Orienteering Week In Canada

September 21-28, 2005 � or there about

Yukon Orienteering
* Club Champs - Sprint
* Club Champs - Middle
* Club Champs - Classic

Greater Vancouver O.C.
* Club Champs - Sprint
* Club Champs - Middle Distance

Edmonton Overlanders
* White Earth - Classic Distance

Golden Horseshoe (Hamilton)
* Adventure Sprint Final (Oct 5th event)

Falcons Orienteering Club (New Brunswick)
* Autumn Amble

Orienteering Week In Canada (OWIC) is an idea shared by a growing number of clubs across the country. The idea began in 2004 when the Calgary orienteering club (FWOC) held a club championships week � three different races (middle, long, and sprint distances) and an end-of-season awards party. This event was a tremendous success and news of it spread over the internet. Several other clubs expressed interest in holding similar events and as the discussion grew nation-wide, the Big Idea was hatched to hold as many club championships as possible across the country at more or less the same time. And somebody said this project should be called Orienteering Week In Canada .

In 2005 Orienteering Week in Canada will take place September 21 � 28. Clubs taking part include Yukon, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Hillsborough NB, and several others (though not all clubs are able to hold events on exactly those dates due to prior commitments and will be a week or two earlier or later). The format of the races will vary depending on what is most appropriate for particular clubs. Generally the schedule includes a middle distance race, a long distance race, and a sprint followed by an awards party, though some clubs will be holding just one or two of these races due to volunteer availability. In Calgary we plan a mix of age-based and skills-based categories. The 18 � 55 age groups have been combined into three skills based categories: Novice, Sport, and Expert. This is similar to other sports and is intended to appeal to club members whose main sport is not orienteering, to give them a chance to be competitive (and perhaps even win) without having to run against experienced orienteers.

There are many reasons to be part of OWIC. The Calgary club found their club champs got lots of people very excited about orienteering. It got "city park only" people doing some competitive orienteering and really enjoying it. For many it was the first time using ePunching, running at intensity, and having exposure to the best quality forest maps. Furthermore it provides an event with a certain appeal to the media, if we are interested to pursue that to raise the profile of orienteering. And most of all, OWIC links the Canadian orienteering community through a common nation-wide project.

The United States Orienteering Federation has successfully organized a National Orienteering Day (NOD) for several years now � over 72 clubs take part and they get good media coverage. In 2005 NOD is September 17^th. Check www.us.orienteering.org/NOD.html for more details.

Please consider joining OWIC � either by participating in your club championships or better still, by helping to organize one of the races for your local club.