Category: O-Forums

The June O Forum, all about Cascade Orienteering Club’s tremendous Winter League, will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd at 8:30 pm ET on Google Meet.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you are treated to nine national caliber meets every two weeks for four months, in addition to multiple skill level trainings during Cascade OC’s Winter League/WIOL series.

Winter League has become so popular that COC puts an average of 536 folks with a map in hand through the start tents per meet. They are training an average of 300 people each year at two stand-alone training events, plus more during pre-meet trainings and they see their end of season celebration relay attracting about 100 runners.

Join OUSA’s monthly forum series on June 23rd and hear from Michelle Kastner, who just entered her 9th year as the Winter League Director, to learn how an idea that started in 1982 has become a powerhouse orienteering event series that has put numerous students on OUSA national teams.

This forum will be recorded and available on the OUSA YouTube channel.

Add to your Google Calendar

The April O Forum will take place on Thursday, April 16th at 8:30 pm ET on Google Meet.

Professional orienteering mapper Jon Torrance will discuss how to create orienteering basemaps from LiDAR, focusing on free software, including a demo of Terje Mathisen’s basemap
creation tools, and how to use the outputs as a basis for mapping fieldwork.

This forum will be recorded and available on the OUSA YouTube channel.

Add to your Google Calendar

The next OUSA Forum will be on Tuesday, March 3rd at 9:00 pm ET and focus on ski orienteering. 

In this session we will connect live with the US SkiO Team, racing at the World Ski Orienteering Championships in Japan, and hear about their experiences. We will learn some basics of ski orienteering, including tips for making good route choices, as well tips to take your ski orienteering to the next level. We will also explore how a club can develop a skiO program, drawing on the successful example of Grizzly Orienteering, and how that can help a club to recruit skiers to try foot orienteering. We will end the session by learning about tips to help your club organize a skiO race.  The session will be lead by Carl Fey, Coach, US Ski-O Team with input from several other US ski orienteers.  

Join us on Google Meet on Tuesday, March 3rd at 9:00pm ET.

Add to your Google Calendar.

The February Forum, “How to be a world class orienteer” will take place on Saturday, February 21st at 4pm ET. In this forum we’ll hear from Alberto Mínguez, PhD, former Spanish national team member, high-level coach, and author of the orienteering technique book El entrenamiento del corredor de orientación. What does it take to become one of the best in the world? Come find out!

Join us on Google Meet on Saturday, February 21st at 4pm ET.

Add to your Google Calendar.

The January Forum, “Beginner Courses that Spark Joy”, will take place on Tuesday, January 27th at 8:30pm ET. Cristina Luis will take you through designing competition White and Yellow courses, fun courses for youth programs, and alternative offerings for adult beginners at local events.

Join us on Google Meet on Tuesday, January 27th at 8:30pm ET.

Add to your Google Calendar.

The December forum will take place on Thursday, December 18th at 8:30pm ET.

Did you know that OUSA is hosting the World Trail Orienteering Championships in November 2027? It’s true! This means there’s no better time to dive into the world of Trail Orienteering than right now! If you’ve been curious about adding Trail-O to your club’s programs, this is the perfect time to try it out.

Join us on December 18 for an introduction to Trail Orienteering. We’ll talk about the core formats, walk through real examples using the TempO Simulator, and help you get a feel for what makes Trail-O both challenging and fun. The simulator is currently running its festive Christmas Cup (December 1–24), so consider logging in ahead of time to try a few problems before the forum.

Join us on Google Meet on Thursday, December 18th at 8:30pm ET.

The October forum will take place on Thursday, October 23rd at 8:30pm ET on Google Meet.

Join members of Orienteering USA’s Mapping Committee, Jon Campbell, Jon Torrance, and Cristina Luis, for a presentation and discussion of the kinds of things a non-mapper might want to know about the mapping standards for forest (non-sprint) events (ISOM 2017-2 for those of you keeping score at home).

Experienced O-mappers know the specifications and notice map details that you might not know are “a thing.”  Every orienteer, from novice to seasoned champion, can learn something about an O-map that can help them navigate well and compete better.  What’ll you learn?

Join on Google Meet on Thursday, October 23rd at 8:30pm ET.

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.

The July OUSA forum will be all about beginner events!

On Tuesday evening Ron Birks of GPHXO, Blaik Matthew’s of FLO, and Kathi and Jim Mullin of MNOC will be presenting on how their clubs put on events to introduce orienteering to beginners. This forum will be useful for anyone looking to expand their club offerings and get more newcomers involved in the sport!

Join us on Google Meet on Tuesday, July 22nd at 8:30pm ET.

Add this event to your Google Calendar.