August 5th through 13th was a series of orienteering events in Eastern Canada, sandwiched by Ottawa O-Fest and the Canadian Orienteering Champs (which happened to be an WRE). The week had enough going on that it pulled a few US Team members to compete.
On the first weekend it was me (Bridget), Syd, Mori, and Danny who braved the green, hilly, and technical woods of Ottawa.
I know you are probably looking at these maps thinking “Bridget, there’s no green on that map? What are you on about?” but you’re just going to have to believe us on this one.
How did you feel about the Ottawa O-Fest weekend?
Bridget – It was my first time orienteering since essentially West Point, so I had a rough start to the weekend on the middle. I was able to pull it back together mostly for the long though, which was satisfying and left me a little more confident for the next weekend. The woods themselves were really fun despite the green. I enjoyed how technical it all was – it forced me to stay focused throughout in a way that some courses do not.
Syd – I went into the week looking to have some fun orienteering after the higher stress racing at worlds. The woods at Ottawa O-Fest required more forest bashing than my normal standard for fun orienteering, but once I re-calibrated my expectations I enjoyed the challenge. There was a good atmosphere and it was nice to be back racing in North America.
Danny – Personally, I was sluggish and lacked the fight needed for those…”white woods” that I had to crawl and fight through. Most likely due to travel or not enough time off after sickness, but regardless of the source it made it difficult to fully appreciate the courses.
Middle: RouteGadget – Results
Long: RouteGadget – Results
The day after that was the day of the knock-out sprint! It was held on the University of Ottawa campus, and got everyone involved. We had a qualification race on the map across the canal that featured many different multi-level sections that tripped a lot of people up. For the team members it was a good sprint rust buster to get us ready for the following races.
The top 12 people on each qualification course then moved on to the quarter finals, where we were split into heats of 4-6 (the women’s side was not able to fill all the heats completely), with the top 3 from each heat moving on. This was the first of the rounds that started in the arena, which added a little bit more pressure.
Semis featured, once again, heats of 6, this time with only the top 2 moving on. It also was the courses that had butterfly loops, stopping anyone from being able to just follow. For the guys especially, this was the first time that there was a real fight to move forward. It was the end of the road for Danny with a mispunch, but Mori moved on to the finals. Syd and I were relatively easily through to the finals.
The men’s final was filled by Mori as the only American, against Robbie Graham, Phil Turcanu, Lukas Raz, Andrew McLaren, and Damian Konotopetz. Mori ended up 6th, but put up a good fight against Luke who only finished 3 seconds ahead of him.
The women’s final was a little more US heavy, with me, Syd, and Cristina Luis, along with the Canadians Robyn Astridge, Emma Sherwood, and Holly Smith. Robyn came out with the win, I was second, and Syd took third. All in all I think that it was a good day of racing for us US folks. It was a lot of fun, and very good practice for the KO Sprints that will be featured at NAOC next year!
Did you enjoy the Knock-out sprint? How did your strategy change over the different heats? What will you keep in mind for future KO Sprints?
Syd – I really enjoyed the knock-out sprint! I kept the effort easier in the earlier heats knowing that I should get through and to save some energy for later in the day. Doing so many sprints allowed me to fully adjust to the scale and then run hard in the final.
Danny – So much fun! My strategy was run at tempo except for the semi-final, where I ran at or a little past threshold. Unexpectedly, the most important lesson I took away was the value of a solid fueling strategy for the multi-hour event. When earlier heats are more competitive (NAOC, etc.), it will be that much more important to have a solid nutritional plan in place. I think perhaps smoothies are going to be the most effective way to maintain energy levels without overburdening your digestive system.
Bridget – I’m not the most confident sprinter, so I was pretty nervous about the KO Sprint, but it was a blast! I knew that we didn’t have very many women, so I tried to preserve a lot of my energy in the first rounds. The final was the only truly full speed race for me, and I found that I wasn’t in the mental space I needed to be for full speed because I had done three races at a slower pace. It’ll be a different situation when racing against more/all elite athletes, but if I were to do it again in a similar situation to this then I would try to take the semis a little faster to prepare better for the finals mentally.
Results for Qualis, Quarters, Semis, Finals
Tuesday was a much-needed rest day, and then Wednesday Syd and I went to support the Canadian Team at their Fundraiser Score-O! For most of us it was taken easy to keep the mind in orienteering mode but not do any damage to our bodies.
I also headed to the model event after the Score-O to get a sense of the terrain that was coming up. The walk around was helpful to see that vegetation boundaries were not to be trusted, that rocks should be pretty obvious, and that compass and contours would be our good friends.
Thursday was another rest day for most, but I had to get in the extremely important Corn Maze training (gotta be prepared for CMOUSA in September, right?). This maze featured basically four quadrants that were each filled with many rectangles. It was pretty chaotic with the amount of people running around at the same time, but that’s really a part of the fun of corn mazes.
Friday was the first day of the Canadian Champs: a sprint on the campus of the University of Montreal. We were quarantined in a little corner of grass by a building that brought a lot of stares from university students and construction workers as we ran around in tiny circles which was pretty darn funny.
Thoughts about the sprint?
Greg – It was an excellent sprint venue, but also the course was a bit long. I appreciated the plethora of route choices, but it became difficult to maintain sprint intensity for the entire course.
Bridget – It was awesome to get out on to another technical sprint map which I don’t have the opportunity to do often. Had a pretty frustrating result with two large mistakes, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Syd – I’m not really a sprinter, but I have come to appreciate sprint maps that require careful map reading and good route choice. I enjoyed the course and all of the stairs on the map.
Danny – Along with the other M21E’s, I ran further in the sprint than in the middle. I think they measured straight-line? Damian caught me up and I accidentally (strategically) ran into him as I had to turn to exit 14. Hoping for a Freaky-Friday situation where his running speed would be imparted into me, I was sorely disappointed as I ran at mere mortal speed for the last couple of controls.
Sprint: RouteGadget – Results
Saturday was the middle, held at Ski Montcalm, north of Montreal. It was a technically challenging course that had no controls handed to you. The woods were quite green, even when the map said they were white, so there was a lot of hopping over downed trees throughout.
Thoughts on the middle?
Syd – I had a lot of fun on the middle! The course made great use of a small area and the woods were relatively runnable.
Danny – Super fun. I loved this. They did an amazing job of shoving some very technical controls into a small area. Everything was readable, everything was runnable, everything just worked.
Greg – I enjoyed the terrain and course. I was quite happy with the process but less happy with the result. But ultimately the process is what matters most to me.
Bridget – Ha. had a stupid 90 degree error right out of the start and Emily caught me, but then it was fun to be running with her for a bunch of controls! It was a well set middle and an absolute blast to run despite the rough start.
Middle: RouteGadget – Results
Sunday was our final day – the long. We were all feeling quite battered up from all the orienteering throughout the week, and the woods were once again quite green, so many of us were not moving quickly.
Thoughts?
Bridget – This was technically ok, but physically I was struggling. We had one long leg that crossed a large section of green that was a swamp and then went straight up almost 20 contours and I got myself up that eating jelly beans like a five year old getting bribed around a white course (they were one of my fuel sources which is why I had them, but I think they maybe helped more mentally than physically…). I had a lot of fun with the course overall though, and it was nice to finish the week with a win!
Syd – I haven’t lost that much time on a course in a long time… It was a tough course. The woods were slow and there were some longer legs early, which combined required good mental toughness. I did enjoy the challenge and it was a good way to wrap up a week of orienteering.
Greg – I was actually less satisfied with my orienteering process today, but the result was outwardly better. I made mistakes but was saved by others’ mistakes. There were several super low visibility sections that felt just like home in the Poconos. I think my training helped me get through that section cleaner than most of the others.
Danny – While there weren’t any epic route-choice legs, I appreciated the middle-style course proceeding 9. It’s a sign of a good long when the top North Americans all started bleeding time left and right on the latter half of the course. It was unforgiving and demanded precision well after it forced you into the lucid semi-conscious running state after fighting the whole way. Amazing.
Long: RouteGadget – Results
As you can tell, this was an absolutely amazing week full of all sorts of orienteering. I think we could all list a lot of things that we enjoyed, but here is a slightly shorter list of our favorites:
Danny – The Chevy Spark. Also, we drove past a business that claimed to have “Boston pizza,” and I love how Montreal knows what Boston pizza is but Boston doesn’t.
Bridget – Going to continue being a broken record with this question, but seeing the Canadians! Haven’t seen some of their juniors since Portugal last year, and I got to meet a bunch more which is always exciting. Also, it just felt so good to be back running with a map in hand – it had been too long.
Greg – Hanging out with everyone in quarantine and then finding flags in the woods!
Syd – Racing: Knock-out sprints. It was fun to try a new format! Generally: The awesome cabin we stayed at for the COCs.
And that’s all for now! We’ll be back in two weeks with another fun post 🙂
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US National Orienteering Team 