Month: August 2025

World Masters Champs 2025 Event Recap

Aug 8-15, 2025

Sharon Crawford and Peter Gagarin with their bronze medals from the Sprint Final.

With over 2,000 entries this year, the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) in Girona, Spain, was clearly the place to be. The WMOC is the IOF championship event for those aged 35 and older, and every year Masters athletes from around the world travel to compete, some of them against friends they’ve known for many decades.

All photos from Evalin Brautigam. Map snippets from Livelox.

There were 34 US athletes in attendance this year, from clubs all over the country. The highlights for the US contingent include three podium trips for Sharon Crawford (W80), who earned a bronze in the sprint, and silver in both the middle and long. Over in M80, Peter Gagarin earned bronze medals in the sprint and long.

Maps, Results, and Photos

There does not appear to be an official repository for routes and maps, but this search on Livelox should get you some wildcat entries with plenty to look at.

Lots more results, splits, and photos on the official WMOC site.

August Forum

The August forum will take place on Wednesday, August 27th at 8:30pm ET on Google Meet.

Join Elias “Eli” Jimenez, founder of VentR-out, for a live demo of a virtual reality orienteering simulation grounded in the fundamentals of the sport. Drawing on past experiences competing in and organizing adventure races, he sees VR’s potential for simulating outdoor experiences in a new way. This early-stage project highlights VR as a promising medium for orienteering training. Get a first-hand look at what’s possible, where it could go next, and how you could help shape its evolution.

Join on Google Meet on Wednesday, August 27th at 8:30pm ET.

US Ski-O Team seeking applications for 2026!

The IOF Ski-O schedule for the winter of 2026 is out now!

The Ski-O World Championships will take place in Japan March 1-7, 2026; the Junior World Championships, Youth Championships, and a round of World Cup races will take place in Sweden February 5-8, 2026, and World Masters and a round of World Cup races will take place in Bulgaria January 21-25, 2026.  

Anyone can race in World Masters Ski-Orienteering Championships. Applications to race for the US in any of the other ski-o races should be sent to US Ski-O ESC Chair Adrian Owens (aowens@nullsterlingcollege.edu) by September 30, 2025.  

Applications for juniors and seniors must include: race results (ski-O, foot-O, X-C skiing), Training done for the past year (preferably in a standard like Strava or Attackpoint), training plans for the coming year, a brief statement of interest about joining the team, and biographical info (birth date, citizenship status, gender, Orienteering USA membership number as membership is a requirement to be on the US Ski-O Team).  Questions about the races or the US Ski-O Team more broadly can be addressed to Adrian or US Ski-O Team Coach Carl Fey (carlffey@nullgmail.com).  

Applications should be sent to ESC chair Adrian Owens by email before Sept 30, 2025.

Map from the 2009 World Ski Orienteering Championships

YMP August Map of the Month

The Youth Mapping Program August Map of the Month is of Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. This map is used in classes for Outdoor Education students and in classes for general Physical Education students. In the future, the university plans to share this map with local ROTC and scout groups.

According to Outdoor Education professor Chris McCart, this map is “user-friendly. It gives credibility to our program.”

Interested in having a map made of your school? Learn more about the program and apply here.