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. 

Desert Orienteering Festival Event Recap

January 14-15, 2023

  • Host: San Diego Orienteering
  • Venues:
    • The Goat (& The Lamb):
    • The Sprint:
    • The Classic (NRE):
    • The Maze:
  • Event Director: Mark Prior
    • Course Setter (Goat): Chris Day
    • Course Setter (Sprint): Mark Prior
    • Course Setter (Classic & Maze): Matej Sebo
  • Event Website

Results

Maps

  • Coming soon….

Links

Photos

  • Anza Borrego Gallery [50 photos, 3 videos] by John Phillips on FlickR
  • OK Folks – whatcha got? Please send me photos or links to social media

2023 OUSA Junior Nationals & Georgia Navigator Cup Event Recap

January 13-16, 2023

  • Host: Georgia Orienteering Club
  • Venues:
    • Friday Middle: Lake Delanor, F.D. Roosevelt SP, Pine Mountain GA
    • Sat/Sun Classic: Lake Franklin, F.D. Roosevelt State Park, Pine Mountain, GA
  • Event Director: Fred Zendt
    • Registrar: Rick Shane
    • Extreme O Director: Anne Mathews
  • Event Website

Media

Photo Galleries

Video

Results

Maps & RouteGadget

On Open Classes, Competition, and Inclusion

Have you ever wondered what was up with the Open classes at a competition? After all, we have plenty of age group classes, why would we need to have Open classes as well?

For starters, it’s a requirement per the Orienteering USA Rules of Competition unless an event is sanctioned as a restricted event. According to section A.11.1.2, Open Classes are:

  • Competitive White, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Green, and Red courses 
  • Open to competitors of any age, and therefore ‘age-appropriate’ for everyone

For M/F-Yellow and above, Open courses are: 

  • Classified by gender (F for female competitors; M has no gender restriction)
  • Ranked in the OUSA rankings (F.1.1b)

Open classes are not:

  • Championship classes. Competitors are not eligible for OUSA Championship medals (A.11.2.3).  
  • Recreational classes. Competitors pay the same event fees as those in championship classes, and organizers pay NRE sanctioning fees for Open Class starts. 

Why does this matter? As with other sports that offer Open categories, it’s important to be inclusive. Here are some examples of people who might consider an Open category their competitive class on either a short- or long-term basis:

  • A new orienteer who wants to travel to a competition on their own or with their team and compete at the level they are ready for
  • An orienteer with cognitive or socio-emotional differences who can independently complete a shorter and/or less technical course 
  • An orienteer in the advanced stages of pregnancy who would prefer a shorter advanced course 
  • An orienteer coming back from injury or illness who wants to test themselves at a shorter distance (Long COVID, anyone?)
  • Someone who prefers a less technical or shorter course than that of their championship age class

These are all people who see themselves as competitive orienteers for whom a championship class is not appropriate. If we exclude or minimize those who seek to participate in Open categories, it can sound like we are saying that these people are not part of our competitive community, that they are not “good enough.” One part of Orienteering USA’s mission is to promote the sport of orienteering, and the Open classes are an important part of achieving that. 

On a personal note, this has meaning to me because my son’s independent competitive course is an open course. Seeing his sense of accomplishment when he completes a course, even when he is the last to finish, has been a high point in his development towards adulthood. He may not win any age-group championships, but the opportunity to compete just like his friends and family is of incalculable value.

I hope you’ll think of this and other such examples the next time someone says “oh, it’s just the open course.” It is, and it’s open to everyone. 

See you in the woods!    

Tori Campbell
OUSA VP Youth Development

Applications for 2023 National Team now being accepted.

Since 2022, the National Team, aka TeamUSA, has consisted of three tiers: the Elite Squad, the Performance Squad, and the Junior Squad. The Elite Squad consists of those athletes who consistently perform at a high level and are deemed most likely to be selected for world-championship or elite-competition teams. Performance Squad athletes also perform at a high level but may not yet be consistent picks for international team selection. The Junior Squad encompasses all TeamUSA members aged 20 and under; all three tiers are fully eligible to take part in all team activities and to compete for spots on the international-event teams (subject, of course, to age restrictions or other qualifications for individual competitions.)

This year, the National Team Selection Committee (Peggy Dickison, Eric Weyman, Matt Smith) has published selection criteria that refine what has been done previously and will be used in making selections to the 2023 National Team. The Committee feels it is important to publicize the metrics and qualifications that go into selection decisions to increase the transparency of the process, to recognize the significant accomplishment it is to qualify for the Team, and to establish targets for goal-setting and other efforts of those wanting to qualify. While the performance level required to qualify for the National Team is particularly high of necessity, the Selection Committee reinforces that those who qualify have earned the opportunity to be considered for the Team.

These criteria are guidelines for the Selection Committee and will be considered in total and in context for each applicant. While the Committee values the quality and consistency of training, dedication, attitude, etc., ultimately the highest value is placed on performance and results. OUSA and IOF ranking numbers, results and info from individual races, and consistency of performance are the primary consideration of the Committee who rely on the high confidence of such data. However, these criteria are not strict cut-offs, and the Committee will consider trends and groupings and are willing to make mid-year revisions and/or promotions.

Athletes residing outside the United States who do not have an OUSA or IOF ranking are encouraged to apply if they feel their results qualify them to the Team. In such cases, athletes are requested to submit any national or international level results for the Selection Committee to review. Those who qualify for TeamUSA demonstrate they are the fastest and top athletes of the USA and are capable of performing on the world stage on behalf of the USA. Everyone who meets, exceeds, or approaches these qualifications is encouraged to apply. 

The 2023 USA National Team Selection Criteria are published here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/19i3s2tR8BPyCp3O3ERT5cjh04n0SCVj6/view] Feb 7, 2024 – Link no longer available

To apply to the 2023 National Team, complete the 2023 National Team Application Form, due by 18 January 2023, here [https://forms.gle/Supz5ZjNpTy8fNsm7].

2023 World School Sport Games to be held in Brazil

Bulletin 1 for the ISF World School Sport Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 19-27, 2023 has been published. Up to 12 boys and 12 girls born in 2008-2010 who attend school in the US may participate in the orienteering events. The program includes both individual & team competition in the sprint and middle distance disciplines and educational content on topics such as fair play, healthy lifestyle, respect and inclusion.

There is no requirement for affiliation with Orienteering USA to participate; however, the YDP Steering Committee (ydp-steering-commitee@nullorienteeringusa.org) requests notification if athletes or adults from the US register to participate and can advise group organizers on lessons learned from planning for JWOC / WUOC travel in the past. 

OUSA Clubs Present at a PE Teachers Conference

On November 5th and 6th, 2022 two Orienteering USA clubs, Navigation Games (NavGames) and Quantico Orienteering Club (QOC), teamed up to present workshops at the annual convention for Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (VAHPERD).

The convention was attended by several hundred teachers and others involved in PE education. We were invited to present by Austin Kulp, the president of VAHPERD, who previously had a map made through Orienteering USA’s Youth Mapping Program for his school. 

Barb Bryant shared the Youth Mapping Program (YMP), which is an OUSA program to get good orienteering maps made for schools and other youth-serving organizations, and to help teachers with ideas for how to use them.

Navigation Games presented its school lesson plans for elementary and high school students. We set up our fun Geometric Animal-O activity indoors for the attendees to try out. There was a lot of laughter as they scurried about the conference room trying to find the right animal control. We also had SPORTident courses and Poison Score-O in a tiny park across the street from the conference venue. Andrea Schneider of OUSA’s YMP created a base map on short notice, and Barb created the map remotely using Google Street View. Several people took advantage of the spectacular fall weather to enjoy the outdoor courses. 

Don Fish from Quantico Orienteering Club gave examples of how the club works with local schools, and invited the teachers to attend a QOC meet. He also asked them to get in touch with him if they want advice or collaboration on getting started. Don feels strongly that we need to bring more young people into the sport, because many of us orienteers are getting older! 

The participants were enthusiastic about the possibility of including the demonstrated activities in their teaching. 

We’d like to encourage clubs to connect with their state’s PE conference. We’d be happy to give advice for a fun and informative session. We created a companion website for our presentations; feel free to take anything you find useful! The website includes the slide presentations that we went through at the beginning of our 50-minute sessions.

This post was authored by Navigation Games president Barbara Bryant. If your club has news items of general interest to Orienteering USA clubs and members, please contact us at webmaster@nullorienteeringusa.org.