Tuesday 6 December 2011

Make Orineteering Bigger and Better!!!

Helena Jansson has been nominated for Swedens largest sports award and if she wins, it would be a great opportunity for orienteering to be promoted in the Swedish media channels and also be more attractive to sponsors.

The award is a peoples choice award and you can help the Swedes by voting (you don't have to be in Sweden to vote).

Please take a moment to vote, by clicking the link below. The website is in Swedish, so here are the instructions: E-postadress = e-mail address, choose Helena Jansson, orientering, Ditt namn = your name, Skicka = send. You don't need to fill out the rest of the form.

Damian
 

Wednesday 23 November 2011

HPP Fundraiser

Buff, sticker and badges for sale!


Orienteering Canada badge


Show your support for the COF and the COF’s high performance program (HPP) fund by purchasing a buff.

The buff sells for $25 +shipping. We have a limited number, so buy your buff soon. You can purchase the buff at o-store.ca.

All proceeds from the sale of this item go to the COF’s high performance program (HPP) fund. The HPP fund helps to provide stronger coaching and training opportunities to Canada’s top current and future elite orienteers.
Clubs – are you looking for volunteer recognition gifts? Bulk purchases are welcome. You can contact the o-store directly regarding shipping costs. They would love to hear from you.

Thanks for your support!

Talent + Dedication + Support –> Performance + Growth


Thought I would throw in this video from our team training in France before WOC.


Train on!
Damian

Monday 26 September 2011

End of Season Orienteering

In the past few weeks I have been really busy moving into a new house in Calgary, starting second Year University at the U of C, speed skating and racing the last of the orienteering events for the season.  My main winter sport short track speed skating has started up and is in full swing.  I raced the FWOC Club Champs Sprint and Long on the new Redwood Meadows map which is awesome and the Middle at Edworthy Park.  Some good competition against Patrick Goeres.  I finally bought a Garmin 305 GPS watch and also managed to wear the FWOC club’s head cam for a race at SAIT/Riley Park and got some good footage.  Here is the head cam video and route along with the FWOC Club Champs Long and Middle route.  The video is a little long and boring to watch the whole thing.



Enjoy!
Damian


 





Sunday 28 August 2011

First WOC Experience and Definitely Not My Last

I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to race in my first World Orienteering Championships in Savoie, France. Although the Long was not the race I particularly wanted a start in, I made the most out of it. Of course I would have preferred to have a start in the Sprint or even the Middle before the Long but it just didn’t work out for me. I did not know what to expect but I knew it would be really tough to qualify or even crack the top 20. Saturday August 13th came and my first WOC race the Long Distance Qualifier dawned on me. The first start was at 13:10 and I started at 13:28, so I knew it was going to be hot, hot, hot even though the start was around 1400m above sea level. I knew that there was going to be a fair bit of open meadow running based on the course notes and in order for the winning times to be accurate which made me feel better about the race knowing that there would be some less technical parts with faster running. One of the things coach Magnus was stressing was compass, compass, compass, always look at your compass. It probably was the best advice he could have given myself and the team. Before my start I was constantly telling myself compass, compass, compass and to take it easy and safe to the first control which I did. I nailed the first control and got into a nice rhythm early on and kept it going until the course got into the more tricky terrain just over half way through.  By this time I was getting tired after the huge climb going to control #7 which turned out not to be the best route choice. This is when the small mistakes started to happen and my concentration was fading.  I was having trouble judging the distance in the forest and I consistently was not going far enough. On my way to control eight I was stung by 3 to 4 wasps or bees which was irritating but my adrenalin was so high that I did not notice it much at all. Immediately after it happened the first thing besides some profanity was I hope Thierry is not coming on this exact route haha. Later in the course Olle Boström the young Swedish star came blowing by me heading into control #10 only to stop shortly after and ask me if I was looking for code 72. This stunned me because someone of that calibre asking me where I am going is unusual.  I could maybe see someone else asking me but a Swede, no way. Anyways I told him I was looking for 72 and we both continued on to the same control and he soon left me in his dust. By the time I reached the finish chute I was physically and mentally wrecked but somehow managed to find some more energy since there were so many people cheering. Nothing can compare to the feeling of running down that finish chute despite how exhausted I was. I managed to make it back with no major mistakes which was one of my big goals. I felt like I had a pretty good race but it did not show in the results like I thought it would. I think I got stuck with one of the hardest heats (Heat B) because if you compare my time to the other heats it should have slotted me into about 26th or 28th place not 30th which I ended up in my heat.  I guess it does not really matter because I would not have made the final either way. Thierry Gueorgiou crushed everyone in my heat winning by over six minutes. I guess you could say I was 34 minutes behind the World Champion that is about the only claim to fame I have. Besides taking a bad route on the long leg and losing some time here and there I think the race went as well as it could have for me considering my training and running speed.  Of course I could have had a faster race with some better route choices and fewer mistakes but can’t we all say that. I will remember my first World Orienteering Championships in Savoir, France, 2011 for the rest of my life.


Damian