2025 Orienteering Ottawa Annual Awards 

Aspiring Junior

Colin Kirk Memorial Award - Aspiring Junior of the Year

Presenter - Robbie Graham

This year’s recipient had been steadily climbing for several seasons — and then 2025 happened.

After years of consistent progress, this junior delivered a true breakthrough season, putting together performances that were impossible to ignore. At both the 

This year’s Colin Kirk Aspiring Junior Award is being presented to a club mate of ours who is ….. 

This year’s recipient had been steadily climbing for several seasons — and then 2025 happened.

After years of consistent progress, this junior delivered a true breakthrough season, putting together performances that were impossible to ignore. At both the Western Canadian Championships and the Canadian Orienteering Championships, the results were nothing short of dominant: five first-place finishes out of six races in the highly competitive M17–18 category.

At the Canadian Orienteering Championships, three gold medals sealed the deal and firmly established this athlete as one of Canada’s top juniors. Those performances earned national recognition and a well-deserved spot on the Junior Elite Squad — proof that the hard work, focus, and confidence all came together at exactly the right time.

Internationally, the season also included representing Canada at the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) in Brno, Czechia. Competing against Europe’s strongest junior athletes provided valuable experience on the world stage and marked another important step in long-term development.

Just as impressive as the results is the attitude. This junior consistently brings a positive, supportive presence to camps, training sessions, and events, and helped out with Orienteering Ottawa youth programs last spring. There’s a clear willingness to give back, encourage younger athletes, and help build a strong junior community — leadership well beyond the results list.

A season defined by confidence, consistency, and competitive excellence — and a future that looks very bright.

Please join me in congratulating the 2025 Aspiring Junior Award recipient — Dylan Revells. 

Volunteer of the Year

Pat de St. Croix Memorial Award - Volunteer of the Year

Presenter:  Omer Majeed

One of the main objectives of Orienteering Ottawa is to deliver a full calendar of high-quality local meets - in spring, summer, fall and winter to our members.

But calendars don’t magically fill themselves

Behind every B-meet is a mountain of coordination: building the schedule, recruiting meet directors and controllers, juggling locations and permissions, coordinating with Registration, SI the equipment trailer, the Volunteer Committee - and calmly handling last-minute curveballs like weather, illness, and unexpected changes. For the last few years, there is one volunteer,  has quietly  made sure that all of this actually happens. It's a demanding, often invisible, and sometimes thankless role - yet this person does it with dedication, persistence, and good humour.

She received multiple nominations this year with the following glowing testimonials:

• Always available for help and proactively anticipates issues and solves them.
• Provides exceptional personal support and communication) to make our B meets happen..

• Works tirelessly behind the scenes - recruiting, emailing, calling, cajoling, twisting arms, and doing whatever it takes to line up meet directors and controllers, weekend after weekend. 

In addition to coordinating every local meet, this volunteer also serves on the Volunteer Committee, supports the SI team, and still manages to compete at many events each year.

In short: if you’ve enjoyed a well-run local meet in Ottawa recently, there’s a very good chance this person made it happen.

Please join me in thanking our tireless, patient, and unflappable Meet Coordinator — the 2025 Orienteering Ottawa Volunteer of the Year…Karen Noseworthy. 

Thank you, Karen, for your leadership, commitment, and years of behind-the-scenes work that keeps our club thriving. We truly couldn’t do it without you.

Orienteering Spirit

Pierre Brassard Memorial Award - Orienteering Spirit

Presenter:  Cathy Bakker

I would like to present a volunteer who truly embodies the Spirit Award — someone whose passion for orienteering and quiet dedication keeps our club running smoothly… often without most of us realizing just how much work is happening behind the scenes. Basically, one of those people you only notice after imagining what chaos would look like without them.

This person is a constant and reassuring presence in Orienteering Ottawa.

Behind the scenes, club communications are in excellent hands. The website and newsletters are carefully managed, and this nominee played a major role in analyzing, selecting, and implementing the club’s new website platform. It was a project involving many options, many opinions, and probably far too many browser tabs — yet the result has significantly improved how the club communicates and operates.

At events, this volunteer is almost always there. If there’s a local meet, chances are this person is present. If it’s out of town, often there as well. And in past years, even overseas — proving that “just one more event” is a truly global orienteering condition.

Outreach and development are also a major focus. This recipient regularly supports school orienteering sessions and introductory clinics for adults, helping newcomers feel welcome and confident — and gently introducing them to the idea that getting lost can actually be part of the fun.

Then there’s the equipment. If anyone has ever opened the O-shed and thought, “Wow, this is suspiciously organized,” that’s no accident. Inventory is monitored, supplies are replenished, and everything is kept in excellent order — a small miracle by volunteer standards.

Taken together, these visible and invisible contributions truly capture the Orienteering spirit of this award: commitment, generosity, and a deep love for the club and the sport, all delivered with competence and no need for recognition.

For all of these reasons, it is a pleasure to present this year’s Spirit Award recipient… Lorna Guttormson! 

Orienteer of the Year

Brian Graham Memorial Award for Orienteer of the Year

Presenter: Robbie Graham

This year’s recipient is a steady and reliable presence at our events, almost always opting for the long or extra-long course — apparently because anything shorter would feel suspicious. At A-meets, podium finishes in the age group are common, and travelling to interesting events in other provinces or countries seems to be part of the normal orienteering routine.

Beyond competition, this orienteer brings exceptional knowledge and attention to detail to the sport. As a certified International Event Advisor, advice is now being provided for the 2026 North American Orienteering Championships near Tucson, Arizona — proving once again that major orienteering events have no respect for the holiday season.

Closer to home, years have been spent teaching adults how to orienteer through spring programs, mentoring new members, and helping build confidence and skills. Several former students are now active club members and even event organizers — a pretty strong measure of success.

When Richard retired, this volunteer stepped in to help keep certification courses going, leading Level 200 training and delivering Level 300 instruction, becoming the go-to person for courses that qualify people to put on events. In other words, if you’re allowed to run a meet, there’s a good chance this person had something to do with it.

This past year also included serving as Meet Director for O-Fest, organizing Sunday events and sprint races, updating maps, and doing all the extra behind-the-scenes work that makes events run smoothly — often involving a bit of arm-twisting and a lot of follow-through.

A role model on the course, a mentor off it, and someone who quietly keeps Orienteering Ottawa moving in the right direction.

Please join me in congratulating Orienteering Ottawa’s 2025 Orienteer of the Year — Andrew Cornett. 

Event of the Year

Event of the Year

This event was a fresh take on a classic venue. Since it’s last use, the area was completely remapped with LiDAR to the most recent standard.

Competitors navigated a well designed course that toured them through a variety of terrains:

• Complex urban areas up, over, and through bridges, tunnels, and alleys.
• Scenic forest with steep slopes, snaked with trails.
• Open parkland to test competitors speed.

Those that ran this course may have recognized some charming streets and buildings, as the town has been the film locations of numerous Hallmark Christmas movies.

The perfect blend of novelty and technicality left participants thoroughly satisfied, and the beautiful fall weather was the icing on the cake.

The 2025 event of the year is the Almonte Sprint! Congratulations to event directors Stefan and Mary-Ellen and everyone else who brought this event to life.