Discussion: NavStock & Canadian Eastern Team Trials

NavStock 2007
June 15-17, Barrie, Ontario
Golden Horseshoe Orienteering Club

NAVSTOCK! Love, Peace and O.

A weekend of summer orienteering on new maps in the Oro Sandhills near Barrie, Ontario. NavStock is 3 days, 4 races (night, sprint, middle and long) and 1 big pot-luck party and BBQ, camping, laid back atmosphere, family adventures and absolutely sweet terrain.

Your hosts are the Golden Horseshoe Orienteering Club, organizers of the 2006 North American Champs. But unlike the flat and rocky NAOC terrain, NavStock is hilly, sandy and almost rock free (OK, so we found a few 50cm high boulder and put a control on it).

We've revised the 1994 NAOC terrain (Copeland Forest) for the long race and added brand new and revised maps for each of the night, sprint, and middle distance races.

We've booked group camping at Bass Lake so pitch your tent at the NavStock camground and take part in our annual NavStock Games (including the World 3-legged string Orienteering Champs), the BBQ and this year the sprint is there as well - right beside the beach.

Barrie, Ontario is only a one hour drive north of Toronto and is located within a 45 minute drive of the famous Wasaga Beach and only 45 minutes from the Canadian Shield.

Course planners: Mike Waddington, Mark Adams, Brent Langbakk

Online registration will be available soon.

For more race info visit: http://www.dontgetlost.ca/gho/navstock.htm

Sounds awesome Hammer. What is this concept of "Eastern" team trials?

Didn't you hear? Canada split into two countries, East and West. They built a wall between them (The Winnipeg Wall), and everything. Now they get to send two teams to WOC.

Selecting our team is almost as complicated as all your formulas and rankings and ... :-o
Seriously though, I don't envy Ted.

Speaking of Canada, I stopped by yesterday for a couple donuts and discovered Tim Horton was a hockey player. Who would have guessed that, eh?

>>>Canada split into two countries, East and West.

Actually, there are at least five distinct societies - the west, quebec, the maritimes, the north and Toronto. All the rest can provide the materials for the walls, eh!

What's a donut? what's a hockey?

Oh, and Nav stock should be fun. Bring a tent, passport and masonry hammer.

I wonder if Canada is the only country to select the team/squad AFTER the first World Cup event. Indeed if you want to see if you can make the team, you'd probably have to miss the first two events.

The selections are for the WOC team only. The squad is selected on results from the previous season. What I think Jon is referring to is the conflict between the eastern trials and the WC at Jukola which is unfortunate. The squad members can still attend the WC events by going to the western trials. On the positive side, I figure we are lucky to have the option and thankful that we have clubs willing to host the trials.

...sillier is the fact that our national championships conflict with the Oringen WCs!!

>Oh, and Nav stock should be fun. Bring a tent, passport and masonry hammer.

I'll be in Alaska watching the permafost melt on the NavStock weekend but you are right it will be fun. Navstock is ALWAYS fun. NavStock has the NavGames that includes World 3-legged string O Champs. Reigning champions hail from the mighty US of A. And don't forget O Shoes and the mighty Golden O shoe award (reigning champ is Mark Adams). Oh yeah and we orienteer on the weekend as well.

Grizzly Adams and I finalized the men's long course tonight and it is tough, tough, tough.
I think we are making up for our 1.3% climb NAOC long course last year. Got hills?

Just 3.5 weeks until the NavStock family orienteering weekend and Canadian Eastern Team Trials!

Online registration for the weekend has just gone live. If you have any questions or problems with your registration, please write the Registrar at barbrich AT ca DOT inter DOT net.

{edit} For more details, check the main NavStock web page.

The course designer, Hammer, has kept his work veiled in secrecy, but this morning he hinted that he may reveal some tips about the elite courses in the near future. Stay tuned...

Secrecy indeed!

The long course will most definately be long. 15.3 km for the men, 9.5km for the ladies. 4.5% climb with some sections very flat navigation as well. A fair bit of route choice with lots of small features (hanging re-entrants, small spurs, etc.). The long race will have the toughest navigation of the weekend and the woods are fast, fast, fast. This area is a ski resort so expect to climb the odd big hill (and often).

No rock features, few water features, open pine plantation, hardwood forests, awesome summer orienteering.

We are working with Horseshoe Resort to have a post race BBQ before your drive home. Horseshoe will also have their treetop trekking open for you to try. More info inlcuding prices is here: http://www.horseshoeresort.com/adventures/TreeTop_...

Aren't interested in camping with us at our NavStock Campground then consider luxury lodging only 100m from the finish of the long distance race at Horseshoe Resort.

http://www.horseshoeresort.com

Middle and Sprint updates coming in a few days.

Can you have them reschedule Jukola so I can come?

j-man ..Jukola to be rescheduled, sure .

to Hammer ..is 4.5 % for both classes ?

re: 4.5% about that in both classes. Depends on route choice of course.

I think 4.5% is about the same as the HVO A and West Point meets this year, although they were half that distance. What's a 'hanging re-entrant'?

I think the HVO Blue day 2 might have been close to 4.5%. But I believe the actual climb on HVO Blue day 1 was MUCH higher - some climbed around 600m over the course, which was less than 9km long.

Wil, you may very well be right. I think there was a lot more climbing than published depending on route choices. I have to say, 15.3k on the last day of the weekend with 4.5% sounds intimidating to me. Those days at HVO were pretty rough on me and to double that distance with similar climb sounds, well again, intimidating :o) Three weeks to train though!

and no rocks.

And warmer weather.

4.5% is a lot, but don't worry... that woods is fast and Navstock is so much fund you won't care.

And a great beach BBQ the night before.

or... you can just train for the 3-legged race.

...which is actually the most competitive race of the weekend.

Suzanne, aren't you and Wyatt the reigning World Champs in the 3-legged string O?

Now that the Western edition of the Canadian Team Trials has happened, it's time to register for the Eastern Team Trials! Registration is only open for 11 more days, so be sure to sign up soon. See the links further up in this thread.

Middle distance is going to be fast, fast, fast. No as technical as the long but some big hills, small features in one part of the course, some route choice and lots of fast running. All this on a brand new map. A great way to kick-off Super Nav Saturday.

AM: Middle
PM: Sprint, BBQ, swimming and the NavStock Games.

See you there.

The web page has been updated with the following:
- very important notice to all potential national team runners.
- fundraiser info
- preliminary schedule for first start for each event
NavStock

(From the 5/25 post.) Yes we are. Just last week my 6-year-old learned I am a 3-legged-World-string-O'-champion... for a few more days at least.

And BTW, for those attending this year, training helps. Suzanne & I did form drills in the fields nearby the course, and found relevant terrain (a similar stone staircase) nearby where we did some further technique training. Plus the option to run the course multiple times and take our best time proved quite useful against other teams doing the same...

You aren't defending?

I just got back from finalizing the middle and long courses at Navstock. I'm always amazed how open the woods are at Copeland Forest (long distance map). I'm also always amazed about how steep the hills are. They are a little softer this year than usual so I'm shortening the courses that day a bit. Expect some good route choice decision making and some fine navigation in the butterfly on the men's course.

The sprint is going to be fun. Start near the group camping and finish at the beach!

Registration deadline is fast approaching so sign up now for some good summer orienteering.

If you enjoy mountain biking then stay around and check out the absolutely sweet single track at Copeland Forest.

NavStock registration will be open until tomorrow, June 8. Details are above in this thread. Hope to see you there!

Maybe it should be hold open for another 2-3 days, hopefully more will sign.should be a good event..looking forward

Here are the final distances for the Eastern Team Trials races at NAVstock.

Middle: Women 4.4km; Men 5.4km
Sprint: Women and Men 2.3 km
Long: Women 8.8km; Men 13.5km

How could we say no to the Duke? Especially when the Waterloo Stars are helping GHO out by providing some fun activities around the BBQ on Saturday evening!

OK, the NavStock registration deadline will be extended until Tuesday evening. Details are in the discussion above. I've just sent the request to the online registrations company, and if you have any trouble registering, just e-mail me.

Information about exact location and parking for each event has been posted on the web site.

Bash - looks like I won't be out after all - on a conference in edmonton the week before and thento the cottage for the weekend, orienteering is unlikely for me.

I was hoping to maybe find a ride at our local meet on Sunday. Didn't realise that registration was already closed... a full week before the events, you guys are independant ;-) Oh well, I'll have to go shopping to my heart's content in Montreal instead!

Nope, registration is open until Tuesday next week.

Hammer -- can you give a breakdown on the distances for the other courses?

I'm currently in Alaska and don't have the courses with me but my memory

Course#1 for the sprint, middle and long is 1.1, 2.2, 2.5'ish

For the long there are several short-cut options to make course#2 and #3 shorter. Ask an official for suggested short-cuts.

The night is score-O.

Have fun everyone. The maps and terrain are excellent and i hope you enjoy the courses.

Course #2 is the course the national team women will race and all categories except adventure kids and opne men - course #3 the men, but like Mike said, you can take short cuts.

Startlists are now available on the event site.

Am I missing something, or is Patrick Goeres not running in the selection races??????

to question a, i answer don't know, and to question b, i answer no.

Who are the new World 3-legged String-O champions? Oh, and I guess there were some other races too, how about them?

USA retained the 3-legged String-O championship with Erin & Kristoffer Nielsen winning in convincing fashion. There were other races?

p.s. The weekend was a lot of fun with some well-designed courses on excellent maps.

from memory. men class
medium ( Sudden,Nick,Bender,Jon),winner 41 min
sprint (Jon,Sudden, Nick, Bender ),winner 13 min
long (Jon,Nick,Sudden, Bender ),winner 107 min.
on women side Katherine S. was first ( trying for the team ). Cherie and Erin posted good ( better ) times. results will (probably) be soon up on GHO page. overall very nice weekend.

Big thank you to everyone involved in organizing this great event. I had a very enjoyable time all weekend. Hammer, I must rave about your courses. They were excellent. Thanks.

Expresso won the night race in convincing fashion.

Definitely the highlight of the weekend was the
World-Championship Sprint Three-legged String-O.
Nick was course planner. He set a very challenging course with close to the maximum allowable climb and a good number of direction changes. He also acted as the start crew, the finish crew and announcer. It was generally agreed by all the competitors and the large audience that Nick will be in charge of this important event next year.

Awesome weekend, guys! Many thanks to the organizers, course setters, map makers and forest maintainers (?). Really, the maps were great and the forest was a pleasure to run through! WIDE OPEN! (more so on Sunday than Saturday, but still great compared to many places, especially during the summer!)

Congrats to Erin and Kristoffer! Glad to hear that the US continues to reign----

When will be see RouteGadget for the World-Championship Sprint Three-legged String-O?

I meant to say earlier that a couple of young women competed who might very well be the future of world championship 3-legged string-o -- They set the initial time to beat, and on their third run they ran so fluidly that it looked like just one girl running. I'm sure I'll be reminded of their names here.

>Hammer, I must rave about your courses. They were >excellent. Thanks.

Your welcome. Glad you enjoyed them. I'm curious to see what routes people chose in the middle and long.

From what I hear, there were some *very* curious routes chosen!

One very tough-to-please orienteer declared the Long course to be "absolutely brilliant", since there were virtually no obvious route choices.

Navstock
World Three-Legged Sprint String-O Championships
After the qualifying rounds were completed, the A final was an exciting contest with Erin and Kristoffer Nielsen maintaining the USA dominance of the World Three-Legged Sprint String-O Championships. Canada's hope for the future was provided by the young Routledge sisters competing in their first international event.

Videos of this event are available in .flv format. Download the small freeware
program
See Erin and Kristoffer and the Rouledges
Course planning has begun for next year's championship.

Thanks for the update about the "main event." :) Was there also a regular O competition? Any detailed results from that?

Thank you, Jim, that was awesome.

The results are ready but our web-savvy people have deserted us to far-flung parts of the world. The results will be posted soon.

I'll be e-mailing them to participants today.

Great! On a related note, has the Team been announced?

2007 Canadian WOC Team

Women

Sarah Brandreth
Pam James
Katherine Scheck
Heather Smith
Victoria Smith


Men

Nick Duca
Hans Fransson
Brent Langbakk
Mike Smith
Wil Smith
Jon Torrance


Ted is still chewing over who runs what.

Will this be the first time that four siblings have gone to a WOC?

No, since a slightly different set of four Smiths went to WOC for Canada last year. Next year, as far as I know, expect five.

(Sorry, should have said Smiths and née Smiths.)

Is this our youngest womens team ever?
Our most savvy mens?

Our most savvy mens?

...or do you mean "suave"? ...that Hans is so hot right now.

"Is this our youngest womens team ever?"

I dunno - how old were Magali Robert in 1989 and Magali and Denise Demonte in 1987?

Susan Budge was 15 (or 16) when she ran at WOC in 1976 and both Susan and Megan Piercy were juniors in 1978.
Magali ran her first WOC in 1985 - aged (?), while Denise must have been in her early twenties when she ran her first in 1979...

Edit:
I found this on the COF web page:
Susan Budge (Montreal), competed in WOC 1976 at the age of 15 years and 3 months - the youngest ever WOC competitor.

jjcote >> ...siblings...?

More from COF:

Heather, Sandy, Mike and Wil Smith (Waterside, New Brunswick), were members of the Canadian team at the 2006 World Championships (Denmark) - the first time four members of a family competed in the WOC.
Sandy, Mike and Wil Smith (Waterside, New Brunswick) and Cherie and Doug Mahoney (Hillsborough, New Brunswick) was the first time two sets of brothers and sisters had represented a nation at the same WOC (1999).

Elite orienteering is sure a family sport in Canada :)

Preliminary results and exciting videos of the World 3-Legged Sprint String-O Champs are posted on the NavStock website. More detailed results to come.

>>>Elite orienteering is sure a family sport in Canada :)

It really is, because in addition to the siblings Canada has also had quite a few husbands-wives attend WOC together
Brian and Marketa Graham
Brian and Abbi May
Ron Lowry and Denise Demonte
Brent Langbakk and Pippa McNeil
Nick and Lumi Duca
and of course Sandy and Holger if you count being on different teams
Have I missed any others?

Have I missed any others?

Bob and Krstina Kaill in 1976...

Husband-wife combinations are quite common among elite orienteers - like 2004 gold medalists Hanne Staff and Björnar Valstad from Norway.

> Have I missed any others?

Wil and Katarina Smith (also on different teams - though possibly on the same team in 2008...?)

Sorry Wil! You guys were just too obvious ;-)

What about WOC mother/daughter? Sure Canada hasn't been able to pull that one off.

yet !!!

I raced the World Rogaine Champs the same year my brother and mother and father did.


Unfortunately that was my last world rogaine,but my parents have gone to two more!

Forget Canada... Has anyone pulled off a WOC mother/daughter set besides the US?

Nah, we Canadians would rather keep talking about rogaines. For this week's GHO Sprint Champs, I teamed up with 9-year-old AdventureGirl!, who happens to be Hammer's daughter and Backwoods' niece. Seeing what a great teammate she was, I predict there will be 3 generations of Waddingtons at a World Rogaine Champs some day.

Beat that, Americans!!

One word: Balter