National Orienteering Week ~ What tips would you give a beginner?

As part of National Orienteering Week in Canada (NOW), we asked our High Performance Program athletes "What tips would you give a beginner?"

"Get out on a map as often as possible. Don't be afraid to go over your courses with other orienteers." Emily Ross

"Practice, practice, practice. And run on courses more difficult than you are used to/think you are ready for." Graeme Rennie

"Do not get discouraged by mistakes!" Trevor Bray

"I would say that it is important to always trust your compass, don't assume that you know better than your compass which way is North." Laura Teutsch

"ORIENT YOUR MAP! (always)." Tori Owen

"Keep your head up and look far ahead. You'll be surprised how far ahead you can see." Patrick Goeres

"Think about which way is best to enter the control, and then plan your route to come from

that direction." Louise Oram

"Re-visit old maps -look for features on the map before you see them in the terrain, and visualize them. If you know what is coming you will be able to move more quickly with less hesitation. Kerstin Burnett

We have orienteering events on all over Canada this week. Check out the NOW website and find out what's going on in your area!

You can follow our High Performance Program athletes as they train and compete throughout the year on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN

National Orienteering Week ~ What drives you to continue competing in Orienteering?

As part of National Orienteering Week in Canada (NOW), we asked our High Performance Program athletes "What drives you to continue to compete in Orienteering?"

"Orienteering is challenging. I want to do it well. The need to compete with other orienteers, the only meaningful yardstick against which to measure my performance, follows." Jon Torrance

"I have to win. If it were not orienteering, it'd be something else. But, since I seem pretty good at it so far, and can get significantly better, I envision there is a lot of winning potential still to be had." Will Critchley

"The challenge of each new race and type of terrain that forces you to adapt." Emily Kemp

"Orienteering is always new and exciting. Different terrain and races are always around the corner. I love to compete and I'm keen to reach the top!" Robbie Anderson

"Love of the sport, the outdoors, and the challenge of pushing your body." Louise Oram

"There is always the feeling that you can get better. The feeling of an absolutely perfect race is amazing, I strive for this feeling every time." Kendra Murray

"Imagine running over every hill, spiking every control. Flying through the forest with complete control over body and mind, it is wonderful." Eric Kemp

"That it is so multifactorial, it is not just physical or mental, and there is always something to work on." Tori Owen

"I am motivated to continue orienteering because I love getting to train or race on new terrain. I also want to have the perfect race." Pia Blake

"The adrenaline rush I get during a race and the feel good feeling you get after a race. Also how much I enjoy running in the woods." Jennifer MacKeigan

We have orienteering events on all over Canada this week. Check out the NOW website and find out what's going on in your area!

You can follow our High Performance Program athletes as they train and compete throughout the year on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN

National Orienteering Week ~ What is your favourite aspect of Orienteering?

As part of National Orienteering Week in Canada (NOW), we asked our High Performance Program athletes "What is your favourite aspect Orienteering?"

"I love that I can control what happens during every event or training session, and that I can concentrate on staying in the moment and only thinking about how to get to the next control." Pia Blake

"I love how different it is from anything else. Instead of having a specific course that must be run, the courses and terrain are all so variable it is always interesting." Kendra Murray

"Orienteering is always a challenge. I also love the feeling of knowing that a control is going to be just over that hill, or on the other side of that boulder, and then actually seeing it!" Emily Ross

"That the sport involves lots of mental training as well as physical training." Trevor Bray

"Running through the woods at full speed with full control." Robbie Anderson

"The unique experience: Venturing into the unknown, the thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of the kill… (e.g. taking the control)." Eric Kemp

"The problem solving aspect, and that the fastest runner will not necessarily be the winner." Louise Oram

"I appreciate that it is a sport where you absolutely need to hammer. And though you don’t have to be smart, you just need to be clever." Will Critchley

We have orienteering events on all over Canada this week. Check out the NOW website and find out what's going on in your area!

You can follow our High Performance Program athletes as they train and compete throughout the year on this blog,on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN

National Orienteering Week ~ What is your first orienteering memory?

As part of National Orienteering Week in Canada (NOW), we asked our High Performance Program athletes "What is your first orienteering memory?"

"Going orienteering with my dad. I was on a bike so I could keep up. It was the guys of the family vs. the girls of the family!" Adam Woods

"My earliest orienteering memory is orienteering on my own in Germany when I was 7 or 8, and marveling at how all the trees were planted in rows instead of being helter-skelter like back home." Pia Blake

"One of my earliest orienteering memories is running B-meets with my dad. Every Sunday morning, my dad and I would head out together on the intermediate course." Laura Teutsch

"Twelve years ago, it was Halloween. My family and I were trying orienteering for the first time and we got lost searching for a giant caterpillar. We found it eventually..." Eric Kemp

"Running my first race in Winnipeg, some trails were completely flooded up to my knees with a nice film of ice on top. I had a blast and never looked back." Patrick Goeres

"My Dad telling me to duck as he bashed through thick New Brunswick forests with me in the baby backpack!" Carol Ross

"I remember my dad making an orienteering map of the trails behind my house for one of my birthdays (not sure which birthday, but I was pretty young) - my party guests and I did a mini O course together and got a sticker at each control." Kerstin Burnett

We have orienteering events on all over Canada this week. Check out the NOW website and find out what's going on in your area!

You can follow our High Performance Program athletse as they train and compete throughout the year on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN

National Orienteering Week ~ How did you discover Orienteering?

As part of National Orienteering Week in Canada (NOW), we asked our High Performance Program athletes "How did you discover Orienteering?"

"I started orienteering when I was 8yrs old all thanks to my dad who thought it would be fun all go out as a family together and get lost. After enough of that, though, we caught the bug and I competed in my first COC’s up north in the Yukon in 2004." Emily Kemp

"When I was 5, my brother Eric, my sister Emily, and my dad picked up a pamphlet and decided that we would try an intermediate course. We got completely lost, and ended up falling in love with the sport." Molly Kemp

"After orienteering as a very young child in a hiking backpack with my parents I started orienteering regularly around 1999. My first major event was the 2006 North American Champs when I surprised myself by coming in the middle of the pack in the 17-20 age category (I was 17). I’ve been hooked on competing ever since." Jeff Teutsch

"I have been orienteering my whole life, as both my parents orienteer. I began to train and become competitive around age fifteen." Kerstin Burnett

"I began orienteering (running or biking with my father) at age 9. I picked up orienteering again in 2009." Adam Woods

"I have been involved with orienteering for as long as I can remember, going out with my mom before I could read a map by myself. I would say I started orienteering around the age of 5." Kendra Murray

"When I was 8, my family decided they wanted orienteering to be one of their main sports. We would go on lots of road trips to Ontario and the north east US to compete in events. It was some of those events that got me hooked." Emily Ross

We have orienteering events on all over Canada this week. Check out the NOW website and find out what's going on in your area!

You can follow our High Performance Program athletes as they train and compete throughout the year here on our blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter @OrienteeringCAN

Interview with Greg Walker of Catching Features

As some of you know, I have been quite sick and unable to train. Instead of telling you how I have not been training, this blog post is an interview with Greg Walker.  He's the creator of the popular orienteering video game Catching Features (and also my boyfriend).

You're probably best known in the orienteering world as the creator of Catching Features but before we talk about that, what is your orienteering background?
My family started orienteering about 20 years ago through boy scouts and we just never stopped! I went to a few JWOCs but once I started college, I focused on wrestling and track and field.  After college, I got into cross country skiing and that led me to ski orienteering.  I have been a member of the US Ski Orienteering team for six years now.
What motivated you to make Catching Features?
I was in college and need a resume!
Did that work out for you?
Yes! The interview for my first job consisted of me playing Catching Features with my boss.  Then we played soccer. I then spent seven years living in LA making video games, which was not really the best move for (ski) orienteering!
How long did it take you make Catching Features?
It took four years, all of college, to make the first version of the game. Then I did another two years of serious work to develop the online features.
Are you really good at Catching Features!
 No, I'm terrible!
Do you have any future development plans for Catching Features?
Yes, but they're super secret!
Did you ever expect Catching Features to become such a highly regarded training tool?
No, not at all.  I originally made it cause I needed an idea for a video game and orienteering was fun.  Then other people seemed to find it useful, which led me to develop the online side of the game, which I never would have done just for fun.  Without that interest, there would never have been the ability for users to create and upload their own maps and courses, which is probably the best part.
What's the neatest thing you've seen someone do with Catching Features?
I saw someone try to disable the monkey once. It didn't work. But people have also made some really great maps, ranging from well-known maps such as WOC terrain to fantastic terrain created from scratch.
 











What other orienteering tools have you developed?
I'm currently developing an iPad mapping tool called ghettocad.
So have you used it to make maps?
I have quite a few partially complete maps around Truckee and another half done one in Amherst, MA.
Do other people map with ghettocad?
I think so. I've given quite a few people copies but I haven't heard much back.
What do you do if it's raining?
It never rains in Truckee! But if it did, you could just throw the iPad in a map case.
What kind of maps do you think ghettocad is best for? Do you think it will ever replace traditional mapping methods?
It's meant as a complement to Ocad, since ghettocad only does the fieldwork stuff.  It's especially good for making quick maps of small areas like school yards because you can do all the fieldwork and digitizing immediately in the terrain.

If you are interested in Catching Features, you can find a free demo here.

US InterScholastic Champs

A couple weekends ago I went down to the US Interscholastic championships in Washington State with my family and Tori. All in all it was a great weekend but man the woods were thick! Now she said in her post that some of the west coasters would just scoff at the woods I want to assure everyone that this is not true haha. This was possibly the thickest woods I've ever run in. Though this did make for an interesting and challenging new terrain type. I even found my self completely suspended from the ground with absolutely no way of moving forward a couple of times. Needless to say it was a bit of a shock to the system. This was the first orienteering I had really done all year (except for sprints and our club races) and it couldn't have been more different from the dryer or more open terrains I had been used to last summer, spending all my time happy, actually being to run, through the woods up north in the Yukon and over in Poland. Here's a picture from the event, sort of the closest thing I could find to a picture of the terrain.
Just imagine it like that except usually more wet and sallal-ey. Don't get me wrong I love my coastal rainforests but I came out of this one with some serious scratches.

All in all my races didn't go very well, but I still managed to find good legs and sections of each one that I was quite pleased with. So for the first races of the season and my first official M21. competition I'm happy enough. It is tough to go from that to not having any for another month again though. I am really excited for this season to get going and the summer to start. I always forget how awesome orienteering can be and how much I love it over the winter when all I get to do is run around city parks in the rain and the dark. Now I'm sunburnt and scratched up and I couldn't have had more fun (expect maybe if I'd won :). Here's the map from the first day. Have a look; maybe see what you would have done.

They might as well have printed them on green paper.