2026 US WOC Team Trials

Saturday & Sunday, May 23-24, 2026

Hosted by Delaware Valley Orienteering Association
in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania general region

The 2026 US Team Trials to select the athletes to represent TeamUSA at the World Sprint Orienteering Championships in Genova, Italy (6-11 July), will be conducted in a multiple (2-5) event format.

In addition to this Team Trials, the selection committee will also entertain petitions for athletes who are unable to attend a trials event but who wish to be considered. Those who are petitioning should follow the registration process to indicate their interest and select NC. For more details of the selection process, refer to OUSA and the Team Executive Steering Committee (ESC).

This page will serve as the Event Bulletin, and additional information will be added as we approach the race date.
Be sure to check back for updates.

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Embargos
Race Information
Registration
Travel & Lodging		Course Setter Notes
Mapping Notes
Volunteers
Closest Medical Facilities

[venue photos to be added]

Embargos

The entirety of the following parks/campuses are off-limits to all persons planning to try out for the US WOC Team, unless you are an active student on one of these campuses:

  • Rutgers University – Cook/Douglass Campus
  • Bucks County Community College

Race Info

The Sprint WOC Team Trials event is (preliminarily) planned as detailed below.

Public/Spectators: Note that anyone not trying out for the team (“public”) may also run in most of the same races, immediately after the Team Trialers have finished (up to 2 sprints each day).

Top Day 1 public event finishers (and others at Event Director’s discretion) can run the first round of the Knockout Sprints with the Trialers, and the final round of the Knockout Sprints after the Trials competitors finish.

  • No quarantine for Saturday sprints; some Team Trialer isolation may be needed for Knockout Sprints on Sunday
  • A map, available at check-in, will show parking / check-in / warm-up area, and streamers to start (< 1 km; TBA)
  • Competitors must stay in the warm-up / parking area except when racing
Day 1: Rutgers-Cook/Douglas Campus, near New Brunswick, New Jersey
  • Two (2) Individual-start Sprints, about 2-3 hours apart
  • For each start window, three courses will be available. WOC Trialers (TT) will run first, with men and women alternating start times, on even/odd minutes. Non-trialers (Open) will start after all WOC trialers have started, and may choose from any of the following courses:
    • Course 1 – TT-M-21+ & Course 1 Open
    • Course 2 – TT-F-21+ & Course 2 Open
    • Course 3 Open (beginner-appropriate)
Day 2: Bucks County Community College near Newtown, Pennsylvania
  • Knockout Sprints (three [3] rounds)
    • Quarterfinals (where the numbers are placings in terms of total time from the Saturday sprints):
      • Seeded start list, based on results (total time) from Saturday sprints, starting with all the Trialers (1st to nth); then Public (1st public finisher will be nth+1 seed, 2nd is nth+2 seed, etc.), with up to 3 slots (if space is available), at Event Director’s discretion. (A Public MP or DNS from Day 1 could still make it ahead of a Public finisher.)
      • If there are fewer than 24 people in the ordered start list in either Men’s or Women’s categories, the remaining start slots will go unfilled.
    • Top 4 Trialers from each heat move on to the SemiFinals (12 total). Heat allocation, based on the seeded start list:
      • QHeat 1:  1,6,7,12,13,18,19,24
      • QHeat 2:  2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23
      • QHeat 3:  3,4,9,10,15,16,21,22
      • Public mass start will follow for anyone who doesn’t make it into the 24 seeded starts (men and women will start together)
    • Semifinals:
      • Team Trialers only – no Public race this round
      • Top 2 from each move on the Finals (6 total)
      • Heat allocation, where (QHx-y means the y placed finisher in QHeat x)
        • SemiHeat 1:  QH1 – 1, QH2 – 2, QH3 – 3, QH1 – 4
        • SemiHeat 2:  QH2 – 1, QH3 – 2, QH1 – 3, QH2 – 4
        • SemiHeat 3:  QH3 – 1, QH1 – 2, QH2 – 3, QH3 – 4
    • Finals: 6 people; top 2 from each Semifinal
      • Men and Women race separately
      • Public mass start will follow, on the same course

Registration

To be opened around the end of March. 

NOTES:
  • TEAM TRIALS ELIGIBILITY: These Team Trials (for the purpose of selecting the National Team to WOC 2026) are open to anyone who is a current OUSA member AND has a U.S. Passport (or is in the process of getting one and will have it before ). You do not need to be a current U.S. Orienteering Team member to be considered for the Team Trials. If you are chosen for the U.S. WOC Team, you will be added to the U.S. Orienteering Team.
    • U.S. Team members not attending but petitioning for the WOC Team should register and select not-participating (NP) to indicate their interest, even if they won’t physically be at these Trials races.
  • PUBLIC RACES: Everyone else is welcome to run the public/spectator races (Open classes).
  • Knockout Sprint classes are TT Male, TT Female, Open Male, Open Female. For members of the public, choosing Knockout Sprint enters you in one of the Quarterfinal races (with or following the Trialers, as described above), AND in the Final (after the Trialers).
  • Register by Sunday, May 17: Your age is based on age as of 31 December 2026.
    • ADULTS aged 21 and over: $15 for each regular sprint plus $15 for Knockout, or $40 for the weekend package (2 sprints on Saturday, Knockout on Sunday)
      JUNIORS aged 20 and under: $10 for each regular sprint plus $10 for Knockout, or $25 for the weekend package (3 races as described above)
    • Groups may enter; cost for each additional person in a group (age 11 and above) is TBA
    • Late registration (please email registrar to ensure a map), or day-of registration open to the Public non-trialers, $20 per event, while map supplies last.
    • SI-Air card rental, $5 per day. Standard SI rental available at no extra charge.
Course and Class Definitions:
  • Saturday Sprints will include three (3) courses for each start window. Course 1 is the longest sprint (Classes include M-21+ Team Trials and Open); Course 2 is next longest (F-21+ Team Trials and Open); Course 3 will be the shortest and suitable for beginners.
  • Sunday’s Knockout Sprint classes are M-21+ Team Trials, F-21+ Team Trials, Open-Male, Open-Female

Travel & Lodging

Information about event sites and routes to access them to be added.

Course Setter Notes

  • To be added.

Mapping Notes

  • Map Scale: 1:3000 or 1:4000
  • Contour Interval: 2.5m
  • To be added

Volunteers

  • Event Director: Wyatt Riley
  • Course Setters: Yury Tambasov & Alexei Azarov 
    • Control Setup Helpers: Anders Ryerson
  • Mapping Consultant: Sam Kolins, Petr Hartman
  • Map Updates: Yury, Alexei & Sam
  • Permissions Coordinator: Mary Frank & Kathy Urban
  • Registrar: Sandy Fillebrown
  • Start Crew: Joey McGarvey
  • Finish / Timing: Sandy Fillebrown
  • Website: Janet Tryson
  • Where needed:
    • Andrew Fisher
    • Michele Fisher

Closest Medical Facilities

Saturday, May 23
  • AFC Urgent Care, 352 Ryders Ln, East Brunswick, NJ; (732) 638-1990. Open Sunday 8am-8pm
  • Brunswick Urgent Care, 641 NJ 18, East Brunswick, NJ; (732) 955-6765. Open Sunday 8am-5pm
  • Robert John Wood University Hospital, 1 RWJohnson Pl, New Brunswick, NJ (off French St, NJ 27)
  • St Peters University Hospital, 254 Easton Ave., New Brunswick, NJ
Sunday, May 24
  • AFC Urgent Care, 2873 S. Eagle Rd., Newtown, PA; (267) 364-6477. Open Saturday 8am-6pm
  • St. Mary Medical Center Emergency Department, 1201 Langhorne-Newtown Rd, Langhorne, PA

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