The first half of our season is over. I am writing this from lberta just after the conclusion of the COC festival. I submitted two other COC related reports to the newsletter.
Generally speaking, I found the events we held this year were executed better than last year; I have no nits to pick. Good work.
The first event held in Moncton by the Falcons was very interesting. This event was well attended by members from as far away as Fredericton and Saint John. Unfortunately no locals were able to attend. All those present had a good time. Is this going to be an annual benefit meet?
Fredericton held its annual spring "O" clinic. These seem to be getting more popular every year. We are always able to glean a few new keen members.
The Troll Cup was held in Cape Cod this year. For those who were able to attend, it was an interesting and enjoyable time; for those who were not able to attend, too bad. Numerous troll cups were carted back to New Brunswick. I suspect they use their parks more down there, many paths were wide and paved. If they had shoulders and pot holes they could have passed for the Trans Canada Highway in New Brunswick. On the other hand, they had the nastiest, #$*%@ brambles I've ever seen. They were everywhere. No one remained unscathed. Experimentation revealed that going through them at normal speed produced less pain; the long spikes did not have time to penetrate deeply. But then I found another use for my trusty Tilley hat. If I held it out in front of me, about knee high, it acted as an excellent deflector shield.
The junior/senior training camp was held in Fundy this year. A few Nova Scotians were able to attend as well.
We experimented with two forms of colour map printing. One method used the Sport Branch's Xerox copier while the other used Ed Smith's Epson printer. Although size limitations forced a few compromises, results from either were quite usable. We will only get better. One thing I appreciated a lot was the ability to print the courses directly with the map using the OCAD software. This meant all maps were identical and that the control was ALWAYS in the exact centre of the circle.
The Rockwood Park meet used Xeroxed maps. As part of my training for the COCs, I "ran" the elite course on this new map. DNF, not even close to finishing. This did not bode well for the COCs.
As expected, the federal government slashed funding to orienteering. Funding for 1995 dropped to 40% of 1994. Next year it goes to zero. The COF is now a volunteer organization. Oh well, if it's the end of the world, maybe it's time to move to a new planet. At least the provincial government still gives us some money. Yeah province.
The COF annual general meeting was held during the COCs this year. Stig Skarborn's second term on the board of directors has expired and he declined to run again. However, I was nominated to the board (after the usual stiff competition).
See you out there for the exciting last half of our orienteering season. Don't forget the Eastern Canadian Championships are being held in Nova Scotia at Hell's Gate. (It's only a name).