Category: Awards

2024 Golden Service Awards and President’s Awards

2024 Golden Service Awards

Gregory Balter, Delaware Valley Orienteering Association (DVOA)/Grizzly
Orienteering (GrizO)

Ever since Grizzly Orienteering was founded, Gregory has been a fantastic supporter and advocate for the club. When Grizzly Orienteering decided to host their first-ever NRE in 2022, Gregory volunteered to create the base map for the area they used. He then flew out to field-check the Lubrecht map, served as a course consultant and took on the task of printing maps for the entire three-day festival, doing all these things with a fantastic attitude, excellent expertise, and the appropriate timeliness to have everything ready in time for the NRE. During the festival itself, Gregory helped put out and pick up controls, and helped out everywhere he could with the new club’s first big event. When it was time for GrizO to host four days of NREs as part of the Pacific Northwest Orienteering Festival this year, Gregory stepped up again, expanding the Lubrecht map, creating the base map and doing some initial field checking for the Soft Rock map, as well as doing all the map printing for all four days once again. He has done all this work voluntarily, with the sole goal of hoping to see orienteering in this country spread and grow.

Ralph Courtney, North Texas Orienteering Association (NTOA)

Ralph has been an enthusiastic orienteer and member of NTOA since 1996, including serving as equipment manager for over 20 years. He maintains their Orienteering trailer with all of the equipment that he takes to the meets. He is one of the first to arrive at a meet and one of the last to leave – helping to setup and take down equipment.

A lifelong Boy Scout, Ralph edited the 2003 edition of the Boy Scout Orienteering Merit Badge book. He has been teaching Orienteering at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch to hundreds of Scout Masters since 2009. The Scout Masters take this knowledge back to teach Orienteering to the scouts at their troops. Ralph teaches Beginner and Boy Scout Orienteering clinics prior to most of NTOAs meets.

He has created or updated over 20 orienteering maps. He coordinates our NTOA mapping, including the new map for the 2025 OUSA Junior Nationals that NTOA will hold.
Ralph is meet director or course setter for two NTOA events every year. He was course setter for 2007 Junior Nationals, was meet director for 2017 Junior Nationals, and is course setter for 2025 Junior Nationals.
Ralph is NTOA scout liaison, coordinating use of scout camps/ranches for our orienteering meets. He set up three permanent orienteering courses at Boy Scout camps.
He has taught classes and set courses for every one of the Texas Junior Orienteering Camps (TJOCs) since 1998 for high school students from across the United States. Multiple TJOC students later become junior national orienteering champs.

Peg Davis, Tucson Orienteering Club (TSN)

Peg Davis began orienteering with the Tucson Orienteering Club 35 years ago and quickly became an integral volunteer. She started by managing the newsletter and PR, then expanded her involvement by directing numerous events each year and teaching dozens of beginner clinics. Over time, Peg took on leadership roles, including Vice President and President of the club’s Board of Directors. She served as the event director for the 2001 North American Rogaining Championships and the highly successful2004 World Rogaining Championships.

Even years after hosting these major events, Peg remains a central figure in Tucson’s orienteering community. Her efforts help draw orienteers from around the world to the annual Southwest Spring Week (formerly Weekend), where she consistently fills essential roles—whether as event director,volunteer coordinator, social organizer, guest house host, or anything else needed to ensure a memorable experience for all attendees.

Jeanette Dunlap, Orienteering Louisville (OLOU)

Jeanette has been a continuous supporter of Orienteering Louisville for many years now. She has designed and set up Maze-O courses. She regularly handles photography duties at meets. She brings baked goods to their pitch-ins. She promotes the sport to new people.

Jeanette organized all the food for this summer’s Carter Caves Junior Orienteering Camp (CCJOC). She led the other volunteers in preparing, serving, and cleanup so that the youth and staff could have healthy, delicious meals to keep them going strong. She was instrumental to the success of the camp. Jeanette also led the JWOC/WUOC Lunch Fundraiser at Flying Pig XXVI. She helped develop the recipes, tested them, and modified to ensure that the vegan option was as premium as the standard. She did all the shopping, much of the prep work, and most of the assembly. She also distributed the lunches at the meet and sold the extra sandwiches she made to maximize profit for the OUSA Teams. This fundraiser made about $2000 for the teams.

Additionally, she is helping the OUSA Youth Development Program (YDP) with a few tasks. Jeanette does not run any courses herself. She does this because her kids love orienteering, and she wants to see the sport succeed and grow.

Bridget Hall, New England Orienteering Club (NEOC)

Bridget Hall has expended massive volunteer efforts on behalf of NEOC and OUSA. Bridget has been contributing since early 2020 to the development of our young orienteers at the national level and building the community around them. During 2020 and 2021, the two toughest years in the lives of our young athletes, unable to travel, compete, and technically without a solid coaching structure, Bridget was one of the former National Junior Program juniors who helped keep her peers motivated, engaged them in online training and exchanges and helped start the bridging to the National Team. Following the merger of the Junior National Team with the National Team at the start of 2022, Bridget was there as captain of the JWOC team in her last JWOC year, reaching out and motivating her peers, as well as building bridges between the National athletes and the Junior Squad.

As the main author of the US Team Blog, she has been instrumental in bringing the National Team athletes closer to its supporters, the OUSA community. Bridget reaches out to the athletes with the topic for a post, asks for athletes to author articles or does so herself, uses guiding questions if the authors are younger, asks for maps and photos, and assists in creating the blog post if needed. For some readers, these posts bring back a little bit of the way-back-when articles in Orienteering North America, and for others they are just one way of hearing directly from the young athletes and things that make an impression on them in the World of Orienteering.

She has further gotten engaged in the Youth Development Program (YDP). She facilitates the bridging between the young YDP athletes and the National Team athletes. Many of the current National Team members are former National Junior Program athletes and have not forgotten what it meant to have that support from the community, and many of them, including Bridget, are ready to give back to the community by supporting and engaging in many of the Youth Development Initiatives since the creation of that VP position. She has included YDP athletes in some of the US Team Blog posts where appropriate and has been welcoming to YDP athletes on their first AP logging.

Bridget is a contributor to OUSA’s Youth Mapping Program, where she completed her first map as a volunteer. She has completed three subsequent YMP maps but more importantly has gained proficiency, confidence, and experience as an orienteering mapper.

She is the type of young leader that any club would be lucky to have, and she represented OrienteeringUSA at the IOF’s 2024 Young Leader’s Academy in the Italian Dolomites in conjunction with the “5 Days Italy” event.

Finally, at the club level, Bridget has been a mainstay of day-of event volunteering since her early teenage years. More importantly, she has organized (or co-organized) four years of 5-event winter training series and contributed course designs to the 2022 regional training camp and the 2022 US Masters Championships. She has co-meet directed (including designing/setting courses) multiple club events.

Bridget is an exceptional Young Leader in orienteering for all that she has
contributed at the local club, regional, national, and international level. The
future of our sport is in good hands with the active involvement of Bridget and
those like her.

Bruce Moore, Orienteering Louisville / Nashville Orienteering Club (NASH-O)

Bruce Moore has volunteered and passionately promoted orienteering for more
than 40 years. Here are some of the highlights of his service:

Over four years ago, Bruce Moore undertook the challenge of starting a new
orienteering club from scratch in middle Tennessee. This incorporated every
aspect of running a club. His work included finding, organizing, educating,
leading and retaining members. Bruce marketed orienteering to the local and
regional community, gained permissions and coordinated with multiple venues to
promote and implement orienteering events in Tennessee.

Bruce’s tireless efforts brought Nashville Orienteering Club (NASH-O) to life.

Additionally, Bruce gave countless hours contributing his expertise and
personal equipment to produce more than seven maps for NASH-O.

Beyond NASH-O, Bruce created “With A Map” – a customizable interactive program
that combines cognitive learning and physical activity to introduce and educate
new orienteers in large to small spaces or even indoors. Bruce donated and
implemented his “With A Map” programs in multiple locations and events. Bruce
volunteered to run fundraiser maze events at the OCIN Flying Pig.

Bruce has performed decades of volunteer service for multiple OLOU and OCIN
national events including course setting, map updating, and general volunteer
work.

Notably, Bruce organized the first regional event for OLOU, ICO, and OCIN that
included a Classic Event, a Night O, and a Sprint Relay. This event is expected
to become an annual event for regional club bragging rights.

Bruce has worked with dozens of schools, organizations, and JROTC groups to
teach, coach and grow the sport of orienteering. His work has positively
impacted the lives of hundreds of people.

Bruce has gone above and beyond as a volunteer, giving of his time and
experience to expand and improve the existing clubs of OCIN, OLOU and ICO, as
well as breathe life into NASH-O.

Dick Neuburger, Possum Trot Orienteering Club (PTOC)

Dick Neuburger has been a veteran of orienteering in the Kansas City area for
40 years. He has been crucial to the success of Possum Trot Orienteering Club
by being President, organizer, event director, archive researcher, data
collector, mapper, and so many other projects and job titles. He was event
director for the Possum Trot (national event) for more than 20 years. He also
volunteered at several World Masters Championships around the world.

He has helped the boy scouts organization, school O programs, summer
children’s events, and Johnson County Parks & Rec annual orienteering
clinic.

He has been such a large part of orienteering here in KC and around
the country.

Dylan Poe, Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN)

Dylan Poe, of Orienteering Cincinnati, was elected to the OUSA board in 2022 at
the age of 23. When the position became open in 2023, Dylan volunteered and is
now OUSA Secretary. In October 2023, he supported a proposal for OUSA to pay
for a National Federation license for Livelox, and volunteered to be the
liaison to implement Livelox for OUSA clubs. He reports regularly on Livelox
usage statistics to OUSA, has developed training materials for Livelox, and
helped many club volunteers figure out how to load their events and use the
Livelox tools effectively.

Dylan is also heavily involved with orienteering Youth development: He coached
junior teams at NAOC in California in 2023 and organized junior training
sessions at the 2024 Junior Nationals held by COC near George, WA. He helped
with course setting and coaching for Carter Caves Junior Orienteering Camp in

  1. He is a recognized advocate for the OUSA Junior Development Program.

He’s done Course Setting for local meets for both OCIN and ICO, and for OCIN’s
Flying Pig NRE including the OUSA Masters Nationals in 2024. He started doing
map updates while course setting, and has grown into actual mapping, even to
the level of processing lidar data to make orienteering basemaps, with the
intention of making new maps for another club, Indiana Crossroads Orienteering,
as well as OCIN.

He started orienteering in 2012 as an 8th grader at Union County Middle School.
He was named to the OUSA Junior National Team in 2017, and the Junior
Development Team in 2018. He represented the USA at the 2024 World University
Orienteering Championships (WUOC) in Bulgaria.

Dylan Poe’s service to the community of orienteering reflects great credit upon
himself, Orienteering Cincinnati, and Orienteering USA.

Charles Scharlau, Backwoods Orienteering Klub (BOK)

Charles is locally, nationally and internationally active in Radio
Orienteering. He introduced Radio-O to BOK when he directed and set a national
championship in 2006. Since then, he has designed and set courses for the US
Radio-O Champs in 2013, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

With a few others, in 2019, he set up and has been leading the Radio
Orienteering Committee which standardizes the US rules, selects the US team and
coordinates with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the International
Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

In order to set up and compete in Radio Orienteering, specialized radio
transmitters and receivers are necessary. Charles has designed and built
transmitters and antennas to make course setting easier and events more
dependable. His current project is designing an open source transmitter and
receiver that will cut the cost of entry for competitors and clubs in half.

Charles has consistently given up his chance to compete at our local events and
National Champs in order to set the courses for everyone else.

Ralph Tolbert, Delaware Valley Orienteering Association (DVOA)

Ralph was President of DVOA from 2004 to 2008. In addition to hosting many
local events during that time, he was also a course setter for two national
events, one in 2005 and one in 2007. Since that time, his contributions have
been more behind the scenes but no less important; he was on the vetting team
for DVOA’s national events in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2021 and 2022. In 2012, he was
the lead vetter for NAOC. He was an advisor for DVOA’s national event in 2023
and has stepped up again to be on the vetting team for our upcoming event in
October 2024. Part of the reason DVOA is able to host national events on an
almost yearly basis, is because we have club members like Ralph Tolbert willing
to contribute their time and expertise to the sometimes thankless role of
vetter. The club is truly lucky to have a volunteer like Ralph Tolbert!

Rex Winterbottom, NAV-X Map Adventures (NAVX)

While Rex’s official club is NAVX, he is also an important event coordinator
for BAOC as well as running his own event company Terraloco.

Rex loves to bring together orienteers from around the region in unique ways.
He is often looking for new venues and opportunities to host festivals that
will bring folks from different areas and backgrounds to competition. This year
alone, he has helped both SDO and LAOC to host sprint festivals by helping with
finding venues and course setting multiple sprint courses, traveling outside of
his home area to enable regional competition. He is also hosting a State
Championship event later this year that promises some fun North vs South
rivalry.

Rex’s dedication to the sport of orienteering in the State of California and
for all California clubs is not questioned. He has been an innovator for quite
a while now.

While some of Rex’s work toward orienteering is paid, much of
the event planning and course setting that he brings to the state is
accomplished as a volunteer or simply with reimbursement of travel expense. Rex
has helped to make California a more interesting place to be involved in
orienteering and has helped to bring the clubs and their members together as a
state competitive family.

2024 Orienteering USA President’s Award

Blaik Mathews, Florida Orienteering (FLO)
Dylan Poe, Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN)

Blaik Mathews and Dylan Poe are recognized for their contributions to starting a
National Livelox subscription as a service for OUSA orienteering clubs.

In August of 2023, Blaik Mathews of Florida Orienteering reached out to Orienteering USA with the idea to bring Livelox services to all OUSA clubs. FLO had been using the Livelox software and working with Livelox on software improvements and Blaik felt it could be a great service for all of our clubs to have access to. The OUSA board agreed to form a task force to investigate a Livelox subscription in October of 2023 and new board member Dylan Poe volunteered to take the lead role for the Federation.

Blaik and Dylan have put in countless hours since then making the National Livelox subscription a reality. This has included negotiating with Livelox to get OUSA the best possible deal for our clubs, promoting the Livelox initiative to our clubs, preparing educational materials for clubs and event participants to help them implement use of the software, and participating in monthly forums to share expertise and spread the word about Livelox.

Dylan also continues to serve as the official Board representative attached to the Livelox project and keeps the board informed on usage, engagement, and club issues. OUSA greatly appreciates the work that both Blaik and Dylan have put into this initiative and looks forward to our future relationship with Livelox.

2024 Silva Award Winner: Clinton Morse

Clinton Morse is posthumously awarded the 2024 Silva Award for his decades of service to the sport of orienteering in and around Connecticut and especially across the nation. Clinton’s untimely death in July has been a sad and terrible loss for his family, friends, and the local and national orienteering community. He was always eager to take on significant projects and assist others with thorny issues, especially technical ones. His absence is leaving a gaping hole for so many.

Photo by Nadim Ahmed


Clinton became active in orienteering and WCOC over 20 years ago. He did the field work and drafting for several local maps including Gay City State Park, Crandalls Town Park, Coops Sawmill, and the University of Connecticut (UConn) sprint map. He was currently working on completely re-mapping and expanding Brooksvale Park near New Haven, CT. He had plans to help the club revise some of their other outdated maps. He was the manager of much of WCOC’s event equipment and set courses for numerous local events, including a Billygoat. He also organized national events himself. In the spring of 2024, he single-handedly put on the Sprint Team Trials for the US World Orienteering Championship team at UConn—an event that had Clinton as mapmaker, course setter, registrar, and meet director. Clinton was living proof that one person can put on a national event, especially with some helpers on event day. It was a resounding success.

Clinton has been the Orienteering USA Communications Manager since he retired from UConn in 2020. In that capacity, he was the OUSA webmaster, published the monthly OUSA online newsletter, published the much-heralded Year in Review, and coordinated social media for the organization. His work has raised the bar for OUSA’s media and communications and set wonderful precedents for those who will come after him. He traveled to a majority of the National Ranking Events held during his tenure to take photographs, write up event summaries, and participate in the competitions. He drove countless miles (actually not countless, he did track them) in his converted camping truck to attend these venues, often crossing the country in only a few days to get to an important event. When he attended these competitions, he often helped do whatever he was asked to help with. For example, at the World Games in Birmingham in 2022, he assisted with equipment setup and doing whatever people needed done even as he was photographing and managing the publicity for the orienteering events.


In his capacity as OUSA Communication’s Manager, Clinton Morse was best known as a photographer and a dedicated and passionate advocate for all clubs hosting events and all orienteers finishing them. He quickly got his own course out of the way to photograph others finishing. Clinton’s tasking was only to provide general content for OUSA’s social media, but his passion for photography and his fellow orienteers led him to create a tremendous photo library expressing the immense joys of our sport.

Clinton stepped into a role that was defined on paper as a communication role, and made it his own, with an infectious knack for sharing the best of our community and our sport, in photos, video, newsletters, and simply sharing ideas with others. In that role, Clinton also became a valuable sounding board for anyone in any club that was facing communication challenges and needed some wisdom and perspective.

Clinton defined what it means to be a community builder. Always happy to connect with other orienteers about their events—past, present, and future—he not only helped promote those events but also drove across the country many times to be a part of national events all over the country. There are stories of Clint, as a spontaneous volunteer, going out on snowshoes in negative 14 degree weather at the 2023 US Ski-O Championships to take epic photographs of activity that would otherwise have been missed in the cold.

When the year was over, he produced an annual retrospect of the year’s top events and promotions for the coming year. These have become keepsakes for many OUSA members, reminding them of what US orienteering is at its best. They are now also a reminder that Clinton Morse represented the best of orienteering in everything he did.


Clinton was a fixture at most recent big NREs for his work as OUSA’s Communications Manager, taking photos of orienteers in-the-woods and finishing. But at many NRE’s, he volunteered for various duties well beyond his official duties. Because he needed to pre-run courses, he reduced the hosting club’s need to find prerunners to turn on the SportIdent SIAC-enabled units. He set up his truck-camper for use as download, using an awning that was part of the camper conversion. He volunteered on many occasions to help pull controls after a day’s events.


Clinton Morse exemplified the true spirit of orienteering. His enthusiasm, dedication, and passion, and friendship can never be replaced and he will be sorely missed.

Also see 89 tributes and memories on AttackPoint discussion thread “Clinton Morse”

Nominations sought for 2024 Silva & Golden Service Awards

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.

TeamUSA Athletes selected for 2024 Young Leaders Academy

Three TeamUSA athletes – Bridget Hall (NEOC), Lily Addicott (GAOC) and Oriana Riley (DVOA) were recently selected to represent the United States at the 2024 IOF Young Leaders Academy to be held one month from now in conjunction with the “Five Days Italy” competition in the Dolomites of Italy. These athletes were chosen in a competitive application process earlier this year. Oriana unfortunately will be unable to attend due to prior commitments that have arisen since the awards were announced.

Bridget is “looking forward to a great week of orienteering and, more importantly, spending a week building connections with youth from across the globe while learning skills that can (hopefully) help build orienteering in the United States. I’m excited that this is the first stop on our adventure this summer, and extremely grateful that I get to do the whole thing with Lily.” Lily adds “The Italian 5 day is going to be such a blast with Bridget by my side, and we will bring home a ton of useful connections and information that we can share.“

The Orienteering USA Board of Directors, at its most recent meeting on May 20th, voted to award a $300 stipend to each athlete to offset the costs of travel to the academy. The Youth Development Program (YDP) is also providing a $1000 stipend to each athlete. This is just one example of the ways that the YDP supports youth and young adults in developing their competitive interests as well as mapping, event direction, course design, sport journalism, or other aspects of orienteering that they love. All youth are welcome. We especially welcome older youth who would like to inspire younger kids.

Congratulations to all three of these inspirational young ladies on their selection to attend this important conference.

2024 Wilson Character through Competition Awards Announced

Philadelphia, PA — The Wilson Awards, in partnership with Orienteering USA, proudly announce three winners of our 2024 Character through Competition Awards. Paige Suhocki of Freehold of New Jersey along with Ben Cooper and Greta Leonard, both of Maple Valley, Washington, have been chosen to receive this $1,000 award, which honors the memory of our friend and family member, Iain Wilson. The awards seek to amplify the energy and commitment young orienteers bring to our sport and community. While we are delighted when our awardees are successful in local and even international competition, in a broader sense we hope to encourage the kind of character that communicates to others the joy of competing as a shared endeavor.

Paige has been orienteering since the age of 10 and was one of the youngest volunteers at the World Games at just 14. Lena Kushleyeva of Delaware Valley Orienteering Association shared, “She is an energetic and charismatic teenager whose love for orienteering is extremely catching, to both her peers and to adults.” Lena then spoke to her passion for the sport igniting a similar passion in her teammates and its impact on recruiting new orienteers. Paige writes that the resilience she has built through Orienteering “will not only help my performance but will keep me moving forward toward my higher aspirations.”

Paige’s application mentioned something that Iain Wilson and so many orienteers love, “Orienteering has given me a new appreciation for nature and how fortunate I am to experience it in this way.” We are delighted to see Paige’s enthusiasm is so infectious. Paige plans to use this year’s award to extend her Junior World Orienteering Championship (JWOC) participation by visiting Italy to train and compete. Paige was also selected as 2nd Alternate to this year’s Sprint World Orienteering Championships (WOC) team in Scotland in July.

Ben and Greta continue a long tradition of Orienteering excellence amongst athletes from Tahoma High School in Washington state. Like many Wilson Award winners, they compete for their school’s track and cross country teams while balancing a challenging academic workload and extra-curriculars just like our beloved friend, Iain Wilson.

Asked to share his proudest orienteering accomplishments, Ben spoke about his role as a team captain and his passion for mentoring, planning workouts, course setting, updating maps, and designing courses. Ben also states, “Racing allows me to go beyond my limits and gain valuable experience.” Ben clearly loves mentoring opportunities and finds the sport “provides valuable connections with people.” Ing Uhlin, Vice President of Cascade Orienteering Club writes, “What makes Ben stand out is not just his speed and skill in orienteering, but the time and effort that he devotes to others.”

Greta is known for putting her team and learning first. She has volunteered with Cascade Orienteering Club to coach part of an introductory mini-course for over 50 JROTC cadets. She wrote in her application, “In the process of training and competing, intangible gains are realized that have a greater impact on my life. Orienteering has taught me adaptability, grace, and the importance of a positive attitude. Often, a non-podium finish can result in more growth than a win.” John Brady of Cascade Orienteering Club writes about Greta, “She takes feedback so well, is willing to assess her own weaknesses with an open and mature mind, then applies the feedback to try and improve – she is a Respectful Warrior.” 

Paige and Greta will compete in the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Pilsen, Czechia this summer while Ben is the first alternate on the men’s team. Additionally, previous awards winners Bridget Hall, Alex Merka, Keegan Harkavy, and Thomas Laraia will be competing in this summer’s World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) with Bridget, Keegan & Thomas also be representing TeamUSA at the World Championships in Scotland (WOC). We wish them all great success!

The committee seeks individuals who have the willingness and ability to see beyond their own individual ambition and spread the spirit that brightens their lives and the lives of those around them. We feel their enthusiasm for the outdoors, for running, for navigation, and for their fellow competitors sets an example for all of us.

Iain’s college roommate and committee member Anthony Belber notes, “What stands out about all the applicants for this year’s award is how invested in the sport these young people are and how much they are growing and learning from their investment. Not only have our award winners given back to their orienteering communities, but they are being shaped and developed into fine leaders and competitors by their experiences in the sport and within those broader communities.”

Applications for the 2025 Wilson Awards will be accepted later this fall. Additional information can be found at  https://orienteeringusa.org/about/recognition/#wilson.

Official Press Release (PDF)

2024 Iain Wilson Award Applications Now Open

For the past 10 years, the Wilson Awards, in partnership with Orienteering USA, have supported young, developing orienteers through the Iain Wilson Character through Competition Awards for outstanding character in orienteering. The award is intended to assist with the cost of education, training, and travel to local, regional and international orienteering events. For 2023 the Wilson awardees were Ben Brady from Cascade Orienteering Club and Alex Merka from Quantico Orienteering Club. Both athletes were subsequently chosen to compete for TeamUSA at the Junior World Championships in Romania this past July.

Ben writes “Orienteering, especially in the United States, is a difficult sport logistically as often times races will be on opposite ends of the country, and getting valuable orienteering experience in unfamiliar terrain requires many expensive plane flights and hotel accommodations. This fact is made even worse if you want to travel overseas. Through the Iain Wilson Award’s generosity, a large portion of my recent trip to Romania was funded, giving me the support to not only have an incredible orienteering experience, but also to improve my skills in the sport.”

After JWOC concluded, Alex came back to the US briefly to compete in the North American Orienteering Championships for TeamUSA as well as teaming up with her mother to compete in the 24 Hour World Rogaining Championships at Lake Tahoe.
In early August Alex moved to Czechia to study at Charles University and broaden her orienteering opportunities, competing for TeamUSA in the 2nd round of the Orienteering World Cup in Czechia days after arriving there.
Read more about Alex’s adventures since moving to Czechia in this TeamUSA blog post.

Ben and Alex both made excellent use of their ’23 Wilson Awards and applications are now being accepted for the 2024 Character through Competition Award as well as the 2024 Wilson Community Growth Grant which supports programs that bring orienteering to youth around the country.

Online forms as well as printable versions for both programs are available now on the Orienteering USA website. Visit this Application Link to apply today. Applications are due by February 15th, 2024.

Information and press releases on previous award recipients can be found in this document from the OUSA Library.

2023 Silva Award Winner: Andrea Schneider

Orienteering USA is proud to announce Andrea Schneider of the Minnesota Orienteering Club (MNOC) as this year’s winner of the prestigious Silva Award. As OUSA President Clare Durand commented during the presentation of awards at last nights AGM, Andrea is sort of the Susan Lucci of orienteering. She has been nominated for this award on many occasions, but has never been selected to receive the coveted award until now. A well deserved award indeed.

Andrea is recognized for her work with youth and schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and with the US Junior Teams and National Junior Program (NJP) as well as serving as the Junior Team Administrator. Andrea has led NJP fundraising efforts at numerous national events mostly through the ubiquitous Junior Team sandwich sales. Planning, shopping, preparing, and distributing the ordered sandwiches takes significant planning and time and is no trivial task. If she could not be at the event in person, she has arranged for her husband, Vince Laraia, along with her sons, Michael and Thomas, plus other juniors, to seamlessly handle shopping, preparation, and distribution, in her stead.

In the summer of 2022, Andrea was the Team Leader at The World Games 2022 Birmingham in charge of all of the volunteers for the Venue Prep and Finish Teams. She was the Functional Lead for the Finish Team. And she was the sign “wrangler” in charge of moving the signs from place to place for each event. She was also of monumental help to Anne Mathews in working with the volunteer team from the TWG staff in getting the scheduling data entered into software used by TWG.

For numerous national events to which juniors have traveled long distances without parents, Andrea has coordinated lodging and transportation—both to/from airports and event venues. This has enabled many juniors to participate in events that they might not have been able to otherwise.

Andrea has handled uniform orders for all of the National teams for several years, working with the supplier, collecting orders, adjusting when minimum quantities of certain items are not reached, and then arranging delivery by multiple means—often with juniors themselves—in order to minimize costs. Andrea and her husband Vince Laraia have frequently hosted NJP members and other junior orienteers at her home. In 2017, she organized, as well as provided, housing for juniors at the 2017 JWOC & WOC Trials, hosted by MNOC. She and her husband Vince Laraia prepared and hosted an event dinner on the first day of the Trials.

Andrea is an accomplished mapper, and processes lidar data so much she is a resource for helping others get started with that difficult task. Andrea has also started a business, I Know My Way, LLC, providing educational orienteering programs to schools and other youth groups. As part of this work, she has used the abundant lidar resources of Minnesota, plus Kartapullautin, to create new maps—most of which could be used at future local events. As a result, Andrea has exposed hundreds of children and teens in both Minnesota and Wisconsin to our sport.

Andrea directs most of the local events for her home orienteering club, MNOC, handling the administrative end, while others—often her sons—plan and set courses. One thankless—and frustrating—task Andrea has taken on—often repeatedly—is requesting payment and other critical responses from JNT and JDT members, including taking orders for team uniforms as mentioned above.

Finally, despite competition from soccer and track, Andrea has managed to raise two (of three) sons who love orienteering and have been members of USA national teams.

2023 Golden Service Awards

The AGM is also the opportunity to recognize those individuals who have provided exceptional service to the sport of orienteering that extends beyond the local club level by presenting them with Orienteering USA Golden Service Awards. The recipients of this year’s Golden Service Awards are:

  • Captain Rex Settlemoir (USN, ret.), Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN)
    • Nominated by Mike Minium, OCIN
    • Captain Rex Settlemoir (USN, ret.) is a 1974 U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy, including duty during the Vietnam War, later serving further as a high school Junior ROTC Instructor.
    • Captain Settlemoir first became involved with Orienteering Cincinnati as a JROTC instructor. He regularly brough his cadets from Greenville High School and Hamilton High School to OCIN events. He advocated for inclusion of the sport of orienteering in the NJROTC curriculum. As the instructor, he also developed a passion for doing courses himself. Later, after retiring from instructing, he became much more involved with doing courses on his own, helping with event organization, and especially helping as the club’s photographer, taking dozens of photos for our website and social media pages at almost every event.
    • Captain Settlemoir almost always arrives at events early, helping to set up the start and finish, assisting with registration, giving instructional sessions for beginners and especially for JROTC and youth groups. Rex’s many photos provide lasting memories to the participants and he even frequently stops to take photos while out competing on his course! He has become a core OCIN volunteer, and is the club’s current Secretary. His organization skills are unmatched, and he keeps meetings on track, and almost always sends draft meeting minutes the day after the meeting.
    • On a national level, Rex has been a consistent and reliable volunteer with OCIN’s Flying Pig National Ranking Meet, helping with registration, starts, equipment transport, and of course photography, as well as whatever needs to be done. Rex has also done photography for neighboring club events, particularly Orienteering Louisville, and he is always ready to step in as a volunteer for anything orienteering-related.
    • Just this past month, Rex served as the primary Event Director for a large JROTC orienteering event with well over 200 starts. Due to several key OCIN volunteers being unavailable, Rex had to organize the few available volunteers effectively to keep up with the arriving cadets, keep the start organized, deal with a rude and verbally abusive JROTC instructor, and still find time to take several dozen of his signature photos! This event assuredly would have been much in chaos without Rex’s leadership, and OCIN has surely benefited from his help many times over at our other events.
  • Petr Hartman, Delaware Valley Orienteering Association (DVOA)
    • Nominated by Sandy Fillebrown, DVOA
    • Petr Hartman has been an exceptional volunteer for DVOA for many years. His work has been partly behind the scenes but it has been crucial to our national event program. Over the years he has scouted terrain; prepared base maps; field-checked and updated maps; and set and vetted courses for both local and national events. Most recently, he was the course setter for day 2 of our NRE in 2022 at Coventry Woods and he will be the chief vetter for the recently sanctioned SML event in 2024 at Nay Aug Park and Merli-Sarnoski Park.
    • Petr is a dedicated and outstanding volunteer. For his contribution to OUSA by supporting
    • many of DVOA’s national events, he will receive the Golden Service Award.
  • Matthew Robbins, Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN)
    • Nominated by Bruce Moore, OLOU/Nash-O
    • As a BOD member of Nash-O I would like to submit my nomination for Matthew Robbins (OCIN) for the years of service he has put in not only with the local club (OCIN) but with other regional clubs as well. Matthew regularly helps with OCIN events and other events, especially in the technology area. He can often be found at the download station at the Flying Pig every year.
    • Matthew has also served on the National Board of Directors where he brings expertise with Juniors, Event Management, Technology, and Mapping. Matthew taught several mapping seminars in LiDAR processing for OUSA. He is also the number one person to support the Golden Service awards and encourage clubs to use this system to recognize their volunteers – both old and new.
  • Steve Durand, Los Angeles Orienteering Club (LAOC)
    • Nominated by LAOC Board
    • Steven is an LAOC member who has served as club treasurer for a number of years. In this capacity, he handled financial dealings for the 2022 OUSA Nationals. In 2017 Steven was the course setter for the OUSA Relay Championships hosted by LAOC at Camp Scherman. While most of Steven’s volunteer contributions have been behind the scenes, his willingness to help out with LAOC’s larger events and keep our finances in order have enabled LAOC to maintain a healthy schedule and have the financial resources to host NREs.

2023 OUSA Presidents Awards

  • Michelle Kastner (COC)
    • Michelle Kastner is recognized for her work with the Cascade Orienteering Club Youth League (WIOL), her work with Juniors, and her assistance with the Junior Team (JWOC and WUOC). She was instrumental in rebuilding the Winter League and WIOL after the COVID pandemic and is always looking for ways to improve the experience and training for the Juniors. The WIOL is one of the largest contributors of athletes to the OUSA National Team Junior Squad.
    • Michelle has traveled with the US junior teams to JWOC and WUOC, as chaperone, official photographer at all races, and has provided critical logistical support. She even fronted the competition entry fee for the entire junior team so they could compete in the 2022 WUOC sprint.
    • OUSA appreciates her tireless dedication to the Junior Program both locally and Nationally.
  • Gavin Wyatt-Mair (BAOC)
    • Gavin Wyatt-Mair is recognized for his persistence and hardwork directing the 2023 CalOFest and events leading up to it. CalOFest was Gavin’s vision to build a large orienteering festival around two high-level international events on consecutive weekends: the North American Orienteering Championships (NAOC) and the World Rogaining Championships (WRC). Overall, CalOFest included ten events (5 National Ranking Events, 3 NAOC World Ranking Events + relay, and the WRC), bringing together nearly 800 orienteers and rogainers from 29 countries. Gavin’s tireless, hands-on leadership and endless enthusiasm were absolutely pivotal to the success of CalOFest. Gavin assembled the leadership team, led them through countless hours of detailed planning, and himself contributed hours of his time to mapping, course setting, equipment transport, and many other thankless tasks.
    • This is even more impressive when considered in the context of the pandemic. CalOFest faced numerous challenges, starting with the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the event to be postponed twice. The event was initially scheduled for 2020 but was first postponed to 2021 and later to 2023 due to the pandemic. What started as a 2-year project in 2018 turned into a 5-year project, during which Gavin took on the additional responsibility of organizing the U.S. Orienteering Championships twice: 2019 at Big Basin in the Bay Area and 2021 at Lake Tahoe. He also organized the 2021 U.S. Rogaining Championships. Gavin’s leadership in organizing these events provided valuable experience for the CalOFest team in preparing for a large multi-day event.
    • All three events were successful and served to move the National schedule in OUSA forward. Gavin’s efforts are greatly appreciated.
  • Nathan Ohrwaschel (DVOA)
    • Nathan (Nate) Ohrwaschel is recognized for his long-term board service as the OUSA liaison to our Insurance broker. Nate joined the board in 2017, when OUSA was still trying adapt to life without staff. He took on the task of handling insurance issues for the Federation. In this position, he works with our insurance broker every year to renew the insurance policies and he handles questions and issues that arise from the clubs. Nate’s largest challenge came in 2021, when our standard policy would no longer cover Mountain Bike events. Nate worked tirelessly with the broker to find a way to cover Mountain Bike events for that year and to work with the board and clubs on how to handle the funding for the extra policy. Nate has just been reelected to the board for another three year term. We appreciate his continuing service and look forward to working with him into the future.

Nominations sought for 2023 Silva & Golden Service Awards

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Orienteering USA will be held virtually on Tuesday, September 19th, 2023. 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 10th.

Photo of 2022 Silva Award winner Cristina Luis receiving her award at the 2022 OUSA Nationals.

2023 Wilson Character through Competition Awards Announced

Philadelphia, PA — The Wilson Awards, in partnership with Orienteering USA, proudly announce two winners of our 2023 Character through Competition Awards. Alex Merka of Mt. Airy, Maryland and Ben Brady of Maple Valley, Washington have been chosen to receive this $1,000 award, which honors the memory of our friend and family member, Iain Wilson. The awards seek to amplify the energy and commitment young orienteers bring to our sport and community.  While we are delighted when our awardees are successful in local and even international competition, in a broader sense we hope to encourage the kind of character that communicates to others the joy of competing as a shared endeavor.   

Alex has been orienteering since, as a toddler, she was old enough to hold a map. Taking advantage of Quantico Orienteering Club’s (QOC) junior training opportunities, she developed skills so that two decades later she was selected to represent the United States at the international level. In addition to being a fierce competitor she is also described as an enthusiastic volunteer who is always ready to help others.

Franklin Fish, President of QOC writes, “what impresses me the most about Alex is her willingness to help out our club whenever and wherever she is needed, usually without being asked.” This was on display when Alex taught orienteering to groups of middle schoolers last summer and when she created a campus map for a local school’s PE and after-school programs. This combination of ambition and selflessness is the kind of character that the committee is thrilled to support.

Like Alex, Ben started orienteering early in life and in the Northwest, where he embraced the exceptional training and competition programs available through Cascade Orienteering Club (COC) and Tahoma Orienteering in Maple Valley. He has used this platform to build his skills while mentoring up-and-coming young athletes.

Chris Cooper, Head Coach of Tahoma Orienteering Club writes, “He is one of a kind. He achieves success at the highest level but is willing to help those around him…. I have never had the opportunity to coach someone who is such a well—rounded and grounded human being.” Ben’s own words capture his enthusiasm for the sport, “The ability to race against my friends, run in unknown terrain and have fun throughout the process is something that only orienteering competition can bring.”

Ben and his teammates recently gave back by spending a week mapping Fisk State Park for future COC programs. Ben represents the second time that a parent-child pair has received Wilson Awards. His mother, Sherri Brady, spearheaded a 2017 Wilson Community Growth Grant in partnership with Tahoma Middle School’s PE program. Many of its participants have gone on to compete at the high school and national level.

The committee seeks individuals who have the willingness and ability to see beyond their own individual ambition and spread the spirit that brightens their lives and the lives of those around them.  We feel their enthusiasm for the outdoors, for running, for navigation, and for their fellow competitors sets an example for all of us.

Looking back on ten years of awards, Iain’s sister, Kate Wilson writes, “I am delighted at the inclusiveness of the award.  When I first went orienteering in the 1980s there were very few women.  To my surprise I saw that we have made awards to eleven women and six men.  This says great things about orienteering as a sport for everyone – looks as if I‘d better get my boys out in the woods so they can catch up.”

Applications for the 2024 Wilson Awards will be accepted later this fall. Additional information can be found at  https://orienteeringusa.org/about/recognition/#wilson.

Official Press Release (PDF Version of this post)

Photo credits: Evalin Brautigam (1 & 3), Clinton Morse for Orienteering USA (2 & 4)

2023 Iain Wilson Community Growth Grant Winners Announced

The Wilson Awards, in partnership with Orienteering USA, are proud to announce the
winners of the 2023 Iain Wilson Community Growth Grant. The $1,000 grant has been awarded to two
deserving programs that will use the funds to initiate and expand their orienteering programs.

The first recipient of the grant is the Los Angeles Orienteering Club’s (LAOC) newly formed Youth Development Team. In its first year, the team will utilize this grant and matching funds to assist team members with preparing for and attending training camp and participating in events beyond the local Los Angeles region.

Team members will be supported by parents and LAOC members providing additional training opportunities and transportation to events. LAOC seeks to develop youth ambassadors for the sport who will spread enthusiasm to a larger group of potential young orienteers. The program will be headed by John Phillips, with a supporting committee of board members to assist with training.

The second recipient is the Southold Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp (NJROTC) in Long Island. This unit includes cadets from Southold, Mattituck and Greenport High Schools in Eastern Long Island and is led by Captain Timothy McAllister, a retired Captain in the United States Navy.

The grant will be used to initiate an orienteering team for the unit and provide 198 cadets access to orienteering skills and classroom instruction. 100 cadets will participate in “hands-on” orienteering competitions and an additional 25 cadets will be able to attend NJROTC regional competitions.

Additionally, funding will be used to initiate a permanent orienteering course at a local park and host the NJROTC Area 4 Championships next fall. McAllister’s goal is for the team to increase interest in orienteering, leadership, teamwork, and STEM-related careers.

Read more in the Official Press Release