Discussion: US Team Trials for WOC: Registration Open

Registration is now open for the Team Trials, to be held near Boyds (Germantown), Maryland and Clifton, Virginina, 7-9 May. See the event info and registration link:Team Trials here. Updates will be coming, including course stats).

Friday's sprint will take place at the Germantown Soccerplex, with courses by Linda Kohn. There is plentiful parking and both portable toilets and an indoor facility (a short walk away).

Saturday's middle will be at Hoyle's Mill Conservation Park, with courses by Dave Linthicum; the start/finish/parking is on White Ground Road. The park's parking lot is very small and we have been advised we must leave some space for other park users. There should be street parking nearby, and we're seeing if we can use the church parking lot across the street. If you're comfortable carpooling, there is a MARC station about a mile away where you can meet and leave your car.
Portapotties will be short walk down the road.

Registration will close by 6 p.m on Wednesday, 5 May, or until the open slots fill up (Team Trialers will have until Wednesday regardless, but earlier is better.)

If you are not running to make the WOC Team but wish to run on Sunday, you need to register separately. Sunday is a free-standing QOC local event with a full suite of courses. Note that registration will not open until Monday, 3 May for the local event (again, Team Trialers need not register separately). See the webpage for details: Fountainhead West

Hi Peggy,

Thanks for putting the registration info up! Is it possible to ask to add GrizO to the registration form as an option for a club?

Thanks!

I’ll ping Greg L and ask.

Thank you!!

GrizO is now listed.

Thanks for setting this up!

(I'm Trialing, but, as I see the entrants (and Euro-Americans) I see now I'm a very-long-shot... Still hoping DVOA can outdo GrizO... ;)

Angelica, on the other hand, has a much better shot, given current registration.

So - to my question - was there a registration link for Sunday Team Trials that I missed?

I see above "If you are not running to make the WOC Team but wish to run on Sunday, you need to register separately." which implies I don't need to register separately, but the Team Trails Registration Page only mentions Friday & Saturday.

At this point, I'm planning to join the usual 6PM Monday rush for an ordinary QOC Blue course registration, but perhaps I should've found another link?

Wyatt, I think the closest thing to an answer for the time being is on the Team Trials info page that Peggy linked in the very first paragraph above:

“I [presumably Peggy] am going to determine whether you need to register separately for Sunday; if the club agrees, you will automatically be entered into the Team Trials Long race on Sunday, for which QOC is waiving your entry fees.”

Presumably she’ll post on that page (and probably here too) when the definitive answer is forthcoming. In case it’s not clear from the out-of-context snippet I quoted: This tentative plan to be automatically registered for the Long trials applies to people who entered the Sprint and Middle trials and checked the “eligible and competing” box. Others who want to try their hand at the Long, as you mentioned, need to enter via the QOC Fountainhead West meet page after it opens up Monday evening.

Thanks, that explains it! I missed that line.

Thank you again Peggy for setting this up!

Steve has it right: if you’re registered in the Team Trials as eligible for WOC, you will automatically be entered in Sunday’s TT Long race (no extra charge).
Sorry, the webpage hasn’t been updated with that detail.

It seems like this hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, but sorry if I am duplicating: according to IOF's latest announcement, the US and Canada have the following automatic starting spots for WOC 2021:

NAOC 2018

Sprint Distance: Damien Konotopetz (CAN); Tori Borish (USA)

Middle Distance: Anton Salmenkyla (USA); Emma Waddington (CAN – competed in W20 class but got the best time in the combined result list of the W21 and W20 classes)

Long Distance: Morten Jørgensen (USA); Alison Crocker (USA)

The announcement is here: https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=663580750D0C...

Thanks for pointing this out, Boris! Yes, there are several personal slots; for the US people, if they want to go to WOC, they're already on the Team. Ali Crocker is definitely not going to WOC; Tori is unlikely I believe.
Morten & Anton are planning on it, AFAIK.

Live updates from the scene of the trials: it is raining heavily at the sprint venue.

It is wonderful

I don't see a single raindrop in that photo.

Can we get one in motion? Just to make sure that's not just dew.

Michael Laraia https://imgur.com/gallery/I5DwXVd

Eric is coming... But he is too late

Eric https://imgur.com/gallery/qzvexyT

Who's got the time to beat?

Michael!

AJ with the new best time

Danny Riley and Will Hawkins https://imgur.com/gallery/bCZ8kRJ

AJ https://imgur.com/gallery/SgMowvd

Sergey Ryzhkov https://imgur.com/gallery/0wZZ8Si

AJ still (unofficially) in the lead

Gheorghe and Will https://imgur.com/gallery/cpyUiWG

Greg https://imgur.com/gallery/GkLfFnH

Results - vmeyer.net/results.html

I think it's AJ!

Team Trials guru Peggy https://imgur.com/gallery/bFNhYwi

Cool umbrella, Peggy :)

Thanks for the live updates!

Great updates! Maps anywhere?

Maps are on RouteGadget

http://routes.qocweb.org/cgi-bin/reitti.pl

Thanks Boris for the live updates! (It really was raining ... hence the umbrella, a QOC premium for course setters and meet directors several years ago).
Boris is planning on running tomorrow so there probably won’t be any live updates :-(

Got some great video too. But that will have to wait for early next week....

Middle Results - vmeyer.net/results.html

Red map:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vinn71cwdu4WT-Spg...
Blue map:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e71A4K_octQSafJDQ...

Wow, that looks challenging!

Middle distance winner with his well-deserved lunch https://imgur.com/gallery/JAS3OAx

Nice run Jan Erik!

Splits for earlier finishers are here:
https://attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_5158...

Start times for the Long tomorrow...
9:15 Wyatt Riley
9:17 Greg Ahlswede
9:19 Diana Aleksieva
9:21 Joseph Barrett
9:23 Gheorghe Fala
9:25 Sydney Fisher
9:27 Danny Riley
9:29 Will Enger
9:31 Angelica Riley
9:33 Michael Laraia
9:35 Alexis Merka
9:37 Anthony Riley
9:39 Sergei Ryzhkov
9:41 Will Hawkins
9:43 Boris Granovskiy
9:45 Patrick Shannon
9:47 Eric Bone

Results for the Sunday Long will be posted every five minutes at results.qocweb.org

Links to maps will be posted here at 10:30 AM EST.

Middle Maps are on RouteGadget

http://routes.qocweb.org/cgi-bin/reitti.pl

That looks like a great middle in some vague terrain. But, seems fast so imagine white was white with good visibility?

White woods had good visibility. A real challenge!

In the winter, visibility is, much, much better. Even 2 weeks back when flowering trees were still blooming, it was much more obvious to see the separation between white and green forest.

There's often scattered low vegetation in the woods mapped white. It tends to keep people from going straight, and hides mapped rock. Looking at some routes, people did run straight anyway whether the woods were white or green. With the contour relieve being so subtle, the low vegetation also made harder for people to tell where the terrain changes up and down. That made it all the more remarkable that the leaders were able to hit the times they did.

(don't peek if you are running the local QOC event later!)

Red TT map:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y7lcXGEsfoTxk2bGe...
Blue TT map:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HzKdOZYP3CRC1fBrD...

Automatic qualifiers for the WOC Team (winners of the sprint and the winner of the middle+long races, normalized): Anthony Riley, Angelica Riley, Joseph Barrett, and Sydney Fisher.
The remainder of the Team will be determined after the Czech selection races next month.

Thanks for a great weekend, Peggy and QOC! This was a lot of fun!

Is there a final scoring list for this weekend somewhere?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5pxsjJR6714wwGyv6 - winners, organizers, and competitors relaxing in the parking lot

No masks?

Pretty sure everyone at the trials was vaccinated and cleared by the CDC to be around other vaccinated folks outdoors without masks.

And it was breezy.

Right on, glad you were all able to get vaccinated

Just seeing some terrain pics of the middle from Clint. Looks like it was a pretty neat race. From afar, and from an uninformed perspective, it looks like this may have been one of the best middles around here in some time. It’s a shame more people didn’t get to run it.

Results summary now posted over on the OUSA website. Results, course maps, routegadget, photos and more. If anyone has galleries of photos from the Team Trial weekend they'd like to share, send me a link and I'll add it to the page.

Thanks, Clint!

@Jman....I heard a few competitors remark they would not run on that map ever again...I would go back, although from the mapper, the vegetation had gotten worse in the past few weeks....it is a very challenging area because of the lack of contours and the scattered, and unmapped (because it would be impossible to map them clearly, and they are realtively small) barberry thickets, so compass lines are hard to follow. So hard to stay on a line, few features to check off, and not much to relocate off of.

We'll probably have a QOC local meet there next winter, when the veg is much lower. It really is fun—though still quite challenging—when it's more open.
There's still a lot more park to map, too, and I'm sure Nadim will be expanding it. Yay, more areas of barberry! ;-)

I would certainly come back to the area. It tested skills we don't frequently need in US orienteering, but that doesn't mean it's a bad area.

I am 100% certain I would be lost out there for days, also I really want to try it sometime.

I suspect to the extent barberry is mapped it is vertical green. The crux of this area, to me as an armchair observer, is the degree to which the other green is mapped decently. It certainly doesn’t need to be mapped perfectly. However, if the borders between medium (not light) green and white are reasonably discernible in the terrain, you have more vertical dimensionality than the somewhat vague contours would provide. And then lots of nice textbook middle legs, great variety, and rhythm...

And, needless to say, this terrain seems a bit surprising to those of us accustomed to Quantico terrain. Suggesting that a combination of experience and preparation would have paid more dividends than assuming ridge and valley was what was going to be encountered on the day.

The Route Gadget map had been shared, so anyone assuming ridge and valley wasn't paying attention to the notes.

I'd like a chance at revenge. I got hopelessly lost quite quickly, only the 3rd orienteering race I've ever called it quits early. I had studied the posted map, and knew what my game plan had to be, and still was thoroughly unprepared. One of the great things about orienteering!

The fact that several of the winners ran so well indicates the terrain was fair and championship-worthy. Doesn't mean it was fun to run in at training speed, but it was a totally fair race area.

I remember much of the same discussion at the rather greenbriar-laden 2007 US champs in Prince William Forest, also of course hosted by QOC. People said they would never come back. But that was fair too.

https://attackpoint.org/racesplits.jsp/race_3019

I felt good about the terrain and map back then because I was higher up the results list, and I knew that I had been able to use the map to navigate well. I feel good about it in 2021 because I know that the best runners won - if they can do it, so can others. Even if not me.

(It's funny: I don't feel any slower than I was in 2007, but the results, particularly the km rates, don't lie.)

"The fact that several of the winners ran so well indicates the terrain was fair..."

Sorry feet, but I think it is very questionable reasoning to judge fairness by the winners' performances.

Before this goes any further, I want to say I am extremely uncomfortable with this part of the discussion.

On one hand I think the fairness issue is very important, well beyond this event.
It is also complicated.
I don't want to see any issue swept under the rug, hence my comment above.

On the other hand, I don't think this thread is a good place to have this discussion, given the situation, and heroic efforts involved.

I'd like to express my simple gratitude for the event, along with acknowledging and celebrating some truly outstanding performances by competitors and organizers alike, but suspend this aspect of the discussion for another time and place.

That seems fair.

Thanks. Whew.

The fact that a couple of top orienteers were able to not have a heated argument indicates that this discussion is fair.

(ducking)

Watch the video and decide for yourself how green the terrain is for the middle.
Thanks Clint! Really fun to watch.

Caveat - I did my filming on the greener, northern part of the course. I didn't get down to the whiter southern areas.

Thanks Clint! That video was wonderful to watch.

Very nicely done.

Great video, I am thrilled that someone is willing, and capable of producing media such as this, perhaps it will get "out there" and more people will try orienteering.

I think the course setting all 3 days was excellent. All the venues were not ideal for the races on them, but the course setters did a great job of setting challenging but fair, courses.

The video is excellent! Nice to have names and music. Thanks!

Yes! Having made videos for my scout troop, I am appreciating your skill and professionalism, Clinton. You are really doing a great job in this role. Thank you.