Tag: ousa

OUSA Welcomes SkyPilots

Orienteering USA is pleased to welcome its newest chartered club, Sky Pilots Endurance Navigators, to its ranks. Sky Pilots is a multi-disciplinary club focusing on orienteering, mountaineering and endurance events – often with unusual event formats. They are located in western Colorado.

The club’s founders Eric Robinson and Ginny LaForme are ultrarunners and former North American rogaining age group champions. They met in Colorado’s San Juan mountains. In a rather strange coincidence, each discovered that the other had for years been hosting an informal run called Las Trampas, unknown to each other and in two different states. In 2004, they married, and in 2018, they moved to Ouray, Colorado and have been busy exploring and mapping the surrounding public lands ever since.

This past weekend the club hosted a ‘Backyard Ultra‘ in which competitors run a 4.167 mile course in beautiful Ouray, CO. Sounds easy enough, right? Well every hour, on the hour, athletes must line up and do it again until only one person remains to start the hourly lap (aka ‘yards’) and complete it. This year’s winner toughed out 35 yards for a total of 145.95 miles. Yowsa!


Perhaps running the same 4.167 loop every hour isn’t your cup of tea? Well coming up on June 4th the Sky Pilots will present the Lost One Standing, a unique mashup of Backyard Ultra with orienteering and rogaining. This 24 hour event, starting at 9am Saturday, will feature 24 different courses on 1:7500 maps with at least 6 each at beginner, intermediate and advanced difficulty levels.

At the beginning of each hour, select, start and complete one of the courses (1-6 controls per course) – you can only do each course once so choose wisely. Mass start at the top of each hour and you must complete the course within 60 minutes to remain in the primary competition. If you can’t get around the course in under an hour (or can’t get back to the start line for the next hour), you will drop down to the secondary competition in which you can continue to participate, but no longer constrained by the one hour limit. Starts in the secondary competition are every half hour, but you can take as long as needed to complete your course, rest between courses etc.

Western Colorado has some amazingly scenic terrain so be sure to check out their webpage for event information and to ogle the gorgeous scenery. You can also join their active public group on Facebook or follow them on Strava.

Eric approaching treeline above Ironton
All photos in this post courtesy of Sky Pilots Endurance Navigation

2022 WUOC Team Announced

The selection committee for the World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) is pleased to announce the 2022 team for this biennial competition. The committee members are Linda Kohn, Peggy Dickison, Will Enger and Jeff Saeger.

The competition will be held in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland from August 16-21, 2022 and is open to athletes between ages 18 & 25 that are currently registered in a degree/diploma granting program of study at a recognized institution of higher learning or having earned said degree within the prior 12 month period.

Congratulations to the following athletes who have been selected to represent TeamUSA at this year’s World University Orienteering Championships!!

  • Men
    • Keegan Harkavy
    • Thomas Laraia
    • AJ Riley
    • Danny Riley
    • Tyler Wilson
    • Peter Zakrevski
    • Edgardo Cruz (1st alternate)
  • Women
    • Diana Aleksieva
    • Jessica Colleran
    • Julia Doubson
    • Bridget Hall
    • Kirsten Mayland
    • Oriana Riley
    • Grace Zoppi (1st alternate)
Keegan Harkavy
Harvard University
Thomas Laraia
University of Edinburgh
AJ Riley
Stanford University
Danny Riley
Cornell University
Tyler Wilson
US Military Academy
Peter Zakrevski
Rutgers University
Diana Aleksieva
University of Virginia
Jessica Colleran
University of Washington
Julia Doubson
Amherst College
Bridget Hall
Mt Holyoke College
Kirsten Mayland
Dartmouth College
Oriana Riley
Stanford University
Edgardo Cruz (1st alt)
US Military Academy
Grace Zoppi (1st alt)
University of Washington

2022 WOC Team Announced

The WOC Selection Committee (Jeff Saeger, Glen Tryson & Peggy Dickison) is pleased to announce the US Team for this year’s World Orienteering Championships in Denmark. This years championships, to be held June 26-30, will be the first WOC to focus exclusively on the sprint discipline (aka Sprint WOC). Future WOC’s will alternate between Forest WOC & Sprint WOC formats.

The first event will be a Sprint Relay in the town of Kolding which includes an old town area with asymmetrical street patterns including the castle Koldinghus dating from around 1200 that rises about 20m above the town.

Image: Hubertus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The second event will consist of qualifying and final rounds of a Knock-Out Sprint in and around the military fortifications of Fredericia, characterized by hilly ramparts now covered by grass and forest. Within the fortifications lies the town proper with a symmetrical road network divided into quadrants.

Image: CC BY-SA 1.0 via WikiTravel

The final events of the championship will be the Individual Sprint qualification and final races in the Danish town of Vejle including a complex old town area with shopping streets, backyards and narrow alleyways. Modern residential areas with public buildings and schools are also present. To the north lies a steep 90m slope with deep ravines and partly vegetated with deciduous forest areas. To the south lies a flat area cut by multiple railways and two water courses passable by bridges and, in some cases, tunnels.

Privat fotograf, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Because the sprint relay team consists of 2 men + 2 women, TeamUSA will be sending three men and three women to this year’s competition. Congratulations to the following athletes selected to represent the US at this years Sprint WOC:

  • Men
    • Joe Barrett – QOC
    • Sergei Ryzhkov – DVOA
    • Ricardo Schaniel – Bussola OK
    • Eric Bone – COC (alternate)
  • Women
    • Tori Borish – RMOC
    • Evalin Brautigam – WCOC
    • Alison Campbell – DVOA
    • Oriana Riley – DVOA (alternate)

Because the relay is the first event, it has been pre-determined that Joe Barrett, Ricardo Schaniel, Tori Borish, and Evalin Brautigam will run the relay, running order to be determined.

Joe Barrett
QOC
Sergei Ryzhkov
DVOA
Ricardo Schaniel
Bussola OK
Tori Borish
RMOC
Evalin Brautigam
WCOC
Alison Campbell
DVOA
Eric Bone (alt)
COC
Oriana Riley (alt)
DVOA

There will also be a WOC Tour held concurrently with 3 Sprint races held on the same terrains the WOC competitors will face plus 3 Forest Middle distance races for spectators to enjoy. Come to Denmark and cheer on TeamUSA and get a solid week of races in for yourself as well!

National Team adds two new members

The National Team Executive Steering Committee (ESC) is pleased to announce the addition of two new athletes to the Junior Squad roster.

Oriana Riley from the Delaware Valley Orienteering Association is currently attending Stanford University. She has been competing consistently this year at the Georgia O-Fest in January including the Sprint WRE in F-21+, the Big Woods Classic NRE in March and most recently the West Point NRE held this past weekend in New York where she took part in the WOC Team Trials in F-21+. She is currently nationally ranked 6th in F-20.

Zoe Sibthorp from the Cascade Orienteering Club joins Oriana on the Junior Squad and currently attends Woodinville Montessori High School in Washington. Zoe is currently ranked 5th in F-20 having recently competed at the Lighthouse Middle NRE in February and the OUSA Junior Nationals in early April.

Congratulations to both of you and we look forward to your continued success as members of TeamUSA!!

42nd Annual West Point NRE Recap

April 23-24, 2022

Saturday AM: Middle at Black Rock Forest

Saturday PM: Sprint at Trophy Point

Sunday: Long Distance at Black Rock Forest

OUSA Seeks Volunteers for Key Program Roles

Youth Mapping Program Outreach Coordinator

The Youth Mapping Program (YMP) Committee is seeking volunteer(s) who would be willing to help us with outreach to identify new schools and non-profit youth organizations who would be interested in a map. This role involves:

  • Identifying organizations with missions and terrain that align with YMP opportunities. In particular, organizations with terrain that supports mapping from a distance (i.e. open areas rather than dense forests), or that is near a YMP mapper’s location. Don’t worry – no mapping expertise is necessary.
  • Publicizing opportunities and contacting organizations to get them excited about trying orienteering
  • Connecting them with other Orienteering USA (OUSA) assets (list of local clubs, education website, etc)
  • Following up with organizations who have received YMP created maps, in order to generate stories of their map use, to be used by the National Communications Manager to further publicize and grow the program

For more information about the Youth Mapping Program, see the Youth Mapping Program page on the OUSA website.  Interested people should contact the YMP Committee at YMPCommittee@nullorienteeringusa.org.

OUSA Rankings Coordinator

After many, many years of volunteer service maintaining the US foot orienteering rolling rankings, OUSA’s longtime rankings coordinator Valerie Meyer has decided to step aside. OUSA therefore stands in need of one or more people to do the work of keeping the rankings updated as National Ranking Event (NRE) results come in.

The required qualifications are modest – passable computer literacy, including basic skills in using spreadsheet software, and access to Microsoft Excel are really all that is required, given a willingness to put in one to two hours work in the aftermath of every event including one or more NREs (perhaps more for particularly well-attended events or events with a lot of participants new to the rankings, e.g Junior Nationals).

If that sounds like you and keeping the OUSA rankings system going is something you think would give you a warm glow, please contact VP of Competition Jon Torrance at jon.torrance@nullorienteeringusa.org.

2022 OUSA Junior Nationals Recap

April 1-3, 2022

  • Host: Orienteering Cincinnati
  • Event Website
  • Location: East Fork State Park, Batavia, OH
  • Event Director: Mike Minium
    • Registrar: Guy Olsen
    • OUSA Course Consultant: Peter Goodwin
    • Course Setters:
      • Friday: Shin Shimizu
      • Saturday: Matthew Robbins
      • Sunday: Mike Minium

Friday: Middle at Slabcamp Run

Saturday: Classic Day 1 at Afton-Elklick

Sunday: Classic Day 2 at Indian Mounds

Miscellaneous

2021 Silva Award Winner: Ed Hicks

The 2021 Silva Award is posthumously awarded to Ed Hicks, who sadly passed away on New Year’s Eve, 2020. Ed was an active and invaluable member of the US orienteering community for over 40 years with Orienteering USA and Hudson Valley Orienteering as well as HVO’s predecessor the Westchester Orienteering Club.

Ed was a tireless and prolific promoter of the sport of orienteering through his teaching and map making activities. He taught a full day program for Avalon Preserves Stewardship Program for 13 years as well as conducting beginner instruction at local events over the entire course of his 40+ year involvement with the sport. Ed also promoted orienteering by authoring dozens of orienteering related publications for schools, Boy Scout groups, camps and nature center personnel; teaching programs and developing maps for World Orienteering Day events and presenting at GIS conventions and conferences throughout the United States.

Ed was perhaps most well known for his passion in making orienteering maps. His map projects ran the gamut from small park and scout camp maps to numerous NRE level maps. Some of his recent projects included developing maps for HVO’s National Meet at Mountain Lakes (North Salem NY), a pair of maps for recent West Point events, Trail-O and Ski-O maps at Windham Mountain, NY and a number of maps/basemaps for BSA Eagle Scout projects. Ed had served as OCAD’s US Sales and Service Representative since the early ’90s providing valuable feedback to the software developers over the years. He also founded Orienteering Unlimited in 1979, which was the first vendor of orienteering equipment and supplies in the US.

Ed Hick’s extensive contributions to the sport of orienteering in the US are far reaching and span decades of devoted service. Orienteering USA is honored to remember him with this years 2021 Silva Award.

YMP Map of the Month – January 2021

As we head into the new year, Orienteering USA’s Youth Mapping Program (YMP) is moving ahead full steam. At last count there were seventeen (17) new maps in production by 17 different mappers, plus an equal number of remote field checkers serving as ‘eyes on the ground’. And the committee has more map requests queuing up!

This month’s featured Map of the Month is a 1:4000 scale map of the campus of the Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. It was created by YMP mapper Julia Doubson with field checking by BHSU Professor Christine McCart who heads up the Outdoor Education Program on campus. Professor McCart will utilize the new map in her PE 100 Orienteering Course as well as RECR 242 Outdoor Skills class. She also intends to share the map and resources with PE teachers in the local school systems.

If the map looks familiar, its probably because we ran this as our Puzzle Friday feature a few weeks back on New Years Day. You can check out the puzzle of this and other maps in our Puzzle Friday archives