From August 17 to 21, 2010, Ottawa will play host to orienteers from across Canada, the United States and the world. We, here in Ottawa, will have the opportunity to see the best in the country compete for top honours as they run through our forests as if they were on a race track.. However, the championships are not just for the elite runners. Everyone is welcome, in fact, encouraged, to join us in the woods and experience the new maps and run in new areas.

F 15-16: "Like, what was it like when you started going orienteering?"

M 55- 64: "You mean back in the time before e-punching, before symbolic control descriptions, before the courses were pre-printed on our maps and before five-colour maps?"

F 15-16: "Like. I mean it must have been a different sport."

M 55-64: "On the contrary. From the time one began his navigation on a course until the check in at the finish orienteering has not changed much at all. It was then and is still based on the best time over a self-chosen route through (relatively) unknown terrain to a series of checkpoints. However what one does before and after the race has changed a bit."

F 15-16: "Like really?"

M 55-64: "Quite so. Right from how people were attracted to meets, things have changed. Before the Internet it was difficult to get the word around about orienteering meets. The club had to rely on getting notices in newspapers to let people know the sport even existed. Luckily the papers were pretty cooperative."
"There weren't as many local meets as we have today so we did a lot more travelling. All the meets seemed to have special names: The Guelph Spring Festival, Montreal and District Orienteering Championships (MADOC), the Ottawa Interclub and so on."
"Then when people arrived at a meet almost everyone seemed to need instruction. There were far more beginners than 'veterans'. The pre-meet clinics were very important and well-attended."
"Maps were given out at registration but the courses were not printed on them. Instead many participants would spend some time colouring in the black and white maps. They brought pencils to make the streams blue and the fields yellow. I think some highlighted the trails in red but I never bothered."
"Control descriptions were different, too. We didn't have those symbols so the descriptions were written out in English and French here and in the local language in Europe then mostly translated to English for the foreign competitors. That made for some funny translations. Once in Austria I saw that their edge of a cultivated field was the "Corner of Civilization". But even within English one person's gully would be another's small valley and another's re-entrant. And so on. I heard that one course setter with a poetic tendency listed a clump of trees as a 'Rising Green Island'. It had people shaking their heads at the image."

F 15-16: "Really? But I mean if the controls weren't marked on the map how did they know where their, like, controls were?"

M 55-64: After the participants started they would head to a 'master map' area to copy the circles on to their map. It was included in their race time. If anyone made a mistake and copied the circle in the wrong spot it was their tough luck. It was also considered important that participants did not make their route choices until their timing had started."

F 15-16: "Did you have different courses to run or did you all do the same course?"

M 55-64: "All the meets had the same four types of courses as we do at our B-meets now. However they were graded by colours -white for beginners, then yellow for those with a little experience, red and blue for the experts. It was quite a jump from yellow to red, believe me."
"The meets always had separate categories for age, gender and experience. A beginner would run the Novice Men's or Novice Women's Category. You would have been in the Junior Women's category and that would have included all girls 19 and younger. My category today would have been 'Older Veteran Men' but of course back then I worked my way from Novice Men to Men's B to Elite Men."

F 15-16: "Like really? How did you know when to change categories?"

M 55-64: "It was your own choice and depended on your own comfort level to move to a tougher course. That plus guys like Mike Day telling you to try a better challenge."

F 15-16: "Mr. Day? He doesn't look that old!"

M 55-64: "Not Mike junior. I mean the old Mr. Day. Forty years ago he was the guy to beat!"

F 15-16: "Well without e-punching how did they know what your time was and whether you had visited all the controls?"

M 55-64: "Good question. All participants were issued a control card. Part of it had to be turned in at the start and that was the record for the organizer that you were out in the woods. It also doubled as your time card that would be posted when you finished and your time was calculated by a volunteer by hand. Just as with some of our meets today each control had a distinctive punch that would be used to mark our card to prove we'd been there. What it couldn't do was prove whether the controls had been visited in the right order. That's where you had to be careful how the course was set, had to depend on the honour system or have a spotter in the woods to check cards."
"So sometimes there would be a backlog of times to be posted and there were almost always prizes - usually ribbons - to be had at the end of an event. That led to a lot of post race socializing which was really fun. All the orienteers got to know each other as we sat around, had picnic lunches and compared route choices." Then when the organizer was giving out the ribbons there always seemed to be a late finisher coming in. The biggest cheers were reserved for him."
"After the prize-giving many of the orienteers would head back in to the woods to help pick up the controls. I found that great as it helped me learn more orienteering techniques and practice finding controls that I had trouble with earlier. More people, especially newer orienteers should help with that nowadays."

F 15-16: "I think you are right but I have a soccer practice in an hour. Can we get going, grandpa?"

M 55-64: "Yes, but just let me tell you one more big difference between meets of forty years ago and today. I think it was because they called all the meets this or that championship or because we attracted more out of town participants but the newspapers gave our results a lot of publicity. I think it helped with awareness and I don't think it hurt with the 'come back factor' when someone could see his or her name in the paper as having won the Novice Men's race and the Ontario Championships."

F 15-16: "Is that the old clipping you have framed on the wall in your den?"

M 55-64: "Er yes, let's go or you'll be late for your soccer practice."

Thanks to 'Grampa' Gord Hunter

One evening in mid- August, 1968, a friend, Allan Gravelle, called me about an article in the Ottawa Journal on a new sport, Orienteering. The Montreal Orienteering Club was organizing the 1st Canadian Orienteering Championships at Camp Fortune on August 18 and conducting an Introduction to Orienteering clinic at Carleton University the next evening. I was unable to attend but Allan did and reported it seemed an activity worth trying and suggested we attend the championships and give it a try.

1st Canadian Orienteering Championships.

On August 18, 1968, Allan his son Shawn and I made our orienteering debut in the Canadian Championships. The event was held on the original Camp Fortune map. The Event Centre and Finish were at the XC Ski Lodge. Allan and I were members of the Ottawa Valley Track Club and thought we could easily handle one of the longer courses but the organizers insisted we compete on the 2.9 km Beginner Wayfaring course.

The Start was at the TV station at the top of the Camp Fortune Ski slopes. We were instructed that we must report to the Finish whether or not we completed the course. We thought we would blitz the course in 15-20 minutes and then try one of the longer ones. Then we were off to the 1st Control - Knoll, south side.

We had received some basic instruction on compass use, map scale and contour interval but nothing on distance measurement. We went barreling down the road from the TV station stopping every so often to peer in the woods to try and detect a knoll with a red/white marker. After 50 minutes we had still not located the control and were now closer to the Finish than the Start. We decided orienteering was not for us and headed back to the Start to hand in our control card. As we made the last turn towards the TV station a woman crossed in front of us, climbed onto a small hill at the side of the road and stopped at a red/white marker. We checked the marker number and, lo and behold, it was the one we had been searching for. The knoll was not more than 150 metres from the Start and, in fact, could be seen from the Start.

Re-energized at finding the control we continued and completed the course without further major problems. The 1st Canadian Championships results show the team of Allan, Shawn Gravelle & Colin Kirk placed 2nd in Junior Wayfaring in the time of 1:41:16 for the 2.9 course, overall 7th fastest of 17 groups competing in the various Wayfaring classes. At least 50% of our time had been spent searching for the 1st control.

On numerous occasions I have stated that if I had not found the 1st control that I would have given up on orienteering and never returned - I think Allan had similar feelings.

Three local orienteers: Michael MacConaill, Irene Jensen, (Viking Ski Club), and Pierre Brassard (Montreal OC) competed. Irene won the Senior Ladies and Pierre won the Junior Men category. Michael and Pierre are current members of OOC and Irene a member of Loup Garou

On May 3, 2009, I organized an event from the P7 Parking Area on Kingsmere Road, using an updated version of the Camp Fortune map. While hanging markers on May 1 my route took me close to the TV station - in 1968 two small wooden buildings, now a massive concrete structure surrounded by a 10 ft high chain link fence.

As I crossed the road winding downhill from the station I came face to face with a small knoll - the 1st control location on the 1968 COC Beginner course. I climbed on top and stood reminiscing for a few minutes. It suddenly dawned on me that fate had played a significant role in the careers of Allan and I. Although the organizers had instructed us to report to the Finish we had been on our way to report back to the Start. If we had gone to the Finish we would not have found the 1st control. If we had not found #1 would we have given up on orienteering? But as everyone knows - What if's are for losers.

In The Beginning - A Giant Leap Forward

In the month following the Canadian Championships we participated in three Montreal area meets at Oka, St Benoit, Morin Heights, always as Wayfarers on the Novice course - Allan with son Shawn and I with another son, Paul.

The final 1968 meet was the Ontario Championships in early October, near Kingston. There were only four categories: Senior Men, Senior Women, Junior Men, Junior Women. With no Wayfaring category we had to compete in Senior Men. In the space of 6 weeks Allan and I leapt all the way from Beginner Wayfarers to Senior Men category.

The championship was organized by Professor Jake Edwards of Queen's University. In addition to competing on my first Advanced level course the meet is memorable for a couple of other items:

A. The Start was in a tent. When your start time was called you entered the tent, copied your course from a Master Map then exited the tent through a rear door. Your time started from the minute you entered the tent.

B. Unique Control Descriptions. The first three control descriptions on the Senior Men course were:

• 1 Crease in the hillside - (Re-entrant)
• 2 Rising Green Island - (tree covered knoll)
• 3 An Evergreen Density - (Cedar thicket) It was necessary to crawl under the trees to reach the control marker.

We did surprisingly well considering our previous experience had been on Novice courses. I placed 7th (1:51:04) and Allan 9th (1:56:58) of 26 competitors in Senior Men - a 9 km course. The terrain was much easier than the Gatineau and Laurentian regions: few boulders or cliffs, less hostile underbrush, excellent visibility and many open areas.

I can't remember if Allan started before or after me and didn't see him until near one of the last controls, a fairly short leg in a hilly area. The control was between two hills with was a wide valley about the mid point - a large wide swamp filled most of the valley. The decision: "Do I go around on the left or on the left? Allan had taken a third option - straight through the swamp. He was in the middle of the swamp, up to his waist in water, slowly turning around and heading back the way he had come, taking care to keep his map dry and above water. I am quite certain my margin over him was gained entirely through his excursion in the swamp.

On the journey back to Ottawa from the 1968 Ontario Championships the first seeds were sown to start an orienteering club in Ottawa the next season. During the winter I received a job transfer to Montreal and when the 1969 season started I was a member of the Montreal Orienteering Club and Allan was on his own. He nurtured the seeds throughout the winter, planted the seedlings in spring 1969 and cultivated their growth until reaching maturity as a fully grown healthy tree and one of the most successful orienteering clubs in the country.

Due to health problems Allan has not been active in orienteering for many years; most OOC members have probably never met him or unaware of his contribution and involvement with the OOC. Without his efforts and dedication there may not have been an OOC.

From a Small and Humble Acorn a Mighty Oak Tree Grew

Colin Kirk

Orienteering was introduced to Ottawa in 1968. In 1969, Colin Kirk asked me to help him hold a clinic to raise funds to start a club in Ottawa. Gord Hunter came to the clinic and that started his orienteering career. An organizational meeting was held and the Ottawa Orienteering Club was off and running.

Our first event was a snowshoe meet at Pinks Lake. I set the controls out on Saturday and we had a two foot snowfall overnight. We cancelled the meet and set out in a four wheel drive truck to recover the controls. On the way, I phoned a radio station and asked to have the cancellation announced over the air. I listened to them broadcast that, "The Sunday Chinese picnic in the Gatineau Park is cancelled."

With the help of many volunteers, our club has a 40 year history of many successful meets and our members have met many great friends.

One of our friends was running an elite course in which I had set a control on each side of a beaver pond. He swam across the pond holding his clothes and map over the water with one hand. Once on the other side, he realized that he left his control card behind. He swam back, got his card, and swam back again holding the card over the water.

Another friend found his control and saw his nemesis looking for the same control. Not wanting to help his competition, he stood in front of the control until his competitor ran on searching for the control.

Two airline stewardesses arrived at one of our Gatineau Park meets wearing Sunday dresses and high heels. They read about Orienteering on their flight to Ottawa. I suggested that their shoes may not be suitable but they started out anyhow. They came back when they came upon a wet area on the way to their first control.

Our club invites orienteers to come to Ottawa and many of our members travel to meets in other cities. Barbara and I went walking a course at a major meet in the USA. A 16 year old boy ran up to us at one control just as we were walking away. He punched his card, ran past us, and caught up to us at the next control. He asked, "How did you get here ahead of me?" We just laughed and walked away.

I was running in a meet in Quebec when I noticed a lady and her dog running ahead of me. They were in an open area and the dog was a few feet ahead of her. Her dog turned right and ran into the woods. She followed her dog to the control!

Field workers are tempted to stay in the woods a little too long with the result that it gets dark before they get out. When this happened to me, Barbara called the RCMP to look for me! They searched the parking lots at Camp Fortune and called her to say that my car was not there. We called the RCMP when I got home.

At the end of one of our meets one couple had not reported in. We were about to start a search when we used their phone number to call and see if they were at home. A lady answered and said that they came home and then left for Toronto! Imagine our problem if no one answered our phone call.

Animals often add interest to our favorite sport. I set a novice course and walked it to make sure it was safe. I took the controls out a few days later and found a beaver had built a six inch high dam which flooded the trail! I had to put streamers out to guide competitors around this new pond. Everyone finished the race.

A meet at Camp Fortune was attended by a black bear and two cubs. The three bears climbed a tree a few metres from a control for the novice class. This control was within sight of the finish. I asked Colin Kirk to go and tell the competiors to go around that control. Even with Colin pointing to the bears and warning them, every competitor went in and punched that control! The bears left without causing further problems.

One of our international meets introduced us to Swedish customs. When our club held two of the five day Orienteering meet , we had one day at Meach Lake. Many of the 1,200 competitors came from Sweden. After they ran, they went swimming in the lake. It wasn't long before an RCMP officer came to me and asked me to tell the bathers not to use soap as it pollutes the water! I called the chairman of the NCC the next day to ask if there were any problems. He replied "Everything is fine except for the nude bums in our number one beach! I haven't had a complaint yet but I know I will be hearing from one lady before long."

Congratulations and Happy 40th Birthday to the Ottawa Orienteering Club

Barbara and Allan Gravelle

One of the beauties of the sport of orienteering is the seemingly endless variety of ways in which the sport can be practiced.

Part by chance, part by design since the end of our 2008 season I have been able to participate in eleven orienteering races, mostly local ‘B’ meets, in eight different US states. Not only were they different locations with different terrain types (and, for me, new maps which is always nice) but also the organizers were often putting new twists in the competitions presumably to add variety for the majority of participants who were in terrain that was otherwise very familiar to them.

For example in a very small forest in Connecticut the longer courses featured what they called ‘butterfly loops’. At certain controls the course would head in a two or three loop mini-course before heading back to the central control. There was not much route choice on these short loops but precise navigation and ‘control picking’ made the difference. It was a great way to add length to courses in a small area.

I witnessed an interesting twist on score orienteering in North Carolina. Again it was a small area that participants could have visited all possible controls in short order. The organizer borrowed from the billiard game of Snooker to come up with the twist. In snooker the players try to sink 15 red balls all worth one point and five other coloured balls, all worth greater value. Snooker players must sink at least one red ball each time before sinking a ball of greater value. So in ‘snooker-O’ the participants had to visit at least one designated red (or easy) control which were concentrated in the central part of the map before heading out to punch in at a more remote control location then come back to the central area before returning toward the perimeter even though the remote controls may be only two hundred meters apart. It took a lot of planning on the part of the participants to maximize the use of the one hour time limit.

In San Diego the club held a Valentine Score ‘O’ but instead of the loving couples running together they could split up so each could visit different controls to cover the area in minimal time. The obvious strategy besides concentrating the controls was to give the appropriate number to each partner based on their relative strength. I think results were based on the total points and time of the team. I think it could also be valid based on the time of the last partner back once the team had visited all the controls. What does Valentine have to do with it? Well they did give out chocolate 'kisses' and as they say, 'absence makes the heart grow fonder.'

Sprint Orienteering is becoming very popular in the States. It also allows the effective and interesting use of small areas and as there are fewer levels of courses participants can measure themselves against more others. But who is going to drive much distance for a 20 minute run? The solution: offer several sprint courses on the same map at the same time. Encourage the orienteers to run as many of the courses as they feel they can. Vary the start order, some starting on course A while others start on B or C. This idea is so good that I see our first meet of the year will be a multiple sprint event at Rockcliffe Park which is an ideal location for such an event. Hope you enjoy it.

Gord Hunter

Webmaster's note: Gord sent this earlier this spring but I was away at the time. Although some references are a bit out of date, the ideas in this article are food for thought. Also, the recent Almonte meet was run with the 'Butterfly' format.

What do you get when you have a Canadian long weekend and a three-event orienteering meet in New York State in ‘new’ terrain that is reputed to be open forest with interesting features?

You get 19 orienteers from the Ottawa area travelling to the Buffalo ‘O’ Fest and coming home with a total of 29 top three finishes between them.

‘Running up in class’ is the term used to describe young orienteers who run in an older age class than their natural one and an older orienteer who runs with the younger participants. At the Buffalo meet Alexander Bergstrom, 14, ran up to win three M 16 races and in the process beat all OOC competitors, including dad Stefan and Alex Teutsch on the Sprint Course 2.

Eleven year old Ian Kemp took a first, second and third place in M 14. Molly Kemp ‘ran up’ to a seventh place in F 21 Middle and first in F 20 Long. She won the F-16 sprint.

However, the queen of those moving up in class had to be 17 year old Emily Kemp. Emily not only competed with the 21 elite; she competed against the males. She placed 16th in the Middle, 10th in the Sprint and 14th in the Long event. Her sprint time tied her brother Eric to the second. Also in the Sprint had she chosen to compete in women’s elite on the same course Emily would have won by over a minute.

Other triple top-three finishers from Ottawa included Laura Teutsch, Gloria Rankin, Lorna Guttormson, Anne Teutsch and Alex Teutsch.

Richard Guttormson, Jeff Teutsch, Stefan Bergstrom and Robbie Anderson each had at least one top-three finish.

The maps and terrain? They lived up to their promised excellence with some of the cleanest, most open forest running one will find in the north-eastern corner of our continent.

The weather? Saturday it rained a bit and Sunday was cold and windy but on the bright side that kept the bugs at bay for another week.

David Cady and the Buffalo Orienteering Club were putting on their first 'sanctioned' meet in many years. They wanted to do it right and they did.