TeamUSA welcomes Thomas Curiger to the National Team

The Executive Steering Committee is excited to announce the addition of Thomas Curiger to the Elite Squad of the National Team. Thomas is a dual Swiss-US citizen, living in Switzerland. His clubs are OLC Kapreolo (Zurich) and OK Orion (Jämsjö, Sweden). He began orienteering at age 8 and ten years later was called up to the Swiss Junior Team winning gold in the sprint and relay, and silver in the middle and long at JWOC in 2016. He competed at the 2017 World Cup in Latvia and 2018 World Cup in Czechia as a member of the Swiss Elite Squad before dropping off of the National Team in 2019.

Thomas will make his TeamUSA debut at this weekend’s World Cup Round 3 races in Davos, Switzerland. Joining Thomas at the World Cup races will be Elite Squad members Greg Ahlswede and Ricardo Schaniel.

Welcome aboard Thomas and good luck to all our TeamUSA athletes in Davos!

Photo of Thomas enroute to Middle Distance Gold at JWOC 2016.

Pawtuckaway NRE Event Recap

September 9-11, 2022

Pawtuckaway State Park, in southern New Hampshire played host to the 1992 Orienteering World Cup and since that date has been the site of over 25 years of annual Camping Weekend fun held every year in early September. This year the host club, Up North Orienteer’s opted to up the ante and used their one-day fee waiver to host a National Ranking Event (NRE).

The weather was great and two days of conventional orienteering along with Canoe-O and a number of Night-O variants combined with the group camping and potluck picnic supper made for a very memorable weekend. Thank you to Lex Bundschuh and her tireless team for another awesome year at Pawtuckaway!!

JWOC ’22 – Part Deux – Return to the Forest

Back in July, Orienteering USA sent a strong team to Portugal to compete in the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC). Most of the 10-person squad arrived early and got in a week of quality training under very hot conditions. Unfortunately, conditions were so extreme that Portugual closed all forest access across the country, forcing the organizers to pivot and essentially create a ‘sprint-JWOC’ for all the athletes who trained so hard. At that time, the decision was made not to hold formal closing ceremonies, but to postpone the forest races until later in the fall after the danger of fires was gone.

The TeamUSA Executive Steering Committee is now excited to announce the team that will return to Portugal this November to finish what they started. Due to school commitments, many of the team members from July can not attend the forest races. Of the original 10 athletes, four will be returning: Lily Addicott (GAOC), Anna Campbell (NEOC), Alex Merka (QOC) and Holden Sopoti (USMAOC). Joining them will be Oriana Riley (DVOA) who was originally selected as an alternate for the original team, and Emilia Schmidt (QOC) who was selected to compete on the 2020 JWOC Team, but due to the cancellation of JWOC ’20 to the pandemic was unable to compete.

Emilia also brings along her personal coach, Kari Jussila,, who has agreed to be the coach for the US Team. Jussila is the general manager of the elite team for Tampereen Pyrintö – a well-known & regarded Finnish multi-sport club – and has about 50 years of experience in orienteering. Coaches Evalin Brautigam and Thomas Laraia, who coached the team in July, will remain as backup coaches and assist the team remotely, but are unable to attend the competition. Also accompanying the team will be parents Tuija Schmidt and Angelica Riley.

Links to the Original JWOC Team Announcement and the JWOC ’22 (Part One) Event Recap.

17th World Rogaining Championships Event Recap

August 26-27, 2022

Ten Teams from the United States ventured to the Czech Republic last month to compete at the 17th World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining is, at its essence, an ultra-distance score orienteering event with controls placed over a very large area, frequently on steep and demanding terrain. Looking at the maps from Czechia, this years event didn’t disappoint in the steep & long category. Teams have 24 hours to visit as many controls as possible, with varying point values depending upon distance & difficulty.

A number of US Teams managed podium placements in their respective categories. The Women’s Super Veteran category was won by Team Menopawsome with members Shari Hymes (USA) and Australian Thorlene Egerton. Another long-time US/AUS collaboration between Sharon Crawford (RMOC) and Robin Spriggs (AUS) took bronze in the Women’s Ultra Veteran category. Over in the Mixed Ultra Veteran category, perennial competitors the Nightcrawlers (Eric & Mary Smith, CNYO) also took the third spot. Winner’s of last year’s Lake Tahoe Rogaine, Nikolay Nachev & Ashley Blake (COC) just missed the podium, placing 4th in the Mixed Open division. They will definitely be a team to watch when the World Rogaining Championships come back to Lake Tahoe next July. Keep in mind that in Rogaining, teams are eligible for all categories in which they qualify so in the results below some teams have up to four ‘results’.

Photos courtesy of Hana Orienteering / WRC ’22

The World Games – Birmingham Event Recap

July 15-17th, 2022

The first major international orienteering event in the United States in over 25 years took place in Birmingham, Alabama in July. The World Games, traditionally held the year following the Summer Olympic Games, brought over 3,600 athletes from 100 countries to compete in over 30 sports. 80 of the worlds best orienteers, 2 women & 2 men each from 20 invited countries, traveled to Birmingham to test themselves in the Sprint, Middle & Sprint Relay disciplines.

An amazing team of volunteers, both local and Orienteering USA members from across the US, came together in Birmingham to create world class events in the hot Alabama summer. The team, led by Cristina Luis of Tucson Orienteering Club, overcame many obstacles created by working in a complex multi-sport, high security environment to produce events at 3 different venues that challenged, and perhaps surprised, the worlds best orienteers. Thanks to all those that helped make The World Games orienteering events so memorable.

Pre-Event Media

July 15th 2022 – Sprint @ Birmingham Southern College

Photo courtesy Marvin Gentry, The World Games 2022

July 16th, 2022 – Middle @ Oak Mountain State Park

Photo courtesy Matt Smith – QOC

July 17th, 2022 – Sprint Relay @ Railroad Park

Photo courtesy Clinton Morse, Orienteering USA

WUOC ’22 Event Recap

August 15-22, 2022

Eleven members were selected to represent TeamUSA at the World University Championships in Switzerland. Team members Thomas Laraia & Peter Zakrevski were originally selected but could not attend due to injury and Edgardo Cruz (1st alternate) was promoted to the team to fill the vacancy. Additionally, Anthony (AJ) Riley made it to Switzerland but did not race, also due to apparent injury. Evalin Brautigam accompanied the team as coach and Michelle Kastner also provided team support and some of the official photos.

Photos below courtesy Evalin Brautigam & Michelle Kastner
Tip: Right-click images below to view larger version

  • Team Announcement
    • Keegan Harkavy
    • AJ Riley
    • Danny Riley
    • Tyler Wilson
    • Edgardo Cruz
    • Diana Aleksieva
    • Jessica Colleran
    • Julia Doubson
    • Bridget Hall
    • Kirsten Mayland
    • Oriana Riley
  • #WUOC Forever – US National Orienteering Team Blog – a must read!!

Wed, Aug 17, 2022 – Sprint @ Biel/Bienne

Thu, Aug 18, 2022 – Long @ Gondiswil

Fri, Aug 19, 2022 – Sprint Relay @ Langenthal

Sat, Aug 20, 2022 – Middle @ Corcelles

Sun, Aug 21, 2022 – Relay @ Gondiswil

  • Forest Relay Day – TeamUSA fielded two championship eligible womens teams.
    • United States 1 included Bridget, Jessica & Julia.
    • United States 2 consisted of Diana, Kirsten & Oriana.
    • On the men’s side Keegan, Danny & Eddie ran as United States 1.
    • Tyler joined Farrand Graeme of Canada & Hus Martijn (a Belgian) as Mixed 4 (non-eligible).
  • Only the highest placing mens and womens team from each country is listed in the Official Results, but you can check out the other times in the Live Results on the IOF site.

WMOC ’22 Italy Event Recap

July 9-16, 2022

Summary: 34 athletes from 14 Orienteering USA clubs ventured to Italy in July to compete in the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Puglia. Not too many photos have emerged – most seemed to be locked behind a paywall, but we have compiled results for US athletes below.

The Sprint medalists include Sharon Crawford (RMOC) taking Bronze in W75A and Pavlina Brautigam (WCOC) just missing the podium in W60A by only 6 seconds. Over in the Middle Distance event Pavlina redeemed herself with a Bronze Medal in W60A. And in the Long A Final Sharon Crawford took Silver in W75A, Erin Nielsen (UNO) took Bronze in W40A and Pavlina once again just missed the medals with a 4th place finish. Special mention to Stephanie Ross (OCIN) whose solid 5th place finish in the Middle W50B Final earned her a promotion to the W50A final for the Long event.

Sunday, July 10th, 2022 – Sprint Qualification

Monday, July 11th, 2022 – Sprint Final

Wednesday, July 13th, 2022 – Forest Qualification

Thursday, July 14th, 2022 – Middle Final

Saturday, July 16th, 2022 – Long Final

Call for Nominations: 2022 Silva and Golden Service Award

The 2022 Annual General Meeting of Orienteering USA will be held online Thursday night, September 29. One of the highlights of the AGM is the naming of the recipient of the Silva Award.

The Silva Award is given annually to an orienteer who has demonstrated outstanding service to orienteering in the United States over the past five years. The essential quality of every winner has been service to promoting and sustaining orienteering, to making the sport work in this country, and in helping to build the organizations needed to make orienteering successful.

The AGM will also include the announcement of the OUSA Golden Service awards recognizing those individuals who have provided exceptional service to the sport of orienteering that extends beyond the local club level.

Nominations for both awards are being solicited between now and August 28th.  Full eligibility criteria and lists of past award winners can be found in the attached announcements.  Nominations for both awards should be emailed to Susan DeWitt (skdewitt@nullsnet.net) by August 28th.

Full Silva Award Announcement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6RhQ-bJXHxShxo5Ndu_V3Fga7YWJiO1/view?usp=sharing

Full Golden Service Award Announcement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y5WV-7R_GwT9Mbeyl61G8Y17To-D2SZC/view?usp=sharing