The Buffalo Sprint Doubleheader Event Recap

April 26, 2025

Two Sprint NREs in one day in the western NY city of Buffalo.

Host: Buffalo Orienteering Club (BFLO)

Venues:

  • Buffalo State University campus
  • Delaware Park

Event Director: David Cady

Course setters:

  • Linda Kohn (ROC)
  • Jackie Novkov (BFLO)

All photos by Evalin Brautigam.

Results, Maps, and Photos

Photo album from Evalin Brautigam

45th Annual West Point NRE Event Recap

April 12-13, 2025

  • Saturday Venue: Stilwell Lake
  • Sunday Venue: Victor Constant Ski Area
  • Event website

Unfortunately, the planned Saturday afternoon relay event was cancelled due to the winter weather, which had caused a 2-hour delay to the morning event.

Results, Photos, and Maps

The photos above are all by Evalin Brautigam and the West Point Public Affairs Office

Flying Pig Event Recap

April 4-6, 2025

Hosts: Orienteering Cincinnatti (OCIN) and Indiana Crossroads Orienteering (ICO)

Event website

Venues:

  • Friday Middle Distance – Camp Ransburg
  • Saturday Long Distance – Story West (Cancelled due to extreme flooding event)
  • Sunday Urban Middle – Indianapolis

This event features some wild weather, cancelling Sunday’s long race, and a fairly unique urban middle distance race on Sunday.

Photos above by Evalin Brautigam and OCIN.

Results, Splits, and Photos

OCIN’s results page

OUSA photos by Evalin Brautigam

OCIN photo album

US Youth Ski-Orienteering Team Wraps up an exciting week at EYSOC!

US Youth Ski-Orienteering Team: Coach Carl Fey, Euell Browne, Erik Fey, Liam Browne, and Mark
Fey
.

The US Youth Ski Orienteering Team delivered record-breaking performances at the 2025 European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships, which serves as the de facto World Youth SkiO Championships.

Erik Fey led the team with historic results, placing 5th in the long, 6th in the sprint, 6th in the middle, and anchoring the US to 6th in the relay—marking the best-ever individual finish by a male non-European in a major international skiO event. [Ali Crocker has the best ever American result, with a 4th place in a 2011 World Cup race.] He narrowly missed 4th in the long by just four seconds, pushing to the limit in the final stretch. “I really wanted a top-three finish, but I’m proud of my performance and our growing US SkiO youth team,” Erik reflected.

Erik Fey on his way to 5th place in the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships long distance race.

Liam Browne (22nd), Euell Browne (24th), and Mark Fey (25th) also delivered strong results in the long distance race, with Euell edging Mark by five seconds.. The Browne brothers, competing in their first international skiO event, impressed many, showcasing the rising strength of Grizzly Orienteering Club in Montana and the US SkiO program.

Map for the long distance race.

Liam called the experience “amazing,” crediting Erik and Finnish champion Niklas Hirvilahti for inspiring his improvement. When reflecting back on the week of races Euell Brown said, “It was a great privilege to race for my country at European Youth Champs. My navigation got better with each race, and by the long event I felt much better making decisions on the go. I am very thankful
for encouragement of my team: Mark, Erik, Liam and Coach Carl!”

With Erik and Liam moving up to the junior category next year, the US Youth SkiO Team seeks new talent. Interested athletes and media inquiries can contact Coach Carl Fey at carlffey@nullgmail.com.

Junior Nationals and Spring-O Event Recap

March 22-23, 2025

Host: North Texas Orienteering Association (NTOA)

Venue: Sid Richardson Scout Ranch, Bridgetport, TX

This event was a two-day Classic distance NRE, and also the Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Championships.

Results, Maps, and Photos

Historic 6th Place in European Youth Ski-O Champs for US Boys!

The US Boys Youth Ski-Orienteering Team finished 6th today in the relay at the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships. This is the best relay result for the US ever at a European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships, which this year are taking place in Posio, Finland, far North of the arctic circle, March 20-23, 2025. 

The US Boys Youth Ski-Orienteering Team at the Relay Awards Ceremony.

Erik Fey skied the first leg, getting the team off to a good start. Erik finished third on his leg, one minute and 18 seconds behind the leader and 10 seconds behind second place. Erik’s solid result motivated his relay teammates Liam Browne from Montana and younger brother Mark Fey, who both skied solidly to help the team to earn an impressive and record-breaking sixth place for the US. It is especially impressive that this was Liam’s first international ski-orienteering race. Results in ski-orienteering seem to be influenced by genetics as the US Youth Boys’ Team consists of two sets of brothers this year. Liam’s younger brother Euell skied the first leg of the relay for the second US team (which was incomplete) and was only slightly behind Mark and Liam–a very impressive result for his first international ski-orienteering race. The race was won by Finland followed by Sweden and Czech Republic. 

The 2025 Boys Youth European Championships Relay Map

The races took place in an area that included a large lake and much marshland as well as some steep, but rather short, hills (see the above map). The race finished with a tough steep 20 meter climb to the finish which was difficult for many athletes tired at the end of their races, but the US’s last leg skier Mark Fey looked strong as he sprinted up the hill to the finish. Liam and Euell come from a strong background in cross-country skiing and come from the Grizzly Orienteering Club in Montana, which has been producing an increasing number of strong orienteers and ski-orienteers in recent years. The Browne brothers also ski for the strong Glacier Nordic Ski Team. 

When asked about his race Erik said, “I skied a solid race today and am pleased I stayed calm and in control which was our game plan.” US Ski-O Team Coach Carl Fey commented, “It is great to see that the US Ski-O Youth Team is becoming stronger and deeper than in past years. I am really impressed with how well the Browne brothers did today given that this was their first international race. They clearly have much talent, and I expect them to have a great future in ski-orienteering. It was also good to see that hard training by Erik is paying off allowing him to ski a very good first leg for the relay team.” 

The US Youth Ski-Orienteering Team would like to thank their main sponsor Berman Orienteering Supply for their important support. The races continue tomorrow with a sprint race followed by a medium length race on Saturday and a long race on Sunday. You can follow the US Ski-O Team’s results at: Liveservices – Lapin Lumirastit & ESOC, JWSOC, EYSOC 2025. Enquires from the press or messages of good luck to the US Ski-O Team can be sent to: carlffey@nullgmail.com

Southwest Spring Week Event Recap

March 8-16, 2025

Hosts: Tucson Orienteering Club & Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club

Venues: First six races southeast of Tucson, AZ. Seventh race in Tucson. Final three races northeast of Phoenix, AZ

SWSW is an almost-annual weeklong festival of casual orienteering in warm Arizona.

Website: southwestspringweek.org

Results, Photos, and Maps

Photos by Evalin Brautigam
Crowdsourced photos on the Tucson Orienteers Facebook Group

Western States Champs / US Team Trials

Feb 28-Mar 2, 2025

Host: Bay Area Orienteering Club

Venues:

  • Friday: Presidio, San Francisco, CA
  • Saturday & Sunday: Calero County Park, San Jose, CA

This event served as the Team Trials for the Junior World Orienteering Champs (Fri, Sat, Sun) and the World Orienteering Champs (Sat, Sun). Additionally, combined scores for the best two of three days were used to determined the winners of the Western State Champs, an informal competition for orienteers residing in one of the western states (those states with a peak above 10,000′).

Photos by Evalin Brautigam and Cristina Luis

Results, Photos, and Maps