Athlete Profile: Eric Kemp

Career Highlights

• As far as straight results go, the Golden Leaf Orienteering Festival in Hamilton remains my all time best.

2011 Highlights

• The US Champs this last Fall were overall, the top weekend I’ve ever had. Top three every race!

How long ago did you start orienteering?
12 years ago.
What do you love most about orienteering?
The unique experience: Venturing into the unknown, the thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of the kill… (e.g. taking the control)
What’s your favourite orienteering discipline?
I’m most dangerous in a Middle.
Which orienteering event is always on your calendar?
Quebec Championships hold a special place. Maybe because it was the first A-meet I ever ran. Barebones usually isn’t on the calendar but I always seem to end up going anyways.
What was the highlight of your 2011 season?
My number one priority race for 2011 was the COC’s Middle. Lewes Lake turned out to be as complex as I had dared hope. I came painfully close to smashing the entire field away with a near perfect race. Sadly my mind and body couldn’t sustain the pace and I lost it on the way to #13. The terrain was unforgiving and I dropped six minutes, finishing 6th. Never have I experienced the anguish I suffered after that race. It is a bitter sweet memory that will provide fuel for many hard trainings to come.
What are your 2012 orienteering goals?
This next year is loaded with high level races that I will be using to pursue my passion. With some hard work and a bit of luck I hope to run at WUOC a second time and of course, the World Champs. I am especially excited for the North Americans in the Fall.
What races are on your 2012 calendar?
West Point and the Ottawa O-Fest in the Spring. Then, kick start my summer with some World Cup races, followed by WUOC, JWOC spectating, WOC, O-Ringen, the COC’s and finally NAOC in the Fall. Possibly the most action packed year yet!
What’s your favourite international location to orienteer?
I think the most fun I’ve ever had at an event was the 2009 JWOC in Northern Italy. Orienteering amongst the Dolomite Mountains was an experience that remains one of my all time favourites. Italy was my first and only Junior World Champs. I have been lucky to enjoy incredibly challenging orienteering with my fun loving Canadian comrades the last three years and hope to again this summer. Next summer too… and the summer after that, and many many more after that.
When you’re not orienteering, where can we find you?
Spending time with my little brother.