Athlete Profile: Louise Oram

Please list your best and proudest 2012 orienteering achievements.
33 at WOC long Distance, Lausanne

Please list your best and proudest orienteering achievements to date.

• Canadian Orientering Championships – 1st middle and long distance, 2nd sprint (2011)
• North American Orienteering Championships – 1st middle and long distances (2010) 3rd North American sprint, middle, long (2012)
• World Orienteering Championships – 28th middle distance (2010) 36 middle & 37 sprint distance (2011) 33 long & 41 middle distance (2012)

What is your first orienteering memory?
Having my dad follow me on a course in Pacific Spirit Park.

What is your favourite orienteering story or experience?
Racing the Norwegian Ultralong, in alpine / subalpine terrain. Made contact with another orienteer who I had never met but was driving up and was super nice. I got to stay in his friend’s house up near the race. Not a particularly good race for me, but beautiful area!

Is there a particular map/area where you could never get sick of orienteering?
Brandywine, Bow valley, basically somewhere with lots of detail and very few trails.

If you could fly anywhere in the world to orienteer, where would you go, and why?
Slovenia – beautiful Karst terrain

Do you have any other achievements from 2012 that you’d like to share.
Best paper at Haptic Symposium 2012: “Exploring the Design Space of Programmable Friction for Scrolling Interactions” Vincent Levesque, Louise Oram, Karon MacLean

If you could get orienteering coaching from anyone in the world (dead or alive) who would it be, and why?
Minna Kauppi, she seems so naturally talented and driven

What races are on your 2013 calendar?
US team trials
WOC 2013

Aside from orienteering, what other sports do you do on a regular basis?
Running, some cycling, xc skiing, and rock climbing

What is your favourite pre-race breakfast/snack?
Oatmeal

Tell us something that we might not know about you….
I have taken up knitting in the last year