Discussion: .

Seems to me that even if you were selected well in advance you could be hurt before the big race. I haven't a clue about optimal recovery times

I'm not opposed to that method. A week before is fine timing for tapering - better than say 3 weeks before. As Kate says, I think the physical dangers are the same whether you're training or racing in terrain. The only real drawback I see is that if you are working at a job with limited vacation (like most of the Americans), you have to take a bunch of extra time for the WOC trip, without the guarantee of earning a WOC start spot. Good thing there are spectator races, I suppose, but still, that leads to a kind of strange dynamic if you have a lot of people trying out and only a few start spots. But looking at the current crop of Canadians trying for the team, it doesn't seem many of them are tied to "real" jobs. And their orienteering is that much better for it.

I haven't much of a clue either about recovery times, so if Alex says one week is better I'll defer to her wisdom :)

Re: injury, I just know that, anecdotally speaking, there have been a couple times where I've gotten some minor injury that didn't fully heal until 2-3 weeks, such that if I had another set of major races the next weekend it would've been a bit dicey.

Seems a long way to go to try out for the WOC team. Don't most team trials happen in the country of origin so that, I don't know, the underfunded athletes can afford to attend?

There are no issues with Canadian elite orienteering. None. Zero.

What underfunded athletes? That would imply that we're at least partially funded wouldn't it?

tRicky, holding trials in Canada does not necessarily mean that underfunded athletes can attend. It can be as expensive to fly across Canada as to fly to Europe.

Also, half our athletes live in Europe...

As for the timing - when we first went this route it was thought to more feasible for athletes to fly over for an extra two weeks than to fly to Europe twice in one season. The other theory was that we'd encourage athletes to commit to travel and racing in Europe regardless of whether or not they end up making the team. Not sure if that last point has ended up making a difference or not...

I meant underfunded as in athletes are usually fairly poor to begin with ;-) All that training means sacrifices in terms of paid work.

I guess it's different for Canada because you're a lot closer to Europe than we are. I have to fly right the way across Australia for team trials but Europe is a heck of a lot more expensive, probably 5-6 times more.

Fair enough tRicky.

Just did a quick check - just did a fairly random flight search for a round trip for next weekend. From where our 2015 Canadian Champs were to Europe came out to $2100. A round trip for the same weekend to the Yukon where the 2018 NAOCs will be - $2900.

Wow, that's actually around the same price I got from Perth (Western Australia) to Portugal - A$2100 (which works out fairly similar after currency conversion to C$).

Flight costs for (MTBO) trials across the country are in the order of $400 usually although I tend to purchase flights 3+ months out from the event and book when they have specials. Flights to our national (foot) championships are always during school holidays and in the order of $600+, far more if it's in the state that is hosting the AFL grand final (which is always on one of the two weekends).

If I was to trial for the national foot team, I'd be expected to attend a training camp and the first three national league events, meaning four trips across the country. MTBO has just the one trial.

Flights to Portugal right now are $1200-$1500 if I was to go in around three months' time :-(

I guess when I say 'a lot' closer, it also depends on which side of Canada you live. If on the west side then it's actually comparable to where I'm coming from.

Jeff: have concerns with your stuff above, but not the place on Will's log to discuss.

Another problem is that there are so few A-meets in Canada in May/June. It's a huge challenge for the HPC to find a selection race in suitable terrain in Canada. Sage Stomp was used several times despite different terrain. Ottawa stepped in a couple of times, but mostly AZ had to basically put them on himself. After more than a decade of this kind of stuff stuff it changed towards the current approach with pre-selection based on past WOC/COC results, plus a selection in Europe in connection with WOC. Trust me, no matter how you do it, it's not easy and it's not perfect.

Nev: send me an e-mail or personal message on facebook and we can discuss.

Canadians could agree with USians to have one race for team trials.

We have offered many times to have a joint trials, but usually not much interest from Canucks.

Maybe we should call it an "Eh-meet."