Discussion: WUOC

Every even year the University Games are held of which orienteering is one of the sports represented. This year the orienteering events are in Spain, July 1-6. The cost is going to be about $800/person to send a team and will covered by fundraising and the athletes, OUSA has not allotted any funds for this competition. I have sent out a couple of notices to the team asking who is interested and have gotten back a very light response i.e. 3 "yes, I will try out and can go if selected" and 3 "yes, I will try out (or petition) but am not sure if I can go due to other commitments"....not very encouraging. I know that it's hard to plan that far in advance for many students, especially with jobs and summer courses etc. but I'm wondering if there are others who are interested in going who just have not indicated as such?!?! There are, of course, deadlines from the organizers to make a committment, both with numbers and financially.

There have been suggestions to not send a team to WUOC but instead provide opportunities for students to attend training camps or other less expensive competitions. Thoughts anyone????

If you haven't let me know that you are looking to go please send an email to wornerkohn(at)aol(dot)com. Any university student or entering freshman born between 1/1/84 and 12/31/94 is eligible.

ps. JJ - you are too old ;^)

one reason for the light response might be the timing of the event. Two years ago WUOC started roughly one week after JWOC ended and I think there were 3 or more US JWOC participants that also did WUOC. This year, WUOC happens the same week as the JWOC training camp and I think some of those eligible for both are hesitant to skip the JWOC training camp week.

WUOC,JWOC, WOC are all slamed into a 3 week period, apparently all driven by the timing of the summer olympics

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the "maybe"s, and in my case money is the deciding factor. The $800 for entry and lodging increases the price by more than 50% for someone who's not already in Europe.

Anyone else who is interested?

For me, I can't get the time off from work/school. I also can't really afford it, because other European trips (like Ski WOC in Kazakhstan!) take priority.

Kazakhstan is not in Europe.

I think the logic is "If I cross the Atlantic I'm going to Europe. If I cross the Pacific I'm going to Asia."

yup. totally depends what direction I start out in.

So I get to choose whether Singapore is in Asia or Europe?

Yes.

Although it's different for Neil, because his starting place is in Europe. He gets to choose between Asia and America.

Kazakhstan is not in Europe

It depends on your sport.

But India is definitely in Europe.

At least, assuming you are coming from Australia.

Or the US.

Not if you combine it with a trip to Hong Kong, because like they're so close.

Geographically Kazakhstan is definitely not in Europe.

Actually, if you define Europe as bordered by the Ural Mountains and the Ural River, a small part of Kazakhstan is in Europe. Not the part where you are most likely to go ski-orienteering though.