Tag: orienteering

Call for nominations: 2021 Silva and Golden Service Award

The Annual General Meeting of Orienteering USA will be held online Thursday night, October 21. 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 September 26th.  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 September 26th.

Full Silva Award Announcement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GdPkOS3ceKGSHvzdcgO9mIAG_-dN61D/view?usp=sharing

Full Golden Service Award Announcement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jcHCxcTeknuD4A7nhzAgNRnpaop6kvc8/view?usp=sharing

Puzzle Friday: NARC 2021

Just rolled back home after almost 4 weeks on the road – Deschutes Daze in Oregon, OUSA Nationals in Lake Tahoe and the 2021 North American Rogaining Championships, also in Lake Tahoe, CA. It occured to me on the long drive home that it’s been a while since I posted a Puzzle Friday. So here’s a quickie from the rogaine while I sort through thousands of photos and video and make sense of things.

It was great to meet so many of you in my travels these past few weeks. Look forward to catching up with you at future orienteering events. Here is this week’s puzzle.

US Team Trials ’21

May 7-9, 2021

Race director Peggy Dickison

Congratulations to the automatic qualifiers for the WOC Team going to the Czech Republic later this year. The remainder of the Team will be determined after the Czech selection races next month. Previous US WOC Teams can be viewed in the OUSA Library.

Automatic WOC Team Qualifiers: Anthony Riley, Angelica Riley, Joseph Barrett & Sydney Fisher

Automatic Qualifiers:

Winners of the Sprint:
– Anthony Riley
– Angelica Riley
Winners of the Middle +Long (normalized)
– Joseph Barrett
– Sydney Fisher

Highlight Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bJOfDNIvDs

Friday Results

Sprint Blue4.14km22C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Anthony RileyDVOA17:52
2Michael LaraiaMNOC18:37
3Will EngerCOC19:13
4Sergei RyzhkovDVOA19:14
5Eric BoneCOC20:11
6William HawkinsWCOC20:31
7Danny RileyCAOC21:22
8Wyatt RileyDVOA21:38
9Greg AhlswedeDVOA21:48
10Joseph BarrettQOC21:55
11Gheorghe FalaBOK25:11
12Patrick ShannonDVOA26:28
Sprint Red3.4km, 60m19C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Angelica RileyDVOA25:36
2Diana AleksievaQOC25:54
3Alexis MerkaQOC29:45

Saturday Results

Middle Blue6.0 km 55 m13 C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Eric BoneCOC37:44
2Joseph BarrettQOC39:32
3Sergei RyzhkovDVOA44:31
4Anthony RileyDVOA47:08
5Boris GranovskiyGRIZO47:51
6Greg AhlswedeDVOA50:11
7Gheorghe FalaBOK53:00
8Wyatt RileyDVOA53:27
9Danny RileyCAOC55:09
10William HawkinsWCOC56:09
11Michael LaraiaMNOC1:05:28
12Will EngerCOC1:06:10
13Patrick ShannonDVOA1:07:52
Middle Red5.3 km 55 m13 C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Sydney FisherQOC53:27
2Angelica RileyDVOA57:47
3Alexis MerkaQOC1:16:32

Sunday Results

Long Blue (Men)11.4 km 410 m23 C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Barrett, JosephQOC1:17:59
2Ahlswede, GregDVOA1:19:29
3Riley, AnthonyDVOA1:20:39
4Enger, WillCOC1:24:19
5Bone, EricCOC1:25:06
6Laraia, MichaelMNOC1:26:33
7Hawkins, WilliamWCOC1:31:18
8Granovskiy, BorisGRIZO1:35:18
9Riley, DannyCAOC1:36:06
10Riley, WyattDVOA1:42:48
Shannon, PatrickDVOAdnf
Regular Blue (Women)9.7 km 355 m20 C
PlaceNameClubTime
1Fisher, SydneyQOC1:47:32
2Riley, AngelicaDVOA2:05:51
3Aleksieva, DianaQOC2:16:10
4Merka, AlexisQOC2:27:53

Photo Credits: Wyatt Riley, Nadim Ahmed, Clinton Morse

YMP Map of the Month: May 2021

The Youth Mapping Program‘s Map of the Month for May 2021 features Bensalem High School in Bensalem, PA. Remote mapping was performed by Chris Gikkas with a field checking team comprised of Marine Corps JROTC cadets and their instructor Retired USMC Master Sergeant Shawn Worthen. Chris comments that the teams of cadets produced “a perfectly marked-up map that made my revision work quick and easy.“

MCJROTC Cadets learning about the mapping process with remote YMP mapper Chris Gikkas.

Chris goes on to say “The best part of the whole experience for me was the Zoom video call with Mr. Worthen and the cadets. We reviewed a sample fieldwork map I had sent from a previous YMP project, went over the history and basics of orienteering, the mapping process, what a great map looks like (and why,) and how they’ll use it once it’s made . They were engaged, with thoughtful questions, and I believe this communication really boosted their confidence. Given their high level of participation, the Bensalem cadets can be extra proud of their new orienteering map.“

Link to Map

Puzzle Friday: Southwest Spring Weekend ’21

Happy Friday everyone! This week’s puzzling excursion takes us to Arizona where, in a normal year, the annual Southwest Spring Week Orienteering Festival (SWSW) would have taken place. But, like most things over the past 12 months, this year’s festival was reduced to a mere Spring Weekend ’21 but that still beats no orienteering at all. Three great maps, 3 great events. Thanks to the hard working folks at Tucson Orienteering Club (TSN) for keeping the tradition alive and sharing their event with us.

Mark your calendars for next year! SWSW 2022 will take place February 19-27, 2022.

YMP Map of the Month – February 2021

The Youth Mapping Program February Map of the Month feature is the William A. Hough High School in Cornelius, NC.  Due to Covid-19, the Hough HS JROTC unit has not met in person, says Walter Siegenthaler who provided the ‘eyes-on-the-ground’ field checking of the new map.  A multi-session series of virtual classes has been conducted via Zoom to about 45 cadets and it is anticipated that in-person use of the map will commence toward the end of the month.

Mapper Chris Gkikas (WNCOC) notes “This was my first time working with the YMP and it was a great experience from start to finish. Jon (Campbell) is a fantastic map consultant and effectively raised my mapping and drafting skills to a whole new level.  The map was drafted entirely in Open Orienteering Mapper, a free and open source alternative to the industry standard OCAD.”

Are you interested in flexing your cartography skills and joining the growing team of YMP mappers?  Sign up here.  Note: Mappers for the YMP are remote cartographers with field checking performed by persons from the recipient organization collaborating with you remotely as well as support from the core YMP consultant.

2020 Iain Wilson Character Through Competition Award

Philadelphia, PA — The Wilson Awards, in partnership with Orienteering USA, is pleased to announce the winners of the seventh annual Iain Wilson Character Through Competition Award.  This award honors the memory of Iain Wilson by recognizing young athletes whose efforts demonstrate character through their commitment to growth and improvement in the sport as well as their contribution to the orienteering community through service and teamwork. This year’s announcement was delayed from spring 2020 due to the impact Coronavirus has had on training and competition.

We are excited to announce the winners, Bridget Hall and Keegan Harkavy  of New England Orienteering Club and Christiane Fletcher of Georgia Orienteering Club. Each athlete will each receive a $1,000  grant for orienteering travel and expenses. Additionally, applications for the 2021 Individual and Community Growth Awards are being accepted now through April 30, 2021 and can be found at  https://orienteeringusa.org/about/recognition/.

Read the full Press Release

Puzzle Friday: Smokey Glen

Good morning campers! This week’s puzzle takes a look back at last years QOC Bumble – the last event I ran before coronavirus set in. It was a really fun time… The Bumble is a goat-style race with a score-o twist – controls are arranged into windows, controls within a window can be visited in any order, but you must visit all controls in a window before moving on to the next window. Do as many windows as you like and windows can be done in any order.

This years Bumble (modified for COVID compliance) is tomorrow (Feb 6th) at Hoyles Mill, MD and as of this writing, there are still a few spots open. Pre-registration is mandatory and will close at 6pm this evening. Event link. Have a great weekend!

Overlook NRE & Letchworth BillyGoat

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As of September 6th 2021, the fall event is postponed and will now be held on May 7th, 2022. And Sunday’s goat event will be the 42nd running of the venerable BillyGoat. Mark your calendars!

Rochester Orienteering Club (ROC) is taking the optimistic route choice to the end of the Covid Pandemic and is scheduling an orienteering weekend September 18/19, 2021.  The following announcement is from Race Director Rick Worner:

“On Saturday we will host a one-day NRE middle distance event on a new map at Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area and on Sunday we will offer a GOAT-style event at Letchworth East so that people can enjoy a full weekend of activity in the woods.

The plan at this point is to start the Saturday event at 1PM to give people an opportunity to drive in on the morning of the event. Harriet Hollister is around 40 minutes south of Rochester, NY overlooking Honeoye Lake. It has a moderate trail system, interesting contour detail and very open woods. Mark Dominie is the mapmaker. Stina Bridgeman will be the course setter.

The GOAT event at Letchworth East will start and finish at an area outside the park gates to avoid any crowding in the park . Tom Roycroft is the course setter and plans to offer a long (10K+), medium (6-8K) and short (4-5K) versions of the courses. It will be a mass start at 9AM if Covid permits, otherwise it will be some sort of interval or socially distanced start procedure to comply with the OUSA and NYS Parks guidelines.

The park is open at this time of year and offers camping and cabins.  https://newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/letchworthstatepark/r/campgroundDetails.do? Motels south of Rochester are about a 45 minute drive and there are a limited number of motels closer to the park. With the early start on Sunday people should be able to head home by noon. We will likely wait until later in the spring to open registration to see how the vaccination process proceeds and to avoid having to refund fees in case we have to cancel the event. Due to parking and NYS  Park regulations we will likely have to limit the number of entries to 150 people. More on this as we get closer to the event.

We really look forward to seeing many of our orienteering friends again. Fingers crossed.”

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.