Orienteering Canada Announces the 2013 Rising Star Awards

Orienteering Canada’s High Performance Committee (HPC) is pleased to announce the 2013 Rising Star Award recipients. The Rising Star Award is an annual award designed to support Canada’s most promising young orienteers in their quest for top international results. The nominees are assessed on past results, future potential, and contribution to the orienteering community, as well as financial need.  
Our female Rising Star for 2013 is Emily Kemp. Originally from Ottawa, Kemp has been living and training with the French Elite Orienteering Squad, Le Pole, in St. Etienne, France for the past 2 years.  Kemp had a breakthrough season in 2012, culminating in a bronze medal in the long distance race at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC); Canada’s first ever medal at JWOC! Kemp is the current Canadian Champion in the long and sprint disciplines. As well as being tirelessly available for media interviews after her bronze medal win, Kemp has also inspired up and coming Canadian orienteers by participating in Skype training sessions and volunteering at the annual Sass Peepre Camp, a camp for 10-20 year old orienteers from across Canada.

When asked what this award means to her, Kemp said, “I am extremely grateful to win this award since it will be a ginormous financial aid for running the world cups and world champs this year. A humongous thank you to the HPP (Canada’s High Performance Program) for helping me and other athletes take orienteering in Canada to the next level!”

Our male Rising Star for 2013 is Serghei Logvin. Logvin had notable results at the North American Orienteering Championships in 2012, including achieving silver in the long distance race, and running the anchor leg for the winning Canadian relay team. Logvin has been very active with the Adventure Running Kids (ARK) program in Hamilton, ON, inspiring up and coming junior athletes. Logvin is currently training in Europe with the specific goal of improving his orienteering.

"Spending quality development time in Europe is a very important piece in the puzzle for me towards reaching my potential”, said Logvin. “The Rising Stars Award will make it a lot easier, both short, and long term. I really appreciate the support, and know that my best results are still yet to come! Thank you!"

You can follow Emily and Serghei through the 2013 orienteering season:
Emily Kemp Athlete Profile

Serghei Logvin Athlete Profile
Orienteering Canada Facebook Page
Orienteering Canada Twitter Feed

Please join us in congratulating Serghei and Emily!

Orienteering Canada appoints Toni Louhisola as Canadian National Team Coach

Orienteering Canada’s High Performance Committee is delighted to announce that Toni Louhisola has been appointed as the volunteer Canadian National Team Coach for the World Orienteering Championships. Toni will work with senior athletes selected to represent Canada at the World Orienteering Championships in Vuokatti, Finland this summer.

Toni brings a wealth of coaching experience, including 4 years as Lead Coach for the Great Britain National Orienteering Team. He is a level 3 coach certified by the Finnish Orienteering Federation. Toni was ranked top Finnish junior in 1996, and ranked in the top 20 orienteers in the world in 2004.

When asked how he feels about this appointment, Toni said, “Personally I am looking forward to working with Team Canada HPP athletes, volunteers and Canadian orienteers and clubs and I hope to have a lasting positive impact on the development of the athletes and to help drive the sport forward in Canada. I hope we can all enjoy the journey. I have a holistic approach to coaching but the focus for this spring and summer is to challenge the athletes and coaches to strive towards more effective orienteering thinking, and to contribute to a culture of systematic technical training, feedback, and analysis.”

Toni will travel to the Canadian team selection races in May. From there he begins a 4 week tour of Canada, with stops in Ottawa, Calgary, Cranbrook, Canmore, and Vancouver. Toni will have the opportunity to work one on one with many of the Team Canada athletes, as well as local junior and recreational club members. For more information on Toni’s schedule, please contact Adrian Zissos at Adrian@barebones.ca.

A full profile ofToni is available on Orienteering.ca. 

Please join us in welcoming Toni to the Orienteering Canada community. 

Go Canada Go!

Head HPP Coaches Announced!

Orienteering Canada's High Performance Committee (HPC) are delighted to announce that Brent Langbakk has once again accepted the position of Head Junior National High Performance Program Coach. Brent did not think that he would be able to take on the coaching role this year, but has arranged his schedule so that he is able to work with the junior HPP athletes. Brent brings a ton of experience to this role, including 5 years as head coach of the successful Yukon Junior Program, and coaching Team Canada to the best ever results at the 2012 Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC).

This year, Darius Konotopetz will work alongside Brent as Assistant Coach. Darius has represented Canada twice at JWOC, has a degree in education with a major in kinesiology, and has experience coaching a wide variety of sports, including soccer, ultimate frisbee, and cross country.

Although not completely finalized, the 2013 coaching structure for the High Performance Program will look quite different to 2012. The HPC are actively recruiting regional mentors to work with local HPP athletes. Mentors working with junior athletes would have support from Brent and Darius, and would work one on one with a small number of juniors to develop training plans, as well as some technical coaching. If you are interested in volunteering with one or two juniors in your area, please email Brent at brent (dot) langbakk (at) gmail (dot) com. 

The HPC was not successful in engaging a coach for the senior High Performance Program athletes. The HPC is currently working on a plan to compensate for this vacant position, and details will be released shortly.

We're still looking for Team Leaders to assist at WOC and JWOC. If you're interested, check out the details and email Alison at alimcalison (at) gmail (dot) com by November 15th.

Please join us in congratulating Brent and Darius!

Elites Series 2012 ~ and the winners are.....

It's been an exciting year for 2nd Canada Cup Elite Series! We've had many different leaders and stiff competition over 23 races throughout 2012. But in the end, there can be only one winner... well two actually, but you know what I mean!

In the men's standings; in third place with a grand total of 150 points is Graeme Rennie of the Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club! Second place is Will Critchley of the Edmonton Overlanders Orienteering Club. In first place, with a very decisive 84 point lead, is Eric Kemp of Ottawa Orienteering Club! Congratulations to Eric on a strong season, with a great finish!




In the women's standings, up and coming junior Molly Kemp (Ottawa Orienteering Club) secures third place! Second by a mere 5 points is Carol Ross of Orienteering New Brunswick. Winning for the second year in a row, despite an early season ankle injury, is Louise Oram (Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club). Congratulations to Louise!

In the club challenge, the Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club once again gained the most points, and retains “bragging rights” as the best club for elite orienteering in Canada!

Here are the full final standings!

Louise and Eric both win $300 for their achievement. This year the High Performance Committee is extending cash prizes to second and third places. Carol and Will will receive $150 each, with Molly and Graeme receiving $50. Nice!

What did our winners have to say? We interviewed them both! Check out the videos below. A big Orienteering Canada CONGRATULATIONS to Louise and Eric!

Please join us in wishing a huge Orienteering Canada THANK YOU to the Canada Cup race organizers from coast to coast. There were 23 Canada Cup races in 2012! We're definitely looking forward to the 2013 Canada Cup season!

Coaching & Team Leader Opportunities

In recent years Magnus Johannson and Brent Langbakk have been volunteer coaches of Canada’s High Performance senior and junior team athletes. Due to education and family commitments, both have stepped away from their positions. The High Performance Committee (HPC) would like to thank Magnus and Brent for their hard work with the Canadian athletes, and wish them both well with their new life challenges!

The High Performance Committee is now recruiting in these four areas:

1. Head Senior National High Performance Program Coach (description)
2. Head Junior National High Performance Program Coach (description)
3. Team Leaders for the junior and senior teams (description)
4. Other individuals interested in assisting with coaching our High Performance Program athletes (description)

Full job descriptions are available on orienteering.ca.

Please pass this information on to others you think may be interested in developing elite orienteering in Canada. With the number of talented young athletes, and the work of the HPC over the past couple of years, it's an exciting time to be involved in elite orienteering development in Canada!

We look forward to your applications!