Discussion: 2024 NAOC and WMOC conflict

The dates chosen for the 2024 COC/NAOC conflict with the dates of 2024 WMOC in Finland. I’m sure there are a zillion difficult considerations in choosing these dates but I wonder if this conflict was realized. I suppose the odds are slim of being able to change the dates now, but I can’t help asking. I really want to do both of these events. I don’t imagine there are huge numbers of people who would be similarly torn, but I would think there are some. Of the several dozen North Americans who might be expected to participate in WMOC, I would think a fairly high proportion would also be likely to want to attend NAOC.

The 2024 WMOC is scheduled Aug 2-9 at Turku, Finland. https://www.wmoc2024.fi

Five year age classes are offered and run from W35 to W100, and M35 to M100. Anyone (age 35+) can enter. Events are as follows: Sprint Model, Sprint Qualification races, Sprint Final; Forest Model, Forest Qualification races, Middle Final, Long Final. The Qualification races seed you into an A, B, or C etc. final. Top 80 in an age class goes into the A Final, next 80 into the B, etc. So if you don't make the A final, don't worry, you can have a great run in the B! There is also a 5-day public competition for younger family members or anyone else.

The 2023 WMOC is scheduled this year Aug 11-18 in Kosice, Slovakia, with similar format. https://www.wmoc2020.sk.

The WMOC is great fun, has something for everyone, gives one the chance to experience all kinds of different terrains, and to meet other orienteers from all over the world.

It is highly likely that the NAOC date may have been chosen first

Actually that's not the case - the WMOC dates were chosen first and NAOC knew about the WMOC clash but chose those dates anyway.

WMOC is usually set a few years in advance. Something I've noted and often commented on is that WMOC has a great tendency to clash with either WMTBOC (as it did in 2022 - along with JWOC - and again in 2023 and 2025) or WMMTBOC (2024). Now I realise the crossover between WMTBOC and WMOC probably isn't great (though I try to do both if I'm in the region) but there are plenty of dates out there to avoid clashing what few World Championship events there are on the calendar.

Yes. Canada. Please be nice. There's not an airline way to make it from Turku to Montreal on a Friday after running the Long Final, even starting at the very front at 9 am as I usually do. Given that life is short and there are injuries, pandemics, wars, and death, it would be silly to miss your quality event due to simple lack of foresight.

I'm not sure if anyone involved with Orienteering Canada actually monitors this group or finds it part of their responsibility to respond here.
So if you folks are doing more than just venting it seems the most efficient way to express your point would be directly with Orienteering Canada.
By the way I see this event has been sanctioned by the IOF and O-USA so if you have a beef you might want to speak up with your national federation for not representing on your behalf.
But finally I'm pretty confident that the event organizers will know that the 'masters market' is a very important one for any event in North America. There must have been pretty compelling reasons to get them to choose early August instead of late July or August for their events.

Agree with o-maps and Tundra/Desert. Life is too short and if there’s a chance I’d like to consider both events

I take it back, there are likely (multiple) contortionist ways to get there, assuming zero flight disruptions. Would it be too much to ask Orienteering Canada for a late-in-the-day program that Saturday 10 August 2023, say first start at noon... or would this request also have to go through my IOF representative? There just isn't early Saturday morning arrival traffic into Ottawa. There is into Montreal but it's a drive.

Yes we were aware of the conflict with the World Masters when we proposed the dates to the IOF. The dates for the NAOC 2024 were picked based on many factors including summer vacation time, access to competition terrain, volunteer schedules, and competing events. As an IOF regional championships for the M/F 16-, M/F 18-, M/F 20-, and M/F21E categories NAOCs absolutely cannot conflict with WOC, JWOC and World Cup races. This left very few options for summer dates when various other event conflicts, including that with WMOC, were considered. Ultimately it was determined that the chosen dates of August 3-11th were the best option available for the largest number of people. We apologize for the conflict with WMOC and regret that some folks will have to chose between the two sets of races.
Note that the 10-day festival will include 8 days of races, starting with the Canadian Championships north of Toronto, then three days of NAOC Sprint races in historical Kingston, and finally the NAOC Long and Middle in the Ottawa valley.

Thanks for the explanation. Will you consider late starts on that Saturday for the few foolish ones who would love to make that largest number even larger? Days are pretty long in August.

Also conflict with WUOC.
I don't think organizers realized that top masters and juniors will be gone.
Seems that moving one week earlier and having NAOC events first would be better.

Some American elite orienteers will be competing at WUOC next year (myself included) so as far as I can tell the NAOC competition will be severely diminished and depend largely on who shows up which is not a good way to run the event. I understand there aren't many options, but with possibly 3-4 competitive Americans not able to attend both events it will certainly skew the results of the cup etc.

Another marketing plus for a date change is that by moving the COC/ NAOC forward the events better align with Cleveland's Pan American Masters Games which include orienteering and thus could increase the 'orientourist' pool for all three events.
Anyway whoever gets to go to COC/NAOC will have great experiences both within the woods and without.

That's even worse, square in the middle of JWOC, WOC, and O-Ringen at just a quick glance.

Yes, that is what they deal with and if they push back later in August they get complaints from people on behalf of the US students back in school.
Earlier in July before the PAMG? A whole new set of problems if you count on using farm fields and try to get access before the hay has been cut.

It already conflicts with the start of schools in much of the US Midwest and southeast. We just have to prioritize and go to what we can.

The Aus Champs clashes with nothing but we still can't get Australian elites to go to it because it's on the far away west coast (well there are a couple attending but nothing like the full complement).

Has consideration been given to late starts on the NAOC Saturday? Thanks.

T/D If you do not get a direct response here you might want to ask the question through the event website.