Discussion: Registration stats and tips for NAOC 2018

Some registration stats so far:

CAN: 165
USA: 54 (?!)
SUI: 21
AUS: 17
GBR: 12
SWE: 9
DEN: 8
NOR: 5
NZL: 4
AUT: 4
GER: 3
HKG: 2
LAT: 2
POR: 2
ESP: 2
BLR: 1
CZE: 1
EST: 1
FIN: 1
FRA: 1
ITA: 1

Some tips for youth/juniors:

- IOF medals for all 15-20 age classes
- MF17-18E earn WRE points in Sprint
- MF19-20E earn WRE points in Middle and Sprint (plus chance for WOC 2019 spot if time better than MF21E)

Remember, early registration deadline is April 8 !

To our neighbors to the south and west - take advantage of the great exchange rate! 1.00CAD = 0.78USD.

As part of its designation as an IOF Regional Event, NAOC is also the "North American Junior and Youth Championships".

I think most Americans haven't registered yet because we're still trying to find Whitehorse on a map. Doesn't bode well for us!

I've found Whitehorse, but it's not easy to find a place to stay (that's not camping or a hostel or floor space).... Then there's the cost to get there. (We're leaning toward not attending. I can't imagine a US junior without avid parents or a travel budget trying to make the same arrangements.

The increase in fees is small in comparison.

Yep, definitely difficult for travel. I will be forgoing the World Trail-O Champs this year to instead attend NAOC with my husband. Wish I could afford both.

We've been knocking our heads against air travel and rental cars for nearly a week. Something worth looking at is getting to a Canadian city served by Air North (Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton are the big ones). And then take Air North the rest of the way. Flying back home is harder. With 10AM starts, only the Vancouver flight is really possible on Friday. And if you're headed to the east coast, you'll probably want to fly on Friday.

We also looked at flying in and out of Fairbanks or Juneau and renting a car, which is about half the price of car rental in Whitehorse If you're not averse to long drives after races (~9 hours to Juneau with ferry, 11 to Fairbanks), that might be a possibility, especially for West Coasters. If you're headed back east and need to be at work or school on Monday, this may not be as attractive an option - a late Saturday flight won't get in until late Sunday.

Driving up from Seattle seemed like a good idea until we put it into Google maps (40+ hours)...and so did the Alaskan ferry, until we figured out how much that would cost and how long it would take.

Here's hoping the route choices during the races will be much more enjoyable to tackle than those of getting to venue! ;-)

Alaska Seaplanes (www.flyalaskaseaplanes.com) has announced that they are planning flights from Juneau to Whitehorse (a 45min hop) starting in May, but I don't think it's official yet. Alaska Airlines serves Juneau from Seattle and other points in the lower 48.

If you can get to Skagway (via Juneau with plane or ferry), you can get to Whitehorse via a scenic train/bus combo over the White Pass (bonus points for hiking one way over the stunning Chilkoot Pass!)

https://wpyr.com/excursions/train-motorcoach-excur...

http://www.yukonalaskatouristtours.com/bustrain.ht...

As far as accommodation goes, check out the housing registry at http://www.yukonorienteering.ca/housing/

Here's the Alaska Seaplanes announcement http://juneauempire.com/local/news/2018-03-22/alas...

Would be interesting to know the US/Canada stats from the last NAOC's.

I should be able to come up with that number.... [edit: But it may take longer than I thought.]

NAOC 2016 in New Hampshire, which is very close to Quebec and SE Ontario:

US — 348
Can — 133
Other or no federation — 47

Canadians came from these clubs (83 from DGL, OOC, Ramblers and YOA combined):

Coureurs de Bois
DGL
EOOC
FWOC
GVOC
OANS
ONB
OOC
Ramblers
Stars
TOC
UKR
VICO
YOA

JanetT
NAOC 2016 co-registrar

Several times when I've visited Canada during the summer, I've stayed in college dormitories. Does Yukon College offer this service to non-students? I've looked at their website, but I haven't found any information about it.
I already booked through AirBnB, or I would pursue it.

We are looking at booking dorms at Yukon College, but unfortunately they do not release rooms until sometime in late May. When we get information on this, we will post it here, via twitter/facebook (see website to follow), and on the web site.