Discussion: A perfect 10

What a great event. All the important stuff (map, terrain, courses) was great, and all the other stuff too. Congratulations to event director Jim Webster....



... and all the people that made it possible. A wonderful long weekend of orienteering.

As someone who worked "on the inside" of the event, I was dramatically impressed by three points. These are in addition to the great courses, map, and terrain, and are something rarely encountered in U.S. orienteering event organization, or for that matter paid attention to.

First was the incredible degree of staff organization. If the super made a last-minite decision, it was carried through inventively and without much discussion. All too often in the U.S., what accompanies a last-minute change is a protracted discussion ("do we really need to do it? with our limited volunteer resources? and time? and my kids need to do soccer after this one?") This deftness was buttressed by decentralization and redundancy. I was contacted by about 6 people from the organization regarding my duties. All issued timely and non-confusing directives. All seemed in charge of their particular area—but flexible enough to yield to the super's word, no questions asked, no egos.

Second, nothing was spared for the sake of quality. Nothing. There were: exhaustive printed and web information, three different arenas, intermediate times from the woods, no bingo control sites (too often, mapper's/setter's silly, undisputed ideas lead to these), small armies of vetters in the woods at 6 am to wake up the controls, crisp printing, well-managed parking, ample water, cookies, etc. etc. Compare to some recent organizers who are hard pressed to shell out for more than supermarket freezer ziplocs to stand for map cases, saving these last $30—that's a single person's event-day-entry. Given the Cranbrook Middle/Long map, the following would be the most likely scenario in the U.S:

(Consultant) Why don't you guys set up an arena?

(Organizer) Eh... that means hauling a lot of equipment up that hill.

(C) Actually, given the locations and the character of the terrain, you should most likely have two separate arenas for the Middle and the Long.

(O) Two ! arenas! are you out of your mind? they will both need to be constructed and then disassembled. None of my workers will be available on Thursday. Most of them can't be there until 11 am Saturday.

(C) And a speaker would be nice...

(O) But nobody in the club has the equipment. And if we rent it, someone will have to take time off work Monday to return it, and nobody will. Besides, renting it would be $100—our club can't spare $30 on map cases!

(C) How about making the elite competition the focus of the event?

(O) But then all those F55s attending the event will be left out. If we have a speaker, s/he will have to focus equally on all categories.

(C) How about a World Ranking Event?

(O) That would mean too many extras. Those IOF Rules are so different, and nobody in the club is familiar enough with USOF Rules, much less some other rules! we really can't afford this... we should just focus on getting the bags in the right places. Everything else is secondary...

... and so it goes. Somehow most U.S. organizers seek excuses, whereas these folks just looked for ways to get things done—and found them, to the delight of some 550 competitors in attendance.

Third, the degree of material support (equipment and such) these small—by U.S. standards—clubs in the corner of British Columbia enjoyed was dramatic and awe-inspiring, beginning with the $30+k club-owned digital offset printer, going through various hardware, and ending with signage. Did someone count the number of organizer tents in the arena? did any recent event have that many? All of these tents came up on time the day before the event, and came down just as promptly. Signage was appropriate and abundant—down to the multiple "no cleats" reminders as you enter the Sprint arena. Someone had to make all these signs, and someone had to place them—and all of that happened.

So, this is a lot to learn for all U.S. (and Canadian) organizers from, including even the better-equipped and knowledgeable ones.

Congratulations to Jim and his crew for an excellent, world-class event. This one set many standards which should be remembered in years to come.
Mike Minium
IOF Event Advisor

I agree with the above comments. The North American Championships were top-notch in so many respects, and the technical quality and logistical organization made it not just a great contest but also a great pleasure. Thank you, Jim and the so many others on the NAOC 2010 team!

Thank you for including the Adventure Runner option this weekend, despite all my mistakes I had a wonderful time.

Very very good, thanks to all concerned. The only glitch we encountered was a 2.5 hour spread in start times for my wife, son and I on the classic, which the organisers were good enough to change. We'll certainly come again.

Our photos:
NAOC MiddleNAOC Long
NAOC Sprint

Thanks for the photo's Barb & Dave. Some of these should be used in ONA!!!

Jim, I am so proud to be Canadian :-)
I had more fun watching the races than I ever had at a WOC! I'd never seen the radio technology that was used to send info to the announcers, but it made it so exciting to watch orienteering (yes, believe or not!) that I'm still talking about it!
To watch Patrick run the last bit of track, knowing that he was just a few seconds ahead was riveting. To watch EVERYBODY stand up in the bleachers to cheer for him and welcome the new NA sprint champion beat all my WOC moments.
Jim you just set a new standard!
Marie-Cat

awesome photos Barb

It always sucks to be the organizer of the event that comes the weekend after one so good as this ;-) Oh well.

See you at Barebones on Friday.

Don't worry, I'll bring the radio controls to Whistler! ;)

AZ, the secret is to let them be the best they can be...and, of course, to make sure to bring everyone coffee and breakfast bagels on the first day...

Jim, Magnus, and all other NAOC organizers,

This past weekend was trully magnificent and such enjoyable to participate!

Thank you so much for all your time and efforts to make these competitions world class and show the rest how it should be done!

Excellent maps and championship courses supplemented by incredible venue setup! We just wish that all high level competitions would be at the same level.

Thank you again! We are looking forward to competing again in beautiful British Columbia!

More photos:
NAOC2010 Middle
NAOC2010 Long
NAOC2010 Sprint

If you like to have higher resolution images, please e-mail me with picture name(s) and I'll be glad to send you requested files.

Speedy, some *really* nice shots in here! I like close-ups, unique compositions and absolutely, positively razor sharp focus (and use of focus in the composition for depth). I like the diagonal one of Ali, and especially the one of Oriana and Angelica in the sprint, with Boris and Shin in the background. Very cool. And the one of Louise reaching back for a second punch in the Middle. Its like she's trying to run two directions at the same time! Mathias with the flag of Norway and the freeze-frame raindrops. And the one of Rick yelling at me to run faster in the sprint :) The portraits of Stas and Kseniya in the Middle arena are nice too. I never get shots like that.

Speedy, outstanding photos. I'm wondering if I could ask some technical photography questions, since I like taking action photos but mine are not as consistently successful as yours are. What type of camera do you use, and what lens? What type of auto-focus type do you use? What f stop and what shutter speeds were these generally shot at? Any other words of wisdom would also be appreciated. Thanks.

Got the following from event director Jim Webster --

Peter,
I'm not sure how to post photos to Attackpoint but I thought these two by Frida Viklund were excellent. The bottom one was on the front page of today's Cranbrook Townsman and the other on page 3.
Jim

=========

Canadian Team
US Team

Note: both are large files, about 2MB

Wow--they are great!

Classy. An inspiration for the future. I was amazed at the attention paid by the numerous volunteers. And I loved the arena spectacle and announcing. It was exciting to be around the event.

I hope to see more arenas everywhere! Set them up for small local events too.

Just in case there is any misunderstanding, we (me and disorienteer) truly had a great time at the NAOCs, were genuinely impressed with all aspects of the event, and do send our thanks to all involved. I can't think of a better N. Am. event we have ever been to.

RLShadow:

My camera is a bit old, to be precise - 6 years old, and needs upgrade. Here are technical specs:

- Canon Digital Rebel SLR Camera 6.3 Megapixels
- Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 USM IS Image Stabilized Autofocus Zoom Lens

As you can see, camera itself is almost obsolete, but the main thing is lens. I'd bought only camera body because the lens included in the kit is absolute junk. Anyway, I didn't do anything specific simply because there is no time for that - everything is set to Auto-Focus and Sport mode. That's it. And yes, you need a bit of luck. And I don't post "bad" pictures either.

I'm just curious why organizers don't consider some action photo taking locations available for photographers? Most locations usually near the finish, which is boring. It's still in my dreams to have pictures taking somewhere in the woods, real action, etc., something we had at US Team Trials this year (long distance).

Same set-up as me, except I have a non-IS 24-105mm zoom. I use the sports mode setting for all action, unless its really dark (sports mode is limited to ISO 400 I think), so when the shutter speed goes below about 1/800 I switch to Av (aperture priority), set the ISO to 800 or 1600, the stop to f/5 or f/6, and then make sure its selecting 1/1000 or faster. If I can't get that shutter speed at ISO 800 I usually give up. Focusing is harder using this Av setup - Sports Mode is in continuous focus which is nice. ISO 1600 is too noisy for my tastes. I should get a faster lens - fixed fl and/or larger aperture. 6.3 Megapix is plenty - at least for the lens I have. Given a choice, spend your money on better glass and IS rather than more pixels.

I'm having trouble with the shutter button on my old rebel. Its "sticky" and sometimes the halfway down autofocus doesn't engage. I was reading that this is a common failure mode - dirty contacts in the switch. Solutions are to clean it in place with some chemicals or disassemble and replace the switch. I haven't tried either yet.