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OUSA Website Upgrade Initiative
OUSA maintains a website at https://orienteeringusa.org which is currently running on Drupal 6.x. While this site has been re-designed within the past 5 years, little maintenance has been performed and there are many broken links. OUSA wishes to fix these links and implement other changes to the home page in order to serve as a better, more effective marketing tool and a valuable resource for its members and future members.
Orienteering USA (OUSA) is seeking proposals to perform work as outlined in this document. Proposal should include statement of work and provide a quote for work performed. Our needs are immediate so quotes are due on March 23, 2018. Questions and responses may be sent to Kris Beecroft, President, krisbeecroft@msn.com
Request: OUSA seeks to work with a consultant who can provide the following services:
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Repair all broken links (see preliminary list here).
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Implement changes to the home page to improve user experience, especially for newcomers interested in learning more about the sport.
Response: Proposals should be returned by Friday, March 23, 2018 and provide the following information:
- Name of consultant and when established, overview of services provided, and any other applicable company information.
- Example(s) of prior consultant assignment(s) that are similar in nature to this one (without revealing confidential information).
- Pricing information and standard contract, along with 2-3 references.
Find the entire request with description here.
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2018 Junior National Orienteering Team Announced
JTESC and the Junior National Coaches are pleased to announce the U.S. Junior Development Team and the Junior National Team athletes for 2018. With a second coach we are thrilled to say we have a record number of athletes committing to and participating in the junior national program. This allows us to have a more formal development team this year which will help our young juniors get the developmental support they need to progress to the national and international levels of competition. This process will help us implement a multi-stage development process to better prepare the U.S. athletes, keep more juniors involved at various levels, and ultimately sustain our national teams in the long run. The athletes are listed below.
Aidan Minto and Siri Christopherson; photos by Dave Yee
Please note we are still accepting applications for the JDT and hope we can continue to grow our numbers. Info and applications can be found on the Junior Program page.
The work starts at home and we are looking forward to a great year. Go USA!!
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Junior National Team (JNT):
- Brigitte Bordelon, USMAOC
- Siri Christopherson, COC
- Tyra Christopherson, COC
- Julia Doubson, BAOC
- Martin B Heir, Fossum IF (Norway)
- Thomas Laraia, MNOC
- Turner Leigh, QOC
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- Aidan Minto, ICO
- Katie Petersen, BAOC
- Sarah Petersen, BAOC
- Anthony (AJ) Riley, DVOA
- David Runde, MNOC
- Caroline Sandbo, COC
- Piotr (Peter) Zakrevski, HVO
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Junior Development Team (JDT):
- Diana Aleksieva, QOC
- Jessica Colleran, COC
- Antoine Finot, BAOC
- Christiane Fletcher, GAOC
- Viktor Frolenko, DVOA
- Bridget Hall, NEOC
- Keegan Harkavy, NEOC
- Jennifer Harnage, GAOC
- Jordan Hertel, OCIN
- Jacob Hook, LAOC
- Zachary Kuder, QOC
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- Sam Loustaunau, QOC
- Alexis Merka , QOC
- Kai Mihata. COC
- Salinda Miller, OCIN
- John Phillips, LAOC
- Dylan Poe, OCIN
- Oriana Riley, DVOA
- Joshua Sanchez, QOC
- Vilppu Viinikainen, NEOC
- Deirdre Young, HVO
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Resources for Juniors
The Executive Steering Committee of Orienteering USA's Junior National Program has assembled a great collection of resources for juniors looking to make the jump from regional to national competition. The document contains training tips, links to national and international event calendars, and other valuable information. The document, which is constantly being updated, can be found here.
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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.
Saturday, March 17th
LiDAR data Workshop at Event Hotel
Saturday at the Marriott Hotel (event hotel), at 8:00 PM.
This will be an introduction to using LiDAR data for map-making. The first hour will be a general overview of what information can be generated and how to get this information processed. The second hour will be more in-depth and will be more technical in nature.
Monday, March 19th
Mapping Workshop for Woods Maps and Park/Schoolyard maps
Time for the workshop is 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. It will be possible to run your courses and then join the workshop.
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 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.
If you are going to attend the mapping workshop at Point Pinole, please indicate this to the registrar when you sign up for your courses (or send an email if you have already registered) to say that you need an early start so that you can get to the 12:00 noon start of the workshop.
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U.S. Team for Ski-O World Cup
The World Cup in Ski Orienteering is coming to the United States in March. Competitors from around the world will battle it out for the overall Ski-O World Cup trophy in Craftsbury, Vermont, from March 5-10. Team USA will be represented by Ari Ofsevit (CSU) and Jimmy Burnham (CSU). For more information about this event, including the World Masters and USA Ski Orienteering Championships, see a full preview below.
 
Ari Ofsevit Jimmy Burnham
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Senior Team Trials Announced
The team trials that will determine the U.S. Team competing at the 2018 World Orienteering Championships in Latvia will take place at the Westchester County Challenge National Event, organized by DVOA over Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28 2018). More details on the event can be found here.
The Senior Team's Executive Steering Committee (ESC) is working on finding a sprint venue to host the sprint portion of the trials on either Friday 25th or around the relay event on Sunday the 27th. As soon as we know the details of the sprint an official announcement will be made. In the case that we are unable to set up a sprint race, the ESC will publish a method for how the sprint race competitors will be selected. The policy for selecting the U.S. WOC Team can be viewed here.
For further questions please respond directly to erin.schirm@yahoo.com. Please stay tuned for more details.
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OUSA Team Member Profile: Sydney Fisher
When the OUSA National Team was announced for 2018, there was a relatively new name listed as part of the Development Team: Sydney Fisher (Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club). Sydney, who is currently ranked 4th in the U.S. in F21, answered a few questions so that the U.S. orienteering community can get to know her better.
How and when did you  first start orienteering?
I started orienteering in the spring of 2015. My husband saw a flyer for an introduction to adventure racing seminar at REI and thought it looked interesting. He dragged me along and after listening to the presentation we thought it sounded awesome. We started attending local orienteering meets (hosted by SMOC) to practice navigating for adventure racing and immediately I was hooked!
What are your competitive goals in orienteering for this year and beyond?
My goal this year is to make the WOC team. Beyond that I just want to see where I can go with orienteering and continue having fun.
What competitions (regional, national, or international) are you most looking forward to this year?
I am excited for Flying Pig this spring. Still working out my race schedule for the rest of the year.
What are you doing to improve your orienteering? Describe your typical training week.
I have increased the amount of time I spend in the woods. I aim to get out orienteering once a week. I also started studying maps on regular runs. In general, I am focusing on improving my running fitness. I have been training for multi-sport races over the past few years and have recently shifted to primarily running (4-5 days per week) with a couple days of cross training.
What are your hobbies outside of orienteering?
Anything that involves navigation! I have always enjoyed endurance racing and I have done quite a few adventure races and rogaines.
How do you describe orienteering to your friends/family/co-workers who don't know about it?
I describe it as navigation-based racing using a map and compass to find specified checkpoints. I think I usually lose them at the off-trail part, but they get the general idea.
What are some fun facts about you that a casual orienteer might not know?
I have done an Ironman triathlon. I also hiked a lot before I found orienteering. My husband and I have climbed all 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. |
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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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WCOC/HVO Winter Series
Innovative winter training in WCOC/HVO land
Never a crisis, merely an opportunity
What do you do when you have 2-3 winters in a row with insufficient snow coverage for XC skiing? Go Orienteering of course! Essentially, this was the inspiration for WCOC/HVO’s Winter Series, which is comprised of four bare-bones, time-yourself orienteering events. The organizers had two key objectives: First, the events had to be real, using good maps, interesting course designs, and regular control flags (no streamers). Second, they should be straightforward, both to organize and to participate in. Simplicity is achieved by offering only three courses (Red, Green and Brown) and by encouraging course setters to minimize the number of controls. Furthermore, the participants download and print the course they want, and they can run at their own time and convenience within a two-week window when the control flags are out in the woods. All events are honor-system based without boxes/punches at the controls. The runners simply time themselves and then later enter splits on a dedicated Attackpoint.org event site and upload routes to Routegadget.
 So far, the Winter Series has been a good experience. A majority of the participants use the events as individual training without posting results, which is perfectly fine. Interestingly, we have also had impromptu group gatherings for several of the events. Weather wise, there have been some challenges with a 20-inch snowfall and Huntington State Park, CT single digit temperatures in early January, but most of the time the running conditions have been quite good. Note that the two-week event window was specifically set wide to allow for flexibility around weather conditions. Organizationally, it has been a stress-less experience with limited time commitment, since no registration, timing or results compilation is required. Finally, there has been a healthy expectation level from participants with only positive feedback recorded:
 “love the format - would be amazing if we could keep it up in the spring.”
“it’s been great to get out and get the rust off”
“FANTASTIC day. My son and I really enjoyed heading out in the woods this time of year. Saw two other orienteers as well.“
“I think this is exactly the type of event we need to pursue in the U.S. Less stress and more enjoying the sport!”
You can check out the WCOC/HVO Winter Series on Attackpoint.org.
Ward Pound Ridge
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SMOC Club Highlights
SMOC had been motoring along well until the decline of southeast Michigan area adventure racing, which was a large feeder source/growth mechanism. Recognizing that lower attendance risked sustainability, we are experimenting with the following:
Facebook and Facebook Advertising
SMOC is America's Most Likeable Club. Our strategy to achieve this was two-fold: a rough content outline, paired with ads.
Content strategy:
We currently don't do a lot off-season, mostly encouraging attendance at regional events and reporting on any successes at those events, which is perhaps an area for improvement. In season, in a good week, the cadence is roughly the following:
Sunday, as soon as available: Pics from the start/finish area and results, some sort of humorous blurb if possible.
Monday: Game cams or additional photos
Wednesday: Which Way Wednesday--A post on route choices or attackpoints or similar, aimed at intermediate folks, using Livelox routes
Tuesday: Terrain teaser photos/info
Thursday or Friday: Course notes, more photos
In general, funny or self-deprecating stuff has been a big hit. Head cam of you failing to keep up with a fast runner, while making a joke about your fitness? Gold. Picture of a snake on a rockpile, suggesting it tried to kill one of our scouters? Popular! Have fun with it.
Meanwhile, we try to have run two ads concurrently:
-- A general SMOC awareness ad. Most successful has been a backlit-by-sunset picture of a flag on a peninsula, with a caption along the lines of "Explore your favorite parks in a whole new way. Find checkpoints, on trail and off." Target is outdoorsy minded folks -- trail runners, hikers, obstacle course people.
-- An event-specific ad targeted at our own Facebook fans. Facebook only serves any given post to a small (10-20%) portion of our fans, so this ad presumes you'd want to go if you knew it was happening and why it would be fun (assumes some awareness of navigation sports)
The ads costs are cheap - if $20 gets us 5 people, we are about break even.
This strategy has stemmed our attendance slide.
We have modestly tried Twitter, but FB has the volume. We will experiment with some more networks popular with younger folks to see how that goes (Instagram, for example).
Structural Changes
Our biggest recent change was hiring an Event Director. The intent is wide-ranging:
- Greatly reduce the barriers to entry for new course setters. The whole event production (permits, snacks, registration, signage, a car FULL of equipment, checklists) is too long and scares people off. Now it won't! Just design a course, get streamers vetted, and hang some flags. Much easier!
- Keep regular course setters interested -- they get to focus on the fun stuff. Veteran hosts said they really enjoyed working with the Event Director thus far.
- Improve registration/start experience with consistency, rather than a new flavor invented by the rotating hosts.
- Enable better on-site results. We had maxed standard car capacity with gear, now we can consider a pair of monitors and a small quiet generator, or other options.
Minor structural changes:
- We started a Slack for power member / board discussion. We traditionally did nearly all business at a single annual meeting, now we can discuss things informally at any time.
- We are getting more empowered committees to move projects along between meetings. Seems simple, but it wasn't pressing when numbers were okay and times were simpler.
- We made a Livelox subscription a member benefit. The subscription enables simultaneous runner viewing, and is really easy to use. Then we use the routes from Livelox to generate Which Way Wednesday posts (really easy with its auto-rotate feature), so it becomes a marketing/development tool.
- We are using the whyjustrun.ca template. It is super easy to use - it grabs Twitter/FB automatically, the calendar works nicely with low effort, and it's easy to add ad hoc permissions for course setters to edit their own events. It does have some limits so we will explore other options, such as the OUSA club template, especially as we look to integrate pre-registration. - We are fortunate to have found some resonance with the local engineering campus at U of M, and several of those folks have brought a lot of energy and fresh perspective which we are happily incorporating
Going forward, our challenges will be:
- Optimizing the Event Director roles and responsibilities to ensure we can provide lots of quality events in robust seasons
- Providing the meet experience that current new customers expect (smooth fast check in/starts, technology)
- Ensuring a steady supply of new course setters to exceed the rate lost to retirement, relocation, or disinterest
- Finding ways to continue to engage new potential orienteers in a variety of demographics (eg, young folks, and different parts of the metro area)
- Developing expertise, equipment, and a pool of volunteers large enough to support regional/national level events
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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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Notes:
* = OUSA Board of Directors Meeting. All members are welcome.
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Recap:WIOL Championship Races
On Feb 17 th, Cascade OC held the Washington Interscholastic and Winter O’ Series Championship, the culminating event of an 8-race season averaging over 330 starters each race. Cascade OC also selected this long-planned event as a National Ranking Event in line with OUSA’s initiative to capitalize on high quality regional competitions. Competitors braved heavy rain and cold to compete on technical middle distance courses designed by Anna Campbell (White-Orange) and Tori Campbell (Brown-Blue) on a newly updated map of Fire Mountain Scout Reservation.
Varsity Course. Purple cross-hatch denotes out-of-bounds streams to protect critical salmon habitat, with marked crossing points providing route choice on longer cross-stream legs.
As with the juniors, COC men and women competed on the same courses, with elites on Long Advanced (Blue/Red) and masters on Short Advanced (Green/Brown).
At the end of the day, in addition to awarding trophies to series and championship winners, Cascade OC thanked Jud Kelley for his outstanding leadership as the WIOL Director from 2015-2018. The club followed up on Sunday with a celebratory fun relay event at South Seattle College, with courses designed by Will Enger. It was a great weekend to celebrate our successes – this group never lets a little Pacific Northwest sunshine interfere with getting out on a map!
Find results here.
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Preview: Ski-O World Cup and World Masters
 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 closes February 28! 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: 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: 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: US Junior Nationals / Troll Cup
The New England Orienteering Club is hosting the 2018 OUSA Junior Nationals and the Troll Cup at Mt.Tom Reservation in Holyoke, Massachusetts, April 28-29, 2018.
The 2018 US Junior National Championships is a 2-day classic championship event sanctioned by Orienteering USA. (This event was previously called the Intercollegiate/Interscholastic Championships.) There are championship classes for college, high school, middle school, and primary school students. There will be pre-assigned interval starts both days. Champions will be determined by their cumulative time for the two races.
The 2018 Troll Cup is a 2-day classic national event sanctioned by the Orienteering USA. There will be pre-assigned interval starts for the first day. The second day will feature a chase start based on the first day’s results. For each course, the winner of that course will start first. Subsequent competitors will start at intervals equal to their time back on the first day. Awards will be determined by cumulative time for the two races.
Click on the map for a larger version
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For a taste of what's to come, take a look at OUSA Team member Greg Ahlswede (DVOA) running through the Mt.Tom terrain.
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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: Cristina Luis, WCOC/HVO, Valerie Meyer, Facebook
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