Cristina Luis of the Tucson Orienteering Club (TSN) is the recipient of this year’s Silva Award, given annually to an orienteer who has given exceptional service to orienteering over the past five years. Cristina has been involved in orienteering at many levels in the US for well over 5 years, most recently culminating in her role as Competition Manager for The World Games, bringing international orienteering back to the US for the first time in over 25 years. The games were a huge success due to the tireless efforts and managerial acumen that Cristina brought to the role.
Read the Official Announcement on the OUSA Website which also includes this year's Golden Service and President's Award winners.
Dylan Poe Joins OUSA Board
At it's recent Annual General Meeting, the OUSA membership voted to fill four open seats on the OUSA Board of Directors. Incumbents re-elected to 3 year terms were Jon Torrance (QOC), Joseph Huberman (BOK) & Tori Campbell (NEOC). The fourth seat was vacated by Clai Gardner (LSOC) who stepped down from the board after many years of service to Orienteering USA. We thank Clai for his service to the organization.
Dylan Poe from Orienteering Cincinnati was elected to fill Clai's seat on the board and we look forward to his perspective on future OUSA initiatives. Welcome aboard Dylan!
Thomas Curiger Joins TeamUSA
The Executive Steering Committee is excited to announce the addition of Thomas Curiger to the Elite Squad of the National Team. Thomas is a dual Swiss-US citizen, living in Switzerland. He won gold in the sprint and relay, and silver in the middle and long at JWOC 2016 while a member of the Swiss Junior Team. He competed at the 2017 World Cup in Latvia and 2018 World Cup in Czechia as a member of the Swiss Elite Squad before dropping off of the National Team in 2019.
Thomas made his TeamUSA debut at the World Cup Round 3races in Davos, Switzerland.
Ten Teams from the United States ventured to the Czech Republic in late August to compete at the 17th World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining is, at its essence, an ultra-distance score orienteering event with controls placed over a very large area, frequently on steep and demanding terrain.
A number of teams had podium placements and took home World Champs hardware. Check out the Event Recap on the OUSA website for complete results, links to hundreds of event photos and a GPS replay/map.
Look like fun? It's not too early to start thinking about next year's World Rogaining Championships which will be held at Lake Tahoe, California in late July as part of the California O-Fest.
JWOC '22 Part Deux
Back in July, Orienteering USA sent a strong team to Portugal to compete in the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC). Unfortunately, conditions were so extreme that Portugual closed all forest access across the country, canceling the forest races. The decision was made not to hold formal closing ceremonies, but to postpone the forest races until later in the fall after the danger of fires was gone.
The TeamUSA Executive Steering Committee is now excited to announce the team that will return to Portugal this November to finish what they started.
Read the Full Team Announcement on the Orienteering USA website.
World Games Livestreams now on YouTube
Did you miss the Livestream coverage of the World Games in Birmingham this past July? The International Orienteering Federation has recently posted the full coverage from all three days to its YouTube Channel.
If you only have time for one broadcast, watch the Sprint Relay from Railroad Park - excellent video footage, great commentary from Boris and the colorful, uncensored post-race interview with Sweden's Karolin Ohlsson around 1:03:30 in the stream.
All three livestreams are linked on the OUSA World Games Event Recap page.
World Cup Survey
After the resounding success of the World Games this summer, several people have asked: when can we do this again? Several key organizers are exploring the possibility of hosting World Cup races in the US and/or Canada in 2026 or later, based on the current WC schedule. We have a core crew of people from both the US and Canada who are committed to organizing these races. There are open questions and much planning to be done, and we will be asking for input from the community along the way.
Today, our first question is: How do we select the best location for these events? What criteria should we use in our decision? We are asking all members of the orienteering community to complete this brief survey to help us decide.
Congratulations to Pavlina Brautigam (WCOC) on her double bronze medals (Middle & Long) at the World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships held last month in Bulgaria. Three athletes from the USA competed at this year's competition. Photos and results over on OUSA Facebook page.
Pawtuckaway NRE Event Recap
Pawtuckaway State Park, in New Hampshire hosted the 1992 Orienteering World Cup and since then has been the site of over 25 years of annual Camping Weekend fun held every year in early September. This year the host club, Up North Orienteer’s added a one-day National Ranking Event (NRE) to the weekend's menu of events. The weather was outstanding, the courses were challenging and everyone left with a smile on their face.
Check out the Event Recap on the Orienteering USA website for full results, photos and a blog post from the US Team
Third Quarter Rankings Update
The Orienteering USA rankings team has updated the database for the 3rd quarter and takes in results from the Pawtuckaway NRE and rolls off the Lake Tahoe events from August 2021.
Five NRE events remain on the calendar for 2022 - this weekends Master's Nationals (2x Classic) and November's OUSA Nationals near Los Angeles (Sprint/Middle/Long).
November 7 - Board Meeting - 8-10pm via Google Meet (agenda tba)
December 5 - Board Meeting - 8-10pm via Google Meet (agenda tba)
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About the Newsletter
Photo Credits: Peggy Dickison - QOC
International Orienteering Federation
Hana Orienteering
Evalin Brautigam - WCOC
Joe Brautigam - WCOC
Clinton Morse - WCOC
E-Newsletter content is largely curated from regular articles and posts on the Orienteering USA website, social media sites and other sources. We always welcome ideas and submissions of orienteering related content for our users. Contact OUSA Communications Manager Clinton Morse at clinton.morse@orienteeringusa.org if you have content to share.
