Staff Writer
The COCs are coming. To New Brunswick. The year 2000 sounds like a long time off, but it isn't really if you're already 1,998 of them along. Make plans, if you're the planning sort. Or make a mental note, if you're the mental sort. Register now and we'll send you this free K-tel salt and pepper shaker...
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Stig Skarborn in Fredericton
The snow is melting, I was dressed too
warmly for my every-second-day run with my
neighbour, and the temperature is supposed to
hit +23oC today. In other words, the
orienteering season is upon us. I would like
to start by thanking all those volunteers who
helped last year, have already helped this year
by contributing time to planning the next
orienteering season, and above all by helping
out to organize coming events. Without your
efforts, we would not be as successful as we
are in producing top notch orienteers.
We have tried many ways to introduce new
people to orienteering over the years, some of
them promising, others not. The best way to
grow is probably to encourage you (yes, you)
to bring a friend or friends to an orienteering
event. Ideally this is to a beginners clinic, but
remember, we can always provide instruction
for novices before every event.
If you tried orienteering for the first time last
year, I encourage you to come out and try it
again. Just like in many other activities, the
better you become, the more enjoyable the
experience. An added carrot for some may be
that New Brunswick is hosting the Canadian
Orienteering Championships (COCs) in the
year 2000. Please spread the word now that
this event is not only for elite orienteers. Just
as at every other event, there is a class suited
for your skill level. The event will give you
an opportunity to make friends with some
nice people from all across Canada.
ONB has obtained 200 copies of the colour
brochure "Orienteering - Your Sport for Life
- How Do I Begin?" If you know of
individuals who might be attracted to the
sport by such a brochure, please advise me of
how many you need. It should be submitted
along with an ONB event schedule and
membership form.
Sixteen persons participated in a Course
Setting Workshop in Moncton in mid-March.
Thank you for attending. We look forward to
really good courses this season, perhaps a
little more user friendly than in the past. Of
the 16 participants, Mike Deware, Ed Casey,
Garth Holder, Tony Golding, Dominique and
Pat Phelan, and Wil, Heather and Victoria
Smith carried on the next day with a Level 1
Officials Clinic qualifying them, when the
practical aspects are completed, for
organizing events up to "B" meet level.
An entry form for the 1998 COCs was
included in the Winter edition of Orienteering
Canada. Note that a substantial savings can
be obtained by registering before May 1. If
you need an entry form, contact me.
In the April 1998 publication "Running
Times" there is an excellent article
recommending training cycles to improve
your running over the long haul. Your
physical training program should include four
cycles over a season, each of approximately
the same duration; 1. Base Training -Patiently
building an aerobic fitness foundation, 2.
Sharpening - Progressively introducing stress
and intensity to simulate specific racing
conditions, 3. Peaking - Racing hard, once
you are physically and mentally ready, and 4.
Rest and Recovery - Taking an all-important
(but often neglected) break. I am personally
in the first phase of this program, with the
objective of being in great shape for the
COCs in BC, better shape yet for a marathon
this fall, and then a hope of surviving the 90
km Vasa-Loppet ski race in Sweden next
March. The latter is not for everyone, and is
definitely not required to enjoy orienteering.
Also remember that running is only a small
part of orienteering ability, where we have
technical and fresh air components, which
contribute substantially to making the sport
interesting.
1997 was a very good year for me. I orienteered with varying degrees of success in New Brunswick, the Nova Scotia Championships and Rogaine, Quebec's Eastern Canadians, O-Ringen in Sweden, and received a generous dose of poison ivy from vetting a "red" (approximately a Canadian #6) course in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. What more could I possibly ask for? I look forward to the first local event this season, a beginner's clinic I will be teaching with help from other Foxes, and the first Street-O of the season. It's great to be alive!
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Lottery in the Name of
Amateur Sport
Staff writer in Florida
During the fall of 1997, the Sport Branch
organized a lottery for amateur sport in New
Brunswick. Tickets cost $1.00 each of which
25 cents supported the prizes and 75 cents
went to the sport organization which sold the
tickets. First prize was air fare to Florida - I
can't remember the others. Do you know
anyone who won?
In total, 537 tickets were sold on behalf of ONB - that's $134.25 to ONB! Members (and any others who sold tickets) are to be commended on their successful navigation from house to house, sale to sale, as it were!
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Staff writer in delusion
In the seventeen hundreds, orienteering was a
pastime in France which was enjoyed
predominantly by the aristocracy. Although
displays of athleticism did not compare with
many of today, the pastime enjoyed a strict
protocol and rules were adamantly enforced.
In the fall of 1773, the elite men's category
(although they all considered themselves to be
elite) was dominated by Joseph Ignace
Guillotin, a physician. In the championship
event of that year, the last one of the season,
Guillotin finished a dismal fourth behind
fellow physician Louis Mordre de Talon, a
youthful solicitor named Jacques Poursuivre,
and an aging engineer called James Rouille.
Guillotin had the earliest start time of the four
and in fact was only overtaken by de Talon on
the second to last leg, while the remaining
two competitors, Poursuivre and Rouille,
crossed the finish line shortly behind
Guillotin but completed the course in less
time. Guillotin was outraged and quickly
accused all three of the competitors who
finished ahead of him of following, the
ultimate orienteering faux pas which was
punishable by the most dire of consequences.
Spectators at the normally high-brow event
were aghast. However, the three denied
Guillotin's accusations and accepted the
accolades awarded with their very prestigious
victories.
With his loss, the orienteering season ended and Guillotin fell into deep despair, neglecting his medical practice, consuming excess quantities of alcohol and smoking large cigars. He began tinkering with instruments of torture (in addition to his regular medical equipment), so sullen was his condition. In the winter of 1774, amidst his smoking paraphernalia, a cigar trimmer prompted Guillotin to develop a prototype for an execution device, consisting of a heavy blade held aloft between upright guides and dropped to behead the victim below.
During this time, de Talon, Poursuivre and
Rouille were enjoying high times and
indulged themselves freely at the many social
events to which they were invited. In a
moment of casualness and overindulgence, de
Talon remarked that he, Poursuivre and
Rouille had admitted to one another that
Guillotin had been easy to pursue through the
French countryside during the championship
event, dressed as he was in red, white and
blue. His listeners were taken aback and the
FOFOF (French Orienteering Federation Of
France) moved quickly to discipline the three
men for following in an orienteering
championship.
The Federation stripped de Talon, Poursuivre
and Rouille of their awards and hoity-toity
attitudes and called upon the hoi polloi to
admonish the offenders. Not surprisingly, the
death penalty was called for. Guillotin, now
a broken man, came forward with his death-inflicting device, as yet unnamed, in the midst
of his vindication. The sentences were to be
carried out immediately.
The physician, Louis Mordre de Talon, was
the first to be strapped to the machine, facing
upward (there was as yet no instruction
manual with Guillotin's device). In the last
seconds, de Talon called out (roughly
translated), "Stop! You can't kill me! It
would be against the Hippocratic oath!"
Unmoved, the executioner gave the signal, the
switch was thrown, the heavy blade held high
aloft slid down between the upright guides
and came screeching to a halt just inches from
de Talon's neck. The superstitious crowd
was awestruck and called for the man's
release.
Next, Jacques Poursuivre, the solicitor, was
strapped to the device, facing upward. At the
last moment, de Talon shouted, "Never! You
can't kill me! It would be double jeopardy!"
Without heed, the executioner gave the
signal, the switch was thrown, the heavy
blade held high aloft slid down between the
upright guides and came screeching to a halt
just inches from Poursuivre's neck. The
crowd fell back. The man too was released
unharmed.
Lastly, James Rouille, the engineer, was strapped to the device, facing upward. Just before the executioner gave the signal to throw the switch, Rouille yelled out, "Wait! I think I see the problem."
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Abstracts from the
Scientific Journal of Orienteering, Vol. 11, No. 2
Staff researcher at the library (shudder)
Bird, S., & Bingham, C. (1995). A
comparison of the effects of two types of
orienteering kit (Lycra or loose fitting) upon
selected physiological parameters during
sustained running. Scientific Journal of
Orienteering, 11, 51-63.
In recent years many orienteers have opted to wear close fitting lycra bottoms in preference to the traditional nylon loose fitting kit. Whilst such a change could be attributed to fashion or comfort, it could also have an affect upon performance. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the possible influence of two types of orienteering kit upon selected physiological parameters during sustained running on a motorised treadmill. The factors under consideration were oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER), Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), Heart Rate (HR), capillary blood lactate concentration and time to exhaustion. Eight male subjects aged between 18 and 27 years completed the study. Following preliminary assessments, all subjects completed a total of 6 trial runs, using three different protocols representing three different exercise intensities. For each protocol one trial was completed wearing traditional nylon loose fitting orienteering bottoms (N) and the other completed in lycra tights (L). The three protocols used were (1) a 30 minute run at 70% Maximum Aerobic Capacity (2) a 30 minute run at 80 - 85% Maximum Aerobic Capacity, and (3) an incremental Maximum Aerobic Capacity test. The results indicated that under controlled laboratory conditions the two types of kit produced no clear differences in any of the parameters and hence were unlikely to affect performance. However since the laboratory environment did not fully simulate that of an orienteering event, further research is needed before this can be concluded with a greater degree of certainty.
Jovignot, F. (1995). Can five- to six-year-
old children orientate themselves in a cave?
Scientific Journal of Orienteering, 11, 64-75.
We propose 3 experimental approaches to test the capacities of five- to six-year-old children in orientation with a map. The first two are essential preconditions in order to put the third to the test. We first submitted the children to an electronic maze test. This showed a very significant difference between the performance of the five-year-old children compared with the six-year-olds. We then trained them to read a series of simple maps ranging from their classroom to a playground. The children succeeded in using these maps, to find landmarks, but they were unable to orientate themselves with a more complex street map. Only the older children took part in an orienteering race, the results of which did not correlate with those of the maze test. Finally, we asked every child to use a map, in order to find their way back on a caving trip, previously prepared. It turned out that they were unable to do that, probably for some because the emotion triggered by this first speleological experience causes a regression of their cognitive capacities. For the others, we think that this task was too complex, we would have needed time and a fitting-in the situation in order to help them to be successful.
Omodei, M. M., & McLennan, J. (1995).
Studying complex decision making in natural
settings: Using a head-mounted video camera
to study competitive orienteering. Scientific
Journal of Orienteering, 11, 76-91.
Head-mounted video recording is described as a potentially powerful method for studying decision making in natural settings: most alternative data-collection procedures are intrusive and disruptive of the decision-making processes involved while conventional video-recording procedures are either impractical or impossible. As a severe test of the robustness of the methodology we studied the decision making of 6 experienced orienteers who carried a head-mounted light-weight video camera as they navigated, running as fast as possible, around a set of control points in a forest. Use of the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test indicated that compared with free recall, video-assisted recall evoked (a) significantly greater experiential immersion in the recall, (b) significantly more specific recollections of navigation-related thoughts and feelings, (c) significantly more realizations of map and terrain features and aspects of running speed which were not noticed at the time of actual competition, and (d) significantly greater insight into specific navigational errors and the intrusion of distracting thoughts into the decision making process. Potential applications of the technique in (a) the environments of emergency services, (b) therapeutic contexts, (c) education and training, and (d) sports psychology are discussed.
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Rob Hughes, way up the Woodstock Road
Orienteering may be more dangerous than
you think. The following tales of animal
encounters on O-courses around the world
were recently seen on the O-net.
"At the Drummond Island Rogaine in
northern Michigan, USA, black bears abound
and every year a few teams will see some.
There are some wolves but no one has seen
anything more than foot prints. While both of
these animals can be dangerous no such
incidents have taken place."
"My experience is with bears and they will
either run away or watch you placidly as you
get out of their territory. But let me tell you,
at 4 o'clock in the morning when you have
been going hard for 19 hours and you think
that you are so tired that nothing can revive
you and you come upon a bear in some
remote place, your heart will RACE!"
"Someone in Victoria [Australia, mate] got
their leg badly cut when an emu kicked him".
"I discovered the joys of swatting flies and
grasshoppers to feed lizards, and got a bit
sunburned".
Andy Hill wrote: "Several years ago a
Northern Goshawk, defending its nest, made
several passes at a number of runners as they
made their way along a trail between control
points.
"With talons fully extended it flew down,
came within inches of your head and landed
in a tree ahead of you. Then it attacked again
from the forward direction. Very effective at
getting you to hurry out of the area. The meet
director declined responsibility for animal
control.
"About 15 years ago a control was seized by
a llama who would not allow people to punch.
Eventually, he gained total control of the flag
and punch. This occurred at Forest Park,
Springfield, Massachusetts. The control was
placed on a fence which enclosed the area in
which the llama, a zoo resident, lived."
Someone else wrote: "I was almost run over
by a spooked cow at a Texas meet about a
decade ago (and if you don't consider a cow
"dangerous", you've never met one
up-close-and-personal in the woods".
Some antipodean said: "I was following
another runner along the beach at Knottingly
here in NZ a few years ago, when all of a
sudden a 'rock' attacked him, causing him to
almost jump into the sea. As I got closer I
realised it was a lone male seal, basking
quietly on what is a very remote and lonely
stretch of beach. I gave him a wide berth".
"At the Nationals two years ago one leg of a
course went through a narrow gully, and one
well known New Zealand runner managed to
stir up a wasp nest just by running through,
and suffered rather a lot of nasty stings (I lost
count when I tried to count them)".
Jim Huggins wrote: "Spiders! I seem to meet one, at least my fingers do, every now and then, and don't ever know it until a few days later. It can cause a real sore finger.
"Wasps and bumble bees! I usually find them
in deep fight. So far no stings.
"Ticks! Those rascals can really be bad.
They only like warm moist places and can
hide real good. They can cause a lot of pain
if they go undetected.
"Birds! Ever flushed up a covey of quail?
They will not hurt you but you almost have a
heart attack from being frightened".
Karan Keith had these experiences: "Once an
owl swooped down and flew by me, then
landed in a tree in front of me and started
hissing. Another time I scared up a black
snake...he crawled away and then turned
around and came back at me, stopped and
stood up like a cobra and rattled the leaves
with his tail. I went around!
"And I think the best of all....One time
training in Sweden I was running down a hill
when I noticed two badgers running straight
at me. When they got within about 3m I said,
"Hey guys"....they put on the brakes, looked
up in total surprise and the hair on their backs
stood straight up....I had scared them to
death."
Jeff Lanam contributed: "Last year, one
person was bitten by a rattlesnake at Goethe
Park in Sacramento, CA. This is surprising
since Goethe is close to urban areas. He was
treated at a local hospital (after a ride was
found since his brother locked his keys in the
truck!) and has been orienteering since.
Rattlesnake sightings are not unusual in
California. Most of the time, though,
orienteers make enough racket to scare them
away."
Someone else: (Phil DeLuca) "Well, I didn't
think these were really dangerous, but in light
of previous responses: last fall a visiting male
orienteer from Italy was on his course at
Southern California's Palomar Mountain
when he heard a noise in the brush and was
immediately startled to find a mountain lion
bounding at him. It veered off to the side and
continued, presumably running away from
other orienteers. The orienteer retired. The
lion was not seen again.
"I say that isn't dangerous because it was a
male orienteer. No adult men have been
attacked in recent decades. Two smaller
women have been killed in California and a
few children mauled, and perhaps one killed.
It looks like the lions can tell who is bigger
than they, and only pick on those smaller.
There is some notion that carrying a stick
intimidates them, and certainly one should
never appear to be running away, looking like
a deer.
"While picking up controls, I did step on a rattlesnake. It was extremely unhappy. It coiled itself and prepared to defend itself - very different from the usual lazy rattling they do just to alert you that they don't want to be bothered. However, the experience supported the idea that if you are moving rapidly, it is the first person who riles up the snake and the second who is bitten. He was apparently dozing on an obscure trail, overgrown with grass, when I rudely came running along. He rattled loudly enough to make me look, but the first hint was the soft, squishy feeling underfoot.
"By far the most serious experience came
when I was designing a course and stepped
on a rotten log to cross a stream, stirring up a
next of some kind of bees. This came about
the time that the "killer" africanized bees
were heading our way - but it wasn't such a
nest, thank goodness. I was wearing a small
backpack and several got trapped under it.
The good thing was that a couple dozen stings
proved very effective at distracting my
attention from the strained ankle that occurred
as I slipped off the rotting log. The bees,
wasps, hornets, whatever, followed for about
100 metres, but eventually decided they had
defended their honour and their territory.
"Statistically far more people die from bee
stings than from snakes or any mammal
predator, at least in North America.
"Lesson: When I am alone, setting, vetting, or
picking up, I should watch where I am going;
and when I must move quickly while
competing, I should either have my whistle
and be within the area populated by others, or
I should have a partner in any Rogaine-like
setting."
More....
"In the summer of 1996 John Britton and I
were running through the woods in the state
of Washington near Goldendale. Wearing
brightly coloured Orienteering outfits, we
were running across a large open area
towards the boundary with the woods. When
we were about 20 metres from the boundary
we saw a good sized (I'm still not sure
whether it was small or large) cougar look at
us then turn and run into the woods. That got
MY heart racing really fast!
"This brought to mind the story about the two
guys who were hiking in the woods. They
came upon a bear and the bear started chasing
them. One guy stopped, got his running shoes
out of his backpack and started lacing them
up. His partner told him that he would never
be able to outrun the bear. The response was,
"I don't have to outrun the bear. I only have to
outrun you!" I didn't stop thinking of this joke
for the next twenty minutes."
Magnus Landstad : "A local race in Trondheim in May 1992 had the most people injured by an animal reported in Norway. The night before the race an elk had given birth quite close to one of the controls, although the course setter had done everything to avoid this as required by the rules. Several courses also passed through the same area without having this control. When runners started to arrive from various directions, the elk got frustrated and started to attack them. About 20 runners were attacked, 8 were injured and sent to the emergency room. When bleeding and rattled competitors arrived at the finish the event was stopped, but of course it took some time to get the message to the start"
Andy Jackson: "I met a moose and calf in the
forest in Sweden last autumn. She looked a
bit irate so I changed my route completely by
running off in the opposite direction. My own
worst were the mosquitoes and deerflies at
Pawtuckaway mini-rogaine last summer".
David May (UK): "I was mildly startled by a sheep once."
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Staff writer on Carriage Hill
NCCP Courses
The Centre for Coaching Education of New
Brunswick (CCENB) is offering Level 1 and
2 theory courses within the National
Coaching Certification Program (NCCP).
Venues for upcoming Level 1 courses
include: Grand Falls on April 22 (263-3242);
Woodstock on April 24 & 25 (325-4650); St.
Stephen on April 25 & 26 (466-7707); and
Perth-Andover on May 8 & 9 (325-4650).
For Level 2 courses: Fredericton on April 18,
19, 25 & 26 (451-1320); Grand Falls on May
13 (263-3242); and Bristol on May 22, 23, 29
& 30 (325-4650). More information is also
available from the CCENB at 444-3888.
Picking an Attack Point
If you want to move up to a course higher
than a course 1, you have to discipline
yourself to locate an attack point, not the
assigned target. On courses above level 1, a
course setter deliberately locates the controls
away from obvious linear features, like trails,
stone walls and stream beds. The idea is to
confuse earnest but literal-minded folk like
you and me in an attempt to have us thrash
around for long periods instead of relocating
immediately to a strong linear feature
whenever lost or even in doubt. So find an
attack point within 100 to 200 metres of the
target. An attack point is a clearly defined
point feature near enough to your control
feature so that, when you find the attack
point, you can easily find your way to your
target (aka the control marker or the flag, you
know, the thing that the punch hangs from).
Good attack points include: intersections of
trails, streams or stone walls; hills or knolls
with small tips; big cliffs; and the sharp tips
of a pond. Bad attack points include: a slight
bend in the trail; the corner of a thicket; or
anything having to do with swamps. So on a
level 2 course, don't look for the control
itself, but rather look for some specific point
nearby that will lead you the rest of the way.
(Condensed from an article by Peter Amram, from
the June/July NEOC Times.)
Safety Reminders for Orienteering
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Staff writer
The teaser in the last issue was taken from a Mensa qualification test. If membership in orienteering is down this season, we'll know you're somewhere out there between Hydrus and Volans - of course the way some of you orienteer, you're probably there anyway. At any rate, the following solutions are offered:
1. 1600 (nice, even square root);
2. 6 typists;
3. 2100h (9:00 pm);
4. 0+1+2-3+4-5-6+7-8+9=1
(many permutations);
5. 5;
6. None (if they're both baby lions);
7. 10m (Pythagorean theorem);
8. 8;
9. POST;
10. PARACHUTE; and
11. DAY.
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25th Annual
Staff writer
The 25th annual Ottawa Interclub orienteering competition will be held on May 16 and 17, 1998, at the site of the original Interclub competition held in the Gatineau Park. Please note that this will be a funded event for ONB elite and A-pool members. Notification to 1998 A-pool members will be sent by mail by mid-April. Good luck.
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Staff writer
You are course setter for the upcoming
Elbonian Orienteering Championships. The
king's daughter, an aspiring elite orienteering
hopeful, is journeying to the site of the
competition. By the king's orders, you are
accompanying the princess as well as her
latest suitor, a moron who hasn't even heard
of orienteering.
In your possession are the master control
maps for the events, which are written on
papyrus, the very finest available in Elbonia.
Unfortunately, the maps cannot be folded and
occupy a volume which is roughly equivalent
to a bale of hay.
During your journey to the competition, you
must cross a river. The only means available
to cross the river is a small row boat which is
only able to transport either two persons or
one person and the master maps.
It occurs to you that you cannot leave the princess alone in the company of her suitor (by the king's strictest orders) nor can you leave the princess alone with the master maps (let's be fair now). How can you transport the three of you plus the maps to the other side of the river without compromising either the princess' virtues or your integrity as a course setter (i.e., you cannot leave the moron alone with the princess nor can you leave the princess alone with the master maps, on either side of the river)?
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Collected wisdom, er... filler
O Lingo. Definition of copse:
1. A cadaver.
A small group of trees.
A bunch of guys in blue suits with
guns.
O Lingo. Definition of legend:
An old person who still orienteers.
The end of a leg.
A list of symbols shown on a map.
From a magazine that ran a Dilbert-style quotes contest (slightly modified):
"This meet is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it."
- suggested orienteering meet organizers' motto
Some Dilbertesque for the planning sessions:
"Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule."
Or... "What we need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter."
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