Sport | Orienteering |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | United States |
Founded | 1971 |
Affiliation | International Orienteering Federation |
Regional affiliation | North America |
Headquarters | Arlington, Virginia, United States |
President | Clare Durand |
Official website | |
orienteeringusa | |
Orienteering USA (OUSA), formerly United States Orienteering Federation (USOF), is the national governing body for orienteering in the United States. It is recognized by the International Orienteering Federation and the United States Olympic Committee. [1] [2] It was founded on 1 August 1971. [3] Orienteering USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. There are 68 current member clubs and over 1,500 members. [2] [4]
The first known competitive orienteering events in the U.S. were held from 1941 to 1943 in New Hampshire by a Finnish army officer named Piltti Heiskanen. There were military orienteering events at West Point Military Academy in New York state by 1966 and at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia by 1967, where the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Academy's first public event was held on July 12, 1968 on Harald Wibye's color orienteering map, the first such map in the English-speaking world. This was also the origin of the Quantico Orienteering Club, currently the largest and most active club in the US. The Norwegian Wibye also hosted the first known public competitive orienteering event in the U.S. at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania on Nov. 5, 1967. From this event would emerge another large club in the U.S., the Delaware Valley Orienteering Association.
The most influential early benefactor to and promoter of U.S. map and compass use and orienteering, and easily the most well-read author on these topics, was Bjorn Kjellstrom, a 1930s Swedish orienteering champion. From his events with scouts as early as 1946 to his guidance and support in the 1990s, he provided impetus and inspiration. His map and compass events from 1965 to 1967 in Westchester County, NY had competitive orienteering courses added in 1968 by Wibye. Bill Gookin's first events in 1969 in the San Diego area were the earliest known competitive public orienteering events west of the Mississippi. Kjellstrom assisted several Quantico officers is establishing the U.S. Orienteering Federation in 1971. The early 1970s would see the founding, in part, by orienteering book author Hans Bengstsson, of the New England Orienteering Club, the largest in the U.S. from the late 1970s through the 1980s. [3]
Orienteering USA is predominantly a volunteer-run organization. It has a board of directors, officers and numerous committees and task forces. [2]
OUSA states [5] that its mission is to:
Club name | Locale | State(s) |
---|---|---|
Arctic Orienteering Club | Anchorage | Alaska |
ARK-LA-TEX Orienteering Club | Ark-La-Tex | Arkansas |
Louisiana | ||
Texas | ||
Austin Orienteering Club | Austin | Texas |
Backwoods Orienteering Klub | Raleigh–Durham–Cary | North Carolina |
Badger Orienteering Club | Madison | Wisconsin |
Bay Area Orienteering Club | San Francisco Bay Area | California |
Bluegrass Orienteering Club | Lexington | Kentucky |
Buffalo Orienteering Club | Buffalo | New York |
Cambridge Sports Union | Greater Boston | Massachusetts |
Capital Region Nordic Alliance | Capital District | New York |
Carolina Orienteering Klub | Charlotte | North Carolina |
Cascade Orienteering Club | Seattle | Washington |
Central Ohio Orienteering | Columbus | Ohio |
Central New York Orienteering | Syracuse | New York |
Central Virginia Orienteering Club | Richmond | Virginia |
Chicago Area Orienteering Club | Chicago Metropolitan Area | Illinois |
City of Trees Orienteering Club | Boise | Idaho |
Columbia River Orienteering Club | Portland | Oregon |
Delaware Valley Orienteering Association | Delaware Valley | Delaware |
Maryland | ||
New Jersey | ||
Pennsylvania | ||
Eastern Washington Orienteering Club | Spokane | Washington |
Empire Orienteering Club | Capital District | New York |
Florida Orienteering Club | Orlando | Florida |
Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club | Phoenix Metropolitan Area | Arizona |
Gold Country Orienteers | Sacramento | California |
Green Mountain Orienteering Club | Burlington | Vermont |
Grizzly Orienteering | Missoula | Montana |
Houston Orienteering Club | Houston | Texas |
Hudson Valley Orienteering Club | Hudson Valley | New Jersey |
New York | ||
Illinois River Valley Orienteering Club | Peoria | Illinois |
Indiana Crossroads Orienteering | Indiana | Indiana |
Long Island Orienteering Club | Long Island | New York |
Los Angeles Orienteering Club | Los Angeles | California |
Miami Valley Orienteering Club | Dayton | Ohio |
Minnesota Orienteering Club | Minnesota | Minnesota |
Nashville Orienteering | Nashville | Tennessee |
Nav-X-Sports | Santa Rosa | California |
New England Orienteering Club | New England | Connecticut |
Massachusetts | ||
Rhode Island | ||
North Country Orienteering | North Country | New York |
North Eastern Ohio Orienteering Club | Cleveland | Ohio |
North Texas Orienteering Association | Dallas | Texas |
Orienteering Club of Cincinnati | Cincinnati | Ohio |
Orienteer Kansas | Lawrence | Kansas |
Orienteering Louisville | Louisville | Kentucky |
Orienteering Utah | Utah | Utah |
Possum Trot Orienteering Club | Kansas City Metropolitan Area | Kansas |
Missouri | ||
Quantico Orienteering Club | Washington Metropolitan Area | District of Columbia |
Maryland | ||
Virginia | ||
Rochester Orienteering Club | Rochester | New York |
Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club | Denver | Colorado |
San Diego Orienteering Club | San Diego | California |
Southern Michigan Orienteering Club | Southern Michigan | Michigan |
St. Louis Orienteering Club | Greater St. Louis | Illinois |
Missouri | ||
Suncoast Orienteering and Adventure Racing | Sarasota Metropolitan Area | Florida |
Susquehanna Valley Orienteering | York | Pennsylvania |
Truckee Orienteering Club | Truckee | California |
Tucson Orienteering Club | Tucson | Arizona |
Up North Orienteers | New Hampshire | New Hampshire |
Vulcan Orienteering Club | Birmingham | Alabama |
Western Connecticut Orienteering Club | Western Connecticut | Connecticut |
Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania |
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.
Marine Corps Base Quantico is a United States Marine Corps installation located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly 55,148 acres (86.169 sq mi) of southern Prince William County, Virginia, northern Stafford County, and southeastern Fauquier County. Used primarily for training purposes, MCB Quantico is known as the "Crossroads of the Marine Corps".
Quantico National Cemetery is a national cemetery in Triangle, Virginia for veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces. Adjacent to and originally part of Marine Corps Base Quantico, it was established as a national cemetery in 1983 with an area of 725 acres (293 ha).
Rogaining is an orienteering sport of long distance cross-country navigation, involving both route planning and navigation between checkpoints using a variety of map types. In a rogaine, teams of two to five people choose which checkpoints to visit within a time limit with the intent of maximising their score. Teamwork, endurance, competition and an appreciation for the natural environment are features of the sport. Championship rogaines are 24 hours long, but rogaines can be as short as two hours.
Yvette Baker is Britain's most successful orienteer. At the 1999 World Orienteering Championships in Inverness she won the short distance event.
Silva Sweden AB is an outdoors products company, most known for their high-grade compasses and other navigational equipment including GPS tools, mapping software, and altimeters for aircraft. They also offer a marine range. The company's founders - Gunnar Tillander, Alvar Kjellström, Alvid Kjellström, and Björn Kjellström - invented the hugely popular orienteering or protractor compass used around the world for outdoors navigation.
Michael J. Williams is a retired United States Marine Corps 4-star general. He served as Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps from 2000 until his retirement in 2002.
Mounted orienteering is the practice of orienteering while riding a horse or other riding animal.
The British Orienteering Federation Limited, generally known and branded as British Orienteering, is the national sports governing body for the sport of orienteering in the United Kingdom.
Land navigation is the discipline of following a route through unfamiliar terrain on foot or by vehicle, using maps with reference to terrain, a compass, and other navigational tools. It is distinguished from travel by traditional groups, such as the Tuareg across the Sahara and the Inuit across the Arctic, who use subtle cues to travel across familiar, yet minimally differentiated terrain.
Graham Gristwood is a British orienteering competitor and world champion.
The history of orienteering begins in the late 19th century in Sweden, where it originated as military training. The actual term "orienteering" was first used in 1886 at the Swedish Military Academy Karlberg and meant the crossing of unknown land with the aid of a map and a compass. The competitive sport began when the first competition was held for Swedish military officers on 28 May 1893 at the yearly games of the Stockholm garrison. The first civilian competition, in Norway on 31 October 1897, was sponsored by the Tjalve Sports Club and held near Oslo. The course was long by modern standards, at 19.5 km, on which only three controls were placed. The competition was won by Peder Fossum in a time of 1 hour, 47 minutes, and 7 seconds.
Björn Kjellström, originally from Sweden, was a ski orienteering champion in Sweden and co-founder of the compass manufacturing company Silva Sweden AB which produced the Silva compass. More than 25 million Silva compasses have been sold since the founding of the company.
The Norwegian Orienteering Federation is the national Orienteering Association in Norway. It is recognized as the orienteering association for Norway by the International Orienteering Federation, of which it is a member. The association was founded 1 October 1945, and is a member of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports (NIF). Its first chairman was Kaare Thuesen. In 1946 NOF had 204 associated clubs, with just above 7,000 members. The number of clubs and associated members increased gradually through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and peaked in 1984 with 630 clubs and 34,000 members, and 35,000 members and 620 clubs in 1985. The next twenty years saw a decline in the number of clubs and members. As per December 2007 Norges Orienteringsforbund had 400 associated clubs and just above 24,000 members, distributed over eighteen districts.
An orienteering course is composed of a start point, a series of control points, and a finish point. Controls are marked with a white and orange flag in the terrain, and corresponding purple symbols on an orienteering map. The challenge is to complete the course by visiting all control points in the shortest possible time, aided only by the map and a compass.
Jan Alvar Kjellström was a Swedish orienteer who played an important role in the development of the sport of orienteering in Great Britain.
The Jan Kjellström International Orienteering Festival or "JK" is the premier domestic orienteering competition in the United Kingdom along with the British Orienteering Championships, usually held over the Easter Weekend.
John Floyd Goodman is a retired United States Marine Corps three-star general. He began his military service with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War — during which he earned the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star with "V" Device, and a Purple Heart. He entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1971, becoming an aviator. He flew over 4,100 hours during his years of service. He retired from military service in 2008, with over 41 years of active and reserve service, achieving a rank of lieutenant general.
Orienteering is a longtime component of Scouting programs such as the Boy Scouts of America and other Scouting groups. The BSA first class rank requires that scouts complete a one-mile orienteering course by using a map and compass. The Scout must also measure the height of objects, such as trees, using simple trigonometry. Although some troops tend to emphasize the use of compass bearings and pacing, orienteering actually involves a variety of skills, including map reading and route solving.
Underwater orienteering is an underwater sport that uses recreational open circuit scuba diving equipment and consists of a set of individual and team events conducted in both sheltered and open water testing the competitors' competency in underwater navigation. The competition is principally concerned with the effectiveness of navigation technique used by competitors to swim an underwater course following a route marked on a map prepared by the competition organisers, a compass and a counter meter to measure the distance covered. The sport was developed in the Soviet Union during the late 1950s and is played mainly in Europe. It is known as Orientation Sub in French and as La Orientación Subacuática in Spanish. Historically, the sport has also been known as Technical Disciplines.