Ah yes the signs of spring: returning birds, grass growing, the saps are running. It's orienteering season. As my final term as pres winds down, I have noticed that power does tend to corrode... I am certainly rusty. Oh, it's "corrupt".
I hope you have all established orienteering goals for this year. I find it difficult maintaining excellence year after year; in case you don't recall, I am the reigning New Brunswick M35 champion for the second straight year. It may be too early to use the term ironman, but certainly walkman is appropriate. Maybe I should retire and donate my orienteering shoes to the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Shame.
Many nifty things are happening this year. I'm not sure when you will be reading this but the annual Fredericton Street-O is being held on the same day as a visit by Prince Charles. It slipped my mind to invite him to participate, but I would have worried about him overtaking me and falling on me. That could be a royal pain in the asphalt.
The Saas Peepre will actually be two meets on the same day. It will be a Short-O in the morning followed by another Short-O in the afternoon, probably with a chase start. That means people will start the second event in the order that they finished the first race, each person leaving at the time they finished behind the leader. Whoever finishes the second race first has the fastest overall time. Fortunately there will be a maximum start time boundary that we velocity-challenged competitors use so we won't have sunset starts.
We are hosting the Eastern Canadian Championships in Saint John this year. We will use a Short-O for the second day. A Short-O has shorter courses so it allows travellers to start home sooner.
The COC's (Canadian Orienteering Championships) are in Ottawa this year. Qualification requirements are stiff; if you can read this you have probably met them. There is a meet on May 11 and 12 in Ottawa that gives a good opportunity to run on similar terrain.
We are desperately short of coaches. It's not on the schedule but we are planning to have a coaching camp in early June in the Fundy area. We will subsidise anyone attending the coaching clinic. Stay tuned for details.
Work is moving forward on producing an "A" meet quality map of the UNB woodlot area in Fredericton. This should be ready to use next spring.
There is so much COF stuff happening I have started a new column called COF Hack. I know the name is pathetic but it's the best I could do; Orienteering Canada already uses COF Drops. There is important information there so please take a peek.
Happy Trails.