Follow @BarebonesO

Barebones 2012 May 25 - 27, Canmore, Ab

We have a short and sweet schedule for Barebones 2012. Three races and a bit of training packed into weekend filled with orienteering and socializing. As always with Barebones you are guaranteed:

• challenging, well designed courses
• courses suitable for all levels - elite to first timers, kids to superstars, old vets to young gazelles
• great socializing, with dinners and between-races activities
• learning - presentations on fascinating topics from some of the most interesting and experienced orienteers in the country
• the usual fabulous Barebones mix of young and old, elite and recreational, the very fast and the maybe not quite so quick ;-)
• and of course the you-can-never-get-tired-of-it stupendous scenery of the Rocky Mountains all weekend.

Survey

If you were at Barebones 2012, please fill out our survey.

Press

Both local papers put Barebones orienteering on their front page this week! The Outlook Cover features this great photo of Alaric Fish & his daughter Nadia. Click here to read the full article The Leader Cover features a photo of John Rance of Vancouver. Click here to read the full article

Trust me Dad! Nadia Fish has a serious discussion with dad, Alaric, during Saturday morning�s (May 26) Barebones orienteering event at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Craig Douce Rmo Photo

Photos

You can see some photos from Barebones 2012 at OrienteerApp. If you have photos too, and a Flickr account, then simply load your shots to Flickr and tag them with "orienteerapp856" and they will automagically appear. If you have photos but no Flickr account, then please send me a link and I'll put it here.

Results

Volunteers

• Eduard Spelier � Middle course planner
• Kitty Jones � Middle controller
• Adrian Zissos � Sprint / Long course planner / general coordination
• Alaric Fish � Sprint course planner / Town of Canmore permissions / test runner / 2012 Far Away Man
• Marion Owen � Sprint controller
• Charlotte MacNaughton � Long controller, Banquet, Friday clinic
• Miles Tindal � vetting / control hanging
• Magnus Johansson � Long course advisor
• Teresa Winn � Kids Fun Zone
• Brent Langbakk � HPP training course setter
• Christin Lundgren � Safety Chief
• Ann Lee � Safety Chief's assistant
• Clarence Kort - Site & Equipment chief
• Deanne Stephen � camping, refreshments, Juniors
• Marsha Fehr � refreshments, start team
• Omdal family � refreshments
• Andree Powers - refreshments
• Jean MacNaughton � registration
• Richard Obreiter & Wendy � timing
• Sarah Brandreth � mapping updates, Super Sprint
• Jane Rowlands � start chief, Super Sprint planner
• Beep Trolls � Alix, Emma, Darya � super sprint planners
• Jim Webster � start
• Leigh Bailey � start
• Justine Scheck � start
• Tor Gunnar Aksland - start
• Fred Veller � bus coordinator
• Tori Owen, Graeme Rennie, Patrick Goeres, Brent Langbakk � HPP Presenters
• The danger with making such a list is that you leave someone off. This space is dedicated to all those volunteers that I can't think of right now!

Special Thanks to...

• Town of Canmore - for permitting us to run in town & finish at Lion's Park
• Canmore Nordic Centre - always a pleasure to work with
• Alberta Tourism, Parks, and Recreation - for permitting us to run in this grand terrain
• Francis Cooke landfill - for being so accommodating in letting us park on Sunday

New to orienteering?

The Barebones races are ideal for all ages to try orienteering. We have courses for all ages and levels of fitness. We've got clinics. And we've got lots really enjoyable forest to run through. To make the event a bit easier to understand for beginners, we've made a web page without the jargon and without all the confusing details you might find on this page - click here to see beginner-friendly information.

News

Schedule

Schedule is subject to change, as always.

Technical Training (Friday afternoon)

The Canadian Junior team coach, Brent Langbakk, has offered to set a number of ribbons on the Rafter Six orienteering map for those interested in some technical training on Friday afternoon. If you want to do this activity, please email Adrian. You will get a map showing the control locations, but there is no other support. We recommend going in a group for safety reasons.

Intro Clinic (Friday evening)

Former national team member Charlotte MacNaughton is offering a free one-hour clinic at 7:00pm on Friday evening. She will cover the basic aspects of orienteering, including reading the map, holding the map (surprisingly useful tips), basic strategy and navigation, and the logistics of the Barebones weekend. Click here for more information, and feel free to email Adrian with any questions at all about the Barebones weekend or orienteering in general.

Centre-to-Centre sprint (Saturday morning)

Starting at the Canmore Nordic Centre, this will be a downhill sprint through the complex ski trails, down the hill, across the river, and into the Town of Canmore for the finish. A really fun mix of terrain types - from open forest, to complex trails, to urban.

   to   

Canmore Nordic Centre - the start    Sprint To    Lion's Park - the finish               

Canmore Nordic Centre Long Distance (Saturday afternnon)

Heading west from the Day Lodge orienteers will be challenged by a variety of terrain, long route choices, and of course a little bit of climb. The ultimate test of orienteering toughness.

Mt Laurie - Middle distance (Sunday morning)

Barebones 2012 finishes on one of the world's most fantastic orienteering maps. Glorious views, incredible contour detail, and fabulous open running combine to make this a true test of technical navigation at high speed. A race that will bring a smile to your face! This will be a Middle distance race, meaning that it will push your navigation and map reading to the max.

Super-Sprint (Sunday morning)

The FWOC Juniors are organizing a bonus race - the cherry on the top of the Barebones weekend. The Super Sprint will have bazillions of controls in a 500m forest sprint! All proceeds from this race go directly to the Juniors to support travel to orienteering events.

Maps

All races are taking part on existing maps.

	Canmore town map - a work in progress. It will be merged with parts of the Nordic Centre map for the Centre to Centre sprint
	Canmore Nordic Centre map.
	Check out the 2008 Middle distance race on Mt Laurie.

Kids' Fun Zone

At each race during Barebones there will be a Kids' Fun Zone activity in the finish arena. In the Sprint arena at Lion's Park there will be a play-ground O score event. At the Nordic Centre arena for the Long distance race there will be a labyrinth that will challenge even the adults. And following the Middle at Mt Laurie the FWOC Junior Development kids will be hosting an Ultra Sprint - billions of controls in 400-500m of orienteering.

Choosing your category

Technical difficulty

A number of different courses will be available at each Barebones race, varying in physical challenge (distance and terrain) and technical challenge (navigational difficulty). To help you choose which category to register for here is a chart of the technical difficulty:

Orienteering disciplines - Sprint, Middle, and Long

There are three main disciplines in orienteering, each with its own characteristic. At Barebones 2012 we have three races, one of each discipline:

• Sprint (Saturday AM, Canmore Nordic Centre): The nature of a sprint race is high speed with continuous concentration and decision making. Races are short (winning time 12-15 minutes) and navigation is relatively easy.
• Middle (Sunday, Mt Laurie): Middle distance races are technically demanding, with the emphasis on good map reading and terrain interpretation. Winning times are around 25-35 minutes.
• Long (Saturday PM, Canmore Nordic Centre): The ultimate test of navigation skill and physical strength, long distance races are physically demanding with lots of route choice. Winning times are around 60-90 minutes (depending on category)

Categories & Courses

At Barebones 2012 we are offering categories to suit every level of fitness and orienteering experience. Each category will compete on a course of the appropriate technical and physical difficult as described below. In the tables below the brown numbers represent the straight-line distance between controls, and if a second number is specified it is the approximate amount of climbing along a reasonably good route through the course (updated May 21st)

*Sport categories

All races will have a Sport category, suitable for fit adults and teams that are new to orienteering. In the Long and Middle distance races, the Sport category uses the "Scatter" format - which allows you a certain amount of time to visit as many controls as you can. Each control visited earns points, but being late to the finish incurs penalties. Strategy and consistent navigation are rewarded! Your challenge is to collect the most points possible in the time limit (45 minutes for Middle Distance, 90 minutes for Long distance).

In the Sprint race the Sport category will be on the Elite course and will use the "Point to Point" format in which all controls must be visited in the specified order, and the challenge is to visit all controls in the least amount of time..

Teams

Teams of two or three are welcome and can compete in the Sport or Novice categories. Teams pay one entry fee per member. Teams require just one SportIdent card (see "electronic punching" below). All team members must belong to a recognized provincial association (see Membership" section below).

Registration

Event Details

As full information about Barebones 2012 become available you will need to visit the myO 'Barebones 2012' page

What the heck is myO ?

Adrian Z is developing new software that presents information about orienteering events via your mobile device's browser - or of course on you laptop or desktop browser too. The idea is that you no longer need to print event information since it will always be available on your mobile device, and that the information is presented in a more useful and natural way. Barebones 2012 is being used to test the software. For those without mobile devices it will be possible to print the information from myO running on your laptop or desktop.

Safety & Environment Impact

In consultation with Alberta Tourism, Parks, and Recreation this year we have expanded our safety plan and environment impact statement. In particular we have expanded the sections relating to potential encounters with large animals. Part of the updated plan is to present competitors with more safety information, including recommendations for avoiding and dealing with encounters with large animals.

Please take time to look over these important issues and discuss them with your family / friends.

• Review excerpts from our Safety Plan, including what we do to reduce the likelihood of encountering large animals
• Review excerpts from our Environmental Impact statement.

General advice for participants

Orienteering is an outdoor activity that carries a risk of personal injury due to natural and man-made hazards, animal encounters and environmental conditions. Participants are expected to understand the risks of taking part in orienteering competitions and may be asked sign a waiver to this effect.

Safety Notes: Sprint race, Canmore Nordic Centre - Lions Park

• Steep downhill slopes can be dangerous. The fastest and safest way down these steep pitches may not be on the straight, rocky paths.
• Crossing of one lightly used road near the finish at Lions Park. Runners must take care in all urban environments, especially when crossing roads.

Safety Notes: all events at Canmore Nordic Centre

• Shared use of bike / walking paths on some parts of the course to be courteous & watchful

Safety Notes: encounters with large animals

At this time of year encounters with bears and possibly cow elk with newborn calves is a real possibility. In consultation with Alberta TPR, we make the following recommendations to participants:

1. To carry a charged cell phone, and have the Adrians number programmed: 403 585 8478.
2. To shadow small children
3. To participate in groups if they wish (Sport category)
4. To carry pepper spray or bear bangers or an air horn during the race and to make noise by shouting while running.
5. To review the following online documents:
   • Elk Wary, Bear Smart, Cougar Alert
   • Bear Deterents
   • BearSmart Colouring & Activity Book
   • If you encounter a cougar
6. To discuss how to react to animal encounters with their family and with other competitors
7. Other documents
• Alberta BearSmart Program Manual

Accommodation

Group Camping

The FWOC Junior program is organizing a group camp at Bow River Campground, just a few kilometres east of Canmore on the Bow River. If you are interested in joining them, send an email to [email protected] for more details.

Hotels & Hostels

Canmore has a wide variety of hotels and also an Alpine Club hostel. Any of these would be a very convenient spot to stay overnight during Barebones.

Canadian High Performance Program

The 2012 Barebones weekend is a "priority race" for the national HPP, which means that results in the elite category will be closely looked at when the selections for the Canadian national teams are made. This year the World Championships are held in Switzerland in July. The women's team this year will have only Louise Oram (Vancouver) on the team due to a number of injuries and a scheduling conflict with the Junior World Championships which are held in Slovakia also in July. But on the men's side there is going to be exciting competition for the six spots on the team, and at Barebones this year we will see some of the most promising stars fighting it out! Some of the guys to watch out for: Will C. (Edmonton), Damien K (Manitoba), Patrick G (Manitoba), Mike S (Nova Scotia), Erik K (Ottawa), and Jeff T (Ottawa).  It is going to be very fast and very fun at Barebones in the Elite class this year! Watch for the HPP runners who will be wearing the HPP Team Canada shirts.

FAQ

Q. I haven't orienteered much (at all) before. What category should I run in?
A.  If you are new to orienteering and just want a great run in the forest then sign up for the Sport categories - either solo or team. The Sport categories have "Scatter" style course which allows you to visit controls in any order, and to choose which controls to visit, which is generally the most enjoyable format for people new to orienteering.

Q. Why is the Sprint a "Canada Cup" race? What is that anyway?
A. Canada Cup races are organized to the highest standards, by very experienced officials, and use age-based categories. They give orienteers the experience of high-level event, including assigned start times. They also provide runners in the Elite category a chance to earn points towards the Canada Cup Elite Series in both the individual and club championship. For more information and current Elite Series standings visit the Orienteering Canada website.

Q. Where can I buy orienteering equipment?
A. Visit O-Store.ca to see their inventory and get all the gear you need online.