North American Orienteering Championships | |
---|---|
Status | active |
Genre | sports event |
Date(s) | May—November |
Frequency | biennial |
Venue | various |
Location(s) | various |
Country | Canada, United States |
Inaugurated | 1971 |
Previous event | 2023 |
Next event | 2024 |
Organised by | IOF, Orienteering Canada, Orienteering USA |
Website | https://www.cal-o-fest.com |
The North American Orienteering Championships (NAOC) is a biennial orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation.
Originally, the North American Orienteering Championships consisted of just two forest races. The competition was held in odd-numbered years until 1977, after which it changed to even numbered years starting in 1980. A sprint race was added to the program in 2006. The event's location always alternates between Canada and the United States. The NAOC has been held in conjunction with other orienteering competitions such as the Canadian Orienteering Championships (1990, 1998, 2018, 2024) and the Asia-Pacific Orienteering Championships (1990, 2002). [1]
The current championship events are a long distance, middle distance, sprint distance, and either a forest relay or sprint relay. The events can take place in any order. [2] The competition has open age and gender categories as well as an elite category. Throughout the competition, points earned by Canadian and American competitors in the elite categories are added up. The team with the most points is declared the winner and is awarded the Bjorn Kjellstrom Cup.
Distance | Winning Time | Notes |
---|---|---|
Long distance | 70–80 min (women) 90–100 min (men) | |
Middle distance | 30–35 min | |
Sprint | 12–15 min | |
Forest Relay | 105–135 min | Three-person teams |
Sprint Relay | 55–60 min | Mixed four-person teams |
Year | Dates | Location | Host Club(s) | Winning Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | 6—7 November | Dumfries, Virginia | Quantico Orienteering Club | — |
1973 | 1—2 September | Gatineau Park, Quebec | Ottawa Orienteering Club | — |
1975 | 24—25 May | Bear Brook State Park, New Hampshire | New England Orienteering Club | — |
1977 | 8—9 October | Lachute, Quebec | Ramblers Orienteering Club | — |
1980 | 1—2 November | Brecksville Reservation, Ohio | Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club | Canada |
1982 | 21—22 August | Carberry, Manitoba | Manitoba Orienteering Association | United States |
1984 | 6—7 October | Harriman State Park, New York | Hudson Valley Orienteering Club | Canada |
1986 | 16—17 August | Milton and Barrie, Ontario | Hamilton King's Foresters | Canada |
1988 | 29—30 October | Hickory Run State Park, Pennsylvania | Delaware Valley Orienteering Club | Canada |
1990 | 11—12 August | Caroline, Alberta | Alberta Orienteering Association Edmonton Overlanders Orienteering Club | Canada |
1992 | 7—8 November | Prince William Forest Park, Virginia | Quantico Orienteering Club | Canada |
1994 | 20—21 August | Barrie, Ontario | Hamilton King's Foresters | Canada |
1996 | 19—20 October | Meramec State Park, Missouri | St. Louis Orienteering Club | Canada |
1998 | 2—3 August | Bonaparte Provincial Park and Merritt, British Columbia | Sage Orienteering Club | Canada |
2000 | 28—29 October | Harriman State Park, New York | Hudson Valley Orienteering | Canada |
2002 | 13—14 July | Dalmuir, Alberta | Foothill Wanderes Orienteering Club Edmonton Overlanders Orienteering Club | Canada |
2004 | 29—30 May | Cleveland, Ohio | Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club | Canada |
2006 | 6—9 October | Hamilton and Milton, Ontario | Golden Horseshoe Orienteering | Canada |
2008 | 26—28 September | Altmar and Fayetteville, New York | Central New York Orienteering | Canada |
2010 | 2—4 July | Cranbrook, British Columbia | Kootenay Orienteering Club Foothills Wanderers Orienteering Club Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club | United States |
2012 | 18—21 October | Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania | Delaware Valley Orienteering Club | United States |
2014 | 10—13 October | Arnprior, Ontario | Orienteering Ottawa | Canada |
2016 | 23—25 September | Hanover, New Hampshire | Orienteering USA | United States |
2018 | 18—21 August | Whitehorse and Carcross, Yukon | Yukon Orienteering Association | United States |
cancelled | | Cascade Orienteering Club | United States | |
cancelled | | United States | ||
2023 | 28–31 July | Truckee, California | Bay Area Orienteering Club Cascade Orienteering Club | United States |
2024 | 8—11 August | Kingston and Calabogie, Ontario | Orienteering Ottawa | TBD |
Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points. Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering. For the purposes of this article, foot orienteering serves as a point of departure for discussion of all other variations, but almost any sport that involves racing against a clock and requires navigation with a map is a type of orienteering.
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.
Simone Niggli-Luder is a Swiss orienteering athlete who has twice won all four women's competitions at the world championships. She is widely seen as one of the greatest orienteers of all time.
The World Orienteering Championships is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2003. Since 2003, competitions have been held annually. Participating nations have to be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Thierry Gueorgiou is a French orienteer who holds the record for gold medals won at the World Orienteering Championships for a male athlete, with 14 gold medals between 2003 and 2017. Gueorgiou has won more than 20 gold medals in international competitions, including the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) middle distance event a record eight times: 2003–2005, 2007–2009, 2011 and 2017.
The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) are an annual orienteering competition. They were first held in 1990. Entry is open to national teams aged 20 and below as of 31 December in the year of competition. Representative countries must be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
The European Orienteering Championships were first held in 1962. They have been held biennially since 2000. From 2020, the European Orienteering Championships will be held annually, with sprint events and forest events in alternate years.
Ski orienteering (SkiO) is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF. A successful ski orienteer combines high physical endurance, strength and excellent technical skiing skills with the ability to navigate and make the best route choices while skiing at a high speed.
The World Ski Orienteering Championships (Ski-WOC) is the official event to award the titles of World Champions in ski orienteering. The World Championships is organized every odd year. The programme includes Sprint, Middle and Long Distance competitions, and a Relay for both men and women. The first Ski-WOC was held in 1975.
The World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) is a biannual orienteering competition organized by International University Sports Federation (FISU). Entry is open to athletes aged 17 to 25 who are enrolled in university either the year of or the year after the competition. Representative countries must be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Maja Møller Alm is a Danish orienteering and Athletics competitor who has won seven World Championships and two World Games titles. She is especially known for her four gold medals on the sprint distance, where she has won the title four years in a row: 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. She is also a medalist from the Junior World Championships. Since 2006 she has been coached by Danish national coach Lars Lindstrøm. Alm is remarkable for her dominant running speed, which gives her a great advantage over other competitors at the sprint distance.
Martin Johansson is a Swedish orienteering, ski-orienteering, and cross-country skiing competitor, a medallist at the orienteering world championships, and a 2004 Junior World Champion in relay. He received bronze medals in sprint at the World Orienteering Championships in Kyiv 2007 and Olomouc 2008. His brother, Lars, is a member of the Rockford Icehogs
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Ida Bobach is a Danish orienteering competitor who was Junior World Champion in 2009, and became triple Junior World Champion from 2010, when she won the sprint, long distance and the relay. She represents the club OK Pan Århus, and since 2007, has received training from Danish national coach Lars Lindstrøm. In 2015 she won gold medals at the World Championships in the long and Relay.
Tove Alexandersson is a Swedish orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner and ski mountaineer. She has won a total of 19 gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships and 10 gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Championships. In 2018, she won the Sky Marathon event at the Skyrunning World Championships, in her second skyrunning race ever. In 2021, she won the combined discipline at the World Championships of Ski Mountaineering. She competes for Stora Tuna OK in orienteering and Alfta-Ösa OK in ski orienteering. Alexandersson holds the record for the number of gold medals in a row at the World Orienteering Championships, winning 11 in a row between 2018 and 2022.
Matthias Kyburz is a Swiss orienteering competitor, junior world champion, European champion and multiple world champion. On 16 April 2020, Kyburz attained the world record in quickest time reaching 50km on a treadmill, in a time of 2:56:35, breaking the record held by Florian Neuschwander.
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