GHO @ 2007 Canadian Orienteering Championships

The 2007 COC's were held in the Saskatoon Area, the sprint at the University of Saskatchewan, with the middle and long 90 km north at Eb's Trails. The junior camp attended by GHO's Serghei Logvin was held at Living Waters Camp adjacent to Eb's Trail. The COC conference coordinated by Ian Sidders was held at the U. of Sask. It had 5o total participants, learning OCAD and Sport Ident software, participating in the new NCCP pilot and discussing various topics from attracting new members to the updating the officials certification process.

The Saskatchewan terrain was quite challenging. Light rolling hills with a big variation in vegetation made map reading difficult. Like last years NAOC's, the contours were 2.5 m lines. The high rainfall, early in July resulted in lush growth, no help for the orienteerers though. To top it off, a tornado touched down a week before the COC's causing pockets of fresh downfall. The SOA organizers had to redesign the courses on Tuesday before the weekend races when vetting discovered the new debris. For extra effect, temperatures topped 37°C Sunday for the long distance resulting in a quarter of the field retiring at or before the spectator control. Otherwise, an epic inaugural event hosted by the Saskatchewan Orienteering Association with help from the AOA.

Elena Logvina was the big GHO winner with a silver in the sprint and a bronze in the middle. Past GHO members Brent Langbakk, Patrick Goeres and Pippa McNeil medalled in the elite men and F35 classes. Other GHO racers were Andrei and Serghei Logvin, Jean Wessel, Jack and Lorraine Lee and Ian Sidders. See the results and pictures at COC 2007.