January 28, 2019 by Michelle Kastner
The JTESC and the coaches of the OUSA Junior National Program, Erin Schirm and Greg Ahlswede, announced the 14 member (7 male and 7 female) Junior National Team earlier this month and four Cascade OC members have made the team! Congratulations to Siri Christopherson, Caroline Sandbo, Kai Mihata and Jessica Colleran. These four have put in countless hours of physical training, participating in training calls, logging performance metrics, traveling all over the globe to compete, and running in many COC events. Cascade OC is excited and proud to have this amazing level of representation on the junior national team. A special shout out to COC Member, Mike Schuh, who helped to train all of these competitors.
Cascade OC also had three competitors named to the Junior Development Team (JDT): Great job by Annika Mihata, Jolie Barga and Anna Campbell. The JDT is designed to help young orienteers who are capable of orienteering on orange-level courses to transition to the advanced level and become nationally competitive. To learn more about OUSA’s Junior National Program click here.
January 23, 2019 by Michelle Kastner
Winter League (WIOL + Winter O’) heads to the islands this Saturday, January 26th, for a day of racing at Ft. Ebey State Park. Orienteering in the Kettles area of this park comes with unique challenges that will be great training for all orienteers. Kettles are landforms characterized by multiple depressions which form due to flood or glacial retreat. Thanks to the concentrated up and down terrain, the skill most critical to a successful race here is CONTOUR READING. Join us and Saturday and test your skills. You can register, volunteer or learn more here.
January 14, 2019 by Michelle Kastner
Dust off your passport or enhanced driver’s license, reserve your spot, and head north for a fun weekend of racing and learning at Vancouver Sprint Camp, hosted by the Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club (GVOC). Sprint Camp is a fun-filled weekend of races, training sessions, coaching tips, and opportunities for mingling with some of the best sprint orienteers in North America. Venues will be a mixture of urban, campus, park, and forest. This is a great opportunity for COC members and WIOL competitors to get in some extensive training! Read more here: https://gvoc.whyjustrun.ca/events/view/3582
Two side notes:
- They will not be providing beginner training or beginner courses.
- Cash prizes are being offered for the top runners at the end of the weekend.
January 7, 2019 by Michelle Kastner
Happy New Year! Start 2019 off with a bang by joining your fellow orienteers at Winter League (WIOL + Winter O’) #5 this Saturday, January 12th at Ft. Steilacoom Park. Home to many crisscrossing trails, both in open grass and in forest, along with many distinct features such as buildings, roads, ballfields, and a small lake, Fort Steilacoom is not rugged or remote, but it can be fairly challenging for a city park. Sign up and run off all those holiday cookies you may have indulged in last month and then catch up with your COC friends after your race to compare route choices and maybe swap holiday stories! You can read more, register, or sign up to volunteer here.
December 26, 2018 by Patrick Nuss
The Bog Slog, now in its 39th year, is now organized as the final event in the Choose Your Adventure Series. Never fear, we’re still keeping the epic, mass-start, point-to-point courses for the advanced runners! We’ve also added a freestyle Choose Your Adventure style race intended for beginners, intermediates, and trail runners!
Come join us at Lord Hill Park on Saturday! Afterward, there will be a potluck at the Bresemans’ house, just 15 minutes away.
December 17, 2018 by Michelle Kastner
Three cheers for this elementary school orienteer who picked up an entire bag of litter at Hamlin Park. Did you know COC provides litter bags to any participant who would like to volunteer to leave our venues cleaner than they found them? Please ask for one at the info tent of the next meet you attend! COC, our park systems, and the environment thank you!
December 10, 2018 by Michelle Kastner
The Hogwarts-style Suzzallo Library, beautiful Drumheller fountain, stately Red Square, iconic Husky Stadium and majestic cherry blossom trees in the Quad are all on the docket this weekend as Winter League (WIOL + Winter O’) returns to the University of Washington campus this Saturday, Dec. 15th after a four-year hiatus. Join your fellow orienteers for a fast-paced race on a sprint-standard urban map. While athletics is busy, school is out for break so expect a mostly quiet campus setting. You can read more, register, or sign up to volunteer here.
December 3, 2018 by Michelle Kastner
Ready to go off-trail? Strong compass skills help greatly in the second half of the season. On Sunday afternoon, Dec 9th at Magnuson Park, Mike Schuh will be offering compass refresher training and other skills-boosting exercises to Winter League (WIOL + Winter O’) participants interested in becoming stronger orienteers. Contact Mike at: schuh@farmdale.com for more info, including the time and location to meet. Cost is $3/person to cover map printing and other costs. Limited to 25 participants, first come, first served.
November 27, 2018 by Michelle Kastner
Now that many have gotten their fill of good food, family and shopping, it’s time to kick off December in style at the Winter League (WIOL + Winter O’) meet this Saturday, December 1st! Join over 400 of your fellow map reading, outdoor loving competitors at Shoreview Park/Shoreline CC to experience a combination of one-half traditional forest/park orienteering, and one-half campus/sprint orienteering. You can read more, register or sign up to volunteer
here.
November 19, 2018 by Michelle Kastner
Love orienteering? Interested in taking your talents to an even greater level? The 2019 US National Junior Program is now accepting applications! This applies to any junior orienteers (under age 20) who would like to apply to be on the National or Development teams.
COC currently has five juniors participating at the US Junior National level.
Siri Christopherson, Tyra Christopherson and Caroline Sandbo are all members of the 14-person Junior National Team. In addition, they were three of the six elite orienteers selected from within the Junior National team to have the honor of running for Team USA Women at JWOC 2018 in Hungary this past July.
Jessica Colleran and Kai Mihata were both selected as members of the 25-person Junior Development Team this past year. Both Kai and Jessica, along with Siri and Tyra, played critical roles in helping Team USA bring home the Future Champions Cup at NAOC this past August in Yukon, Canada.
For more information and access to the application forms for the US Junior National Program, please visit the OUSA website here.
