Discussion: Orienteering USA official policy for COVID-19 mitigation

At their emergency meeting tonight, the board passed the following policy:

“OUSA official policy regarding COVID-19 mitigation:

1. Clubs should promote the health, safety and wellness of orienteers and volunteers above all else. Clubs are expected to follow national and local governmental regulations and guidelines. Clubs are strongly discouraged from holding gatherings or traditional events for the immediate future to mitigate the spread of the virus.

2. Sanctioning of OUSA events and championships scheduled through the end of April 2020 is suspended. Clubs are encouraged to postpone events to a later date and will be given priority and preference for open dates in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. The suspension of sanctioning for additional events will be considered as they approach, based on current conditions.

3. Alternatives to traditional events that implement social isolation and avoid gatherings are encouraged. For example, course maps can be distributed or made available online. Individuals can print maps and run courses on their own without increasing their potential transmission interactions.”

Full Policy Statement

This is good, it is pretty close to what NOF decided late last week.
By now things are settling down, we orienteers have realized that we are actually in one of the best possible situations as more and more local clubs/groups are publishing pdf maps of training courses that are available for individual activity.

Most other sports require groups of athletes to meet up and interact in some way, even track & field has problems when everyone wants to train on the same running track.

Given that numbers at our training events are about 10% of our typical event turnout, I dare say a great many of our orienteers appreciate the social interaction before and after the event rather than, I don't know, improving themselves or being good at the sport (or being alone in the woods).

Very positive move to allow time for things to stabilise (or not) and make decisions for the fall, in particular the Cal-O Fest and World Rogaining Championships
Matt Bixley
President IRF

@tRicky: You are of course correct, i.e. the before and particularly after the run social interactions is a big draw for many (most?) orienteers, but that is in fact the only thing we have to sacrifice, pretty much all other sports are much more heavily impacted.

I.e. even our Olympic gold candidate swimmers have stopped all swimming since the pools are closed for all, with no exceptions.

@Max - is that true, the president of the IRF has the handle "HidingControls" ?

I knew it.

Which one is Max?

@undy - yes I do.
I've been a stalker on Attackpoint for a very long time. Paid up about a year ago I think after succumbing to peer pressure. It is my only social media vice.
Max is my uncle.

Undy, he's also in my age category for ANZ Challenge next year (provided it goes ahead). I'm going head-to-head with the IRF.

always like a pointless reason to get fit.