Not This Year

     After a strong start to the spring both with training and racing (Sage Stomp, Barebones) I have failed to qualify for this year Canadian WOC team. I was unable to attend the Canadian team trials due to moving complications which were held in the US in conjunction with their team trials. I do not agree with the way the team was selected because it was way too reliant on subjective criteria that can be altered anyway one wishes to. I hope this will be changed for next year so I am not trying to chase after elusive selection criteria.

     After failing to qualify for this year’s team I decided that my main goal this year would be to win the Canada Cup Elite Series. I am right on track to do just that after winning the first Canada Cup race (long distance) this May which was held at Sage Stomp near Kamloops, BC on the McQueen Lake map.

Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.asppage=table&databaseId=25628&categoryId=1&ct=true

Map/Route: http://orienteering.ca/doma/show_map.php?user=damian&map=420

 

 

Sage Stomp Podium

2013 Canada Cup Standings:

http://www.orienteering.ca/pdfs/2013/2013_CanadaCupEliteSeries_Scoring_May.pdf

2013 Canada Cup Schedule:
Yes-August 3-5 ~ Western Canadian Championship, Manitoba (sprint, middle, long)
Maybe-August 23-25 ~ Eastern Canadian Championship, St. John, NB (middle, long)
No-September 20-22 ~ Ottawa O-Fest, Ottawa, ON (combined Saturday/Sunday results)
Yes-October 11-14 ~ Canadian Champs, Hamilton, ON (sprint, middle, long)

     Instead of going to WOC this year I have decided to train and race in the Czech Republic which I believe will be a better experience. I will be leaving for the Czech Republic tomorrow to live and train there for just over 6 weeks.  After arriving in Prague I will drive to Trebon and stay the night. In the morning I will drive to Kuncice for the Czech middle distance championships on the weekend. I have scheduled orienteering training or racing almost every day for 6 weeks so it should be a great experience.

My Schedule:

21.6 Arrival in Prague
22-23.6 Czech Republic Middle Distance Championships- Kuncice: http://mcrkt2013.ssu.cz/?page_id=219

24-29.6 Training at Hradce Kralove
1-7.7 JWOC TOUR-Spectator races: http://www.jwoctour.cz/jwoctour

8-10.7 Training in Olomouc.
11.7 Rest day - Sokolnice - Brno
12-14.7 HSH Cup Tři Studně-Moravia:  http://www.obchrast.com/nz.php?nzid=950

15-17.7 Training around Trebon / Jindrichuv Hradec
19-23.7 Bubo Cup – Slovenia:  http://www.bubocup.com/

26-30.7 OOCup – Slovenia:  http://www.oocup.com/

1.8 Departure to Winnipeg- WCOC’s: http://www.orienteering.mb.ca/WCOC2013/

      I am flying back to Winnipeg on Aug 1^st just in time for the Western Canadian championships.  I hope to come back from Europe stronger than ever and hopefully it will show in my results and I hope to make it easy for next year’s selection committee for WOC. It should be an exciting summer of training and racing. Stay tuned for the latest on my trip.

My racing goals for this season:

Make the A final at the Czech Republic Middle Distance Championships????

Win all three races at WCOC’s

Gold in the Sprint at COC’s

Medal in the Middle and Long at COC’s.

Win the Canada Cup Elite Series.

 

Train on,

Damian

Season Ends with NAOC's

I am finally able to give everyone an update about my experience at the NAOC’s after being busy with school and my short track speed skating. It has almost been a month since the NAOC’s that were held in the Delaware Water Gap, PA. The NAOC’s was a great event to attend, great competition, great atmosphere and good organization. I was happy with my races considering the lack of orienteering I did since the COC’s in August. The middle was held on some awesome terrain that I really enjoyed, my result was almost awesome as well but made a poor route choice decision and paid for it really bad. The long was a very physically tough race; I did not have the speed at all and combined with small mistakes here and there made for a mediocre result. The sprint was fast and furious and I am the most happy with this race despite learning a new lesson, if you know you’re at the right control don’t bother checking the code because if you compare it to the wrong code you will lose over 1 minute and lose what could have been a medal for sure and possibly a gold. The relay was a great opportunity to practice a relay race since there are not many opportunities to race them. It was great fun until I could not find one of my controls, it turned out after running by it a few times within meters it was on the ground and that’s why I could not find it. Embarrassing for me and unfortunate for the organizers, questionable that the men’s results even got posted! It is really is too bad that it happened that way but it did. Overall the NAOC’s was a jammed packed weekend of great orienteering, great maps and tons of friendly Canada/USA competition.



Middle finish in the pooring rain.

Long finish.

Train on,

Damian

NAOC’s

After orienteering on and off since the COC’s in August I decided to go to the Delaware Water Gap, PA for the NAOC’s. Immediately following the COC’s I began my short track speed skating  season and did not originally plan on going to the NAOC’s, so have done a minimal amount of orienteering and running since the COC’s. I am still in great shape from all the speed skating training and I’m not worried about being physically fit enough to do very well or about the technical side of things as every race and training session up until now has prepared me for the NAOC’s.  Not the ideal situation but I know I can do well if I stick to the basics and do exactly what I did at COC’s this year and the results will follow.  I even got the buzz cut to try and shave those extra seconds off my time! Time to fight for the hardware and bring the BK Cup back to Canada where it belongs!

Thursday-Model Event – heading out now, should be awesome!!

Friday- Middle
Saturday- Long
Sunday- Sprint (AM) Relay (PM)

For all the info and results: http://naoc2012.org/

Train On,

Damian

WCOC’s/COC’s 2012

Two weekends ago the Western Canadian Orienteering Championships were held in the Calgary, AB area. I took the WCOC’s more as a warm up for the COC’s which was more important to me as I had specific goals set.

WCOC Middle
The WCOC Middle was held on the Elbow Bluffs map West of Calgary on Saturday August 11 in the am while the sprint was held in the pm at Fish Creek in Calgary’s south. The middle started out very well for me and then I lost control losing just over 3 minutes at control #7. I ended up finishing 5/16 overall and 4/11 Westerners, just two seconds back of 3^rd place.

 WCOC Sprint

The sprint later that evening didn’t start out well at all, I was shaky from the start bobbling almost every control and not finding any kind of flow. I finished way down 10/14 overall and 6/10 Westerners.

WCOC Long
The Long was held on Sunday at Rumsey which I know very well for spring orienteering but it turned out to be a whole new challenge in the summer. I should also say that the middle and the long were suppose to be help on a brand new map but permission fell through. The long grass and warm temperatures made the long very tough. The race started out well for me but the early long leg gave me some troubles, I lost contact and it a terrain type where every open hill and copse looks the same it is almost impossible to relocate so I bailed to the spectator control which was not that bad except I ended up running way around when you could have gone perfectly straight. This zapped a lot of energy from me early and I struggled to keep my pace up for the rest of the course. It was not a terrible race for finishing 5/10 overall and 5/10 Westerners.

WCOC Long Finish.

WCOC Relay
The relay was held in Edmonton at Kinsmen Park on Monday. I was on the MB team with my brother Darius running first, myself second and Steven Graupner running third in the 0-2 point team category. My brother came back in first place and I maintained that position after the second leg. Steven had some stiff competition on the 3rd leg with Graeme on his heels and finished just behind him for second overall and first in the 0-2 point category.

Relay Champs! Darius Konotopetz, Damian Konotopetz, Steven Graupner.

HPP Fundraiser Knock-out Sprint
On Thursday August 16 there was a fun HPP Fundraiser Knock-out Sprint at the Alberta Legislature Gardens located in Edmonton. It was held on a 1:2000 map, 4 short races, first 2 individual starts were combined to rank the runner and see who makes the semi-finals and the last 2 were knock-out mass starts. I ended up qualifying for the semi-finals in 2^nd place; I won my semi-final heat securing a spot in the final and ended up winning the final.

Last weekend the Canadian Orienteering Championships wrapped up at Jackpine just west of Edmonton, AB. All three races were held on the newly mapped area.

COC Sprint

The Sprint was held on Friday August 17^th and was also a WRE. It was simple the plan was to go for the gold. The map consisted of open pasture land with tall grass which made seeing the subtle contour details hard. I had a good race but ended up finishing with the silver medal, 2 seconds behind Eric Kemp. Placed 2/19 overall and 2/17 Canadians. A controversial race to say the least, I will leave it at that.

COC Middle
Saturday August 18^th was the Middle also on the Jackpine map. Started out strong with simple field running legs with the controls just in the forest. I then blew up at control #7. I tried to push after this knowing that it was very unlikely for a medal but that was tough to do and I don't think I was trying as hard as if I was having a good race but I was trying to think I was. It didn’t go so well after this with continued bobbles and once in the green rectangle of death (a rectangle of the map that was green, marshy and not very fun to run through) it all fell apart, I could not make sense of anything and I was just trying to get to the finish. Placed 18/21 overall and 16/19 Canadians, ouch.

COC Long

Sunday August 19^th was the COC Long and also a WRE. The course took the competitors from one corner of the Jackpine map to the other. It was warmer than the other days, 26C and probably more noticeable in the long distance. One of my best long distance races ever. The plan was to start out slower than usual in order to pace well so I have more in the last 20 minutes. Started out a bit shaky to #1 but didn't panic and figured out I was one hill south, 30 sec lost but no big deal, I was taking it slow anyways. I also planned to take safe routes around the forest in the open as much as possible because the forest was thick and generally had slow running speeds. I took the safe route around in the open to #2, it was really tough not to run too fast here but I knew I needed to ease off in order to finish strong. I caught Jon T just before #3 and after what happened yesterday in the middle when I saw him out there I knew I had to ignore him and it worked, he almost pulled me off to the left on the short leg to #4 but I kept my head up and stayed on my bearing. Knew the next loop from #6-#12 would be very important if I wanted a medal. Tried to take it safe and easy the whole way through these controls. I got carried off attacking #6 and figured out I was heading down the parallel re entrant right for #7 so I went to #7 first just to be sure and then back to #6. I went around again in the open to #9. Passed Graeme R going to #13, slow to #16 weaved across the stream twice not seeing it on the map; I was too unsure on this leg but made it work. I was leading from #15-#18. Started to feel tired going to # 18 and sure enough exited #18 in the wrong direction and by the time I noticed it was too late so I had to continue, probably cost me 1:00 or a bit more? This was the longest let from #18 to #19, going straight threw the green rectangle of death (a rectangle of the map that was green, marshy and not very fun to run through)and after yesterdays experience in the middle in the green rectangle of death I knew I was going to run all the way around. Tried to keep my running speed up on this leg but was having a bit of trouble as the fatigue was setting in..that’s for sure. Even from #19-#20 I stayed out of the rectangle of death as much as possible. At #20 I had the feeling I was within the top 3 and I was only 0:43 behind Will C and I knew I just had to have a clean last loop and I would be in the medals. I maybe should have gone to the trail to #22 instead of straight through, the grass seemed really long here and the tired legs didn't help slogging through it. Just tried to keep moving to #23, the legs were starting to cramp a little. Little hook attacking #24. I knew if I got #25 clean I would have a medal, so I took it slow but I don't think I could have done it much faster because I was dying. From #25 to #26 I knew I had to give it everything, it was very similar to a leg in the sprint so I knew what to expect, again the grass was destroying me, I was so tired I avoided the climb and went to the right. Went hard to the finish from #26 to #27 and finish, heard Nevin (the announcer) say it was going to be very close between myself and Will C for the #1 spot as I was approaching the last control, didn’t hear the beep at the last control because it was actually quite loud in the arena so hesitated and re punched and then hammered it in to the finish to try and beat Will C only to find out I was in 3rd place and 3:18 behind Will C, what, thanks Nevin for the false hope, haha. Could really feel the cramps in the finish shute. Really happy with the bronze medal, really challenging course both physically and mentally, really happy with my navigation, could have won with an almost perfect race as I defiantly lost 3 minutes throughout the course. The winning times were a little long, no need for the extra loop at the end, paced well for a 90 min winning time so I did die a bit in the last 20 minutes on the final loop. Placed 3/22 overall and 3/18 Canadians.

 

Actually post race Middle but I'm sure I looked worse after the Long.



Silver- Sprint, Bronze- Long.

Next up on the race schedule for me is the North American Orienteering Championships on October 18^th-21^st which are being held in the Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, USA. Hopefully I can transfer my good results from the COC’s to the NAOC’s and show those Americans who’s boss. Go Canada Go!

 

Train on,

Damian

Swiss 5 Days

Today I ran the elite course for the last stage of the Swiss 5 Days on the long distance final terrain JORAT 10. It was a tough course which was 13.8 km with 310m of climb. There are a lot of paths, roads and trails on this map which called for a lot of trail running which often didn’t take you in a straight line so I ended up running 18.93 km according to my gps. I made very few mistakes and am really happy with my race; I just lacked some speed and endurance. My foot has been acting up again which was a bit of a pain but I could deal with it. The WOC relay should be exciting tomorrow to wrap up WOC 2012!

Today's map

Train on,

Damian

WOC Middle Qualification

I would have done this sooner but the internet at the accommodation the team is staying at has been terrible lately. The middle didn’t go as planned with too many mistakes; I estimate I lost 6.5 minutes. It was tough to find the controls in the dark green because the visibility was limited to about 3 meters. It’s nice to be the top Canadian after being selected last for the team behind all the other guys and proving once again that I can perform to a certain degree at the major competitions. Some highlights were being 10^th on two splits, 2^nd on one split and 1^st on one split! Also I did improve by one place from last year’s 30^th place in the long distance at WOC in France. The relay team has been decided and I am not a part of the team as I expected back at the beginning of June. I was expecting there to be a selection race like last year for the relay team so that the guys on the team can prove they deserve to be a part of the team in this Swiss terrain because not all the guys raced each other head to head which seems to make the decision a little controversial. I ended up racing the 3^rd stage of the Swiss 5 days on the day of the middle final because it was free. I did some training on the model map for the relay today (haha) instead of the 4^th stage because it was a long distance race and I was feeling a bit tired so decided it was not a great idea to race again. I will take a rest day tomorrow and race the final stage on Friday.

Crashing into the 13th control

My route from the Middle Qualification
(open in new tab to view)

Stage 3 of the Swiss 5 Day's

Relay model map

                                                        Finishing hard on the long uphill finish shute        Photo: Adrian Zissos

                                                                                       Last few meters                          Photo: Adrian Zissos

Train on,

Damian

WOC Middle Qualification Tomorrow

Yesterday between the sprint qualification and final I ran on the LA PALUD middle qualification model map. The map was very run able in sections and slow in others where it was green or rocky. The quality of the map wasn't great because there were some old logging trails that were not on the map and thought there should be some more clearings as well. The vegetation was also not that great in places but I’m sure the actual map will be perfect. Easy/rest day today and then the big race tomorrow afternoon. I have a start within the last block so I will be starting later which can be quite good with some fast runners near the end and a bit of tracking but it also can be bad if I get drawn to start last! Hopefully I can qualify for the final tomorrow but it will be extremely tough. My training partner Patrick Goeres had a fantastic result in the sprint final yesterday and finished in 36th place for a new PB result in the sprint at WOC!! Way to go Patrick!!

Middle Qualification Model from Yesterday

Patrick Goeres Cruising in the Sprint Qualification

Patrick flying in the Sprint Final

                                                                 Patrick giving it everything in the finish                       Photo Adrian Zissos

The "MEGASTAR" after a new PB in the Sprint Final 36th!!!

Train on,
Damian