Month: December 2024

National Team applications now open!

Each year, the National Team represents the United States at international orienteering events around the world. From World Cup races to the World Orienteering Championships and Junior World Orienteering Championships, our athletes compete at the highest level and showcase the best of Team USA.

Athletes selected for the National Team are grouped into three squads: Elite, Performance, and Junior. Additional athletes may also qualify mid-season through team trials or a petition process to compete in specific international championships.

Apply Now: National Team application / Selection Criteria

The National Team application deadline is January 12, 2025—don’t miss this chance to compete on the world stage and represent TeamUSA!

As previously announced, the JWOC and WOC Team Trials will take place at the BAOC event Feb 28-Mar 2. For WOC and JWOC selection criteria and more information about the National Team, please visit the National Team page.

OUSA Events Calendars

Stay up to date with Orienteering USA events, forums, and deadlines by subscribing to the OUSA Events Calendar!

  • Google Calendar: Add to Google Calendar
    Clicking this link will open the OUSA Events Calendar in Google Calendar. If you’re logged in to your Google account, you can easily add it by selecting “Add” to keep track of events directly in your Google Calendar.
  • iCal Link: Download iCal File
    The iCal link allows you to add the OUSA Events Calendar to other calendar applications, such as Apple Calendar or Outlook. Simply download the iCal file and import it into your preferred calendar app.

Don’t miss out on upcoming O-Forums, national ranking events, online course review sessions, and more!

OUSA Club Recharters

It’s almost time for Clubs and Supporting Members to recharter with Orienteering USA!

OUSA Clubs (regular and associate) and Supporting Members can start the recharter process in January 2025. More information to come in January.

December OUSA Forum: Getting started with mapping!

Are you interested in mapping? Already have some mapping experience and want to learn more?

Join us December 19th at 8:30 ET for the December O Forum on Mapping, presented by Jeff Teutsch of Navigation Sports! Jeff has over 10 years of experience in making orienteering maps, from basemap creation to the final product. His work includes everything from schoolyards to the giant wilderness area used in the North American Championships this summer. Through his orienteering venture Navigation Sports, Jeff has taught mapping skills to a multitude of other aspiring mappers.

This session is aimed towards those who want to get started with mapping or have just started their journey, but even the most experienced mappers will learn something new!

Learn from Jeff on December 19th at 8:30 ET on Google Meet.

Add to your Google Calendar.

YMP December Map of the Month

The Youth Mapping Program December Map of the Month feature is Sprague Woods School Forest in Caledonia, MN. This city park was recently dedicated as a school forest and remains open to the public, but school groups are especially encouraged to use the space. Teacher Robbie Sobczak, who provided eye-on-the-ground support for this map, plans to use the map to introduce his 9th-grade Geography class to the sport of orienteering.

Are you interested in flexing your cartography skills and joining the growing team of YMP mappers?  Sign up here.  Note: Mappers for the YMP are remote cartographers with field checking performed by persons from the recipient organization collaborating with you remotely, with support from the core YMP consultant.

2025 WOC & JWOC Team Trials Announced

The National Team Executive Steering Committee is pleased to announce that the WOC and JWOC Team Trials will be held together at BAOC’s event next March 1-2. The weekend events will take place in Calero County Park, with a middle race on Saturday and a classic on Sunday. There will also be a sprint on Friday afternoon, with the location pending permit approval. The sprint will likely be an NRE; the weekend events definitely will be (and will also serve as the Western State Championships). There will not be a European trials event for WOC this year.

Petitions will be accepted for both WOC and JWOC teams, but Trials attendance is preferred.
For WOC, the Saturday and Sunday events will count for the WOC Team selection. For JWOC, all three events will count for JWOC selection.

While the event is earlier than usual, we hope that knowing well in advance will allow athletes to train adequately. For the northern tier athletes this can be difficult if it’s a snowy winter; we understand but believe that our top athletes are up to the challenge.

More details will follow. The website doesn’t have a lot of information yet, but BAOC is looking forward to hosting the Team athletes and others who want to try out for one of the teams or be there to support them. The concurrent Western States Champs will include all courses and classes for the non-Trialers.

Please see the JWOC 2025 Selection Criteria for details on how the JWOC team will be selected. The 2025 WOC Selection Criteria will be published in early December.