Retr"O"

Posted by Mike...
People say I'm stuck in the '80s given my love for retro music. Last weekend the Canadian Champs were held on an area called Terra Nova. The area had not been used since 1988 (the day after Ben Johnson won Gold in the 100m and the day before he lost said gold medal). There has been much discussion about the map quality of the new Terra Nova map (see above). So I thought it would neat to compare with the retro map below with the 2006 middle distance map plotted on top. I prefer the new map but it still (as one of my friends called it) "So 80's".

Interestingly #13 this year was the same as my #1 in the 80's.

(More) Killarney 2006

Here are some more photos (Papa Jim's photos) from our recent trip to Killarney. David Lake campground with Silver Peak in the background.

Mike and Emma study the map.

David Lake reflection.

The Wadd Squad on Silver Peak (looking north over David Lake).

Smores construction - Stage 1. (The Penta-mallow stick did not work very well).

LaCloche Range (above), Mama Sue at sunset (below)

Emma's Adventures 2006

Adventure Girl's Summer of Adventures - 2006

Emma on the London Eye, London, UK.

Hiking in Uppsala, Sweden.

Emma and Starr at Gronalund, Stockholm, Sweden.

Emma on a Turtle, Tarttu, Estonia.

Emma in Stadskogen, Uppsala, Sweden.

Emma in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, UK.

Emma on Silver Peak, Killarney, Ontario.

Emma and Mike in Djurgarden National Park, Stockholm, Sweden.

Emma on the Uppsala Rocks!

Canadian Orienteering Champs

Back to the future? Waddington and de St. Croix in the finish line of the Canadian Champs

The Wadd Squad spent the weekend in the "Headwaters" region of southern Ontario visiting friends and also attending the Canadian Orienteering Championships near Orangeville. There were three races on the weekend. A sprint in Orangeville, middle distance at Terra Nova and a long distance at Mono Cliffs. We all raced in the middle distance event, only Mike ran the sprint and only Emma ran the long. Unfortunately the weekend of orienteering was not well organized (and Mike plans to write about that another time) but we still had a good time visiting friends for the first time in several months. Mike got clearance to run in one race for the weekend from his physio therapist and somehow managed to win a silver medal despite the knee injury. His 'optimistic' goal prior to the race was top 5 so he was quite surprised with the result. He enjoyed the terrain and course so much in the middle distance that he also ran the very fun sprint race in the afternoon. It was Emma's first Canadian Championships and she had a great time. Emma was 4th in the middle distance and 5th in the long and made a few new friends along the way - literally. The middle distance course was difficult for the kids that started early as a trail they had to take was not very visible or well marked. A big gang of kids gathered in the woods and figured it out together - along the way. This resulted in a mass finish of kids in the finish chute. The photo above is Emma racing Nicole de St. Croix to the finish line in the middle distance. "de St. Croix and Waddington" Haven't we heard those names before in Canadian Orienteering?

What's next for the Wadd Squad and orienteering? Well Mike doesn't plan to race again until January but the North American Champs are in Milton and Hamilton in 6 weeks. Mike is an organizer and Starr and Emma will participate in some of the races that Thanksgiving weekend.

Killarney 2006

The highlight of the last few summers for the Wadd Squad has been our annual canoe trip to Killarney Provincial Park near Sudbury, Ontario. This was our 4th visit in 4 years but it also marked the 30th anniversary of Mike's first visit with his family in 1976.

This year we once again decided to just book one site and spend several days at the site and do lots of day trips. We chose Boundary Lake - which is just north of Silver Peak (the highest hill in the park). Last year we were on Sandy Lake - on the south side of the peak. There is only one campsite on Boundary so for the 2nd year in a row we had our own private lake.

Some of the highlights of our trip are shown in the photos (with captions) below. Check the blog more photos and stories in a few days from now.

Adventure Girl! leads the way on the railway portage from Three Mile Lake into Balsam Lake. Now if all portages were this easy.

View from our tent on a beautiful morning on David Lake. A beautiful way to start the day.

Emma "summits" Silver Peak for the 2nd time in 2 years. This time an easy route up the trail on the north slope. Very clear. We could see Lion's Head across Georgian Bay.

Mike celebrated his birthday in Killarney this year. Emma and Mama Sue used birch bark, twigs and pine cones to wrap his present. The birthday celebration included an orienteering race on a map made by Emma, a pinata, a birthday cake with ice cream (freeze dried of course) and a 4 piece orchestra (stones, pine cones, sticks and dried leaves) playing "Happy Birthday". The B-day Smores Fest was cancelled due to rain. Mike wants to spend his 40th Birthday in the park as well.

The beautiful quartzite hills of the LaCloche Range. This is one of our favourite things about Killarney. Not only are there great lakes to swim and paddle in but you can explore the awesome open rock ridges and slopes as well.

Sunrise on Boundary Lake - shortly followed by the morning swim and blueberry pancakes from freshly picked blueberries from Silver Peak. We were surprised that so many berries were still ready for the picking.

Reflections....

Emma and Starr swimming on Bell Lake at the end of the trip.

Wadd Squad Photo Gallery

For the last 20 years the Wadd Squad has been adding our favourite family and nature photo to the stairwell photo gallery in our house. We have just updated the online Wadd Squad Photo Gallery to show each of these photos. Some of the photos are scans of the print so the quality isn't great. With all the adventures of 2006 it is going to be a difficult to decide which is the best this year. We'll add 2006 to the photo gallery in early January.

Killarney...Here we come

In a few days we will spend a long weekend paddling in Killarney Provincial Park in the LaCloche range near Sudbury. This is our favourite place in Canada. Yeah we really enjoy the mountains of BC and Alberta and the sea spray of the Maritimes a lot but the more we travel the more we miss the Canadian Shield rock and the lakes and rivers of Ontario. A lot of the areas we visited in Sweden reminded us of northern (really quite central) Ontario - so we are even more looking forward to our visit this year.

Killarney is bounded by the great paddling of Georgian Bay and the paddling of the most famous paddling river in Canada - the French River. So there is a lot to do.

But it isn't just paddling. Warm lakes perfect for swimming and nice open rock hillsides for hiking and exploring. And exploring is what we like to do the most.

For the last 30 years Mike's parents have been exploring the Killarney and LaCloche region finding the exact location that various Group of Seven artists sat when they painted their masterpieces. We started doing this before we had ever heard of the sport of orienteering. Mike and his Father would pour over the topo maps to figure out where the artist may have been sitting and then we started checking out those spots. We'll be looking for more once again this year. Here is a link to this hobby. The photo above is of Grace Lake - a much painted area - and you can see why.

WOC: The Magic Formula I

Posted by Mike…

Earlier this year Holger Hott Johansen came to Hamilton for a National Training Camp. At that camp we listened to Holger discuss his approach to achieving his dream goal of being an individual World Champion (he had already won WOC gold in the relay). So it was extra special seeing him achieve that goal last week at WOC in Denmark – taking gold in the middle distance race at Gjern Bakker. Holger trains more than 800 hours a year and lives close to many excellent maps and terrain and is in a club with a large budget for elite training and racing. As he mentioned it was ‘no mistake that he ended up in Kristiansand’. It was all part of the plan or the magic formula to become a World Champion.

So after spending a few months in Sweden racing and now that I'm looking forward to coaching athletes, how can North America do to develop athletes to be among the top 20 at WOC or to achieve a dream goal of developing a World Champion? Well conventional wisdom would suggest that we need to send our best orienteers to Scandinavia to live, train and race for several years. But after spending the last few months in Sweden and talking to several people at WOC I’d like to challenge that wisdom and suggest that while the conventional wisdom might be the most ideal it is not the most practical. Why? People have jobs, school and family -- and living in Scandinavia isn't cheap. Anyway I am certain that we CAN create World Class (Top 20 of better) orienteers right here in North America. What? Is Waddington crazy? I mean we’ve been told for years that:

a) our woods are too thick,
b) we don’t have enough competitions,
c) the quality of our maps aren’t good enough,
d we don’t have enough good orienteers, yada yada yada.

Yes, it is true that we have heard these statements before but these are just excuses, excuses, and more excuses and this is how I would answer them:

a) We have many areas with open forests and sprint orienteering in non forested areas is the same ‘openness’ no matter where you are in the World
b) Sure we do, it is just that we don’t travel enough or we don’t take the smaller races serious enough
c) That is absolute crap and one of the lamest excuses I've heard. Many of the maps I have raced on in North America are among the best in the World and many maps in Sweden aren’t close to the quality of say the maps in Harriman SP and the Rocky Mountains of the US
d) Yes this is true but if you want to be the best in the World then you can’t accept ordinary results or just race hard enough to win. Instead you have to challenge and push yourself no matter what the field.

So what is the Magic North American formula?
I have to think about that a little more but the fact that Hanny Allston from Australia is now a World Champion shows that you don't have to live in Scandinavia to be the best. Visit yes...but you don't have to live there. Stay tuned for part II some time in the next month or so when I've had some more time to think about this...

World Orienteering Champs

A week ago today the Wadd Squad watched an absolutely awesome GOLDEN run by Holger Hott Johansen from Norway in the WOC middle distance race. Holger visited Hamilton in early January and gave an awesome presentation on his goal of being an individual World Champion and how he trained to reach that goal. It was great to be at the race to watch him achieve that goal.

Another awesome performance at this year's World Orienteering Championships was that of Hanny Allston from Australia. Still a junior, she won Gold in the sprint race. An incredible achievement.

WOC was a big dissapointment for Mike but he was prepared for this mentally as he had been injured for the 10 weeks prior to the races. He didn't achieve his goal of making the finals in both the sprint and middle distance. He had to place in the top 15 in his heat to do that and due to his bad knee and some uncharacteristic poor navigation he was well back of that spot in both races. The knee pain also caused him to pull himself off the Canadian relay team. It was an easy decision to make as Patrick Goeres was the replacement and he the young guy ran well moving the Canadian team up a few spots. Emma and Mike did however manage to place in the top 15 in a fantasy orienteering league that was developed for fun at WOC. Emma's Lonnloven (maple leafs in Swedish) placed 15th out of over 500 other participants. Details are here.

Stay tuned for some ideas of Mike's on how Canada can improve internationally in orienteering...

Back in Canada..eh!

On August 8th the Waddsquad said good bye to Sweden and flew back home to Canada. While it was sad to leave Sweden we were very much looking forward to going home.

When we got home we were treated to an awesome dinner at the Older WaddSquad house. Steak, fresh corn on the cob, fresh salad, Ontario potatoes and an awesome blueberry dessert. Yummm.

What is next for us?
We have a few adventures coming up. First we will spend a few days in our favourite place in Canada - Killarney. Then Emma and Starr will take part in the Canadian Orienteering Championships near Orangeville and then just before school starts again for Starr and Emma we will visit Brockville and enjoy paddling and swimming in the St. Lawrence River.

We have started to log the visits to our blog. It had to be a map of course.

Swedish 101: Bil Bingo

On our drive from Denmark to Sweden we pulled over to buy dinner. Why all the cars in the parking lot we wondered. A Swedish tailgate party? This was something I would expect to see in the US but Sweden? Then we realized that it wasn't a tailgate party but that they were playing bingo - sitting in their cars. BIL BINGO.

56....21....34...Toot toot goes a car horn....and we have bingo.

It just didn't seem like a Swedish thing this car bingo.

We enjoyed the drive to Goteborg where we visited friends and also had lunch with the Franssons. Goteborg is a lot more similar to Muskoka than the Uppsala area. If we do this all over again in 4 years we think we'll have to spend much more time in Goteborg.