Training Log Archive: dbakker

I'm really not sure what to think of the NorAM development discussion right now.

I'm somewhat torn between what I think is practical, and what our aspirations should be. So here are some thoughts that are not very well thought through:

It's still crazy having 3 different American Championships.

I think it is a great aspiration to have NAOC every year and have it match WOC in an alternating format - but I am not sure this makes sense.

Scheduling of events is absolutely critical, and in my opinion we are doing a really bad job of it right now. Take last weekend, where Western Canadian Champs were in direct competition with US SML Champs. Next year we have an over-saturation of events in the Pacific North-West/BC after years of not having any...and I'm part of the communication problem there.

Right now we are having problems with overloading of events, and then under supply of events at various times of the year. I think we need to prioritize as continent setting schedules so that once a month there is a regional "go to" event that is "relatively" close. There would be a break in the "go to" event schedule in the month where NAOC is scheduled, and possibly also for Team Trials. I'm thinking somewhere down the lines of the Cross Country Skiing NorAM/Supertour planning.

I think COCs should be re-branded to Canada Orienteering Week (COW - it's a great acronym) and should always be held in conjunction with NAOC whenever NAOC is in Canada. Maybe that means two clubs, with a travel day in the middle of the week. Just saying, but Canada/USA are top notch tourist destinations and having a solid week of orienteering with a choice of tourist/rest day in the middle is a good plan.

The new COW (Canada Orienteering Week) should have a consistent, modern, attractive website & social media, that is simply updated every year instead of re-inventing the wheel every single time (Facebook is already re-used). It should have its date and location published two years in advance to let people plan around it.

C • Pretty well thought out ass... 3

Started out running, but ended up more walkling wandering around Black Mountain Regional Park. I drafted up a basic map while I was up in the Yukon, so figured I would go check it out. Regional District has been super dumb, and has allowed continued cattle grazing in the "conservation park", and then just fenced off one small area of "sensitive wetland" that also has some of the more interesting contours. Bit of a pain that the area is so open that it would be best for a night O, but now there are quite a few barbed wire fences which aren't really suitable for night training.