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In which we periodically examine how art imitates life and life imitates orienteering.
by Peter Amram
In Sermons in Stone, a cheery rumination on that staple of off-trail orienteering in the northeast, the stone wall, the author, Susan Allport, declares:
Taken together, the states of New England and New York had more miles of stone walls [in 1871] than the United States has miles of railroad track today. The work that went into them, according to one estimate, would have built the pyramids of Egypt one hundred times over. It has been said that two men could build about ten feet of stone wall a day, an estimate that included the time required to gather the stone and lay a foundation. (p. 18)
Think of that the next time you gratefully scamper alongside some long-dead farmer’s boundary, in hopes of locating a little orange-and-white triangular box kite.
NEOC often gets requests from schools, scouts and other youth groups to give presentations on orienteering. These can be anything from single in-class presentations to training for teachers to developing and delivering teaching programs. Most are volunteer but some may be paid.
If you are interested in being forwarded these opportunities, please contact NEOC Info. Tell us what you would be open to doing, your preferred contact info, and any other material you would like to have forwarded.
In which we periodically examine how art imitates life and life imitates orienteering.
by Peter Amram
This summer when I flew over to Europe for my usual adventures, I did something a bit different. Instead of flying to France, where the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) would be held later in the summer, I flew to Sweden with Ross Smith. We always dreamed of living abroad in a place where we could orienteer and race more frequently. With the help of friends we secured an apartment in Uppsala, Sweden and Ross found a job. I took a leave of absence from my teaching job and at the beginning of the summer we first moved in to our new apartment. We plan to live here for a year, training as much as we can with the local orienteering club, OK Linné.
When we arrived the empty apartment echoed with our voices and we slept that first night on the floor with our sleeping bags and pads.
by Meg Parson
This July, I traveled to Poland to compete in the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC). Before I recount some of my experiences, I would just like to thank NEOC for their generous grant that helped pay for some of my travel expenses; their support is very much appreciated.
It was an eventful couple of weeks, filled with both sick teammates and new friendships, solid runs from the US Junior Team and beautiful open woods. Yes, none of us spoke very good Polish (and an iPod translator can only get you so far). And yes, there was a minor outbreak of food poisoning at our hotel. But all in all the US Junior Team had solid performances during the week of competition and managed to have a pretty good time along the way.