Discussion: Thanks!

For a great weekend, to all who contributed!

Thanks to GHO for a awesome weekend of orienteering!

Thank you !!! Nice !!!

Yeah, thanks to all, a super fantastic weekend!

Awesome event and great venue!!

Yes, another totally awesome GLOF. A big thanks to all of the organizers!

I know that not all clubs have access to such an ideal location for arena + starts + lodging + food, but any who do should definitely take advantage in the same way. It was really great.

Ditto all the above comments. It was so good to have that run in to the finish after those brutal climbs out of the valley behind the cabins.
Dundas Valley is for sure a special kind of area so close to (actually in) one of Canada's largest cities.
Right from the start of the long course my head was spinning with indecision over the best route choices. Really good course or very fried brain? Probably lots of both.
Also impressive were the number of locals I encountered on the course who either asked if I was orienteering or I could hear them explaining to their kids that was what I was doing.
Little Boy (looking at a very sweaty me): What is he doing?
Parent: He's in an orienteering race.
Little Boy: Why isn't he running then?
Parent: He's looking at his map.
Me (under my breath) I'm walking because I'm going up this f--king hill!!!

Amazing Job GHO!
We'll certainly have a challenge to match you guys at next year's Ontario champs ;)

I thought it was a terrific weekend with great courses, terrain and atmosphere (can't beat an 100m walk to the start from the accommodations on the long). Thanks GHO!

Great event, and a lot of fun!

...especially now that I'm not facing that climb up to the GO control yet again. :)

Fantastic weekend. Thanks!

Indeed. The biggest problem with GLOFs is how long you have to wait between them.

Of course, I could bestir myself to do one of GHO's raids if I can't stand the wait. Even if I can, it's on the bucket list.

Thank you all for the kind comments. We enjoyed hosting a GLOF within Hamilton city limits. Thanks to you all for making the trip to the Hammer (we were lucky with the weather eh, 2 hours after the O-Cross finished it was pouring rain).

There are lots of comments here about the climb to the last CP. When Nevin French arrived at the arena on Saturday morning we were chatting about the sprint WRE (in prep for his announcing). His first question about the course was 'so at the bottom of which of the ravines surrounding the camp is the 2nd to last checkpoint in?'. He has memories of junior training camps at Canterbury many many years ago I guess. Below is a photo of Jeff Teutsch on his way to the final CP in the O-Cross (photo by Andrea) on his way into that dreaded ravine.

Great photo but it was actually *much* steeper than that.

Yeah, that doesn't even look steep!

It only took two trips up that ravine for me to develop the proper climbing technique.

There's a girl who is totally At One With Nature!

...and at the top of the ravine for the final time.

Ha, the angle makes it look like I'm just trying to run on all fours! I swear it was, like, straight up.

And very muddy.

Awesome weekend. Weather was perfect, fun people to hang out with, great courses and terrain. I've been running in Dundas Valley all my life and even on the weekend picking up controls with Hammer I was super impressed with how open the valley was.
Thanks to everyone who put in so many hours on the event (Hammer, Hans Fransson, Mark Adams) and many many other volunteers. Some great performances by the athletes too.
And thank you to those that said I had a great look for radio too.

Boy, those photos...some really sweet looking forest!

Yes, but where is the sagebrush?

In any case, that looks like a great meet from afar. Again, GHO shows how it is done.

All of those courses... excellent use of terrain.

>All of those courses... excellent use of terrain.

Thanks Clem. For this race we wanted to 'keep it simple' by forcing four races into the same arena. We feel we were able to make good use of the terrain like you said for the sprint, middle and long while still minimizing the overlap. Though in retrospect that ravine crossing the last control got a bit repetitive for the O-Cross (but that was meant as an add-on event anyway). When time permits I'll post a presentation on the 'thought process' that we had in the course planning. The courses changed considerably in July following the NAOC. Having a spectator control became an absolute essential. We think it made the courses better as it forced us to move the start closer in the middle distance race to the detailed contour area and it created a 'long leg' in the elite classes that route gadget is showing where a lot of the race was won/lost.

Thanks to everyone in GHO for a super meet - challenging terrain, great courses, excellent organization and all from a single assembly area.
Well done!

Congratulations to all of GHO members and volunteers!
GLOF was a fantastic event, I really enjoyed it!

For me, event location together with accomodation in one camp- was a great idea.
I like the fact of having finish shot and last CP the same all 3 races. Super!

Sprint race was full 15min, which I did not see in North America this year. Bonus for that too ;) Unfortunatly, I did not run Middle because of my fresh knee injury, but I was happy to take photos of my friends-orienteers:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=562798&id=71...
Long course was a great race with a perfect map usage. I visited all best sides of the map and I loved to be running there. Thanks.

There were a small things, which made this event even more pleasent. Something like start or out bounds signs, super sweat apples, prices, kid's numbers (Eugene's kids and my junios liked them a lot). O, yes, that water fall (not far away from camp) on Bruce trail is so nice.

Result page is simple and great in the same way too.

Thanks for organizing such a great event and I am looking forward for 2012.

I think I said to much positive things, I better stop - I am killing my reputation ;)

Photos are now online at GHO's flickr site. Link below.




http://www.flickr.com/photos/25966801@N08/sets/721...

and more photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/GHOSLOW/GLOF2010?authke...#

Any specific reason for the lack of the US Elite men? I know that US Champs is the major focus, but wouldn't the WRE and the reputation of the host club get a few of them?

Yes the Highlander was the week before. Ali Crocker seems fairly recovered from it.

+1 Nevin

Nev, you are asking for negativity on a positive thread, which I'm not sure is a good idea.

As far as I can tell there is only one elite US man (Ross), so if you want to know why he didn't show, ask him directly. For the hobby elites like the rest of us, I'm sure there are a bunch of reasons, like 'other things to do.'

(In my case the terrain looked too boring to justify making the trip one of my very few 'away' orienteering weekends for the year, and looking at the maps I haven't changed my opinion. Same reason I rarely go to the Flying Pig. Also, I couldn't care less about WRE points. But I am not really an elite orienteer, so who cares what I think? If I was based in Rochester this fall I probably would have gone, though - it seemed worth a three hour drive to me, but not a ten hour one.

I have to say, though, that any serious US elite trying to get better should have been there. Competition is good if you are trying to improve. (I'm not.) The fact nobody went tells me there just aren't any US men that really care about getting better at orienteering.)

Oh yeah, and you do realize that most Americans don't get Columbus Day as a day off work? I guess a three-day weekend is more attractive than a two-day version.

Feet, sorry not trying to be negative, just mostly curious about whether a WRE event is a cross-border draw or not (but for sure should be another thread).
I had forgotten how blunt economists can be. And you're right, my knowledge of post-colonial US holidays is lacking.

I think there are simply too many weekends in a row to take off if you live in the Northeast: Highlander, GLOF, US Champs, CSU A-Meet - something had to go, and it's usually the furthest away race that gets dropped, even though it looked great. Certainly wish I had been there, but you can't do everything...
Also, it might be bold, but I think it's time to add Jordan to the US' short list of elite men who are actively trying to improve.

I didn't think Nevin was trying to be negative, just asking a valid question. There are a lot of races back-to-back this fall, but usually everyone picks a different combination of races. It was a bummer that none of the fastest US men chose to go to GLOF.

I would gladly have gone if I could have done the whole week, but there are occasionally limits to how much I can skive off work. I also tend not to get too excited by the spur valley terrain, but good maps, organisation and competition can make up for that.

I love feet.

I love you too, ndobbs. Nothing to see.

Nevin, (thx for your question)
if you win North American Champs, you get around 1000 points in WRE ranking. In the same time, the last 5 spots in qualifications in WOC is the same 1000 points. So, for those orienteers, who went to WOC, they have enough points and they probably will not improve their places. Because they do not race in local WRE events, North American ranking is low and our `Hobby` Elites cannot improve either. This is like a closed circle.

I personally believe that US Elites think that orienteering in Canada is weak, so they do not waste their time and race their busy US local schedual. And this is a reason why they are not as strong as Canadian Elites (according to WRE points, where only 2 US Elites in top 10 if you take total of US and CAN orienteers).

I think with races like NAOC, COC and GLOF this year, I might not bother travelling across a boarder to some weak US meets; I will better travel in Canada.
And the next great WRE race and training camp is in February in Vancouver.

I know I'm not a man, but I can echo what Boris said. Limited time available and limited funds available meant that this was the weekend that had to go for me. It looks great, and having seen the maps and the photos (and the large distance between AliC and the pack that I would like to have minimised), I wish I had been able to go. But just couldn't afford it in comparison with two much closer events in the two weeks directly after.

if you win North American Champs, you get around 1000 points in WRE ranking. In the same time, the last 5 spots in qualifications in WOC is the same 1000 points.

That's because of the fudge factor ("IP = 1.05").

I thought that GLOF would have been a better draw if the WRE were on the Middle day, but the effect would have perhaps been marginal. I know at least the West Coasters, Eric and Nikolay (and me as Adviser, not as an elite) could not come because of the Three15er rogaine; Eric was organizing it and Nikolay and I had our first and last test run before the World Rogaining Champs. Ditto for Louise (who beat us) but she's hardly a U.S. elite. I personally really wanted to be at GLOF even if I wouldn't be able to compete but priorities have to be in order.

according to WRE points, where only 2 US Elites in top 10 if you take total of US and CAN orienteers

Orionchik, that's 3/10 U.S. men and 6/10 U.S. women according to their self-declared nationality. I believe if you go to passport-eligible, it gets to 5/10 men and no change for women.

Orionchik>>What do you mean, "you might not travel to weak US meets" this year? You were at West Point, WCOC A Meet, the US SML Champs, and the US Team Trials.

And if you are talking about attendance at GLOF, it's worth pointing out that none of the top three ranked Canadian-based men (Patrick, Mike S, and Thomas) were there either.

BorisGr, I did travel and will be travelling to US events, but I had to agree with feet that some of the " terrain looked too boring to justify making the trip "; so next year I am planning to travel in Canada more.

As to Top3 CAN orienteers (they know why they did not come), I would say for them it is not a driving distance, like for some US Elites. And even if they came, I am sure none of the US guys would come.
Nobody came to COC in Ottawa in August either.

Tundra: I am agree (my fault- it did change from last time i checked) it is 3/10.

I think Nevin tried to ask why US Elites does not come to Canadian meets/WRE as often as Canadian ones to US.

Let me call a time-out on this thread and we can shuffle future thoughts to another one. Keep this GLOF focused.
I of course have no power to do any of the above.
Hope that US Champs are great this weekend; good luck to everyone racing.