Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Tuesday, November 19, 2002 Top orienteering events in the USALast week, I listed 5 top orienteering events world-wide; today I'll list 5 top O' events/venues in the USA.The US Relay Champs The relays champs has evolved into a premier event each year. After some experimentation, the format seems to work well. The level of competition is getting better and better. More and more clubs seem to be taking the champs seriously. One feature of the relay champs in the US is that the courses are straight -- no forking. A case can be made for forking courses, but to date the straight course format has worked well. I think the organizers for next years champs in Idaho intend to fork the courses. I think it is a mistake, but I also expect it'll be a one-time experiment. Harriman State Park Harriman hosted the 1993 World Champs. It is a great place to orienteer: nice terrain and fabulous maps (all within an hour or so of Manhattan). A "goat" Clubs all over the country now host "goats." A goat is a long distance race with a mass start. There are often some special rules (like you can skip any one control). The Billygoat is the original. I've run the Billygoat once, the Scapegoat (Rocky Mountain) once, and the Possum Trot five times. My personal favorite has been the Trot. Check out www.billygoat.org for all you ever wanted to know about goats. French Creek I love French Creek terrain. The area offers lots of challenges -- in a given course you'll almost always face some difficult route choices, short legs in technically interesting areas, running through fantastic open forest, and fighting through some thickish areas. The maps are great. Someplace that is yet to be mapped The US is a huge country with loads of terrain. There must be some fantastic areas that haven't been discovered by orienteers. I'm looking forward to experiencing some as yet unmapped terrain over the next few decades. * The redwood forest didn't make this list because I already put it on my world-wide list. ** Honorable mention goes to a place called Mission Hill in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Mission Hill is a big sand dune covered by a mature forest. It is a small map, but wonderful O' terrain. posted by Michael | 7:26 PM 
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