Weather forecasts kept changing for a week. Happily, post-race chatter was centred more on the enjoyment of the day, the winter edition of the Arbo map and the challenge of the courses. 56 took part / 34 ‘starts’. An extra plus for the event was the participation of a number of Ontario ski-Orienteers. They were on their way to Craftsbury, Vermont where the World Masters Championships in Ski-Orienteering takes place all week long from March 5 until the 10th. Paul Lefebvre (Ottawa O Club) topped a field of 10 in the Long-3 Ski event, edging Francis Falardeau (Ramblers)… 1:09:56 to 1:12:23. Both had made small route errors on the course. Alin Duca (Waterloo Region Stars) was nearly 5 minutes behind the lead for 3rd place and Eric Lillie (Ramblers) had one of his best events to place 4th, 11 minutes back of Lefebvre’s winning time. Among the women on the SKI–2 middle event, Mary Ellen Connolly (Ottawa) topped two others by very close margins. Her time: 0:54:17. Anna Johansson (Swe) was 3½ minutes behind and Olga Rayda (Ramblers) 5½ minutes back.

Thanks to those Ramblers who helped produce the event… Bruce, Elaine, Lena, Elana, Olga, Francis, Anatoliy. (Apologies for anyone I’ve missed.) Our thanks also to the Morgan Arboretum for allowing us to hold our event in this fine location as well as for the use of the Arboretum‘s Conservation Centre.

For complete results and photos see our Result page.