Category: Announcements

Due to the continuing situation with COVID-19, the closing of all schools in Washington State from 17 March until 24 April, and related issues , Cascade Orienteering Club is cancelling the Junior National Orienteering Championships 17-19 April 2020.
Cascade Orienteering will refund all registration fees. If you have any questions please contact the Event Director or Registrar.

The Flying Pig / USA Nationals event scheduled for April 3-5 has been postponed due to the developing COVID-19 situation.

Event team will send an email to all registered entrants announcing the postponement and options for refunds. T-shirts/training maps had not yet been ordered or mailed, so a full refund is anticipated.

The St Mary’s College NRE, originally scheduled for March 22nd, has been postponed. Additional details will be forthcoming.

The DVOA Big Woods 2-Day National Meet, originally scheduled for March 21-22, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation. Paid registrations will be refunded in full by check within the next month.

Since this is a postponement and not a cancellation, the embargoes of French Creek North & Coventry Woods remain in effect.

Attention:

All junior athletes registered or who may still register to participate in the JWOC 2020 Team Trials races that are part of the Junior Nationals.

The Cascade Orienteering Club (COC) Contingency Plan for COVID-19 response includes following the Washington state and local health plans regarding hosting any events. The COC board is further exploring postponement alternatives should the virus spread to the point that state or local officials shut down the Junior Nationals for the currently scheduled time.

Should the Junior Nationals be postponed, the JWOC 2020 team selection will not be postponed. Additionally, if the Junior Nationals are not postponed, there may be athletes affected by travel or quarantine restrictions and/or personal concern that traveling to the Junior Nationals will put their families and communities at risk. In all of these circumstances, team selection will be done by evaluation of Type I petitions using the reviewing rubrics listed in the JWOC Selection Criteria. 

For that reason, JTESC encourages all juniors intending to try out for the JWOC 2020 team to submit a Type I petition (missing JWOC Team Trials races, and any long-term issues) which can be used on short notice if the meet is postponed or a decision not to travel is made. 

Any junior registered to participate in the Team Trials, may give “Covid-19 Contingency Petition” as reason for the petition.  The completed Type I petition should include as much of the requested information as possible, and be sent to  ousajuniorprogram@nullorienteeringusa.org by Friday, April 10, 2020 (this is the deadline for all Type I petitions).

Type I Petitions include:

• Evidence that the petitioning athlete has run a 3k time trial. Links to results from significant races over the past 12 months, including championships, other national competitions, and/or international competitions. Head-to-head competition against athletes who are also declared JWOC Team candidates should be highlighted.
• Evidence of the petitioning athlete’s training activity during the 3–12 months leading up to JWOC Team Trials. This should include links to training logs, descriptions of training camps attended, and coaches and/or other athletes who could verify that the training submitted is accurate.
• If applicable, a detailed explanation of the petitioning athlete’s situation and how it precluded him/her from participating in one or more JWOC Team Trials races, or four or more rankable races. The explanation should highlight any inconsistencies in training and/or racing that might be relevant to the situation.

OUSA is pleased to announce that Clinton Morse will be taking the position of National Communications Manager. Clinton will be taking over OUSA’s website and social media content, as well as our email newsletter.

The emails webmaster@nullorienteeringusa.org and newsletter@nullorienteeringusa.org will be transitioning to Clinton shortly.

We also express huge thanks to those volunteers who have been handling these areas recently. Janet Tryson has been maintaining our website content for the past 14.5 years, and Boris Granovskiy and Allison Brown have compiled and edited the newsletter for the last three years.

Many thanks to Janet, Boris, and Allison, and welcome to Clinton!

Orienteering USA is pleased to announce that Amy Winston will be taking over our contact and administrative duties. Amy will be the primary OUSA contact and will handle memberships, financial correspondence, and SafeSport account requests. The appropriate email for these issues is contact@nullorienteeringusa.org.

We would also like to express colossal thanks to Sandy Fillebrown, who has handled these duties for the past several years as a volunteer while we got our financial house in order. 

Many thanks to Sandy, and a big welcome to Amy!

The IOF has scheduled a FootO Event Advisers Clinic for July 28, 2020, at Northstar Resort in conjunction with the Cal-O-Fest and NAOC.

If you don’t already know what an Event Adviser is, the clinic probably isn’t for you at this time but you can learn more at the IOF Clinic webpage if your curiosity is nevertheless piqued.

Since it is a requirement that a national orienteering federation endorse the application of anyone wishing to become an Event Adviser, any American orienteers who would like to take part should contact me using my OUSA email. Entries will be accepted by the IOF through July 12.

–Jon Torrance, OUSA VP Competition