Discussion: Ontario Champs Website now up!

The Ontario Champs website is now online though currently in a temporary location. More information should be getting filled in in the next couple of weeks.

Is there some question about what the bonus event will be or is it supposed to be a surprise?

The format is yet to be determined. We will let everyone know when that decision has been finalized. It should be in the next couple of weeks.

Website has now been moved to it's proper address: ottawaOfest.ca!

It's highly unfortunate that the Ontario Champs is on the same weekend as the UNO A meet at Bear Brook, by the way. There actually isn't much A level orienteering on in the northeast US this fall, so to have to choose between two great technical areas on the same weekend is not good.

I realize that the Columbus Day weekend in the US coincides with Thanksgiving in Canada, so I see why both events ended up when they did. But still...

US sanctioning tries to coordinate dates to avoid this kind of conflict but we didn't know about the date for the Ontario champs when the UNO A meet went through sanctioning back in February. Is there a Canadian planning calendar we can generally consult to try to avoid this in the future?

The Ontario Champs have been held on the Thanksgiving weekend for many years. It's a 5-hour drive between the two major orienteering centres in the province and the holiday weekend makes it easier for more out-of-towners to attend. Although clubs would be permitted to choose a different weekend in extenuating circumstances, the Ontario Champs have already been awarded for the next few years, and it appears that the host clubs are all sticking with Thanksgiving.

The Ontario Champs are almost always on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend or at least it has been that way for the last 20 years (with the exception of 1 or 2 years).

2013 Canadian (and Ontario) Champs. Cdn Thanksgiving weekend. Hamilton, Ontario

In other words, we just have to know these things. (And not just that the Ontario champs are on Thanksgiving weekend: for example, when is Sage Stomp usually? Or Western Canadians? Or ...?) Too bad in this case - both meets will presumably be unable to move at this point.

For future reference you should be able to find Canadian events here: www.orienteering.ca/events/upcoming-events/ though it's currently not entirely up to date (the Ontario Champs aren't on it yet as we only relatively recently received sanctioning). I also believe the Ontario Champs has been listed on Attackpoint with these dates since last fall but I could be wrong on that count.

Out of curiosity when were the dates for the UNA A-meet set?

I don't know when the club decided on the dates but it went through sanctioning in February. It probably would have been in sanctioning several months earlier but they were holding off waiting to see whether they needed to bid for the Individual Champs. When CSU bid for that, UNO were off the hook.

I think Sage Stomp is usually on Victoria Day weekend (Monday on or before May 24). Casacde OC forgot about this when creating our local schedule this spring, and we moved one of our local events.

http://www.event-finder.org/o-planning/maincal.sht... exists. We just need to use it consistently.

Interesting how Canadian Thanksgiving is a viable A-event / Canada Cup weekend. I don't think there has ever been an A-event on USA Thanksgiving weekend -- and I doubt there ever will be.

Most people who attend the Ontario Champs are strongly supportive of the traditional Thanksgiving date since it allows an extra travel day for out-of-towners. I think the Thanksgiving tradition dates back to a time when orienteering was more of a family sport where two or even three generations would attend the Ontario Championships together and plan their turkey dinner around it.

For newer people in the sport like myself, orienteering meets are virtually impossible to attend on a big family holiday weekend. As a result, I (and a number of people with similar family obligations) have attended very few Ontario Championships over the years. I don't mess with the tradition but I remain hopeful that it will change one day!

I ran at Bear Brook when the NAOC was held there. It has some nice forest but it is not a great technical area. That being said I still shake my head at one of my route choices on Day 2.

From 1969 to 1976 the Canadian Champs were held on Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend in October. As the championships started to be moved out of central Canada it was prudent to move the event to the summer. The Ontario Champs usually have filled that void on what is usually the last reliable weekend .
It never occured to me that anyone would chose family over orienteering but if that is the case perhaps clubs should re-think the calendar for future years. It as not as if there is any competition for dates. In the last decade or so Quebec hasn't had any club but Ottawa to put on their champs. Now Ottawa is hosting the event for another province,

I'm kinda thinking that you might get a different impression of the technical nature of Bear Brook from a modern map, as opposed to the 1975 version where 28 sq km was fieldchecked in a few weeks. It is only about 10 miles from Pawtuckaway, after all.

Is it Pawtuckaway standard?! Cool. This is really going to be a difficult choice. Booooo.

1978 Canadian Champs were also on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Hilton Falls hosted by HKF.

I don't buy that Canadian Thanksgiving is the last 'reliable' weekend bit. The largest orienteering race in Ontario the last 5-7 years or so has been the Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Raid the Hammer and that is the 2nd Sunday in November. Canadian XC Champs occur AFTER that (though they are now in vancouver when there is never a non-reliable weekend). It is more important for the organizer to be prepared to have the facilities in the event of bad weather. Heck, I'd argue that summer race dates are less 'reliable' in Ontario (due to humidity and high temps) than say November.

Big Ontario Race dates
giant's rib raid - 2nd Sat in April
raid the hammer - 2nd Sun in November
the original THOMASS - 2nd Sun in December

The new Bear Brook was not done by the same mapper as Pawtuckaway. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of how the new fieldwork looks, but it's got to be better than the original.