US Intercollegiate Championships

April 16-17, 2005

The US Intercollegiate Orienteering Championships were hosted by the St. Louis Orienteering Club (SLOC) and Carol's Team. The meet was a big success with 175 entries and raised over $3,000 for Carol's Team.

New to the championships this year was a relay event on the afternoon of Day 1 (Saturday). The relay was set in Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks in the world. Many teams found adjusting to the higher speeds and unusual route decisions (mandated by the many uncrossable water features) more challenging than expected. Overall, the relay was very well received and we think it should become a regular part of the Intercollegiate Championship format.

The remaining two events were typical woods courses, except that Day 1 was shortened to Short Course distance to accommodate the relay. The Short Course venue was Cliff Cave Park, where a dense trail network and complicated sinkhole terrain was ideally suited to the short-course format.

Day 2 was Classic distance at Rockwoods Range. Rockwoods has very open woods and steep ridges. Fitness was definitely a premium. The finish was placed in the more technical southeast corner of the map, so tired competitors had to really focus at the end.

We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get more college teams. The Varsity battle was basically a dual meet between the US Military Academy (West Point) and Williams with West Point coming out on top. This was most likely the result of unfortunate scheduling, with the team trials also in the Midwest and coming just 2 weeks before.