Athlete Profile

Q: If you had one tip for young/beginning orienteers what would it be?
A: If I were to give advice to anyone just starting out, it would be to keep things fun. Orienteering is a sport where your mistakes serve as catalysts for your own improvement. However, if you take events too seriously, these become less so opportunities for growth, and more so sources of stress and anxiety. When you run, enjoy the environment around you, find joy in planning a route and executing it well, and don’t get caught up in the small mistakes that occur along the way. Errors are a fact of life in this sport, embrace them and learn from them, that's what makes a great orienteer.
Q: What aspect of orienteering keep you interested and motivated to stay involved, train, and compete?
A: What keeps me motivated in orienteering is the uniquely encouraging community we have in Canada. I’ve never experienced another sport where people support each other so naturally, whether they’re teammates or direct competitors, even at the national level. That sense of shared passion creates a network of people who genuinely want to help each other improve. It’s a big part of why so many athletes stay in the sport, and it’s what continues to push me to test my limits and refine my skills.