Europe 2014- Where Orienteering Thrives

     I have been in Europe for the past six days to start my preparations for the Canadian team trials, WOC, and WUOC. After getting injured at Sage Stomp earlier this spring my foot is almost back to 100% and  I am back into training after 3 weeks of no running. I will be training in Italy until the Canadian Team Trials at the end of June where I hope to qualify for the WOC team. Following WOC I will fly to Scotland for a training camp with the Canadian team to see what the WOC 2015 terrain has in store. After the camp I will head to Czech Republic for Silesia Grand Prix for a few races before I start my final preparations for WUOC.

     I have already done several great trainnigs in Venice, Venezia, Asiago and Censuna (Kubelek). I will start training with the other Canadian athletes in Lavarone tomorrow until the Canadian Team Trials(Alpe Adria Cup) that will be held in and near Conegliano.

     One thing that is always hard to understand when I fly over to Europe for orienteering is the amount of high quality maps that they have withing running distance of the towns and cities. It is so nice to be able to run on excellent maps virtually right out your backdoor. It is too bad that Canada does not have more maps closer to the major cities.

Right click photos and open in new tab for better quality.

Venice Ultra Long Sprint...27km

Have to get use to crossing the bridges over the canals

Nice day in Venice

Exploring Venice

Vicenza Sprint

Asiago-Long Sprint

An orienteering billboard...only when in Europe

Asiago

Kubelek-Training #1

Kubelek-Training #2

Kubelek map right out our back door

Accommodation

The view from out accommodation

Train on,

Damian

Winter/Spring Training

     After a great indoor track season with the University of Calgary Dino's which wrapped up at the end February I have shifted my training and started to focus on building my volume while maintaining my speed for the upcoming orienteering season. This summer’s orienteering schedule looks the best ever. My two major competitions this summer will be WOC (hopefully) and WUOC which I am really excited for. I will attend the WOC team trials in June in Italy with high hopes of more than just making the team. I was also named to the 2014 WUOC team that will represent Canada in the Czech Republic this August. I am really looking forward to this competition after spending last summer in the Czech Republic preparing for it. I have my sights set on achieving something "big".

     After running all winter for the first time ever I am in the best shape of my life and am ready to hit the forest with some speed and some great navigation. I cannot wait to start racing even if they are just local meets around Calgary. Sage Stomp in Kamloops this May long weekend looks like it will be very good on some maps I have never run on before. Also the Prairie opener in Rumsey, AB never disappoints as the terrain is very fast and somewhat tricky.

     This coming weekend I will do a 3km race with the Dino's track team which will be a great test to see what kind of shape I am in. I hope to break 9 minutes but will be happy with anything around 9 minutes. The following day will be my first forest race of the season in Morningside, AB.

Here is a look at the some end of winter training and some early spring night orienteering/orienteering.

The top of Lady Macdonald

On the way up

Best training partner ever with me at the tea house

Some night O at Mt. Laurie

Early sprint training at Rafter Six Ranch

Rafter Six Ranch with Michael

Rafter Six Ranch with Michael

Bow Valley, didn't run this exact course

Rafter Six Ranch

Stay tuned for race updates every weekend throughout May.

Train on,

Damian

New year, New Ambitions

     After improving tremendously in the 2013 season, 2014 is looking promising. I have decided to focus on running this winter with hopes of developing my orienteering further. After many seasons of short track speed skating in the winter months I am now running track for the U of C Dinos which will hopefully show in my fitness at the start of the 2014 orienteering season in the spring. 2013 was filled with many ups and downs, from missing out of the World Champs which led to more valuable training and racing experiences in Europe, winning two medals at the Canadian Orienteering Championships and taking the Canada Cup Elite Series title after suffering a knee injury in Europe that disrupted my training for over two months, to being featured on the Cover of orienteering North America Magazine which was an unforeseen bonus to cap off a great season.

   I put on the U of C Dinos singlet for the first time in December for a season opening 3000m race in Calgary. I managed to unexpectedly beat some of my team mates placing 3rd in a time of 9:46 (9:38 if you take into account the altitude). Apparently the track where the race was held is slow since the corners are not banked and I was told if I ran the same race somewhere else I would have been in the 9:20s. Hopefully I can run under 9:20 by February. I will be racing the 1500m in Calgary on January 4^th which will be something new and most likely painful J.

   The upcoming season looks exciting with many races I am looking forward to. To name just a few; Canadian Team Selection in Italy, WOC?, SOW, WUOC and NAOC. My main goals for 2014 will be to defend my Canada Cup Elite Series title, make the WOC team for the sprint, middle and relay, place in the top 10 in the WUOC sprint and have a strong race in the middle, win the sprint and middle and top three in the long at NAOC. Hopefully I can stay healthy and am able to give myself a chance at accomplishing my goals. I can't wait to get out and do some winter "O" training in the new year. Bring on 2014!

Post 3000m, Jack Simpson

Train on,

Damian

Canadian Orienteering Championships

     It has been a week since the Canadian Orienteering Championships wrapped up in Hamilton, Ontario. It was a great weekend of racing, on some of the nicest terrain in Canada. The courses were very well planned and the weather was great (nothing wrong with rain for the long to keep you cool).

     One of my major goals this season was to win the Canada Cup Elite series to prove to myself and others that I can be consistent and have many great performances on all different types of terrain and I managed to fulfill that goal by the skin of my teeth. I ended up tying Will Critchley in points with 134 but the first tiebreaker rule says that whoever scores more points in the WRE events wins. I ended up scoring 30 points in the WRE Sprint and 23 points in the WRE Middle for a total of 53 while Will scored 40 points in the sprint and 12 points in the middle for a total of 52 points. The $300 prize for 1st place will definitely help with my orienteering expenses from this summer's training and racing, thanks Orienteering Canada!


                                                                    Canada Cup Elite Series Champion                              Photo: Jennifer Hamilton

     After barely running for 3 weeks prior to the championships due to knee problems from a hard fall I took earlier in the summer training in Slovenia I didn't quite have the fitness or speed to perform to my full potential but I managed to pull together three solid races.

     The sprint was very good for me with two 5 sec mistakes and maybe one not so great route choice and of course loosing valuable time on the longer legs due to my lack of running speed. In preparation for the sprint I spent 30 plus hours planning course, analysing route choices and updating the map I had from the 2006 North American Orienteering Championships. I was very well prepared for the sprint mentally but could not do anything about my fitness situation. 
I ended up with the silver medal for the second straight year which I am satisfied with but the gold would have been much sweeter.


                                                                      Sprint- Leaving the 9th control.                                       Photo: Adrian Zissos

                                                          The fastest sprint finish shoot you will ever find!                         Photo: Adrian Zissos



                                                                            Sprint Podium (2nd)                                            Photo: Jennifer Hamilton

     I knew the middle would be very technically challenging so my plan was to take it easy at the start since I guessed the start would be very technical based on where we were starting. I managed to get thought the very technical part of the course in great shape but made about 1:10 sec mistake on #9, 30 sec on #11 and somehow missed #17 losing another 1:20. It turned out to be good enough for a bronze medal but I am convinced that of I had no problems with #17 I would have taken the gold.


                                                                                  Middle                                                      Photo: Adrian Zissos

                                                                      Middle                                        Photo: Adrian Zissos

                                         Post Middle Distance (just a little bloody)             Photo: Jennifer Hamilton

                                                                      Middle Distance Podium (3rd)                                      Photo: Jennifer Hamilton

     For the long my legs were pretty tired and sore from the previous two days of hard racing. If I was in proper shape this would have not been the case but after three weeks off it was to be expected. The course was very physically demanding and I didn't have the speed and endurance to perform. Despite my physical condition my navigation was not perfect either with a few bad routes unintentionally from the added fatigue of not being in shape and somehow I managed to skip #21 and headed straight from 20 to 22 and had to go back which definitely cost me valuable time. Despite the circumstances I ended up in 4th place which I think was the most impressive result for me considering everything.

Thanks GHO for a great weekend of racing!

Maps and route choices:

Sprint route- McMaster University Friday Oct 11, 13

Middle route- Mineral Springs Saturday Oct 12, 13

Long route- Mineral Springs Sunday Oct 13, 13

 

                                                                                     Middle                                                              Photo: Adrian Zissos

Results:

Sprint:
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=28193&categoryId=7

Middle:
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=28202&categoryId=20

Long:
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=28219&categoryId=20



Train on,
Damian

COC Preview

The Canadian Orienteering Championships are set to start tomorrow night in Hamilton, Ontario, starting with the Sprint (CC/WRE) at McMaster University followed by the Middle (CC/WRE) and Long (CC) in the Dundas Valley area. After struggling with a lingering knee injury from July that happened while racing in Europe it is finally getting back to normal. I have prepared for the Sprint more than any other race and I am feeling confident that I can fight for the gold and hopefully pick up two more medals. It looks like it will be a very fast course tomorrow. Another goal for this season was to win the Canada Cup Elite Series and I am in good shape to achieve that but these last three races will be the most important as they are worth double the points. I would have extended my lead even more if the AOA Champs did not count for CC points but apparently they are counting those races for points now which is the opposite of what I was told. I planned my training and racing schedule based on the fact that there would be no Canada Cup point at these races. None the less the competition looks fierce and the fall weather looks to be superb racing weather.

The current Canada Cup standings are here: http://www.orienteering.ca/pdfs/2013/2013_CanadaCupEliteSeries_Scoring_Sept.pdf

Results will be posted here:
http://dontgetlost.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=501&Itemid=263

 
Train on,

Damian

WCOC's It's a Wrap

     The WCOC’s were held this past weekend in Spruce Woods Provincial Park on the tricky, tricky Hog’s Back map. Three races were held over three days on the most technically challenging terrain Manitoba has to offer. Despite recovering from an injured knee and jet lag, I was very happy with my races.

 

     Another challenge added to the long distance race was the pouring rain at times which made reading the 1:15000 map very challenging. I was happy with the long race considering my circumstances and the fact that my body was not use to running for such a long period of time after 2 weeks of doing very little. I did make some very silly mistakes which is a bit annoying but that’s what happened. I think the mistakes were from not being cautious enough and trying to convince myself where I was when I was really unsure. The generally flat East side of the map with small depressions, light green forest and clearings in between was a whole new challenge of its own.

 

     The next day my body was very sore and very tired for the sprint race but I managed to have a great race with no mistakes. I felt slow in some places but that might have played to my advantage since it was very tricky terrain and going a tad slower could have been an advantage.

 

     I scored some valuable Canada Cup point in all three WCOC races which will extend my overall lead in the series and help me towards winning the series! Now time for some recovery to let my knee fully heal and be ready for the Alberta Championships (Middle and Long are Canada Cups) in September and the COC's in October.

Results: http://www.orienteering.mb.ca/WCOC2013/results.html

WCOC Sprint August 5, 2013

WCOC Long August 4, 2013

 

WCOC Middle August 3, 2013

 

WCOC Sprint Podium- Manitoba Sweep!

 

WCOC Medals (chocolate medals)

 

Train on,

Damian

WCOC Middle

     Today was the WCOC Middle at Hog's Back. My knee was sore to start but the adrenalin kicked in and I wasn't thinking about it so I didn't really notice it too much. I think I am still a bit jet lagged, I felt tired but that was also probably from not running for about two weeks. I would have liked to be able to run faster in some sections. It was tough to keep in contact with the map in spots. I made a few hooks on #2, #6 and lost around 4:30 on #7, followed a parallel clearing and didn’t look at my compass carefully enough. I really felt my knee after I finished, it was a bit more swollen but I iced it and it is feeling a bit better. I placed 2^nd/8. I do not know if my knee will be able to handle 14.7 km and 470m climb tomorrow!

     We were not allowed to keep our maps because we will be in the same area for some of the course tomorrow. I loaded my tracks into the map file that was provided by the organizers on the website. It is not the best quality but it gives you a good idea of the terrain.

Results will be here when available: http://www.orienteering.mb.ca/WCOC2013/results.html

WCOC Middle August 3, 2013 (Time: 37:56, 5.6km, 85m)

Train on,

Damian