Montreal

I'm in Montreal at the moment, in Quebec (French Canada). It's a pretty nice city, been here 4 days now with some guys from Waterloo.

The trip was mainly about the nightlife but we did sample some culture and see some sights.

Olympic Stadium

climbing Mont-Royal

view from Mont Royal

One more night here, on my own since the others left today, then I'm in Toronto for a night before heading home!

Photos

US Middle and Relay Champs

I travelled to Rochester in the USA this weekend for the US Middle and Relay Champs. It wasn't that far, 4 hours drive and is on the south shore of Lake Ontario.

The areas were really nice. Not much on the ground so were fast and had big contour features to navigate by and still detail for fine navigation at the control sites. I was a bit shaky in the middle, taking 48 mins for 5.3 km. Lots of misses. I think I am just a little out of practice. Hopefully the summer evening events can fix that.


There was also a sprint race in the afternoon but I took it easy, wanted to save myself for the relay, and make sure I got it right.



The Relay was much better. My team came 2nd (not counting the non-comp team of two who actually won and each ran two legs - they are both Canadian national team runners), just missing out on winning the USA/Canada Challenge Cup by 90 seconds.
At the US Relays a handicap system is used and each team must have at least 4 points for the premier relay (eg. in our team, M40 (1 point) W40 (3 points) and 2x M21 (no points).
My run, on 3rd leg, was pretty clean but I did mess up by about 2:30 mins at one control by following the wrong re-entrant, stupid. Enjoyed it though.

Maps from Rochester Orienteering Club

Results at http://roc.us.orienteering.org/2008-A-meet/A-meet.main%20page.htm

My exams finished last Wednesday. One was really good, two were decent and one was bad.
Montreal on Thursday.

End of Term

It has been a while since my last post, I have been really busy with projects and lab work leading up to the end of term. Last day of classes was today. I still have a couple of assignments to get done this week and two exams this week!

Couple more exams next week then I have a trip to the US Middle Distance and Relay Champs near Rochester in New York state. After that I am going to Montreal for 4 or 5 days, then I come home.

I did manage to make it to a Sum 41 gig a couple of weeks ago which was fun, and it was the Warrior Sports Banquet, a couple of track/XC socials as well which have been good. The snow has also pretty much melted and it is getting warm. Just need a t-shirt and top now.

It has been a fun term but I will be glad to be back.