Get Youth Involved

As a coach one of my season’s objectives over the past several years is to get more youth excited about ski orienteering.  As a parent one of the greatest thrills was seeing my son in his early teens win a medal at the Empire State Winter Games.  That was over 20 years ago.  I guarantee that this year there will be more than one scholastic division medal that will go unclaimed at ESGs.  That’s a failure that I take personally.

Rewards are not the only thing that attract young athletes.  Attention from someone that they can look up to is another.  Our sport has an unlimited number of role models, even if communication skills, particularly with youth, is not always our best attributes.

The biggest challenge for youth is to be able to translate familiar things around them (three dimensions) into a two dimensional representation (a map) and vice versa.  Like all skills some are good at this, others are not.  One of the early signs that an individual has it is a doodle or drawing (a map?) of his or her room or back yard or the path to school.  Early recognition of this skill can signal abilities and interests in more than just orienteering, but that’s another story.

Fostering a love of the out-of-doors is another need here.  Getting out of doors some days is a challenge for me.  Putting on that extra layer of magical polyester fabric and remembering toe warmers is a royal pain.  But getting a 10 year old out the door, too, adds another dimension especially when kids will only want to be out for 20 minutes to an hour at the most.  There is a whole movement and support out there in such organizations as “no child left inside”.

I have seen some successes over the years.  One success was by Ruth Hayes in the Rochester, NY area.  Each year she would have a pre-holiday youth ski practice in a local park.  She and Carol Moran would distribute a map of the park with locations where they had placed a supply of tree decorations.  Each kid was expected to collect one ornament from each location and return to the central location.  At this central location would be a pine tree on which they all hung their trophies, a community Christmas tree!   A whole generation of area youth grew up with a background of orienteering.  Many are still ROC members.

Memorable was the year that Kati Christoffel and two of her friends swept all three medals at Empire State Winter Games.  Then there was the year that Sandy (Stripp) Tetreault had a whole field, actually a biathlon penalty loop, full of eager youth and their families each with a map ready to venture off into the woods in search of controls.  It was at a Mid Atlantic Bill Koch Festival in Old Forge.  I also remember struggling to get myself and a pulk with my 3 year old grandson back on a ski trail after a navigational lapse at this event.  My question is how did these people do it?  How can we duplicate these successes to assure that this facet of Nordic ski sport will continue?

Season Starts Well

Martin Donnelly-Heg e-punches .

The Empire State Games qualifier event at Lapland Lake on December 19, 2009 was a success. At 8:30 AM the temperature was still below zero.  During the competition moderating temperatures were in the mid teens.  The mapped ski trails were immaculately groomed with up to a foot of icy base and up to 8 inches of lake effect snow well machined into the surface.  Excellent conditions for skating.

Courses were set so a major route choice would favor using one or more rides, old ski trails, logging trails or a snowshoe trail.  There are enough of them on the map.  The start was in a location that I have never used before.  And each of the courses used an area of gradual slopes before proceeding into more challenging terrain.

The competition went smoothly.  Ann Christoffel helped with registration. Phil Hawkes-Teeter provided invaluable assistance running the SportsIdent and computer system.  I even had the luxury of time to get out on the courses with a camera.

This is an unprecedented third year in a row that we have been able to hold the season opener ski orienteering at Lapland Lake.  Further we had 28 competitors.  We also picked up a new scholastic female who is well on her way to qualifying for Empire State Games.  We need more youth to assure sustained interest in this facet of Nordic ski sport.

As a course setter I find it interesting to pick up controls after a ski orienteering event.  Even though I tend to favor groomed trails as a route choice, it always amazes me what different route choices participants make.    With help from Sue Hawkes-Teeter, Alison Crocker, Frank Boscoe and Doug Swank I only had four of the 20 controls to retrieve, but the loop I took through the midsection of the tight trail network reveled much about the route choices taken.  Most of the old un-groomed trails and the snowshoe trails on the map were well skied in, attesting to the creativity of those who competed.  I also think that this must have brought with it a real challenge to keep track of where you were as you navigated from one control to the next.  Were you really on a one way trail or not?

Another mark of success for a local orienteering event is to have each course designed so the winning time is about an hour.  This was the case in all but the the male scholastic where Will Frielinghaus broke the mold.  For complete results visit…

http://empo.us.orienteering.org/results/091219-laplandlake/

We are fortunate to have access to such a fine venue and the cooperation and support of Ann and Olavi Hirvonen.   I am most grateful for all the team who helped out.  Many hands make light work and many skilled hands make an event like this a pleasure!

Phil Hawkes-Teeter downloads from Verna Engstrom Heg's chip as George Nadorff and Pavel Korniliev discuss route choices.

Calendar for 2009 – 2010

The final 2009 – 2010 NYSSRA – Nordic Ski Orienteering Schedule is posted here.

Summary of a Successful Season

It has been many years since we had such favorable conditions from mid December into early March.  We had 13 Empire State Games qualifiers scheduled and only one of these had to be scrubbed because of poor conditions (mud rather than snow). We had five scholastic competitors at the Empire State Games finals.  I was disappointed that we didn’t attract more youth.  If we don’t get youth into our sport… and loving the experience our sport will die a slow and agonizing death.  Am I being overly dramatic?  Just look at our demographics!

The difference between us and our other Nordic ski sport brethren came home very dramatically at the end of the season.  In cross country and biathlon competition it is the competitor’s responsibility to know the course. (emphasize period!)  In Ski Orienteering the competitor is to navigate in unfamiliar territory. (emphasize period!)  With so few venues available where we hold ski orienteering events the later is nearly impossible.

The rule said, “Ski Orienteering competitors who intend to qualify for the 2009 Empire State Winter Games may not ski at Mt. Van Hoevenburg and/or Cascade Ski Center after January 31, 2009, other than in a scheduled competition event staying on the course for that specific event.”  Even though this embargo was more liberal than the U S Orienteering Federation rules its importance was not understood by those from other Nordic disciplines.

I liked the concept of having all the Nordic disciplines in one place for a championship weekend.  However, with what I have said above I would recommend that a championship ski O event should come off FIRST in the weekend schedule (rather than last).  That way we could, conceivably, ski in “unfamiliar territory” and no one would see even one control in a previous competition.  This could be followed by a short sprint event on a second day (say between X C and biathlon events).
Bottom line: I think if we want to grow the sport we have to lighten up and try to be more inclusive at least through the ESG qualifiers and finals.
If we want to have a gut busting, navigationally challenging championship for those who survived the ESG Ski Orienteering finals then, fine.
This is a summary of my report to the NYSSRA – Nordic meeting:

• Great season: 12 of 13 scheduled qualifiers actually held.
• We need to encourage more “-18″ participation in ski O.
• We liked being with the Championship weekend, but ski O should be the first event.
• There will be no embargo next season other than that imposed by the individual meet director.  The intent here is to be fair to all, but avoid having ski orienteering competitors skiing a venue AFTER controls have been hung.

For next season look forward to an early season opener at Lapland Lake and a Championship at McCauley Mt, Old Forge.  Bids are being accepted to fill in between the two with another great season of Ski orienteering.

Ski O at Lapland Lake

My mother often cautions, “Be careful what you wish for.”

I don’t think it is unreasonable to wish for snow for an opener of a Nordic ski season.  The first ski orienteering qualifier this year was at Lapland Lake Ski Center on December 21.  When I started setting out controls on Thursday, December 18 conditions were beautiful.  There had to be a minimum of 18 inches of cold soft snow in the woods.  The trails, as usual, were immaculately groomed by smaller equipment (no heavy equipment yet) so that there was a good six inches of packed powder over an icy base.  I had three courses planned:

• Orange Course – 3.6 k and 8 controls for recreational, snowshoers, groups, and for scholastic Empire State Games qualifier;
• Green Course – 6.2 k and 12 controls for grandmaster, master Empire State Games qualifier; and
• Red Course – 7.6 k and 12 controls for open Empire State Games qualifier.

On Thursday I hung 11 of the 19 planned controls.  Then it started to snow.  By Sunday morning there was an additional foot of snow in the woods and it continued to snow, heavy at times during the morning.  This made it difficult to drive to Lapland Lake from Clifton Park even though my daughter, Jill, drove her all wheel drive vehicle.  The snow was accumulating enough to scare away all but the most devoted ski orienteering competitors.  The falling snow was a cold snow which made conditions slow for hanging the rest of the controls.

Conditions obviously favored classic technique skiing.  We had 10 competitors complete their respective courses and another two credited with a start, who made sufficient headway but were concerned over being able to finish in under 2 hours.

Many thanks to Gabor Bobak who ran the chip timing and Ann Christoffel for keeping registration and starts flowing.

Next year I will have all the controls hung ahead of time.  I don’t think that participants in the mornings cross country ski race had any advantage.  Also, registration will open immediately after the last finish of the cross country ski race, about noon and the courses will be designed so that a set of controls can be collected starting right at registration close… say at 1:30 PM so that process can be completed before dark.

I hope you can make one of the upcoming calendared ski orienteering events. Qualify early to avoid the late season scramble if the snow disappears mid season.

Ski Orienteering in Upstate New York

Ski Orienteering is one of three Nordic ski disciplines that are practiced for recreation and for competition in New York State. Local events are calendared and coordinated by the New York State Ski Racing Association – Nordic, Inc. Orienteering involves navigation with a compass between points on a map of unfamiliar territory.

Sounds too complicated?  All you have to do is show up with your cross country skis, pay a few bucks entry fee, and find a few locations on the map.  All the locations will be on a trail, some more obscure trails than others.  If it’s a cloudy day a compass might help.

Each winter season as many as a dozen ski orienteering events are held hosted by a handful of local orienteering clubs. Many of these events are qualifiers for Empire State Winter Games held each year in Lake Placid the second weekend of the February school vacation.

For more information about ski orienteering contact NYSSRA – Nordic’s ski orienteering chairman Eric Hamilton by leaving a reply below.

Summer Fun

I had the privilege of attending the Empire State Senior Games orienteering at SUNY Cortland on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. The closest I have ever been to Cortland was traveling north on I – 81 and noting that the city was on a long “S” turn along the Interstate’s corridor. Seeing the college town first hand, a bit closer for a couple of hours, leaves me with a desire to go back.

The orienteering event was unique in more than one way. For me it was truly unique, because I had never seen the map nor the area before. The map was a hand drawn photocopied black and white. Barbara Sleight did a fantastic job laying out a score O of 24 controls on the western edge of Cortland and the SUNY campus. She was planning on using forested lands of the city water department, but learned two days before the meet that the woodlands was closed and tightly restricted. I understand that the city is trying to aggressively eradicate an invasive, tree killing insect. As a result the orienteering became a street O with nearly half of the controls hung in park like settings with man-made features making orientation easy. Navigation skills were not greater than those required for a yellow or orange course. The challenge was keeping track of un-crossable fences and which side of the fences you were on. I only had one problem when I over ran a control, in my signature ski orienteering style, and ended up off the map. [Unfortunately, I was also rapidly gaining elevation and wearing myself out, too early in the my run!]

Even with this blunder I managed to finish several minutes before fellow ski orienteering Grandmaster Len Courmier. Len is not in my Senior Games age group so he ended up with a well deserved gold medal as well.

It has come to my attention that the Empire State Games Office is seriously considering dropping orienteering from the Senior Games due to lack of competitors and the quality of the competition.
Ladies and gentlemen, this flies in the face of what we are experiencing in the ski orienteering community: an aging demographic amongst our competitors. At the risk of hyperbole let me issue a challenge:

• To every orienteer and former orienteers over age 50: register for next year’s Empire State Senior Games and bring a friend. It will be on Wednesday, June 3, 2009, in Cortland. Registration deadline is May 1, 2009. This event is ideal for ski orienteering training!
• To every local orienteering club in New York State: encourage one or more members to compete in each of the 5 year age groups. These clubs roughly represent each of the E S G regions.
• To the Empire State Senior Games: arrange a shuttle to one of several nearby parks that have an orienteering map. There were certainly enough shuttles around mid-week during these past Games.
• To the local orienteering club, in this case CNYO: keep on offering a quality orienteering experience that challenges our experienced athletes and offers something novel for those just trying orienteering for the first time.
• To all who register for the 2009 Empire State Senior Games: pick out a second or third event to make participation in the week’s festivities worthwhile. After all the first event this year cost $35 to register. The second, third or whatever event is no additional charge. There is everything from a triathlon, 5 k road race, and team events to shuffleboard and bridge.

Grey Orienteering. Do it!