) will take place from October 16-22, 2024 in Cartagena, Spain. This competition is open to active duty personnel from all branches of the military.
Services are now accepting applications for the US Team to compete in the CISM Orienteering Championships. Please complete your applications by July 31st, 2024.
Reach out to your respective service sports office for more information on how to apply through their systems/processes. Even though orienteering is not listed on many of the service sport calendars or websites, please apply if you are interested and available. The services will send your applications to Armed Forces Sports and to the selection committee.
Information on the event:
Links below to the service sports sites and details on applying:
Please also email Maiya Anderson with your expression of interest so that she may reach out to the service sport office if she don’t receive your application through official channels.
MAIYA ANDERSON, Col, USAF, BSC, PhD
Permanent Professor & Head, Physical Education Department
Director, AF Combatives Program, Center of Excellence
US Air Force Academy, CO
(719)333-9295/2818, DSN 333-9295/2818
Maiya.Anderson@nullafacademy.af.edu
