Jessica Colleran
Two weeks of orienteering. The first NAOC competition since 2018. The reunification of the USA team after 3 years of social distancing.
The US team just finished two weeks of racing at Cal-o-fest, which included Western States Championships, North American Championships, and the World Rogaining Championships. Keep reading to hear our athletes’ thoughts on the weekend!
What were your goals going into NAOC?
Jessica: “This was my first competition running F21+ where the majority of the team was competing so my goal was to bring my best and compete against the other F21+ runners. I also wanted to help team USA bring home to win!”
Greg: “Win every race, or at least medal in each. Medals in 2/4 events.”
Thomas: “My goals for NAOC were to get on the podium for 3/4 of the races.”
Diana: “My goals for NAOC were to have clean races. I’m not that fast, so my goal was to focus on my navigation and then to worry about my speed.”
Alex: “My goal was to put forward races I was happy with, especially after an underwhelming JWOC. Mostly I wanted to have a good middle race since lately that hasn’t been my strong suit.”
Joe: “Beat Canada. Win some medals. Have fun. Win the relay.”
Annika: “Honestly I didn’t know what to expect going into NAOC so I didn’t have any big goals. I really just wanted to focus on each race. I tried to stay present in the moment instead of getting caught up in earlier mistakes, something I have struggled with in the past.”
Emilia: “To get in good races after a sick period and to gain experience from orienteering in the US.”
Danny: “Survive the sprint without blowing out my ankles, win a couple splits for the middle, and podium on the long.”
Keegan: “Finish first in one of the races and help the US beat Canada!”
AJ: “I knew I wasn’t the best prepared for the races this year, but still felt pretty confident going into it that I wanted to perform well. Results-wise, I was aiming for a top 3 finish, and hoping to be in that top 6 for both forest races. Process-wise, my goals were mostly to feel confident about my orienteering and remember how to focus hard and race well. Neither of which were achieved at all.”
Greta: “My goals for NAOC were to podium the sprint, have a clean race in the middle, and finish the long. I podiumed the sprint but didn’t achieve my other goals.”
Oriana: “I think I came into NAOC with the goal of proving to myself that the training I’ve been doing has been working. And though my results were far from fabulous, I think that weekend could’ve gone far more chaotically and I’m proud of my first serious event in F-21.”
What was your favorite event from the NAOC weekend?
Jessica: “My favorite event was the NAOC long. After two days of struggling from asthma attacks on the middle and sprint due to the dry air and altitude, I decided to take the long slower physical and focus on precise navigation. It worked out really well in my favor and I had a great race (plus I saw a bear!).”
Greg: “ I have a tie between the middle and relay. The middle because it was such a brutally difficult course. And the relay because it was where I finally started to feel the speed of competition.”
Thomas: “My favourite event was the sprint because it was the event I was the least ill for and performed the best!”
Diana: “My favorite event was the middle. It was my favorite because I felt good during the run (I did make some navigation mistakes, but other than that, it was good). I also had the most people from my course around me during the middle, which helped motivate me to keep pushing physical.”
Alex: “My favorite events were the Morgan Territory long and the Sagehen NAOC long since longs are really fun and both had their ups and downs, but were the races I was happiest with.”
Joe: “Long. Felt like I was in a good vibe and balance this race. Pushing hard, but not totally losing my head.”
Annika: My favorite event was the NAOC sprint. I was really surprised by the use of artificial barriers and it really added a technical aspect to the sprint that challenged me.”
Emilia: “Relay and sprint because I did the least mistakes in them and got out of the heat quickly.”
Danny: “I liked the middle. A good mix of fast areas, vague areas, and complex areas. Very little could be taken for granted.”
Keegan: “ I’ve been preferring forest races to sprints recently, yet surprisingly I found the sprint this weekend to be incredibly fun and definitely my favorite event. The crazy route choices and large amount of barriers made it amazing.”
AJ: “I’m partial to forest events and considering that the Middle was the only race that I finished then probably that one. The Sprint was a great concept though and I thoroughly admire the course design by Erin.”
Greta: “My favorite event was the sprint because it was so fast-paced and technical. I had to think a lot about routes and still didn’t pick the best ones. I was able to have fun and learn a lot during as well as after (in analysis) about sprint orienteering.”
Oriana: “I really enjoyed the relay. It’s truly so fun to be in the woods with other people, which wasn’t entirely true of my other courses, which I spent large sections of alone. It’s also really great motivation to see your competitors right behind and right in front of you and to know it’s on you to stay ahead or catch up to them which isn’t true with staggered start times. Also — and this is obvious — it’s SO fun to spectate.”
What was the most difficult leg on your NAOC courses? Or an area or skill you struggled with during the event?
Jessica: “During the events, I struggled with breathing the most. The altitude, dry air, allergies, and asthma was a really difficult combination and caused me to not be as physically strong during the races. It also caused me to lose focus on the map because I got frustrated.”
Greg: “I would say I struggled physically during the event since I was recovering from a mild illness.”
Thomas: “I really struggled to read the vegetation in Little Truckee Summit, as well as making plans on longer legs over the diverse hill (i.e. #2)”
Diana: “The most difficult leg on my NAOC courses was #3 on the relay. That was one of the forked controls on the relay and I found another #3 and it took me some time to find my control.”
Alex: “I struggled with bearings a lot, since I’m not used to going fast while taking bearings and I was trying to do that. I’m glad I found that out, though, so now I can work on that.”
Joe: “#2 on the middle. That whole course was bad for me, but it started there. Especially sad cuz I knew what I was doing like 90% of the way, and then just forgot to do orienteering at the end.”
Annika: “I struggled with keeping good map contact especially during the NAOC long. I found that with the longer legs I struggled to stay focused a lot more. It is definitely a skill that I will want to focus on more going forward. Also stay on the map.”
Emilia: “4th leg on the long because I never take the road choice and now I thought it would have been good but it was slower than going straight. Also middle 5th leg cuz I couldn’t figure out the rocks.”
Danny: “Obviously 7 on the middle. Caught up AJ and neither one of us ran with a plan, we both went full caveman and flushed our races down the drain immediately.”
Keegan: “Control 7 on the long was definitely the hardest control for me. It mixed route choice, physical demands and technical navigation to make a very hard leg. ”
AJ: “The most difficult leg this time around was my left leg which has been the bane of my existence over the last year and half. This time it was IT band issues and blisters, hopefully next time it will be a leg on one of the courses.”
Greta: “Most difficult leg for me was 3-4 on the long (F-20E). My immediate concern was losing contact at the edge of the map in such a technical area. The high feature density around the control was especially hard to navigate, amplified by the 1:15000 scale (a scale I have never navigated on before). In addition, I didn’t have a good plan and couldn’t find many attackpoints.”
Greta’s route is in blue, Alex is in red
Oriana: “The second leg of the middle. I lost all map contact and couldn’t relocate until I found my first control again over 10 min after I lost contact. It was really disheartening and I didn’t employ the skills I should’ve to relocate. But the rest of the race went totally fine. So I’m glad I didn’t let it get to me mentally. ”
What was one exciting thing you did with other USA teammates?
Jessica: “I enjoyed playing fishbowl with many of the teammates at the Riley’s after the middle and getting to catch up with everyone after 2 years.”
Greg: “Survive the mosquitoes at the campground.”
Thomas: “It was nice to see everyone after like 4 years. Staying with teammates and actually meeting Danny, who as far as I knew apparated out of thin air some time after Ieft the US.”
Diana: “One exciting thing that I did with the team was that the night before the long a lot of us got together to catch up and eat pasta.”
Alex: “Talked in quarantine! We stayed in different accommodations so I didn’t get to talk to many other teammates much, but I had some valuable interactions in quarantine with other teammates.”
Joe: “💪💪💪 Strengthened our immune systems💪💪💪”
Annika: “Since it has been awhile, I really enjoyed catching up with a lot of people that I don’t see very often. Also I got to meet a lot of new teammates which was definitely exciting. ”
Emilia: “Hanging out in quarantines was the best!”
Danny: “Got each other nice and sick ❤️ but more realistically it was meeting Siri and Thomas, people whom I’ve heard a lot about but never actually interacted with until this weekend.”
Keegan: “Eating ice cream with most of the team at the Riley’s was definitely a highlight for me.”
AJ: “It was fun to do race review and preparation as a team again. Despite the fact that it didn’t really work out for me I was super excited about the results and performances from the rest of the team.”
Greta: “It was really fun to just hang out in quarantine and meet some of the national team members. I went geocaching with Ben Cooper and Jackson after the middle which was also fun.”
Oriana: “Alex, Diana and I stayed together, and though, of all my teammates, I do probably see them most, it was honestly just so fun to cook, play cards and eat ice cream together. Very domestic and very enjoyable.”
Describe your favorite race moment during the weekend.
Jessica: “There were two long legs on the long that I nailed and both times I was so excited to see the control. The confident boost was an awesome feeling.”
Greg: “When Will handed off to me in the relay and I felt the excitement of chasing down a team. I wasn’t able to make up their lead, but I was so excited to have a chance to.”
Thomas: “Unfortunately my race moments were pretty few and far between, but I did enjoy tying Keegan on the sprint. That was pretty funny.”
Diana: “My favorite race moment was running to the finish of the relay with my relay team behind me.”
Alex: “My favorite race moment was during the 24hr rogaine when my mom and I were going down a ski slope around 9:30pm and we saw the Starlink satellites pass above us. It was an unreal sight.”
Joe: “The sprint result was kinda a surprise to me, so that was cool. Coming through the arena on the relay was a nice moment too; worried I had lost the lead while stuck in the green on the previous leg.”
Annika: “I really enjoyed the relay. It had been a while since I had been in a relay so it was exciting to have more of the extended team together. It created a fun and competitive environment.”
Emilia: “Running to the finish each day since you guys were cheering so loud!”
Danny: “Flying down the hill for control 16 on the men’s long, absolutely sending it past a bunch of people walking uphill, fully prepared to faceplant and die with any misstep.”
Keegan: “Thomas Laraia and I have been training for a while and been fairly even in most of our races. So finishing the sprint to learn that we had exactly tied was both very funny and seemed cosmically right.”
AJ: “When Danny almost got passed by Darius on his leg of the relay. That was awesome.”
Greta: “My favorite racing moment was the first control on the middle. I was really worried about the middle but I executed the first control perfectly which was a good confidence booster.”
Oriana: “Coming into the arena at the end of my relay race knowing that, despite a bad route choice, I had kept our lead on Canada and just sprinting as fast as I could to hand off to a great friend (Diana).”
Evalin Brautigam and Joe Barrett both earned a free spot to compete in the 2024 World Orienteering Championships by winning the NAOC sprint. The US had many more exciting results throughout the weekend from individual podium placements to relay results. All of these placements led to the US taking home both the Future Champions Cup and the BK Cup (again)!
Now on to Toronto – NAOC 2024!
US National Orienteering Team 