Spring? What's that?
For the middle distance race today we were served a healthy dose of blizzard. Lots of snow and a good bit of wind to make it more interesting.
The heavy snow and moderate wind of course made the skiing more physical, but it also made the navigation very tricky. Often you could not see the tracks at all, as it only took a few minutes for new snow to cover over where someone else had skied. Even the wide, groomed XC trails (normally as clear as a two-lane road) were hard to pick up! This led to some interesting orienteering by many of the competitors.
Ali had another great result, 18th place again, while Greg Walker was best for the men. Ali was wearing a GPS tracker, so you can watch her little dot move around the map against other little dots (Part 1 and Part 2). You can see the men's map (none of our men were tracked), Part 1 and Part 2.
Our results (full results:
Women
1. Polina Matchikova, RUS 39:52
18. Alison Crocker, USA 48:45
30. Alex Jospe, USA 59:45
45. Cristina Luis, USA 1:26:00
52 starters
Men
1. Staffan Tunis, FIN 40:13
51. Greg Walker, USA 58:33
60. Scott Pleban, USA 1:02:57
62. Adrian Owens, USA 1:05:17
67. Nikolay Nachev, USA 1:09:49
78 starters
Stay tuned for some post-race interviews!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Get your sprint on!
A great day for Team USA in the sprint, with a spectacular 18th place finish by Ali!
Summary of results:
Women
1. Tove Alexandersson, SWE 15:11
18. Alison Crocker, USA 17:09
24. Alex Jospe, USA 18:55
47. Cristina Luis, USA 37:09
53 starters
Men
1. Olli-Markus Taivainen, FIN 18:04
49. Greg Walker, USA 25:22
52. Adrian Owens, USA 26:55
53. Scott Pleban, USA 26:41
65. Nikolay Nachev, USA 35:13
76 starters
You can see results and splits on the SkiWOC 2011 website, plus GPS tracking for the women and the men. AND, there's video footage on the ski-O streaming channel.
Summary of results:
Women
1. Tove Alexandersson, SWE 15:11
18. Alison Crocker, USA 17:09
24. Alex Jospe, USA 18:55
47. Cristina Luis, USA 37:09
53 starters
Men
1. Olli-Markus Taivainen, FIN 18:04
49. Greg Walker, USA 25:22
52. Adrian Owens, USA 26:55
53. Scott Pleban, USA 26:41
65. Nikolay Nachev, USA 35:13
76 starters
You can see results and splits on the SkiWOC 2011 website, plus GPS tracking for the women and the men. AND, there's video footage on the ski-O streaming channel.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Some photos from Tänndalen
We're all settled in and ready to take ridiculous photos, and I know Ali has a couple more excellent ones that need sharing. Spirits are good around here, I think we better do some racing soon, though, to work off some of this energy.
This is in the waxing building - it has two floors, and it seems all the english-speaking countries are on the top floor (mmm, fluoro fumes!), and the big teams are below. I think we're looking down at Finland's area, there. 
The Americans, on the other hand, are either having way more fun or having way more technical issues with their waxing setup.
Various countries testing skis and wax, on the one tiny area of the model event that is suitable for that sort of thing.
They had the model nicely set up, with a full pre-start and download station, so you could see how it would go.
We're using touch-free EMIT, so really all you have to do is ski under the bags and sort of wave your arm. The sensor on your arm keeps flashing for five seconds or so, so you can double check to make sure you punched.
Studious. In our cozy suite.
This is the bridge that we get to ski over. Cristina was having some doubts as to whether she could make it up the steep side, but I think tomorrow we get to ski down it.
The screen at the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, the IOF logo was all it ever displayed, unless you also count the blue screen of windows death, as they tried to get it to play a welcoming video. Whoops.
This is in the waxing building - it has two floors, and it seems all the english-speaking countries are on the top floor (mmm, fluoro fumes!), and the big teams are below. I think we're looking down at Finland's area, there. 
The Americans, on the other hand, are either having way more fun or having way more technical issues with their waxing setup. 
Various countries testing skis and wax, on the one tiny area of the model event that is suitable for that sort of thing. 
They had the model nicely set up, with a full pre-start and download station, so you could see how it would go. 
We're using touch-free EMIT, so really all you have to do is ski under the bags and sort of wave your arm. The sensor on your arm keeps flashing for five seconds or so, so you can double check to make sure you punched. 
Studious. In our cozy suite.
This is the bridge that we get to ski over. Cristina was having some doubts as to whether she could make it up the steep side, but I think tomorrow we get to ski down it. 
The screen at the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, the IOF logo was all it ever displayed, unless you also count the blue screen of windows death, as they tried to get it to play a welcoming video. Whoops.
Final Preparations
Today we had a chance to get out on (hopefully) really relevant terrain for the competitions this week. The model event took place on terrain adjacent to the competition terrain, using the same types of trails and the no-touch EMIT punching system. Here's a 1:5000 version of the model area:
We know some of you don't ski-O and are wondering about all the green lines. The dashed green lines are narrow trails (1-1.5m) made by snowmobiles. They're generally too narrow to get in a full skate, so there's a lot of double poling. The green/white boxed lines are established snowmobile trails, which here seem to be almost as wide as the groomed trails you find at resorts. Solid green lines are wide trails. Most of the skiing takes place on the green trails, since they're but you don't have to stick to them.
Tomorrow is the first race - the Sprint! Everyone's racing, so stay tuned for results and reports!
We know some of you don't ski-O and are wondering about all the green lines. The dashed green lines are narrow trails (1-1.5m) made by snowmobiles. They're generally too narrow to get in a full skate, so there's a lot of double poling. The green/white boxed lines are established snowmobile trails, which here seem to be almost as wide as the groomed trails you find at resorts. Solid green lines are wide trails. Most of the skiing takes place on the green trails, since they're but you don't have to stick to them.
Tomorrow is the first race - the Sprint! Everyone's racing, so stay tuned for results and reports!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Team USA Ski-o invades Sweden
Ali, Alex, Cristina, Greg, and Nikolay have arrived at Tänndalen, Sweden, for the World Ski Orienteering Championships. The girls and Greg were just in Mora for a couple days, getting rid of the jet lag, and doing some super-secret-swedish-ski-o-training. Nikolay arrived yesterday, and Scott and Adrian arrive later tonight. We had a most delicious dinner of lasagna, and determined that Swedish butter tastes better than American butter.
Meanwhile, we're gearing up for the model:
Meanwhile, we're gearing up for the model:
Monday, February 14, 2011
2011 Standing Team Announced
The U.S. Standing Team Selection Committee (Kris Beecroft, Vladimir Gusiatnikov and Kristin Hall) is pleased to announce the selection of the following orienteers for the 2011 U.S. Orienteering Team (Foot-O):
A - Men: Eric Bone (COC), Ross Smith (CSU)
A - Women: Alison Crocker (CSU), Samantha Saeger (NEOC), Sandra Zurcher (RMOC, OLG Bern)
B - Men: Eddie Bergeron (SVO), Boris Granovskiy (CSU), Jordan Laughlin (USMAOC), Wyatt Riley (DVOA), Matt Scott (DVOA), Sergei Zhyk (HVO)
B - Women: Pavlina Brautigam (WCOC), Erin Nielsen (UNO)
C - Men: Leif Anderson (RMOC), Nikolay Nachev (COC), Mikell Platt (LROC), Ken Walker Jr. (CSU)
C - Women: Hannah Burgess (USMAOC), Alex Jospe (CSU), Cristina Luis (DVOA), Ekaterina Orekhova (CSU), Angelica Riley (DVOA), Karen Williams Middleton (CSU)
Selection is based on A-meet M/F21 performances during the preceding year with preference given to championship events, the Team Trials, and rankings. In the case of potential members living abroad, the committee considers their known competition results and training regimens. It is from this list -- which is sub-divided into A, B, and C -- that orienteers are eligible to represent Orienteering USA in IOF-sanctioned elite events.
The criteria for placement on the A, B and C lists are:
"A" list: Those who, if we were naming a squad now for a major international competition, would almost certainly be included.
"B" list: Those from whom you could reasonably expect the rest of the major international squad to come.
"C" list: Those who lack fitness due to injury, experience, or consistency to regularly challenge those on the "A" or "B" lists, although they can and do on any given day.
Congratulations to all who have been named to the team, especially those who are on the team for the first time! Train hard and win!
A - Men: Eric Bone (COC), Ross Smith (CSU)
A - Women: Alison Crocker (CSU), Samantha Saeger (NEOC), Sandra Zurcher (RMOC, OLG Bern)
B - Men: Eddie Bergeron (SVO), Boris Granovskiy (CSU), Jordan Laughlin (USMAOC), Wyatt Riley (DVOA), Matt Scott (DVOA), Sergei Zhyk (HVO)
B - Women: Pavlina Brautigam (WCOC), Erin Nielsen (UNO)
C - Men: Leif Anderson (RMOC), Nikolay Nachev (COC), Mikell Platt (LROC), Ken Walker Jr. (CSU)
C - Women: Hannah Burgess (USMAOC), Alex Jospe (CSU), Cristina Luis (DVOA), Ekaterina Orekhova (CSU), Angelica Riley (DVOA), Karen Williams Middleton (CSU)
Selection is based on A-meet M/F21 performances during the preceding year with preference given to championship events, the Team Trials, and rankings. In the case of potential members living abroad, the committee considers their known competition results and training regimens. It is from this list -- which is sub-divided into A, B, and C -- that orienteers are eligible to represent Orienteering USA in IOF-sanctioned elite events.
The criteria for placement on the A, B and C lists are:
"A" list: Those who, if we were naming a squad now for a major international competition, would almost certainly be included.
"B" list: Those from whom you could reasonably expect the rest of the major international squad to come.
"C" list: Those who lack fitness due to injury, experience, or consistency to regularly challenge those on the "A" or "B" lists, although they can and do on any given day.
Congratulations to all who have been named to the team, especially those who are on the team for the first time! Train hard and win!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Team USA Orienteers of the Year!
Orienteering USA have announced the competitive award winners for 2010. Samantha Saeger, pictured above, was named the Orienteer of the Year based on her awesome results at national and international events. The other winners:
Junior Orienteer of the Year: Hannah Burgess
Comet of the Year: Alison Crocker
Honorable Mention: Jordan Laughlin
Orienteering Team of the Year: Team USA at the North American Orienteer
Read the full announcement on the Orienteering USA page.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Call for nominations for top US orienteer!
Orienteering USA Competitive Awards
The newly-established Orienteering USA Annual Competitive Awards Program is looking for nominations! The Program’s goals are to recognize and reward outstanding competitive accomplishments by US orienteers at the end of every year. The Program has created a subcommittee that will solicit nominations from Orienteering USA membership for several different awards, listed below and will select a deserving winner of each award by the end of the year. The winners will be announced and receive prizes. Commemorative plaques will be awarded to the winners at a public ceremony at a major US orienteering event.
The awards are:
(a) Orienteer of the Year is awarded to the best USA orienteer in 2010, based on results at national and international events.
(b) Junior Orienteer of the Year is awarded to the best USA orienteer no older than 20 in 2010, based on results at national and international events.
(c) Comet of the Year is awarded to the most improved USA orienteer in 2010, based on results at national and international events.
(d) Orienteering Team of the Year is awarded to the best USA national or club orienteering team in 2010, based on results at national and international events.
Eligibility rules:
To be awarded any of the individual awards a nominee has to be a USA citizen and must be a member of Orienteering USA in good standing during the current calendar year. Additionally, for the Junior Orienteer of the Year award, the nominee must be no older than 20 at the end of 2010. To be selected to the Orienteering Team of the Year award, all team members have to be Orienteering USA members and represent the US or an Orienteering USA member club in competition.
Competitors in any forms of orienteering are eligible, including Foot-O, Ski-O, Mt.Bike-O, Trail-O, and ROGAINE.
The subcommittee making final selections from among those who were nominated consists of:
Michael Eglinski (former US Team member, widely-read orienteering blogger),
Peter Gagarin (former US Team member, coach, ESC chairman),
Boris Granovskiy (US team member, frequent US JWOC team leader),
Linda Kohn (ESC chairwoman, former US Team member),
Peter Goodwin (Orienteering USA VP Competition), committee chair.
Please send nominations (due December 22nd) for any or all of the awards, along with a brief discussion of why the nominee deserves to win, to the subcommittee chair, presently Peter Goodwin at pgwolfe66 at gmail.com.
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