Orienteering featured on NBC Nightly News

Orienteering was featured on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt during a segment that aired on Wednesday, March 15th, 2023.

Recent research published by McMaster University’s NeuroFit lab by lead author (and Canadian Senior Team Member) Emma Waddington suggests a strong link between orienteering and prevention of cognitive decline. NBC Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. John Torres came down to Southwest Spring Week last month find out more about our sport.

After a couple schedule changes and delays, the crew arrived at the site of the Cave Creek mini rogaine under clear skies and breezy conditions. Six hours of filming and talking to competitors including 73 year old Kathy Bannister from the Rochester Orienteering Club resulted in some spectacular footage for the segment.

You can watch the full segment on NBC Nightly News YouTube channel below.

Photo credit: Bita Ryan, NBC News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRGk_w8uXEo
Is getting lost a good thing? Study says to stop relying on your GPS

Royal Romp Event Recap

March 11-12, 2023

Results

Media

Orienteering USA Welcomes OCAR

Orienteering USA is pleased to welcome Orienteering Central Arkansas (OCAR) as it’s newest associate member club.

Club founder Rachel Furman states that the club will be primarily focused on the central Arkansas area parks – both city parks and state parks.
(That was probably pretty obvious from the name, huh?).

They are planning to have working o-maps for Allsopp Park in Little Rock, Burns Park in North Little Rock, Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Little Rock, and Lake Catherine State Park in Hot Springs by the end of the year.

For the more immediate future they’re planning on having some informal events and one larger Rogaine event at Lake Sylvia west of Little Rock (3, 6, and 12 hour). The map for that event will be a typical USGS 1:24,000 scale for now.

(Photo at right from Lake Sylvia area, courtesy Rachel Furman)

The club’s online presence is limited to a fledgling Facebook page at present, so check it out, give it a like and share with friends you may have in the Arkansas region.

Allsop Park near Little Rock

2023 WOC Team Trials

The 43rd West Point NRE will host the US Team Trials for the 2023 World Orienteering Championships for the second consecutive year. This year’s WOC will be held in Switzerland, 11-16 July. Following last year’s inaugural Sprint WOC, this year is back to a forest-race WOC, with a Middle, Long, and Relay. Therefore, only the Middle and Long races at the USMAOC event will be used as Trials qualifiers.

The M21 and F21 winners for each race will earn a spot on the WOC Team, as well as the athletes with the best combined results. The Review Panel (Peggy Dickison, Jeff Saeger, and Glen Tryson) will name the remaining athletes, based on a scoring list and petitions. Athletes who wish to be considered for the WOC Team but are unable to compete at West Point must register for the event, selecting “Yes, Competing for selection to the US WOC Team” and “Not participating” under the Race Selection section.

See the Selection Criteria below for more information.

Peggy Dickison
ESC Chairman/Review Panel Chair

US WOC 2023 Team Selection Criteria

  • The winner of each Middle race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.
  • The winner of each Long race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.
  • The athlete with the best combined results in each race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.

Additional information and caveats:

  • At least two athletes of each gender will receive automatic spots; if one athlete wins both races (and therefore also has the top combined result), the second automatic spot goes to the athlete finishing 2nd in the Middle race (because we have more starts in the Middle and Relay).
  • If either the winner of the Middle or Long is also first on the scoring list (a combination of the results of the two races, normalized to be of equal weight), only two automatic spots will be awarded, with the remaining members selected by the Review Panel.
  • Athletes who wish to be considered for the 2023 WOC Team but are unable to compete at West Point must still register for the event, selecting “Yes, Competing for selection to the US WOC 2023 Team” and “Not participating” under the Race Selection section.
  • Remaining members of the team will be named by the Review Panel, using petitions, the scoring list, and Trials results.
  • Any athlete may submit a petition, within an hour of the final race finish, and must explain why they could not attend the Trials, had a subpar result, or were affected by an organizational issue not of their making.
  • There must be at least three declared and eligible athletes competing in a race for there to be an automatic selection.
  • The NT will send at least three athletes of each gender, but no more than 6. Most likely is 3-4 athletes of each gender. This year, the US has 8 or 9 race starts for the women (3 middle, 2 long, 3 relay, and potentially a 4th middle [personal, ie cannot be transferred] start based on the top North American on the IOF ranking list as of 11 May), and 7 starts for the men (3 middle, 1 long, 3 relay, and potentially a 4th middle).
    – As of 4 March, the top North Americans are an American woman and a Canadian man.
  • If anyone with a personal start wants to compete in additional races at WOC, they must either attend the Trials or submit a petition.

Southwest Spring Week 2023 Event Recap

February 18-26, 2023

The Southwest Spring Week is an almost-annual tradition in Southern Arizona, taking place in February and welcoming a mix of both locals and those from colder climates who just want a bit of “O” in the warm desert winter. No NRE’s (National Ranking Events) but a full week+ of high quality events draws orienteers from across the country and even across international borders.

Media

Fire Mountain Middle NRE Event Recap

including the COC 2022-23 Winter League Championships

February 18, 2023

  • Host: Cascade Orienteering Club
  • Venue: Fire Mountain Scout Camp, Mount Vernon, WA
  • Event Director: Michelle Kastner
    • Course Designer: Mike Schuh
    • COC Course Consultant: Dave Tallent
    • OUSA Course Consultant: Glen Tryson
  • Event Website

Cascade Orienteering’s Winter League Series serves two audiences.  It is the home of the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League (WIOL), the oldest school league in the USA, as well as a robust public series.

This year marked WIOL’s 41st season and it saw huge participation with 349 students from 57 different schools registered. Students from 1st grade through seniors in college competed in seven regular season meets for season individual and team trophies followed by one championship race for more team and individual honors and awards.

On the public side, folks on both short and long advanced competed for season and championship trophies, while the other three levels offered enjoyed being non-competitive. Just under 400 different individuals ran in at least one public Winter League meet this season and the series averaged 156 public runners at each meet. 

Twelve different course designers created 8 courses per regular season meet and nine courses for the Championships/NRE, under the guidance of series course consultant, Dave Tallent. This year, thanks to training coordinator John Brady, we offered online training pre-meets, and in-person trainings pre and post races at each meet. Thanks to Patrick Nuss and OUSA team member Will Enger we also offered About the Route, a Sunday night Zoom session where runners could compare routes and learn tips and tricks from the experts. 

Series Direrctor, Michelle Kastner oversaw all eight orienteering meets along with two pre-season in person trainings that saw over 100 participants each, the three hour season ending celebration and awards ceremony, and the season ending bonus relay race. Kastner, along with her core team of eight other individuals, who are all volunteers, made sure each event ran smoothly and professionally. The series was pre-registration only and offered National Meet syle starts and assigned start times for students courtesy of WIOL Registrar Kathy Forgrave. The public picked their own start time via a public app. Under the direction of Volunteer Coordinator, Ing Uhlin, eighty-five different individuals volunteered for at least one day-of-meet volunteer role, keeping each event running at optimum quality and fostering a large sense of community among Cascade’s membership. 

Dan Waugh, who started WIOL 41 years ago, remarked, it is “really inspiring to see all the enthusiastic young faces, the achievements, and the dedication of the many volunteers who make it all happen.”  Dan’s vision over four decades ago has paid back in so many ways.  Eleven of this year’s USA team members got their start in WIOL.  Two of COC’s school teams (Tahoma Varsity and University of Washington Intercollegiate) and two of their club teams (Middle School and JV) won Gold at this years OUSA Jr Nationals in Georgia. Beyond the individual and team achievements, Winter League/WIOL is a local event series that offers folks a way to get outdoors even when its cold and raining, a chance to be part of a diverse and fun community, and the opportunity for learning life long skills – wins for everyone involved.

Media & Links

2023 OUSA Ski Orienteering Nationals

February 3-5, 2023

  • Host: Empire Orienteering Club
  • Venues:
    • Sprint*: Cascade Welcome Center, Lake Placid, NY
    • Middle: Dewey Mountain Recreational Center, Saranac Lake, NY
    • Long: Visitor Information Center of Paul Smiths College, Paul Smiths, NY
  • Event Directors: Janet Findlay and David Hunter
    • Event/Course Advisor: Jim Arsenault
    • Mapper/Course Setter: David Hunter
    • Registrar: Janet Findlay
  • Event Website

*Note: Due to extremely cold temperatures, Friday’s Sprint event did not meet the minimum temperature requirements required for an Orienteering USA sanctioned event. The event was held, with competitors remaining eligible for ESWG awards, but the event was NOT the US Championship event as originally planned.

Results

Maps

Media

Erik Fey notches solid results for TeamUSA at EYSOC

Update (5 Feb, 2023): This post has been updated to reflect a press release covering the Long & Relay events at EYSOC ’23. Updates can be found beneath the map image below.

The European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships are now taking place in Madona, Latvia from January 31-February 5, 2023. Countries from outside Europe are also able to take part. TeamUSA is being represented by Erik Fey, age 14, who is competing in the 17 and under male youth category. Erik was 16th place in both the sprint race Tuesday and the medium distance Wednesday which the announcer said is the best US result in European Ski-Orienteering Youth Championships ever improving upon Erik’s best result of 18th place last year. Erik was especially pleased today to meet his goal of having the best result of anyone born in 2008 or later.

The sprint race and the medium race were both won by Ritvars Lepeskins from Latvia ahead of Lavio Mueller from Switzerland and Eemil Koskinen of Finland. When asked about his race Erik said, “I am pleased to be in the top 20 and felt better about my race today than yesterday even though the results were the same. Today I had three people in 12 seconds in front of me, so I know I can improve my results if I can push just a little bit harder and eliminate the two small orienteering mistakes I had today. My skis were very fast today. I really look forward to the long race on Friday as it is a mass start race which will be in a one man relay format as I love mass starts. I would also like to thank Orienteering USA for their support and my coaches my father Carl Fey and Henri Hämäläinen for training me.”

This year the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships are being covered on web-TV, so you can watch them and see complete results and GPS tracking at: https://orienteering.sport/event/european-ski-orienteering-championships-2/middle/ European Championships continue on Friday with the long distance race and conclude on Saturday with a relay.

For more information or to send a message to the US Team at the races, please contact: carlffey@nullgmail.com

February 5th update:

On Friday, February 3rd, 2023 the long race of the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships for people under 17 took place in Madona, Latvia. Erik Fey (age 14) was the only American participant and ended up in a solid 16th place, ironically the exact same place he obtained in the sprint and middle distance races earlier in the week. Erik had the best result in the race of anyone born in 2008 or later. The race was won by Ritvars Lepeskins from Latvia followed by Eemil Koskinen from Finland and Filip Mairich from Czech Republic.

On Saturday, February 4th, 2023 was the relay. The home crowd was excited to see Latvia take a step forward in the ski-orienteering world and win the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships. Finland took the silver medal and Czech Republic the bronz. Since there were not three Americans, Erik Fey teamed up with two Swedish skiers Ludvig Markhester and Andreij Kuzmin to ski the relay unofficially—teams with people from more than one country do not count in the official standings. All three skiers had solid performances and the team ended up unofficially in 4th.

The 2024 European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships will take place in Austria together with the Junior World Championships and the World Ski-Orienteering Championships in late January. Hopefully more American ski-orienteers will take place in those races.

Many thanks to Carl Fey for providing OrienteeringUSA with timely press releases and the photos from Latvia.

2023 US National Team Announced

The Selection Committee of Peggy Dickison, Eric Weyman, and Matt Smith are pleased to announce the 2023 US National Orienteering Team.

Placements were based primarily on the Selection Criteria, including OUSA ranking scores, IOF ranking scores, and head-to-head competition. In general, we were most flexible/inclusive with the Juniors, who we understand are still improving and have less consistent results; less flexible/inclusive with the Performance Squad; and least flexible/inclusive with the Elite Squad.
 
We are excited to see our team grow, with two athletes returning to the Team after breaks, and six Juniors new to the Team.

2023 TeamUSA Elite Squad

Greg Ahlswede – DVOA
Joe Barrett – QOC
Tori Borish – RMOC
Evalin Brautigam – WCOC
Ali Crocker – CROC
Thomas Curiger – OLC Kapreolo
Thomas Laraia – MNOC
AJ Riley – DVOA
Danny Riley – NEOC
Anton Salmenkylä – A/L
Ricardo Schaniel – Bussola OK

2023 TeamUSA Performance Squad

Diana Aleksieva – QOC
Eric Bone – COC
Isabel Bryant – NEOC
Alison Campbell – DVOA
Jessica Colleran – COC
Julia Doubson – BAOC
Will Enger – COC
Bridget Hall – NEOC
Oriana Riley – DVOA
Sergei Ryzhkov – DVOA
Tyler Wilson – USMAOC

2023 TeamUSA Junior Squad

Lily Addicott – GAOC
Ben Brady – COC
Anna Campbell – NEOC
Ben Cooper – COC
Ian Dunlap – OLOU
Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck – NEOC
Keegan Harkavy – NEOC
Greta Leonard – COC
Kirsten Mayland – DVOA
Alex Merka – QOC
Shawn Mather – USMAOC
Annika Mihata – COC
Hana Myers – USMAOC
Emelia Schmidt – QOC
Zoe Sibthorp – COC
Holden Sopoti – USMAOC
Ava Suhocki – DVOA
Zariah Zosel – COC

’23 Wilson Community Growth Grants

So many of you are deeply dedicated to growing youth involvement in Orienteering. We know the critical role that these same youngsters have in spreading the word and inspiring their peers. That’s why we created the Wilson Community Growth Grant. The grant provides $1,000 to projects and organizations dedicated to growing youth Orienteering.

One need only look at the growth of Navigation Games, a 2017 Wilson Community Growth Grant Winner, led by Barb Bryant. As the organization matures, we begin to see alumni of its program being the next generation of coaches and leaders. Awards have also funded construction of permanent courses including at the Madison School Forest (WI) and our 2022 awardee, Scout Troup 4090 of Washington State.

Scout Leader Eric Stone writes enthusiastically “Being located on an isolated island (San Juan Island, WA), an hour’s boat ride from mainland Washington, provides enough challenges for our local youth community to participate in orienteering meets and competitions. The Wilson Grant Foundation has provided us with all of the tools and navigational aides necessary for us to run a multi-faceted Orienteering, land navigation program.”

“The Wilson Community Growth Grant enabled us to not only obtain compasses, orienteering flags, stamps, and cards, but has allowed us to begin laying out permanent long distance courses connecting our two US National Historic Parks at opposite ends of the island.”

The Troop is planning an April 2023 inaugural event, “We will be inviting teams of scouts to navigate a course through the neighboring national park. We already have our patches in hand, and will start advertising soon.”

Applications for the 2023 Wilson Community Growth grants are currently being accepted and will close on February 1st, 2023.