The biennial North American Orienteering Championships start this Tuesday in Canada’s Ontario region and feature five championship races over the coming days.
The first race is the individual sprint, then there’s a Sprint Relay on Wednesday before Thursday’s Knock-Out Sprint concludes the sprint races, all taking place in the city of Kingston, Ontario.
Here the athletes will try their hand at orienteering on the Queen’s University and the famous historic Kingston Penitentiary among other places in relatively flat terrain.
After a days rest, NAOC 2024 moves up north to Calabogie Peaks Resort for the Middle and Long distances on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Here the athletes will meet a tough challenge with plenty of meters climb during the courses. Womens long course have 7,9 kilometers and 385 meters whereas the men can look forward to 11,6 kilometers and 555 meters.
Besides the honor of being a North American champion, start places for World Orienteering Championships are at stake, as the winners of the forest races are certain to start in next year’s WOC in Finland, due to their regional championship title.
There may also be a starting places up for grabs in the individual sprint races. Depending on the dates for NAOC 2026, winners may gain a spot for WOC 2026 in Italy.
Several titles are to be decided in the coming days, as the North American Junior and Youth Orienteering Championships are held simultaneously.
NAOC for Seniors, Junniors and Youth is a part of Canada Orienteering Festival that started on Saturday and feature seven days of racing with six World Ranking Events included.
Go to the NAOC homepage for start lists and results.