Puzzle Friday: Buckeye Hills

Happy Friday everyone!! This week we’re headed down to sunny Arizona for the recent Buckeye Hills event held by the Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club – GPHXO. A big thank you to Ron Birks and Shane Lacanienta for providing media used to create this puzzle for you.

The event was originally scheduled as a Score-O plus an Adventure Race (foot & bike). Unfortunately due to last minute insurance issues for the cycling portion of the event the Adventure Race was converted to a Long-Foot-O extending beyond the confines of the Score-O map. Kudos to the meet staff for adapting to the situation and pulling off a great event. Be sure to check out their results page for a full writeup, livelox gps replay, photos, video and, of course, results.

OUSA Seeks Part-time Administrator

1/20/21 – OUSA Administrator position is no longer accepting applications. Thank you for your interest in Orienteering USA.

Orienteering USA seeks a part-time contractor to handle administrative functions. 

Duties to include:

  • Serve as the primary OUSA office contact.
  • Handle deposits, invoices, and check requests and interface with OUSA accountants to ensure processing. Work with Vice-President of Finance to review financial reports and maintain efficient processes.
  • Serve as OUSA membership administrator.
  • Administer the annual club recharter process.
  • Handle Safesport training requests and maintain OUSA Safesport certification database.
  • Provide administrative support to the Board of Directors and committees as necessary, including handling preparations for the Annual General Meeting.
  • Attend board meetings approximately quarterly and phone meetings with the finance team monthly.
  • Other duties as assigned

Candidate will work remotely and should have a computer with internet access and experience using typical office suite software such as Microsoft Word/Excel or Google Docs/Sheets. Basic bookkeeping/accounting knowledge is a plus, as is experience with GSuite and/or NeonCRM.

Starting contract rate of $800/month plus expenses, including travel to board meetings.
Anticipated start date: February 1, 2021

Please send resume and cover letter via email to Clare Durand, president@nullorienteeringusa.org.

Orienteering USA is the national governing body of all orienteering activities in the United States and is a member nation of the International Orienteering Federation. We support over 60 chartered orienteering clubs nationwide. Our mission is to: increase participation in the sport of orienteering (including rogaining/map trekking), teach map reading and navigation skills, promote enjoyment of, and respect for, the environment, and establish world-class competitive excellence within our national team programs.

In Memoriam: Ed Hicks

It is with great sadness that we write that Ed Hicks, owner of Orienteering Unlimited, passed away on Jan. 1, 2021. Ed was a major advocate for the sport of orienteering over many decades and spearheaded the production of hundreds of maps of parks, camps, school grounds, conference and nature centers across the United States. His cheerful presence will be sorely missed.

If you would like to support Ed’s wish of growing the sport of orienteering, contributions can be made to the Orienteering USA Youth Mapping Program. This program aims to develop school maps and thereby promote the sport.

View his obituary which includes memorial donation information. You can also view and share your own remembrances of Ed over on the Attackpoint website.

Puzzle Friday: Rentschler Forest

Welcome to the end of the workweek fellow orienteers! This weeks puzzle looks back at the New Year’s Eve Score-O event hosted by Orienteering Cincinnati last week. Looks like a fun event! Thanks to the folks at OCIN for sharing the map and photos with us.

Let us know if you’d like to have your event highlighted for an upcoming Puzzle Friday feature.

Puzzle Friday: Black Hills State University

Happy New Year everyone!! Just a quick post to bring you a puzzle version of the January YMP Map of the Month: Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. We’ll be highlighting the Map of the Month in a future post, so stay tuned for more details on this brand new map.

OUSA Board Welcomes Faye Doria

At its meeting on Monday, December 21st, the Orienteering USA Board of Directors voted unanimously to elect Faye Doria to fill an open position on its board. Faye will fill the remaining one year of a three year term in the position previously held by Susan Grandjean who stepped down this fall. Faye has been an active orienteer with Up North Orienteers (UNO) and the New England Orienteering Club (NEOC) for over 20 years both as a competitor and volunteering as course setter, meet director and registrar at many meets over the years at both the local and national level.

Recently retired, Faye also brings a lifetime of experience in financial services to the board including 30+ years as a personal financial planner, tax planning and preparation, financial support for healthcare non-profit and two years serving her local community as town treasurer. I am sure OUSA’s financial committee will find her expertise invaluable.

You can read Faye’s complete candidate bio from the OUSA library here.

2021 US Nationals Postponed.

Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN) will be postponing the 2021 OUSA Nationals originally scheduled to be held at the Flying Pig on March 19-21, 2021. At this time, it is unlikely that we would be able to use at least one of the parks, and we cannot be reasonably certain that people from around the country would be able to travel to and from the Cincinnati area without restrictions. OCIN is presently discussing specific options and expects to have an update about this postponement by early January.

Puzzle Friday: Oak Ridge NRE

Today’s puzzle takes us to the National Ranking Event at held Oak Ridge in the Prince William Forest Park in Virginia this past weekend. Thanks to Quantico Orienteering Club for hosting the event and providing the media used to create the puzzle. Have a great weekend everyone!!