Discussion: NAOL Events

I hope that NAOL (http://www.ctoc-boise.org/naol/) is inspiring you to go for more elite events.

It is time to define NAOL events for year 2004. So far list of potential candidates includes:
1. 2004 North American Championships - May 29/30 (OH, USA) - Middle, Long (Classic?).
2. 2004 Canadian Championships - July 14-18 , (Yukon, Canada) - Middle, Classic, Classic.
3. 2004 US Individual Championships - October 16/17 (WI, USA) - Classic, Classic.
4. 2004 US Short and US Long Championships - November 6/7 (CA, USA) - Middle, Long.
5. For balance we need a Canadian meet with good course mix (Short, Middle, Long?).

We think to target 12 events for the year. So far we are not aware of any WRE event in NA (that should be included automatically).

As a preposition 7 best results will be counted toward final score. This might motivate people to cross borders more frequently.

Please provide your constructive thoughts and ideas. Your feedback will be much appreciated.

Always remember that winners get nice awards :) If our support will grow more we may award three first places. With enough support we even can start giving checks!

Regards,

Sergey Velichko, NAOL Coordinator

US (and Canuck) Team Trials? Also I hear Canadians may be planning to attend 'da Pig.

Everything I've heard says the Canuck Trials are the Canuck Championships unless the powers that be can be convinced to use the North Americans as an additional selection event, i.e. no help there.

For Canadian A events, the Osquad schedule shows the Sage Stomp (classic, rogaine, sprint) May 22 to 24, the Alberta Championships August 14-15, the BC Champs September 24-25, and the Western Canadian Champs and Ontario Champs in conflict Oct 9-10 and 9-11. I've also heard mention of Guelph putting on an event in May and my Ottawa membership renewal notice mentioned a fall A meet which I suppose might well end up being the Quebec Champs. Not sure that any of those emerge as obvious choices though I can't help thinking the Ontario and Western Canadian Champs are out given that they'll presumably split the Canadians. Flying Pig might not be a bad choice - gives events nicely spaced in April, May, July, October. and November

It is almost certain the Cdn. team trials will not be a separate event. Interestingly Canada has not publically announced their 2004 WOC selection criteria while the US has already announced 2005! Hmmmm. People invited to the COF HPP were told in a letter the team trials would be the Cdn Champs.

The Ontario Champs are also the Eastern Canadian Champs. The weekend is tentatively set as a 3-day (like last year's GLOF). No other details except that the areas are Long Sault and Ganaraska (used for the 1999 Canadian Championships). Reforested sandy moraine terrain.

With a lot of poison ivy.

By the way, 2003 NAOL Champions Pam James and Mike Waddington will be awarded with NAOL plaques at North American Champs this May.

Don't miss the opportunity to be 2004 NAOL Champion!

Sergey

With Canadians being in the Yukon perhaps the other Canadian races should be out east. How about the Guelph A meet on May 8-9th. I still don't know any details on that one though. Hammer? The other possibility is of course the Ontario Champs/Eastern Canadians (even though the poison ivy is bad) but it does conflict with Western Canadians and I know that those of us at this end of the country will go to that event instead. BC Champs are in September and will include a sprint which I think is cool but I think it conflicts with WOC.

Unfortunately May 8-9 is the weekend of the World ROGAINE Champs in AZ. Bummer this is oppposite the Gator's A. The US A-meet schedule is pretty tight this spring.

Ontario Champs can be set on the different weekend so not to conflict with BC meet and WOC. I didn't see any CA scheduling on their Federation web site so hard to discuss.

Too bad about the Gators meet. Maybe we can talk to the people putting on the Westerns / Ontario Champs and see if one of them would switch it as Sergey has suggested.
Mike, is it Toronto hosting Ontarios? I will forward info and concern to Edmonton and see what they say about moving Westerns.

Well, here's another tentative event to ponder with the snow. I'm part of a group that is going to put on a two-day A meet level event north of Montreal this fall. Date to be announced soon I hope but we're looking at a Long Race Saturday followed by a relay Sunday. Attackpoint Cup City Challenge going on this year?

Yes the Toronto OC are hosting the Ontario/Eastern Cdn Champs
www.toronto-orienteering.com

More information about Ontario/Eastern Can Champs will be much appreciated. The web site does not give much information. Looks like it will be 3 day event. Does anyone know format for each day?

Eastern Can Champs will give good geographical spread so we will have events both in West and East of both USA and Canada if we include it in NAOL list.

FYI, I emailed Edmonton Overlanders who are hosting the Western Canadians to see if they will consider switching the date of their meet. I received an email saying they would forward it on to the appropriate person. I will let you know if I hear any more info. I think Eastern Canadians would be a good choice to give some geographical balance between east and west if this scheduling conflict could be resolved.

For what it's worth, the Alberta Championships in August will be the right format. I can inquire about including it in NAOL if there's interest. (It will use Sandy McNabb (site of the 2000 Western Canadians, the first North American A meet to use Sport Ident), a hilly area south of Calgary.)

I agree about geographic spread being a good thing (we'd like to see a Canadian Champs in the east again too). (Luckily discount airline fares in Canada are getting pretty cheap, which helps a bit with the distance problem). (Americans near the border might consider driving to Montreal, Hamilton, Windsor or Vancouver and flying WestJet or JetsGo or Air North to Canadian events, which usually saves a lot over cross-border travel. I used that trick last fall.)

The Toronto OC (together with the Ukrainian Orienteering Club) has confirmed with me that they will have 3 days of events from October 9-11.
Days #1 and #2 at Ganaraska for M and F20 will be 'long' and 'classic' while Day#3 at Long Sault will be 'short' (IOF middle). The three day will be the Eastern Canadian Champs - best 2 of 3 to count. All race sites are ~ 1 hour east of Toronto.

FYI, the 2005 Ontario Champs will be hosted by the Guelph Gators and the 2006 Ontaro Champs will be part of a GLOF-3day hosted by GHO (hopefully also doubling as the NAOC's). All of these events will be on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

So, if nobody objects, here is the list for 2004 NAOL events in chronological order:

1. 2004 North American Championships - May 29/30 (OH, USA) - Classic, Classic.
2. 2004 Canadian Championships - July 14-18 , (Yukon, Canada) - Middle, Classic, Classic.
3. 2004 Eastern Canadian Championships - October 9-11 (Ganaraska, CA) - Long, Classic, Middle.
4. 2004 US Individual Championships - October 16/17 (WI, USA) - Classic, Classic.
5. 2004 US Short and Long Championships - November 6/7 (CA, USA) - Middle, Long.

So totally we will have 12 events with perfect CA/USA, East/West balance: 3 Middle, 2 Long, 7 Classic. 7 best event results will be counted toward final score for everyone just to motivate you to move across the borders more frequently.

I will post all information at the NAOL web site this week at http://www.ctoc-boise.org/naol/index.htm

Regards,

Sergey

PS. NAOL winners for the year 2003 Pam James and Mike Waddington will be awarded during NA champs in Cleveland. I have nice plaques for them :)

THat looks good Sergey. I talked to the Westerns organizers and they weren't able/willing to move the event, which is really too bad. There may be a few of us who have to choose whether to go to the NAOL event or do the westerns but that is life. However, I still think this is the best choice that gives east-west balance.
Thanks for your hard work putting this series together.
Cheers,
Brent