Photo: Robin Shannonhouse

World Trail O Champs | Team Selection Criteria | 2008 rankings | new! Punch Cards

Team Information

General information about Trail Orienteering and eligibility for the Paralympic competition can be found on the website of the International Orienteering Federation, and also at www.trailo.org.

NOTE: Updated Trail O rules (pdf) were recently published by the IOF.

U.S. TEAM TO WORLD TRAIL ORIENTEERING
CHAMPIONSHIPS SELECTED
8 May 2008

Karen Dennis has completed the paperwork for determining the 2008 U.S. Team for the WTOC in Olomouc, Czech Republic in July.

Paralympic Team
David Irving, SDO      Cathy Yekenevicz, BGR*
Open Team
Clare Durand, LAOC      Sharon Crawford, RMOC      Richard Ebright, DVOA*      Alternate – Mike Poulson, CROC*

The make-up of the open team is very exciting, as it includes:

• the President of USOF
• Sharon's first trip to a WTOC after all her championship achievements in "foot-O"
• three ladies

In addition, this will be David Irving's fourth trip to the WTOCs in the Paralympic Class. He has already earned bronze and silver medals in this class; now Go for the Gold!

On behalf of the USOF Trail O Committee, congratulations to the Team Members, and may they achieve their own personal goals at the 2008 WTOC!

Frank Kuhn, Chair
USOF Trail Orienteering Committee
8 May 2008 (*updated 27 May)

2008 Team Trials Results

ON THE ROAD TO THE
WORLD TRAIL ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

by Frank H. Kuhn
Chairperson, USOF Trail Orienteering Committee
31 March 2008

As the US Trail O Team Trials at the West Point event on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 draw near, we are fast reaching the end of the road in identifying those folks who will be eligible for the US Team going to the 2008 WTOC in Olomouc, Czech Republic, 12-16 July 2008.

Thanks to the hard work of Karen Dennis during the past months, we now have the methodology for selecting the 2008 US Team and the Spring 2008 US Ranking List that are detailed below. The USOF Trail O Committee Members, previous US WTOC Team Members and those who have been participants in the available Trail O Events in various parts of the US had the opportunity to express their opinions as to what they felt should be the elements in the Team Selection Process. Thanks to all of those folks who provided Karen with their constructive ideas.

Please note the Ranking List includes everybody who attended the listed Trail O Events. To be a US Team Member, you must be a USOF Member in good standing and have full passport-holding citizenship for the United States.

Registration for the West Point Event is now open and may be accessed through the US Orienteering Federation web site Events menu button to the left.

The Trail O start/finish, Meet Headquarters, Lodging, Dinner, and Donna Fluegel's Silent Auction will be at Camp Buckner.

The start times for Trail O on Saturday, May 3rd will be 1200-1500. The entry fee is $10.00 for all competitors. You may sign up for the Trail O Event on the Registration Form; however, if for some reason you fail to do this, you may pay your entrance fee at Meet Headquarters before going to the start line.

Paralympic and Open Class participants will both be doing the same Trail O course.

The USOF Trail O Committee will be looking forward to seeing you as one of a very large number of Trail O Participants!!!

And now to the information many of you have been awaiting —

US Trail Orienteering Team Selection

1.  Team Selection Committee
     Each year, the Trail Orienteering Committee shall select the US Trail Orienteering Team, to compete at the World Trail Orienteering Championships, using the selection criteria identified in the following sections.
     The WTOC allows two teams from each country, consisting of three members in the paralympic category and three members in the open category. A paralympic team member may also compete in the open category (and be on both teams).
      If, following the initial selection process, not enough selected participants have accepted to constitute a full team, the Selection Committee shall select such additional participants as necessary to form a full team, using criteria they deem appropriate.

2.  Selection Criteria
     The US Trail Orienteering Team Trials and the US Trail O Rankings will be used to determine who qualifies for team selection. The World Trail O Rankings will also be considered in making the selection, such as to break ties or to augment US rankings.

3.  WTOC US Trail Orienteering Team Qualification
     For each category, open and paralympic:
     If you are the top finisher who is eligible for the US Trail O Team at the US Trail O team trials, you will be offered a slot on the team, regardless of your ranking.
     If you are the second eligible finisher at the team trials, you will be offered a slot on the team, if you rank in the top 15% of US ranked Trail O competitors, or the top 50% of World Trail O rankings.
     Any unfilled slots will be offered to the highest US ranked eligible Trail O competitors.

4.  US Trail Orienteering Ranking Events
     The US Trail O Committee will 'sanction' an event and determine its status as a ranking event. All bids for the US Trail O Championships will be submitted to the Trail O committee, who will then present them to the USOF board for approval, if they are sanctioned. In the past, the US Trail O ranking events have been the US Trail O Championships and also the Trail O Team Ranking event held in Tucson in February 2008. The annual US Trail Orienteering Champs will always be a ranking event. Other sanctioned events can apply to the US Trail O Committee to be deemed a ranking event.

5.  US Trail Orienteering Rankings Calculations     
     You need to have attended at least one (1) of the last seven (7) US Trail O ranking events to be ranked. You will be ranked by taking the average of your best 3 scores at any of the last 7 ranking events. If you competed at fewer than 3 events, a zero will be used for your score at each missing event. Course setters, vetters, and mappers for US Trail O ranked events will be given credit days. Credit days can be used to determine the best 3 scores, by replacing each credit day with your highest score.
     The ranking is based on the percentage of correct answers at the event.  It is calculated by taking the number of correct answers divided by the total number of controls, including timed controls but not any controls thrown out, then multiplying by 100.
     The timed control score (in seconds) will be used to break ties.

6.  World Trail Orienteering Rankings
     Calculated similar to US Rankings, using data from the World Championships in Trail Orienteering. The WTOC scores will be used to calculate a world ranking of past WTOC team members.

The following seven events are being used for the ranking used to select the 2008 WTOC team:

• 2008 US Trail Orienteering Ranking Event, Arthur Pack Regional Park, Tucson, AZ, 22 Feb 2008
• 2007 US Trail Orienteering Championships, Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC, 3 March 2007
• 2006 US Trail Orienteering Championships, Spooner Lake, Lake Tahoe, CA, 24 June 2006
• 2005 US Trail Orienteering Championships, Camp Buckner, West Point, NY, 30 April 2005
• 2004 US Trail Orienteering Championships, Cleveland, GA, 29 June 2004
• 2003 US Trail Orienteering Championships, Kings Mountain State Park, NC, April 2003
• 2002 US Trail Orienteering Championships, East Crow, Laramie, WY, July 2002

Current U.S. Trail O Rankings as of 30 March 2008

History — 2006 and 2007 Trail-O U.S. and World Championships

Tyvek Trail O Punch Cards

Special Tyvek Trail-O punch cards are now available from the USOF Trail Orienteering Committee. For clubs using them at local events there is a charge of 50 cents per card, payable to "USOF Trail Orienteering Team Fund." They can be ordered from either the East or West Coast Trail O Committee representative:

East Coast — Frank Kuhn (tbaukuhn [at] aol [dot] com)
West Coast — Karen Dennis (kidennis [at] aol [dot] com)

Cards are available at no charge when:

• used for Trail Orienteering championships, ranking events or team trials, or
• a portion of meet fees involving Trail O is donated to the Fund

Contact one of the Trail O Committee representatives for more information, including where to send order and payment.

Last update: June 6, 2008

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