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Note from the OUSA President
 Happy New Year! Hopefully you’ve already been able to get out into the woods this year, either on foot, bike, or skis. I was lucky enough to attend the Georgia Navigator Cup event this month and even though it wasn’t quite as warm as I was hoping, the woods were beautiful and the courses were challenging. Thanks again to GAOC for continuing its history of hosting phenomenal orienteering events.
The OUSA Board is continuing its work in all areas of orienteering. We are in the middle of making the switch to our new accounting and membership processes. Robin will be closing down the PO Box 1444 address by the end of the month, so please send any checks, forms, or questions to Sandy Fillebrown at: Orienteering USA, 824 Scotia Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128-1231. Her email address is contact@orienteeringusa.org. Please be a little patient for the next few weeks as we iron out any kinks in the system. As anyone who is familiar with system migrations can attest, it is seldom an easy process and often it takes longer than anticipated.
We are also working on finalizing the Championship schedule for 2018. NEOC is hosting the Junior National Champs in conjunction with the Troll Cup on April 28–29 at Mt. Tom State Reservation in Holyoke, MA. Unfortunately, that is the only championship event scheduled so far. We are actively seeking hosts for the National Championships (S/M/L) and the Masters Champs (formerly known as Classic Champs). At this point, they would most likely be held in the late summer or in the fall in order to give clubs enough time to prepare. I’m hoping that a more experienced club that has hosted national events in the past will step up and agree to host one of these events. Please contact me if your club is interested.
Along those same lines, I also wanted to encourage clubs to try to avoid scheduling local or regional events on the same weekend as a national event that is being hosted by a nearby club. We recently had an unfortunate situation where there was such a conflict, and it caused people to have to choose between two very good events. I know that sometimes it can’t be avoided, but with the lack of national events on the calendar this year, let’s make sure we allow orienteers to attend ALL national and local events without having to make a choice.
And, finally, the Board is working on improving all of the systems that OUSA and its members use. It has been awhile since we’ve done maintenance on our website and all of the behind-the-scenes systems that keep it running and make it easier for members to join/renew, pay for membership, register for events, etc. We are also determining if we can enhance our membership database to allow clubs to use the data for their own membership records. Look for news about this effort throughout the year.
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OUSA 2018 Budget
Over the past few months, the Board has been thoughtfully planning out the budget for 2018. We are a bit behind, though. The last meeting we had on Dec. 7 was recessed until Dec. 28, so the VP of Finance could pull together all of our thoughts into one document. There was a vote on this to have an official budget; the board revisited it at our in-person meeting at the Georgia Navigator Cup to finalize all of the entries and items. Of course, each line has an explanation, but a few key things to point out:
- There is a BOD Designated Contingencies fund in anticipation of receiving a like number of requests from different clubs this year for a variety of orienteering-promoting activities. No such requests were funded in 2017.
- There is a new IT-related improvement contracts line item. This is to shore up/improve all of the technology that we use - the website (currently on an unsupported platform with many broken parts), membership database (which we should be using for more functions than we do and will be expanded so clubs can use it for their club databases), improving our payment systems, updating and improving EventReg, etc. OUSA has not paid for maintenance for many years, and we are long overdue. We will be putting out an RFP for this work.
- The amount teams are receiving from OUSA in 2018 is in the BOD designated column. The Ski-O team did not ask for money this year.
- The amount for the Junior Coaches that OUSA is funding is $15K. The balance is coming from a donor.
I’ve just highlighted the bigger items. Minutes from the January 13th meeting are available at the link above, and the budget will be discussed at every Board meeting. Feel free to send Kris Beecroft an email with any questions, or join the next meeting at the Troll Cup in April. The instructions on how to join are here.
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noname Uniforms
noname is a genuine Scandinavian sports  brand specializing in the design, production, and sale of custom-made sport textiles for clubs and companies for Nordic Skiing, Orienteering, Track and Field, and Cycling. In addition, noname offer an expanding retail collection with delivery from stock.
The noname head office and warehouse is located in Vaasa, Finland, while national offices are situated in Borlänge, Sweden; Halden, Norway; Moscow, Russia; and Tartu, Estonia. During 2009, noname opened its first brand store in central Tampere, Finland.
 At noname, we live and breathe running, skiing, and orienteering. It’s in our veins and it’s built into our textiles. noname sports gear lives up to the highest standards of every aspect in sports textiles. The excellent function and style is designed by people who love their sport. No matter if you are a world-class athlete or just exercise for fun, we have the products that will help you go all the way. The rest is up to you. Blood, sweat, and tears—that’s all it takes. |
Orienteering
noname offers a complete collection of orienteering textiles. Our collection includes several training and warm-up suits, four different racing shirts, and a huge selection of trousers and pants for every level of orienteering. For many pieces, we use digital printing techniques since it is a superior technology for profiling the club with a great design and high quality sponsor logos.
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QualityNordic
QualityNordic is a Park City, Utah-based clothing distributor that sells noname sport textiles in USA and Canada. All of our products are made with the highest quality materials and available for the lowest prices possible. Shop online (no minimum) or contact us for custom made design for your team/club.
noname is the proud partner of Team OUSA since 2014.
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Represent the U.S. at the Ski-O World Cup
 Orienteering USA is looking for athletes skilled in cross-country skiing and orienteering to race for the USA at the upcoming World Cup competition in Craftsbury, VT, March 5–10, 2018. The races consist of sprint, middle distance, and long distance as well as a sprint relay.
Craftsbury is hosting top racers from all over the world for this competition as well as the World Masters Ski Orienteering Championships to be held during the same period.
Selected participants for the World Cup can expect some financial support as well as enthusiastic encouragement from the home crowd.
Are you Interested? Petition the Ski Orienteering Executive Steering Committee telling us why you want to race at the World Cups and what is your relevant skiing and orienteering experience. We encourage those looking to develop into full Team members for future years.
Send petitions or questions to Ken Walker Sr, Chairman, SkiO Team Executive Steering Committee.
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Voting for Competitive Awards
Voting is now open for the 2017 U.S. Orienteer of the Year Competitive Awards!
VOTE HERE for the Orienteer of the Year, Junior of the Year, Comet of the Year, and Team of the Year. Voting is open until 11:59pm, February 14th. Only one vote per person, please.
You can see the history of the awards here, and the 2016 winners here
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Apply Today for 2018 Wilson Awards
Applications for the $1,000 Wilson Community Growth Grant are being accepted at www.orienteeringusa.org/wilsongrant. This grant helps “develop and implement programs aimed at expanding access to orienteering for youth.” Applicants of all ages partner with a local club or nonprofit to build creative, sustainable programming. Funds may be used for equipment, transportation and other appropriate uses. Applicants partner with an OrienteeringUSA-affilitated club, OrienteeringUSA or a registered nonprofit organization, which will disburse and administer funds.
 Now entering its fifth year, the $1,000 Iain Wilson Character Through Competition Award is also accepting applications at www.orienteeringusa.org/wilsonaward. This award recognizes junior athletes who demonstrate a competitive spirit, friendship and qualities that leave others feeling good about the world. Funds may be used to support travel and training opportunities.
Iain Wilson
These awards honor the memory of Iain Wilson. Iain was a dedicated orienteer whose spirit and dedication inspired those around him. Applications for both awards are due by February 15, 2018. Visit the links above for additional information.
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2018 US Trail-O Team Announced
The U.S. Trail Orienteering Team is a designated group of advanced competitors that exists to promote and encourage the highest competitive standards for Trail Orienteering and to represent the United States at international events.
The team is composed of the 10 highest-ranked applicants from each class in the U.S. Trail Orienteering Rankings who meet eligibility conditions and agree to be active, supportive team members.
The National Trail Orienteering Team for 2018, selected based on applications received and rankings is as follows:
OPEN CLASS
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Steve Beuerman (BAOC), Joe Brautigam (WCOC), Sharon Crawford (RMOC), Clare Durand (LAOC), Richard H. Ebright (DVOA), Richard Y. Ebright (DVOA), Jay Hann (BAOC), Mika Latva-Kokko (NEOC), Mike Poulsen (CROC), Julia Zielczynska (HVO)
PARALYMPIC CLASS
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Daniel Heimgartner (QOC), David Irving (SDO), Kristofer Reckner, Julius Schram, Curtis Schreiner (CRNA)
Applications for the Paralympic class will remain open indefinitely unless the Paralympic team fills. To apply visit:
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OUSA Skills Patch Program
OUSA Skills Patch Program Launches
Orienteering USA has developed a skills progression patch program. The program was designed by Clare Durand and is based on skills and techniques as defined in the Zero to Orange program with additional input from Junior Coach Erin Schirm. The program is intended to assist juniors, coaches, and anyone else learning orienteering to follow a reasonable progression and acquire necessary skills at the appropriate level. A primary motivation in developing this program was to fill the void for many youth programs that do not currently offer any official badge or recognition for the sport of orienteering. Patches will be made available for each level. Alternatively, organizations with recognition systems that are not patch-based are free to develop their own method for recognizing completion of each level.
The requirements are on the OUSA website, here.
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Change in Club Membership Fees Policy
The OUSA Board has changed the policy on membership fees effective January 2018. This change allows for greater flexibility in the reporting of "starts" for Club Dues calculation. Beginning in 2018, an option is available to count event starts by number of entry fees received. This new option is in addition to the existing method of counting off of results or start lists. This change is intended to allow clubs to hold events that include multiple short races for a single entry fee without danger of excessive start fees, especially events aimed at young children and families.
Clubs may count each event by whichever method is most suitable for that event. Note that counts are still subject to audit and you must maintain documentation to support your counts.
This change does not affect the current recharter cycle. 2017 starts should be counted as they have been. All recharter documents are due January 31!
The exact wording of the new policy can be found here.
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Junior Team Kick-Off
The 2018 season for the U.S. National Junior Program kicked off with a bang with several simultaneous kick-off camps around the country the first weekend of January.
Junior National Team member Turner Leigh reports on his experience at the Philadephia kick-off weekend:
The abnormally cold temperatures threw a last minute wrench into the Philly Kick-Off Camp. But, because of the generosity of the Rileys and the adaptability of Greg Ahlswede, we were still able to receive quality training and racing.
We spent Saturday afternoon doing a series of micro-sprint exercises at an indoor soccer field. The small area and abundance of controls demanded constant contact with the map, perfect entry and exit from controls, and split-second analysis of the relative positions of controls. Then we retired to a packed Riley house for dinner, team-building games, a lesson on creating personalized training maps, and fun fellowship. It was good to connect with other juniors and recharge the necessary passion for training and refocus my sights on orienteering processes that lead to success.
On Sunday we competed in the Chilly Cheeks 11k Trail Race. The 11 degree temperature, more than a thousand feet of climb, and a few inches of snow provided a challenge. However, no one could rival the  speed and grace of our orienteering contingent down the rocky and steep sections of the race. I was deeply impressed with the performance and grit of my fellow orienteers. Each participant left the camp with new friends, a renewed motivation to train hard, and better equipped with knowledge on how to create our own training exercises.
U.S. JNT Members Peter Zakrevski,
AJ Riley, and Turner Leigh
Photo by Angelica Riley
Junior Development Team coach Greg Ahlswede put together a video from the camps in Philadelphia and Cincinnati:
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2018 Junior National Team Training Kick-off in Cincinnati and Philadelphia
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Mapping Workshops at COW
The next round of Orienteering USA's mapping workshops, supported through the OUSA 50th Anniversary Fund, will take place at the California Orienteering Week in March.
Some of the details for the workshops are not complete but there is a basic outline of mapping workshops.
Monday March 19th
Mapping Workshop for Woods Maps and Park/Schoolyard maps
Tentative time for the workshop is 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
The workshop will be held at Pt. Pinole Regional Shoreline, Richmond, CA. At the workshop, attendees will work with LIDAR data, aerial photos and other data to learn the basics of making field notes with the goal of creating orienteering maps.
A workshop on acquiring and processing LIDAR data will likely be held Saturday night at the event hotel. Stay tuned for details.
There will be no charge for the workshop, but please pre-register to ensure there are enough materials for all the participants. Email pgwolfe66@gmail.com to register or with any questions you may have.
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Team USA Named for 2018
The Senior Team ESC and The National Foot Orienteering Team Selection Panel are pleased to announce the athletes who have been selected to the senior team for 2018 in the following positions:
Elite:
Greg Ahlswede (DVOA), Giacomo Barbone (CSU), Eric Bone (COC), Will Enger (COC), Morten Jørgensen (Kristiansands OK), Jordan Laughlin (CNYO), Anton Salmenkyla (CSU)
Performance:
Tori Borish (COC), Alison Campbell (DVOA), Amanda Johansson (OK Orion)
Development:
Evalin Brautigam (WCOC), Tyra Christopherson (COC), Sydney Fisher (SMOC)
For more details about the selection process and decision making click on the this link. We are excited for a great 2018 and wish the athletes all the best in their training and competition. Go USA!!
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Highlight Your Club/Event!
Every club is unique and can contribute to the growth and health of orienteering in the U.S. Whether your club had an extraordinarily successful event, is planning something unique or special, or simply wants to advertise quality events that it puts on, we want to highlight it here!
Please contact the editors at newsletter@orienteeringusa.org to add content to the next newsletter!
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- February 17-25: Southwest Spring Week (TSN/GPHXO) - Tucson/Phoenix, AZ
- February 17: Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League Championships (COC) - Seattle, WA, Deadline 2/13/2018
- March 5-10: Ski Orienteering World Cup and US Ski-O Championships (CSU) - Craftsbury, VT, Deadline 1/31/2018
- March 17-25: California Orienteering Week (BAOC/GCO) - San Francisco and Sacramento, CA, Deadline 3/10/2018
- April 6-8: Flying Pig XXII (OCIN) - Cincinnati, OH
- April 28-29: Troll Cup and Junior Nationals (NEOC) - Holyoke, MA*
- May 5: Western New York Championships (ROC) - Rochester, NY
Notes:
* = OUSA Board of Directors Meeting. All members are welcome.
** = pending OUSA sanctioning
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Recap: GAOC Navigator Cup
By Thomas Laraia (MNOC), M-20
Editor's note: Thomas won M-20 and the Red course overall at the Georgia O-Fest.
I found the terrain in Georgia to be enjoyable, as the forest was quite a bit more runnable than my home terrain. The landscape was dominated by deep reentrants and gullies, and most of my navigation relied on those features, along with other contour details. Beyond that, the maps were quite vague, lacking clear vegetation boundaries or small collecting features. Controls were placed mostly in reentrants and other negative features as a result.
Middle Distance, Red course
 Friday’s map can be mostly summarized into two large hills with thicker vegetation lining the top. Reentrants dug into them from all sides, and a larger stream split the two. I was pleasantly surprised to find the green forest runnable. It was hardly any worse than the white forest. My speed wasn’t quite as fast as it could have been, but my navigation was solid and I completed the course without fret and with a lot of energy left over.
The classic courses were similar, but with a lot less green. There were no major obstacles, so if you were confident in your navigation, you could run essentially straight for most legs. My confidence on Saturday quickly dissipated after missing the second and seventh control by small angles. I quickly re-evaluated my strategy and played it safer after that. That was the right thing to do: for the rest of the race, as well as Sunday’s race, my runs were free of significant error. The terrain was, again, very open and allowed for fast running for the duration of the race. The final stretch in both races gave a lot of freedom to pick up the pace, as the forest yielded minimal resistance and the navigation became easier. I skipped the Extreme-O, the much-acclaimed finale of the GNC Cup, but I came out of the weekend satisfied with my racing and looking forward to team trials in a few months.
In addition to the normal races, Greg Ahlswede was in Georgia for the weekend and had a positive effect on all the juniors there. He offered valuable tips when speaking individually to runners and during course review. These tips gave insight into how to navigate better, but he also emphasized non-competitive aspects such as warming up properly and avoiding distractions. He also set up a training exercise involving a maze superimposed over the map, a training technique I recommend trying out; the level of thought needed goes above and beyond that of a normal orienteering course and will improve precise navigation.
  
Maze-O! Red course: classic distance, days 1 and 2
The weekend was a valuable opportunity for me and others to build on our current skills. I’m glad I got the opportunity to come out to Georgia, run on well-set courses that would not have been possible without the volunteers, and see others from the orienteering community. 2018 has several more big races to go, but this was a solid start to the year.
See full results here.
RouteGadget
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Preview: OCIN's Flying Pig XXII
Join OCIN for Flying Pig XXII – April 6–8, 2018 in Hamilton / Middletown Ohio
3 days of races!
New maps!
Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park!
Meadow Ridge Area of Elk Creek Park!
and much, much more! An event you won’t want to miss!
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Preview: California Orienteering Week
The first four events of the 2018 California Orienteering Week (COW), to be held March 17–25, 2018, will be Middle distance races, all in the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by a weekend of races in the nearby Sacramento area - a Sprint, another Middle, and a Long. Seven National Ranking Events in nine days encompassing a wide variety of venues will make for a challenging and interesting set of races. Gold Country Orienteers, based in Sacramento, will be joining forces with the Bay Area Orienteering Club to present this event. The Junior Team Trials (for selection to JWOC 2018) will be held in conjunction with the last three days of COW.
 
Pond on the Morgan Territory Map Wildflowers at Morgan Territory
Photos by Christine Brew
While most of the rest of the North American orienteering world is still feeling the effects of winter in March, in Northern California the hills will be velvety green and wildflowers will be in full bloom. You do not want to miss this!
 
Point Pinole Map Snippet Sierra College Map Snippet
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Preview: Ski-O World Masters and US Championships
 The first-ever World Masters Ski-O Championships is coming to the US the week of March 5–10, 2018! This week of racing has an opportunity for everyone, and will feature the World Masters Ski Orienteering Championships, the final round of World Cup racing, and the US. Ski-O Championships! Registration is open, though late fees kick in Feb. 1. This will be a fantastic week of racing, regardless of your level of skiing ability. The Craftsbury Outdoor Center is a wonderful venue, and we are incredibly excited to be partnering with them to bring this great event to Vermont!
The World Cup long distance race will count as the Orienteering USA Championship for the M/F-21+ classes. For masters classes, the World Masters courses will be used, and for juniors, the open junior classes will be used. The second day of the World Masters middle distance will be the U.S. Championship, along with the World Cup middle distance for M/F-21+ classes. Please contact the Ski-O ESC for information about entering the M/F-21+ classes for the World Cup.
All registration has to be through IOF Eventor, for which you have to make (or already have) an account. Please contact Ken Walker, Sr. about any issues.
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Preview: Southwest Spring Week
 Join us in southern Arizona for nine days of fast orienteering, blue skies, and beautiful Sonoran desert sunsets February 17-25, 2018. We'll have competitive courses on the weekends with more casual training opportunities during the week. At least one of the days of competition will be a National Ranking Event.
Start south of Tucson in the beautiful grasslands of the Santa Rita foothills and make your way north through the desert terrain of Tucson and Phoenix. Orienteers of all ages and abilities welcome!
 
See the event schedule and details here.
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Newsletter Contributions
If you would like to send content for the next edition of the newsletter, please email it to the editors by the 10th of the month.
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Newsletter Compiled and Edited by Allison Brown and Boris Granovskiy
Banner Photo credits: Abra McNair, Boris Granovskiy, Ken Walker Jr., Ken Walker Jr.
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