This event was run as a Scatter O (for those inclined to find all controls) and a Score O (find as many as you can in under an hour) for those still working on their navigation skills. Either way, it was a fun adventure in the awesome trail maze on the west side of the RRU Campus. We had a great start to our series with 12 participants! A very tight race in the Scatter O category, with some results mere seconds apart. Also good to see the participation of our younger orienteers and their family. Thanks to all for coming out to this first event and Anne for bringing the snacks! We hope to see you all at the Uplands Park event coming up next week.

Linda (Event Organizer) & Marie (Event Helper)

Great turn-out despite the afternoon heat. A good run around this wonderful park full of so many trails! One unfortunate misplacement of Control 3 led to a little bit of confusion, but results were able to be adjusted to add in a split time for those who skipped it. A link to split timing results will be added as soon as it comes available. For now, overall placement has been posted. The course proved to be a real nice challenge in finding a an optimized route utilizing some of the lesser used trails. Thanks to Leigh for a great course! See you all next week at UVIC.

This was definitely a fun event for all on the UVIC Campus. The Memory O Format with three master map stations really challenged participants to remember control locations along with trying to find the most optimum and efficient route choices. Definitely an awesome brain exercise in visualization of control locations with a mix of strategy of how much time to spend at the master stations to ensure you did not accidentally miss a control. Top finishing times were really close with some merely seconds apart. Some variations were allowed with use of the Score O format by the Fang Family and Marcus & Jeremy enjoyed the use of their bikes!

Thanks to Theresa for a very interesting and challenging Memory O!

Participants were able to participate on bike or on foot with controls strategically placed. To balance the competition, runners gained an advantage in having more controls that were in proximity and accessible only to them, while bikers had to go longer distances, but certainly could gain advantage in speed. It turned out to be an interesting comparison in results! As ever, Street-O’s tend to favour fast runners over orienteering skills but strategy remained important. Kudos to Kerstin for pointing out the ribbon at the wrong cliff.

Jeremy (Organizer)

Thanks to the Lawrence Family for an interesting and challenging Urban Score O/Bike O!

This event brought participants back into the woods for some challenging forest orienteering in the wilds of West Thetis Park. Reading the terrain, making good route choices to avoid thick vegetation and good compass work were essential. The top two finishers (Brett & Arthur) were only seconds apart. Based on splits, Control 8 and 10 proved to be the most challenging controls for some. Theresa had a late start, but did her best to snag 12 of the 14 controls before course-closure. We also welcome relative newcomers Sara & Liz who did remarkably well in finding 12 of 14 controls in what was likely a new level of orienteering difficulty for them. Also, a great effort by our enthusiastic youngster, Vihiar, for bravely venturing off-trail to find 5 controls. Overall a great experience to help everyone sharpen up their forest orienteering skills. Thank you, Larry Gagnon, for a great course!

This event ended up being an epic and challenging dash (aka determined walk) up and down Mount Doug. A test of endurance with a map that took lots and lots of concentration and trails that required excellent foot work. Some unmapped trails added to the adventure of finding certain controls. In particular Control 6 and 7 proved to be quite an unexpected challenge. Control 8 to 9 opened up a host of interesting route choices. Congratulations to Arthur for an excellent run and a special shout out to Leigh, our esteemed elder, for snagging 8 of the 12 controls. Thank you to Max and Sasha who planned the course, set the course and then collected all controls after sunset by headlamp. We shall not forget this mountain adventure for a while.