OABC President’s Report for 2003/2004
I think that I will start this report with the items that have taken up the most time. Every four years Sports BC does an audit of all provincial sports organizations of which orienteering is one. This program was called Vision 2004 and required each sport to complete a lengthy questionnaire to be submitted with supporting planning documents. This was followed by an interview and an assessment of the submission, and finally a letter from Sports BC with the sport’s score, which was based on the Interview (50%), the Questionnaire (30%) and the Planning Documents (20%). With a range of 87.83 to 25.64, orienteering was given a score of 50.28. Unfortunately, due to an oversight, we missed the deadline for submitting our planning documents, and received a zero score. If we had met the deadline, I am sure that we would have scored quite a bit higher. Thanks to Marg Ellis, we had an excellent interview, which contributed 42.2 points, the rest of 8.08 coming from the Questionnaire. Poor Athlete Development planning was given as the main reason for the low score in the Questionnaire. Our planning documents were reviewed and were considered weak in forward financial planning and a system plan. We did however get good marks for new club development, officials development, school programs, technology (SPORTident and website), and child minding at events. Subsequent to writing this report, we will be attending a meeting with the Assessment Team, and will provide feedback in due course.
The next major project was our annual submission to the BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch in which we asked for mapping and hosting support for the 2004 BC Championships and the 2005 Canadian Orienteering Championships. I am pleased to report that we received $17,000 towards the mapping of the two events, which is the first time that we have been successful in getting funds allocated specifically for mapping. We were, however, criticized for the small number of voting members outside of the board at the 2003 AGM. We have to correct this or our future funding will be affected, so your attendance at the 2004 AGM will be appreciated.
The last major project has been setting up the framework for the Gold Rush 3 Day, which includes the 2005 Canadian Orienteering Championships. This event, to be held in WilliamsLake, will also serve as a warmup for those competitors competing at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Edmonton. With funds in hand, mapping by Bryan Chubbis well along, and the Meet Director will be visiting the site in October. Key positions for the Start, Finish, Registration, SPORTident systems have been allocated and a website, is up and running with SPORG on line entries.
After the exertions of 2003, we reverted to a more normal event schedule with SAGE putting on the 19th Edition of Sage Stomp at LoganLakeattended by 83 orienteers for the Classic, 99 at the Rogaine and 70 for the Short Race. The B meet at NewcastleIsland was enjoyed by all as usual, and shortly after you will have received this communication, GVOC is hosting the BC Championships with a sprint race at Queen Elizabeth Park, and then classic and short distance races on a new map just north of Maple Ridge. We are hoping that having a championship close to Vancouver will attract more local participants. There was, of course, a multitude of smaller local events put on by the clubs, and we would to thank all those volunteers, who got stuck in to put them on.
Athletes from BC competed abroad this year, with Alex Kerr making a very interesting and enjoyable trip to the Asia Pacific Championships in Kazakhstan. By the way, the score there was Australia 32 – Canada 3. That is not a rugby score, rather the difference in attendance. Why is it that we are such poor international travelers? However, 8 out of the 11 Canadian contingent at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Asiago, Italy were from GVOC, which was very good going. The highlight of that event was our own Ted de St Croix coming 4th in M45 out of a class of almost 300, less that one minutes behind the winner, Jurgen Martensson of Sweden, a former multi world champion. At the Canadian Orienteering Championships in Whitehorse in the Yukon there were several medal winners from BC as shown below. As an aside, the main ingredients served at the COC Banquet were arctic char and elk burgers – delicious! At the COC’s Marta Green, Louise Oram and Robin Foubister were picked as alternates to the Canadian National Team for the World Championships in Sweden this year. Next year the WOC is in Japan, and we hope that they will continue to improve their performances and make the team in 2005.
There was some interesting news from the Canadian Orienteering Federation with Ted de St Croix now on the board responsible for Coaching and the High Performance Program. At the AGM it was decided that in 2006, the format for the elite races, M20 and F20, would be changed to bring it in line with the World Championships. Instead of two Classic Races and a Short Race, the format will now be a Sprint (12 minute winning time), a Middle Distance Race (30 minute winning time) and a Long Distance Race (90 minute winning time for M20, 70 minute winning time for F20). It may be that the format for other classes will be changed if there is support for it, which, I think, is likely.
And now comes the bad news. Yet again we had a decline in membership. In 2002 full membership was 233, 2003 – 190, 2004 – 173. The number of recreational members has also dropped, which is largely due to the BC Elementary Championships not being held last year. Sports BC is very keen on growth in membership, officials and coaches, and while we are doing well in the last two categories, we must do something to turn around our membership. At the Golden Horseshoe Club in Ontario, they offer a free membership to everyone that enters one of their events. After that they can buy discounted packages of events, and if they want to go on to compete outside of the club meets, they pay an additional fee, which joins them to the provincial association. I think that we have to take a new approach to membership such as the above, as if it continues to decline, we will surely lose some of our funding. It will be a major topic for discussion at the upcoming Planning Meeting.
Well, I think that that is enough from me. See you in the forest.
Alex Kerr.
BC medalists at the 2004 Canadian Orienteering Championships
Short Race:
Louise OramGVOCF20Silver
Robyn RennieGVOCF45Silver
Frances VyseSAGEF55Silver
Shirley DonaldKOCF65Gold
Gillian BaileyVICOF65Silver
Graeme RennieGVOCM13Silver
Scott FoubisterSAGEM17Silver
Lehel FenyoGVOCM20Silver
Ted de St CroixGVOCM35Gold
Leigh BaileyVICOM65Gold
Alex KerrGVOCM65Silver
Scott DonaldKOCM65Bronze
Classic Race:
Meghan RanceGVOCF17Bronze
Frances VyseSAGEF55Bronze
Gillian BaileyVICOF65Gold
Scott FoubisterSAGEM17Silver
Magnus JohanssonGVOCM201st
Lehel FenyoGVOCM20Bronze
Ted de St CroixGVOCM35Gold
Mark McMillanGVOCM35Bronze
George PughGVOCM55Bronze
Alex KerrGVOCM65Gold
Leigh BaileyGVOCM65Bronze