tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73384665053885953922024-03-21T16:45:44.449+00:00The Irish OrienteerThe Irish Orienteer has been the national orienteering newsletter for Ireland since the early 1980's. Please e-mail your news to theirishorienteer@gmail.com.
Back issues from 1982 are available here: http://orienteering.ie/wiki/doku.php?id=ioa:tioarchiveJohn McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-77308493582554185982015-04-11T17:16:00.003+01:002015-04-13T23:43:26.760+01:00The Irish Orienteer is moving ...After a few months of inactivity, The Irish Orienteer is moving to a new location <a href="https://theirishorienteer.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here </a>from April 2015.<br />
<br />
You can still read all the older posts and the archive of printed material from TIO and from the LOC Newsletter which preceded it.John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-56842858365356397742014-10-23T23:46:00.005+01:002014-10-26T16:39:00.453+00:00October 2014We've had lots of big events recently, with Home Internationals, Championships at home and abroad and lots more to come. There are also IOA-run courses on "computers in orienteering" in November and a "major events" conference in the New Year.<br />
<br />
We start this issue with Helen Baxter's report on the Veteran Home International in September in the Forest of Dean (in England although most of us thought we were in Wales ...). The Juniors beat Wales, would the Veteran's follow suit?<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOGM_7jatfJGIvtJFscxIf7xr32JI5Z-6NA-Mddr0qKhjFGi6wt-1d9IjR0R508usNRolpegj6gjoq8758gUJq7oDnF8Oo479Hvggbh9-Vil5aV5ag43gVCPc_f_Qgs6yNQVXPSt3Jgw/s1600/VHI+team+2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOGM_7jatfJGIvtJFscxIf7xr32JI5Z-6NA-Mddr0qKhjFGi6wt-1d9IjR0R508usNRolpegj6gjoq8758gUJq7oDnF8Oo479Hvggbh9-Vil5aV5ag43gVCPc_f_Qgs6yNQVXPSt3Jgw/s1600/VHI+team+2014.JPG" height="122" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Some of the 2014 VHI team</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Ancient
Wood, Wine and Wild Boar</span></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">(or Veteran Home International 2014 Report)</span></b></span></div>
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This year’s Veteran
Home International was held in conjunction with the Caddihoe Chase in
the Forest of Dean; a type of terrain that Irish runners rarely get
to experience - mature mixed woodland with old mine workings,
charcoal burning platforms and plenty of deer and wild boar. The
maps had a high proportion of white which resulted in some fast times
– (although one or two vets complained that brashings didn’t
count as runnable!). The Youth Hostel had hot water which was a
definite improvement on last year although the bumpy, narrow, steep
access road was more than a little hair-raising for the drivers. For
the third year in a row the weather was great, no rain and some
sunshine as each day wore on. Ireland put in a full team of 24 and
everyone completed their races which meant points were scored by all.
There were some notable results on Day 1 with Marcus Pinker picking
up 4<sup>th</sup> in M40 and Angus Tyner coming 3<sup>rd</sup> in M45
plus Toni O’Donovan and Jean O’Neill coming 2<sup>nd</sup> in
their respective classes and Ruth Lynam winning W60 by 12 minutes!!
The dinner that evening was a welcome social occasion with the more
energetic members of the team opting to walk to and from the village
hall (a mere 5k round trip).
</div>
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Ruth continued her
fantastic form on Day 2 by being the leading runner in on the first
leg of the Relays causing great excitement in the Irish team and a
certain amount of surprise elsewhere. This team came in 2<sup>nd</sup>
in the WMW class. Ruth you were definitely ‘Queen of the Forest’
this weekend (man of the match doesn’t sound quite right). Despite
some other strong performances in the relays (Marcus managed to pull
his team up 7 places in the MWM class) we didn’t quite manage to
catch the Welsh but there is always next year even if it is on their
‘home’ terrain at Teifi Pools (used in Croeso 2012).
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The VHI weekend is a
great opportunity to run in different terrain, it tends to be a
relaxed and fun weekend. If you haven’t put your name forward
before – don’t be shy, while ability might be the main selection
criteria, availability is just as important. If you are over 35
Helen Baxter wants to hear from you – it’s never too early to
express an interest! Next year the event will be held over the first
weekend in October in Wales – get it in the diary.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Helen Baxter (VHI Team
Manager)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Junior Home International, Scotland </span></b></span></div>
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The annual Junior Home International competition
between England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales took place at Oban in Scotland on August 30-31, just about the time the schools went back after the summer. .
The competition is for juniors of M/W 14 up to M/W 18.
After a tough weekend of racing, Scotland just pipped England for the
overall title, the battle only being decided by some of the very last
relay runners. Ireland won back the Judith Wingham trophy from Wales,
after a successful weekend, with some positive results.
For more detailed results, from each day, and the overall points, you
can go to the EckO website <a href="http://www.ecko.org.uk/results/junior-home-international-weekend-aug-30-2014" target="_blank">here</a>.
For
pictures from the weekend (and there are a lot!), you can look to this
flicker
page <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wendles56/sets/72157647087380245/" target="_blank">here</a>. The overall results were Scotland 129, England 127, Ireland 56, Wales 46.</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Junior European Cup</b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Paul Pruzina (LVO) at JEC</i></td></tr>
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<i>JEC Team manager Brian Corbett reports:</i> Ireland were represented at the 2014 Junior European Cup (JEC) by Roisin
Long, Niamh Corbett, Paul Pruzina and Eoin McCullough, over the weekend of 3-5<sup>th</sup> October in north east Belgium. The
annual competition covers classes of W18, W20, M18 and M20 with each
country allowed up to six participants per class. 14 countries
participated this year with GB, Sweden, Norway and Russia fielding full
teams while Ireland sent one representative per class.<br />
<br />
The team took the red eye flight to Eindhoven on Friday morning and
after settling in at the accommodation in a complex consisting of
hundred of small houses, were ready to start around 5 pm for a sprint
race though the mostly pedestrianised city of Lommel. Full quarantine
procedures were implemented with a slight panic when we were told that
one of the controls had to be moved from an underpass to the top of the
bridge due to an unhappy resident. Paul Pruzina had an excellent run in
M18 to finish 36<sup>th</sup> in a time of 15 min and 3 sec just 1.46 behind the winner Joey Hadorn from Switzerland. Roisin finished in 39<sup>th</sup>
just 2.42 behind the winner. Eoin in M20 finished just 1.58 behind the
winner Oskar Andren from Sweden while Niamh finished in 44<sup>th</sup> on W20.<br />
<br />
The long distance was exactly that: 13.8 km for M20 to 9.1 km for W18.
Nevertheless, the terrain was pretty flat meaning that the running was
fast and winning times around the hour. The day was hot (23 degrees) and
sunny to match the beach atmosphere in the sandy finish area. The start
was from a military compound several km from the finish. Roisin
finished in 41<sup>st</sup> position 19 minutes behind Tilda Johansson from Sweden who completed the course in 60 min. Paul was 42<sup>nd</sup> while Eoin was 46<sup>th</sup> in M20 where the winner, Anton Johansson, won by a phenomenal 6 minutes with local favourite Tristan Bloemen in 6<sup>th</sup> only 50 seconds off second place.<br />
<br />
The relay on Sunday morning was in similar sandy and forested
terrain, the hint being the name of the map: the Sahara. A compact field
acted as start, spectator control and changeover. There were only two
relay classes, M and W, and with over 30 teams in each, there was a
great atmosphere at the start and throughout the race. The spectator
control was particularly entertaining with several runners literally
passing the control and failing to notice it resulting in loud
callbacks. While Anton Johansson put in another stunning run to come
home clear by more that a minute in the first leg, the Danish men came
through just like their women’s team to win. Ireland M team was lead off
by Eoin who had a great run, as did Paul and Róisín who came close to
embarrassing GB and German teams.<br />
<br />
The Belgian organisation was top class and just as impressive was the
support of their athletes no matter what position they were in. This is
an excellent team competition held in reasonably convenient places for
us in Ireland and over a short time span. However it is during school
term. Next years competition is in the northern part of Germany. Will we
be there?<br />
<br />
See the JEC website <a href="http://jec2014.be/#home" target="_blank">here</a> and JEC reports, interviews and maps <a href="http://delaatstepost.blogspot.be/2014/10/jec-2014-maps-long-and-relay.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Regional Championships</span></b></span><br />
The <b><span style="color: blue;">Northern Ireland Championships</span></b> were run by Fermanagh Orienteers on a new map just across the border in Co. Cavan, at a scout centre called Castle Saunderson, on 4th October. Cork O's Darren Burke travelled from Munster and had a convincing 4-minute win over Hugh Cashell (CNOC) in M21Long, with Steven Linton (NWOC) the NI Champion in 5th place. On the W21 Long course, Ruth Lynam (CNOC) showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the field, a thing she has been doing since she was a slip of a girl, finishing 8 minutes clear of NI Champion Olivia Baxter (LVO). You can see the full results, routes and split times <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/2014-results/" target="_blank">here</a>. You can see the full list of Norhern Irelend Champions <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/fermo/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The 2014 <span style="color: blue;"><b>Munster Championships</b></span> are at Muckross, Killarney, on November 2nd but entries have closed, at least in theory - maybe if you contact Kerry Orienteers they'll still let you come and run in the Kingdom. See the event details on the Kerry Orienteers facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KerryOrienteers" target="_blank">here</a>. Muckross is a really good area, with a mixture of runnable mountainous forest and parkland dotted with islands of intricate forest. It was used for the Relays at the 1998 World Cup races in Ireland and for Shamrock O-Ringens and Irish Student Championships and other high profile events.<br />
<br />
The <span style="color: blue;"><b>Connacht Championships</b></span> are on a new Padraig Higgins map at Strandhill, Co. Sligo, which seems to be right beside Sligo Airport, so it might be possible to fly to the event, on November 16th. Galway-based Western Eagles are staging the event and cheapest entries are before 31st October with late entries to 7th November. See details <a href="http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.org/connacht-orienteering-championships-strandhill-co-sligo-november-16-2014/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Waterford Orienteers</b></span> stage an ambitious programme of three events under the "Déise Days" banner on the October Bank Holiday weekend, starting with a night-O on the dunes at Tramore on Saturday, a Munster/Leinster League event at Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny on Sunday and a city race in the centre of Waterford on Monday. See details <a href="http://www.waterfordorienteers.blogspot.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">September Saturdays</span></b></span><br />
The adventurous orienteers in Setanta, CNOC, Ajax and 3ROC staged a great series of four mountain bike orienteering competitions on Saturdays in September, at Djouce, Curragh, Saggart and Three Rock, but unfortunately failed to ignite much enthusiasm except among the handful of entrants who took part. The events were great fun, challenging both physically and in the route-choice sense, though the actual navigation was straightforward. Maybe we're making MTB orienteering too difficult for the cyclists and too intimidating for the orienteers? The forests we use for orienteering are pretty steep and physical, but there must be other areas where it's possible for moderately fit people to ride all the way without having to dismount and carry or push: "root choice" was a particular feature of the Ajax event at Saggart, with lots of slippy tree roots on some of the tracke (but it looks like a popular MTB area). Would Mullaghmeen, Portumna, Donadea or Muckross be usable for MTBO, or those forests in the Ballyhouras? The problem is to get enough people to enter to make the events financially viable, and that still seems a long way off with only abgout 20 entrants. This is a pity as the two sports can combine really well, like banana and peanut butter ...<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>O-Bits</b></span></span></i><br />
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The seventh <span style="color: blue;"><b>London City race</b></span> was on September 21st in the financial heart of the City, and attracted an entry of more than 900 runners, from all over Europe, though very few from ireland this year. (There was a city race in Brussels the same day and at least one orienteer managed to run both races, travelling by Eurostar between the two capitals).The event finished in the multi-level Barbican Estate with its profusion of confusion: different levels, uncrossable boundaries and sloping surfaces. I was convinced at one stage that the planner was being too clever and tried to outwit him by running underground into a car park which, it turned out, hadn't been mapped. If I had run for a few more metres on the level I'd have seen my control as plain as day.<br />
I was surprised to see a girl I didn't recognise running in an Ireland Team O-top but the top may have brought her luck as she finished 1st in the international "Euro Youths Women" class: maybe Barboro Pijakova is one of the Pijakovs of Ballyjamesduff?<br />
Next year's race is on Sunday 12th September. See <a href="http://cityrace.org/" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/255929244590445/?ref_dashboard_filter=past" target="_blank">here</a> for information.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>North American Championships</b></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">Globetrotting W65 Jean O'Neill (Fingal Orienteers) reports from Canada, where she was one of a handful of Irish orienteers at the North American Championships in Ontario: </span></i>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I took part in the
North American Orienteering Championships, near Ottawa in Ontario
last weekend. There were about 600 entries. Terrain for the Middle
and Long was very technical natural deciduous forest.. There was also
a sprint and relay in a park and streets beside a large lake. There
were a lot of very fit elites there-it was a World Ranking Event.
Most competitors stayed at the event centre and took all (excellent)
meals there. Shuttle buses brought competitors to the venues. It was
a sports centre so swimming was free!<br />
<br />
I carried the flag for
Ireland at the Opening ceremonies in the adjacent ice hockey
arena.(we even got to see a game afterwards). Other Irish there were
Ronan and Julie Cleary, and the Young family - Fingal's Ciaran's
brother Alan and Mairéad and children.<br />
<br />
There are only ten
year age classes in Canada - 35 to 44 etc. - and from 75 up there are
5 year classes - there were quite a few of those! I had a great run
in the Middle event on Day 1, and came first, beating the famous
Sharon Crawford. I wasn't eligible to be North American Champion, but
the first 3 in each class got awards in addition to the first 3 from
NA. Prizes were presented after the dinner each day. Unfortunately my
performances were not up to scratch in the Long and Sprint on Days 2
and 3. (Maybe all my scratches and rash from the undergrowth slowed
me down?)</div>
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Computers in O</b></span></i><br />
Orienteering used to be just about maps and forests; now it's very much about computers too. We use them for mapping, for course planning, for communicating, for processing entries and results, so it's no surprise that IOA are running another "Computers in Orienteering" workshop, this time at the maldron Hotel near Portlaoise on Saturday November 22nd. See the IOA web site www.orienteering.ie for details. Places are limited but there may be one or two left. The cost is €25 per person. You can see how computing has developed since the 1987 World Military Championships in Ireland where computers were used to process results <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/computers-in-orienteering-1987" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Senior Home International</b></span></i><br />
In a nail-biting finish, Ireland managed to pull one point clear of Wales to finish third in the 2014 SHI in the Aberdeen area on October 18/19th. Not to diminish the performances of the team as a whole, it is clear that the deciding factor in the weekend was the presence of Swedish-based Nick Simonin on the Irish team, running in Scotland in preparation for next year's World Championships. Nick finished first of the SHI runners in the M21 Elite individual at Balmoral, and had another blistering run in the Relay on the heathery dunes of Forvie. The overnight position was Scotland 48, England 46, Ireland 10, Wales 10. In the Relays England finished first with 26 points, Scotland 25, Ireland 11, Wales 10, making the final score Scotland 53, England 50, Ireland 21, Wales 20 - as usual a game of two halves.<br />
This year featured a SHI-and-friends mixed sprint relay at Edinburgh ad Stirling a week before the SHI proper, along the lines of the one in last Summer's World Championships in Italy.Denmark won overall and Ireland finished 1 minute ahead of Wales, a premonition of what would happen at the main SHI.<br />
See all the results etc at the Race the Castles web site <a href="http://www.racethecastles.com/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/seds/scotland-victorious-on-home-soil" target="_blank">here's</a> a Scottish report on the event.<br />
<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Congratulations </b></i></span>.. to 2012 Irish Ladies Champion Maeve O'Grady and Dan Morrogh (DFO) on their wedding this week.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Quote of the day: </b></i></span><span style="color: purple;">“The
secret”, said Niki Lauda, “is to win going as slowly as possible”.</span> This applies to orienteering as much as to Formula 1 racing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv6kgmXsjshDd3t4NgC_JRmTxCsdFf1PxPzeuK3Q1zCMwc2_GFizJ5YvMOiBHvbHn3xgQuI-uwMIAvt_yPez9y9SvCeiIiPpX-arMJAmwN-juLu-SKgSfnrC3ZYaEOpIgAQz7C9JS494/s1600/Niki_Lauda_F1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv6kgmXsjshDd3t4NgC_JRmTxCsdFf1PxPzeuK3Q1zCMwc2_GFizJ5YvMOiBHvbHn3xgQuI-uwMIAvt_yPez9y9SvCeiIiPpX-arMJAmwN-juLu-SKgSfnrC3ZYaEOpIgAQz7C9JS494/s1600/Niki_Lauda_F1.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Niki Lauda</i></td></tr>
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That's all for now - watch this space for some photos and other snippets which might sneak in over the next few days ...<br />
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By the way, you can now follow The Irish Orienteer on <b>Twitter</b>: there's not much there yet but see <a href="https://twitter.com/TioIrish" target="_blank">here </a> anyway! Thanks to Helen Baxter, Jean O'Neill, Brian Corbett and all the other people who, wittingly or unwittingly, contributed to this issue.<br />
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Remember, you can visit <i>The Irish Orienteer'</i>s archives and read the orienteering news for the past 30 years or more</span></b> <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/archive" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-24954992497695288732014-09-05T23:57:00.001+01:002014-10-23T20:50:46.944+01:00The Irish Orienteer September 2014Featuring reports on the Jukola Relay; news from the archives, JWOC Report ...<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Jukola Relay, Kuopio, Finland: Land of the Midnight Run</b></span></span></i><br />
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Any of you who have heard of the Jukola will know that it is a 7-person overnight relay competition in Finland each June, this year on the 14th/15th. The race, which starts at about 11 pm, is preceded by the Venla relay, a four-person women's race in the afternoon. This year there were more than 1600 teams in Jukola and more than 1200 teams in the Venla, and the organisers estimated
that, with families and spectators, there would be an attendance of
about 30,000!<br />
Kuopio is an hour's flight or about 6 hours drive north of Helsinki and the competition area was on Finland's biggest inland island. I flew from Dublin to Helsinki via Stockholm, and after a couple of hours, an onward flight to Kuopio, where we arrived at about 1 a.m., and it was still bright enough to see clearly. We picked up the hired cars and drove another hour and a half or so to our home for the weekend, a wooden cottage by a lake in the forest. Arriving at 02.30, it was almost broad daylight again, just time for bed!<br />
After a few hours sleep and a leisurely breakfast, we drove to the competition area, following the line of cars and camper vans on the same route. Big fields of cars, muddy after a few days rain before the event, and a huge array of circular green army tents for the teams filled the assembly area, with big white tents housing sports supermarkets and all the other ancillary services needed by a competition of this scale.<br />
I was running on a London Orienteering Klubb team and there were also teams from Trinity College in both the Venla and Jukola.<br />
I was to run leg 5, a 7.6 km leg, theoretically at about 7 am if all went well on the first four legs, so I wouldn't need my headlight - just as well, as I hadn't brought one. The evening was spent in the tent, estimating running time (worst and best case scenarios) and gauging when to eat and sleep. The ground underfoot was like a ploughed field due to heavy rain beforehand, and the wellies were out in force.The crowds assembled to see the mass start at 11 pm, with the warning that the start signal would be from an army field-gun but also with a fly-past from a Finnish air force jet fighter which came in right on cue, skimming the treetops and rocketing vertically into the sky with a heart-stopping roar, disappearing in seconds into a tiny spot in the distance: very dramatic! See a video of the start <a href="http://vimeo.com/98326112" target="_blank">here</a> ... and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LS23LgWdT8A" target="_blank">here</a>'s another for good measure - less professional but capturing the feeling!<br />
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Just time for a doughnut and a hot chocolate, then into the sleeping bag, ready to get up for a 7 am run. It was so cold during the night that socks, hats and even towels were needed to keep warm. I woke suddenly at 7 am, alarmed that I might have missed my incoming runner, David Rosen. The plan had been for each incoming runner to go back to the tent and waken the second-next one while the intervening runner was in the forest. Due to some bad runs during the night, we were running behind schedule, so I was in plenty of time. Dressed, out into the early sunlight. A quick "Happy Father's Day!" from Eoin, who I met accidentally on the road, and off to the changeover area to wait.<br />
The sun rose higher and still we waited. The clock crept inexorably on and then it was time for the mass starts for the remaining runners: one for the 13.9 km leg 7 (including Eoin) and then one for the others, including myself and Ronan on Leg 6. The last mass start would actually be bigger than the first leg one. They removed the barriers and the runners lined up, two successive stampedes to the start control, 970 metres and 8 minutes from the start for me. Then the orienteering started ...<br />
Control 1, across the flat forest with drains and undergrowth, over the hill, across the marsh, up onto the second hill. What's that crag doing there? I must be further right than I thought. Over the hill and follow the flat forest and up to the small re-entrant - not quite what I planned but OK. Control 2 - along the hill to the right, through the band of young trees and down the hill: slightly too low - climb up to the right - there it is! Leg 3 - short leg: around the hill and down to the spur - fine. Legs 4, 5, 6 ... all fine. The area was quite hilly by Finnish standards, but not by Irish: the 7.6 km course had 285 metres climb and 17 controls. Runners going every direction, some on my course, some not.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpW_RRLpgeldWNozOJaLeDV5NygAG9vX0lQsX_t3WJwrtddBpk3Cd5U-rKgvePYFdqZl_HRKjjLkXySRNsagwHQn0YrmOF-uKF1ALrcCqTT71Olk0Fe4oGjzw6KWODKxpk2KYBj3HmqE/s1600/IMG_1857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpW_RRLpgeldWNozOJaLeDV5NygAG9vX0lQsX_t3WJwrtddBpk3Cd5U-rKgvePYFdqZl_HRKjjLkXySRNsagwHQn0YrmOF-uKF1ALrcCqTT71Olk0Fe4oGjzw6KWODKxpk2KYBj3HmqE/s1600/IMG_1857.jpg" height="170" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>National newspaper coverage for Jukola</i></td></tr>
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The map has the three-digit control code printed beside the control number ( 1-283, 2-280 etc) so there isn't too much opening and folding of the big map to see what's coming up next. Missed No 8 by a few metres and had to come back up to it, a 1.6 metre crag in an area of crags. Back on track again- no heroics, just a jog with a map! Control 12 - easy, boulder, looking forward to a drink on the road just after it. take a bearing, take a drink, run into the forest on the elephant track - but where is the control? 200 metres from the track, on a hill, NE-foot, # 159? No sign of it. Back towards the drinks station and try again ... same result. Is the drinks station in the right place? Run along the track but it's vague in every direction. Go to the crest of the track and take another bearing ... still no control. OK - get outta here. Head south, maybe see the shooting platform; if not, hit the small track. Suddenly, a little orange and white flash in the corner of my eye - I live to fight another day. 12 mins 30 seconds to do less than 300 metres - 1458th out of 1477 on that leg! Across the flat forest, up over the hill with the bare rock and crags, look down the big cliffs and know I have to go left a bit for No. 14, then follow the ridge down towards the final controls, the PA getting louder with every step. See the car parks and the tapes - nearly there. Make sure to get the last control right, not like last year when I only got the right one after three attempts: into the finish, over the footbridge and under the gantry. Manage to raise the pace a bit for the 220 metre run in - 589th out of 1476 runners on that leg. At least I picked up 44 places despite my problems with unlucky control 13. When Ronan and Eoin finished we had come in 1,220th place, slightly behind our race number 1201: not bad considering the catastrophic night leg 2 where we dropped more than 500 places! Anyway, it's not all about winning, is it? Most of the teams obviously have no hope of coming even in the to 100, and they are made up of families, friends, workmates and occasional orienteers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASxxYgMlQRTptmB-QK48_T3D3bMnCgiJMiRtCbLU926ZANd_ogCuXzNpP1Y7jslSpLUrCSJmPwWucZGXqzidq3B0_2n6r06621cx3UzA3KaPTWdRFr5aH623yKq-5DrFHcm1QXEo2nmI/s1600/Jukola+map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASxxYgMlQRTptmB-QK48_T3D3bMnCgiJMiRtCbLU926ZANd_ogCuXzNpP1Y7jslSpLUrCSJmPwWucZGXqzidq3B0_2n6r06621cx3UzA3KaPTWdRFr5aH623yKq-5DrFHcm1QXEo2nmI/s1600/Jukola+map.bmp" height="400" width="335" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Leg 1: 11 pm.</i></td></tr>
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The event facilities include a beer tent and a sauna, plus hot showers and all the O-gear you could ever want, so there's plenty to do. There's even a forest church and (sometimes) a betting office where you can bet on the Jukola results. After our runs it was a spot of shopping (no end-of-day bargains this year though) and back to the cottage for a swim, sauna, dinner and mosquito hunt. <br />
The weekend is a fantastic orienteering experience, and looking at the age range of runners taking part, there are plenty of old dogs with life in them still!<br />
One suggestion, though, to avoid the huge numbers in the Sunday morning mass-starts, is to start the Jukola earlier, maybe at 10 instead of 11 pm: it will be equally dark during the night but it will give more runners a chance to come through before the 08.45 mass-start cutoff time. Still, I don't imagine that many of the Jukola organisers read TIO?<br />
Next year's Jukola is at Turku, in SW Finland, quite easy to reach by road from Helsinki and by ferry from Sweden. - and I believe the post-Jukola ferry trip back to Sweden is a party experience not to be missed!<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Course Planning</span></span></i></b><br />
Here's a great description of the course planning process from Meghan Rance in <i>Orienteering Canada</i>:<br />
<br />
<i>"In my experience, good orienteering course planning is like good
writing. First, consider your audience. Who are you doing this for and
what are their needs? Second, create a structure. Have a beginning, a
middle and an end. Have fast, exciting bits, long, twisty bits and a few
surprises out of the blue. You are trying to keep your audience on
their toes not falling asleep from boredom. Last, edit the heck out of
it. Your first attempt is not the final version. It is a draft. Make
sure each part serves a purpose and that you keep repetition to a
minimum. Keep editing until you have just the right pace and tone.<br />
<br />
Good course planning takes time, thought and theory. With that in mind,
and a focus on creating good legs rather than good controls, anyone can
plan fantastic courses."</i> <br />
<br />
See the full "Course Planning" issue of <i>Orienteering Canada</i> <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6b2ba637fe551eb3f74c81e02&id=c7e2fb5c88" target="_blank">here</a>. (Thanks to Nick Barrable of the excellent <a href="http://www.compasssport.co.uk/" target="_blank">CompassSport</a> magazine for the tip-off).<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Inside Orienteering</b></span></span></i><br />
Read the latest issue of the International o-Federation's magazine "Inside Orienteering" <a href="http://orienteering.org/edocker/inside-orienteering/2014-3/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Two Great Initiatives</b></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Me3lGeBI6Ja5z7IX9e7Ow1inE_ASUHTQP7VCj4cMObXi-4LBXkD_zN3SzWFuCdH-L0fqwY2LlEK_-s-nyMmK3SRTq2ORi52-ML6zplj-xQQMO-GvrD7mcmXSyE9Gvse3ns924Z7jhG0/s1600/Xplorer_web_image.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Me3lGeBI6Ja5z7IX9e7Ow1inE_ASUHTQP7VCj4cMObXi-4LBXkD_zN3SzWFuCdH-L0fqwY2LlEK_-s-nyMmK3SRTq2ORi52-ML6zplj-xQQMO-GvrD7mcmXSyE9Gvse3ns924Z7jhG0/s1600/Xplorer_web_image.JPG" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
I came across two great initiatives on the British Orienteering web site recently, both aimed at getting people orienteering without them noticing. The first, <b><span style="color: blue;">"Xplorer"</span></b>, is aimed at primary and pre-school kids and their families, doing a kind of map-based treasure hunt in local parks and finding pictures of animals and things to complete the course (see <a href="http://www.xplorer.org.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
The second, <span style="color: blue;"><b>Run Challenge</b></span>, is aimed at adults who are interested in outdoor exercise (joggers, running clubs, triathletes, sports clubs) who do a 45 minute treasure hunt type event using a modified OS map to find as many clues as they can. See <a href="http://www.runchallenge.org.uk/Default.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Nowhere is the word "orienteering" mentioned in these sports, but the transition from either of these activities to "real" orienteering should be pretty seamless.<br />
These are the kinds of things we need to adopt before orienteering dies of old age. We absolutely must get more young people into the sport - this is not just an Irish problem, but we have to deal with it ourselves, for our situation.<br />
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, there are populations of people out there who need to discover orienteering - the problem is that they don't realise it. The whole scouting organisation is ripe for orienteering but we don't have any contact with them; the National Scouting Centre at Larch Hill doesn't even have a current O-map.<br />
The production of several university campus sprint maps is a great development: we need to bring the maps to the people, not the other say around.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Our sport </b></span></i></span><br />
<i><span class="userContent">"Do you guys even realise that kids nowadays
are growing up with knowing the forests only from TV-documentaries or
excursions in school who never leave the paths. Can you imagine that
there are people who never had the sensational feelings o<span class="text_exposed_show">f
running through a river, dangerous downhills , climbing uphill so steep
you have to use your hands not to fall, swimming through a marsh, running
into a spiderweb, running to green forest where you smile because you
know only few persons in history have ever been there before! That,
ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the best sport in the world and
people from other sports will never understand " - from the "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/OrienteeringMemes" target="_blank">Orienteering memes</a>" Facebook page.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><i><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">History Pages ...</span></span></i></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7QkkT_3uC916qpyKHCwL5OI1AtqILEoYDAONGQrdZlK5ZqiddEatXrhHYu_V-EyWowGEOkS9YaTvsyrYJFGWSberoSYiTE4P4jOKDr1lOdJRypLomqlr9KaltiBPrZwJuqmSyfKG6LEI/s1600/tio+2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7QkkT_3uC916qpyKHCwL5OI1AtqILEoYDAONGQrdZlK5ZqiddEatXrhHYu_V-EyWowGEOkS9YaTvsyrYJFGWSberoSYiTE4P4jOKDr1lOdJRypLomqlr9KaltiBPrZwJuqmSyfKG6LEI/s1600/tio+2004.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">It's really interesting to go back in time to see what was happening years ago in orienteering: for old timers it brings back happy memories, for newcomers it shows the development of the sport and what has gone before.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Read the Autumn 2004 issue of The Irish Orienteer <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/tio108.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Read the September 1994 issue <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/t70_sept94.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Read the July-August 1984 issue <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/tio_12_july_aug_1984.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Back issues can be found on the IOA web site under "Archive" <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/archive" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span><i><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><u>Team Leader <b>Ivan Millar's</b> Report</u></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i><u> </u></i></span>The 2014 Irish JWOC
team were all set for their Bulgarian challenge - by recent standards
it was a small team of three final year juniors. The team consisted
of two LVO juniors, Mark Stephens and Jack Millar, and 3ROC's Eoin
McCullough, their coach and leader for the week was Ivan Millar. The
LVO contingent flew out from Dublin early on a Wednesday morning
about a week before the competition began. The team were heading for
the popular Bulgarian ski resort of Borovets which would be the main
base for the national teams and the competition event centre.
Borovets is located about an hour's drive south of the capital city,
Sofia - unfortunately there are no direct flights from Ireland into
Sofia so the best option was to fly into the Romanian capital,
Bucharest, and drive south to Bulgaria from there. The plan was to
drive to Borovets via Sofia airport were we would pick up our third
team member Eoin who had just spent a week orienteering with the
Irish World Champs team/supporters in Italy. It turned into a bit of
an epic journey though as we battled massive traffic jams that had
built up on Bucharest's questionable ring road and officialdom at the
border. Eventually a few hours later than planned we collected Eoin
and made our way to our accommodation for the training phase.</div>
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We had already had the
benefit of a Bulgarian JWOC training and preparation camp in the
spring. It was vital to have this experience both for the competitors
to get a taste of the various terrains and also for the team
officials to find their way around, get a feel for the location, the
locals and how they operate. It is also important to find out where
the closest shops are for purchasing massive amounts of chocolate
biscuits, bananas and bottles of water! The first JWOC race (the
sprint) was to start the following Tuesday, so that gave us five days
of training. Before leaving Ireland I had arranged 6 or 7 specific
training exercises for the team on the areas provided. We had PDF
quality maps from the organisers and using OCAD I plotted the courses
and exercises - many thanks to LVO for letting us print off a few
copies of each of the exercises.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The training phase.</b></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The competition
terrains to be used for JWOC were going to be challenging and varied
so it was important to experience all of the areas. Our first
training day was in Samokov town. Samokov is the closest real town to
the Borovets resort and would be the venue for the sprint race. There
was a small mapped area provided for sprint training, taking in a
town park and some residential streets. To break us in gently we had
some sprint sessions around this area. We then headed to a mapped
forest overlooking Samokov town for some relay type exercises in some
uncomplicated forest terrain which had many paths and would be very
similar to the area being used for the relay competition.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The JWOC competition
programme comprises 5 orienteering races, three of these races
could be considered middle distance (middle qualifier, middle final,
relay) so I had focussed much of our training with this in mind.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The JWOC middle race
was to be held on an area called Zheleznica which provides an area of
terrain with specific challenges. The forest has good visibility but
the challenge is to understand the shape of the ground which is quite
steep and complicated with many re-entrants and erosion gullies
running down the slopes. It can be very difficult to judge distance
when running across the slopes with a high risk of parallel errors
and to compound things further relocating after a mistake is very
difficult. It promised to be a real challenge so time spent on the
Zheleznica relevant terrains was essential. Luckily part of the
Zheleznica area was opened for training and on the Friday we headed
there for some training. I had three courses planned, each focussing
on a different element of the map (rocks, rivers, and contouring the
slopes). In the afternoon we headed to our favourite forest Relyovo
for a control pick exercise.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmP-6jeSflmxqkQtr2pqOvS-d5BjPhPIaNOsbV9OBJ4WoyaY5QizHE3RDdMY_wl_dWfuj1mDFZrsrubY0vWjuSzmMHGkXN_dex2nIEtMAMwICURv0JyiZfUwQd6e7KXHSqnzkfvRYv7M/s1600/Terrain+1+JWOC.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmP-6jeSflmxqkQtr2pqOvS-d5BjPhPIaNOsbV9OBJ4WoyaY5QizHE3RDdMY_wl_dWfuj1mDFZrsrubY0vWjuSzmMHGkXN_dex2nIEtMAMwICURv0JyiZfUwQd6e7KXHSqnzkfvRYv7M/s1600/Terrain+1+JWOC.bmp" height="96" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Typical Relyovo terrain with numerous erosion gullies</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After breakfast on
Saturday we headed to a forest called Shiroki Dol for some training
that focused on downhill navigation, as the long distance race
promised lots of downhill running. The training course was
planned in five downhill sections, with an uphill walk/jog between
each section. Shiroki Dol offered a few different technical
challenges and each of our downhill sections focussed on one of
these. Satisfied with our mornings training, we headed back to the car
for some lunch and in the afternoon travelled into Sofia to pick
up the latest addition to the team, Harry (Millar), who had taken time out of
his European rail trip to be assistant coach and supporter for the
team.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sunday morning started
bright and warm and, as this was the last day before we moved to
Borovets for the start of the competition, we decided to have an easy
morning and train in the afternoon. That afternoon we went to the
relay training area in Borovets, we focussed more on compass and
identifying useful attackpoints to guide us into controls. Overall
our training so far in the build-up had been pretty easy going,
however it was important for the team to get a taste of race pressure
before the real competition started so in the early evening we headed
back to our favourite forest, Relyovo, for a middle distance
simulation race. It was all serious as we walked to the start - no
messing around with sticks or throwing pine cones - we had start
boxes, start intervals and thanks to Harry we even had authentic
start beeps! The course was set to exact length, climb and there were
the same number of controls, we even had a spectator run through and
final loop planned. Unfortunately the spectators couldn't make it
from the start in time to shout encouragement, we made it to the
finish though and the race times were good - the training was paying
off.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We spent our last night
in our training accommodation where our host, Mrs Christo, provided a
lovely meal for a hungry team. We then packed up and got ready for
the next day's transfer to the competition hotel in Borovets and the
next phase of the trip - the JWOC races.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgFTy9_M9N42kl3SymBmQ1y-i4_krTiin6lWgGVQaTAC5a1bmSkf62tU7pSv1oMkoCapLjNnfV06sjxi8rQuDSQAKa-_jOD4VLzze9c1ihcvTg5w3GWvr5O_PmjCrla99PjWWPnzkk2k/s1600/JWOC+team.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgFTy9_M9N42kl3SymBmQ1y-i4_krTiin6lWgGVQaTAC5a1bmSkf62tU7pSv1oMkoCapLjNnfV06sjxi8rQuDSQAKa-_jOD4VLzze9c1ihcvTg5w3GWvr5O_PmjCrla99PjWWPnzkk2k/s1600/JWOC+team.bmp" height="320" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jack, Eoin & Mark after a hard training session</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Following accreditation
we moved into our new rooms, unpacked, got lunch with the other
teams, picked up the model event maps and planned our day. We were
surprised at the newly updated maps (especially Zheleznica) - it looked
a lot different; contours and forms had changed, knolls had appeared,
there was now even more detail on an already complicated map! We
would need to revisit before Fridays middle qualification race,
however that afternoon we visited the long and then the sprint middle
events for some casual training. It was great to have controls out in
the forest at last, no more hunting for little red tags hanging from
branches, this small improvement seemed to lift the teams confidence.
That evening was hot and humid and at the first of the weeks team
leaders meetings we were told of all the arrangements for the next
day's sprint race and also that the forecast was for the weather to
break in the morning.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The JWOC races
begin.</b></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was an early start
the following morning as the team and assistant coach Harry got their
first taste of what was to be the regular quarantine procedure
consisting of an early bus to an athlete's holding area (usually a
weather proof building) where there was a complete ban on electronic
equipment and even escorts to the toilet.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jack was first Irish
starter for the sprint and probably got the best of the weather
because shortly after the first starters headed off the heavens
opened and by the time Eoin set off on his run the deluge was in full
flow. Perhaps the thunder and rain helped Eoin focus more on the race
as he finished with a great time for the 3km course, finishing an
excellent 44th place Eoin's time of 15 mins 58 secs was just over 1
minute behind the winner from New Zealand, Tim Robertson. Jack and
Mark had steady, error-free runs and were surprised to finish with
the same time of 17 minutes 50 seconds along with two other runners!
This was good enough for 114th place out of 160 runners. The course
was maybe not as technical as most had expected, it was more of a
runners' course. Jack was slightly disappointed for having a cautious
start to his race but overall the team were very happy with this
start to JWOC and knew that tougher challenges lay ahead</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9lpP5RHrtovRwiKH8-kyTJXkGYugQBPjcWNJJR8jVj_UsbdBFLtkenXyJUFAm9i0deuoBqorOmMmlskl1Ju_5fJgfAiHmOYKRIF3SOUwFdqagLt0ePskgG-Yee-xwV6iJNqxToGt8wk/s1600/samokov+map+jwoc.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9lpP5RHrtovRwiKH8-kyTJXkGYugQBPjcWNJJR8jVj_UsbdBFLtkenXyJUFAm9i0deuoBqorOmMmlskl1Ju_5fJgfAiHmOYKRIF3SOUwFdqagLt0ePskgG-Yee-xwV6iJNqxToGt8wk/s1600/samokov+map+jwoc.bmp" height="400" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mens sprint final map</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Wednesday was the day of
the long distance final which was to be held in an area called
Maliovitsa. The area is based on the lower, forested slopes of a ski
resort 20km from Borovets. The courses were planned by Bulgaria's top
elite orienteer Kiril Nikilov and promised to be challenging with at
least one long leg, with route choice option, and a runner separation
system (butterfly loop). Spectators and coaches had the benefit of a
competitor run through, so as the runners pass through the arena we
could gauge their progress and offer a word or two of encouragement.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eoin was first of the
Irish to pass and was making good progress. After the pass through
there was a final loop in the forest and the runners returned 20 to
30 minutes later to thunder up the run in. Eoin continued his
excellent form to finish the 10.2km course in 1 hour 32:55. Jack was
the last of the Irish runners to start and was running well until the
leg to the butterfly loop where he had trouble locating a control in
a steep area of green forest, the remainder of the butterfly loop was
also costly and he finished disappointed with a time of 1 hour 54:31.
Mark was also disappointed with his run - finding the running
conditions difficult in parts, the forest had very low visibility and
the terrain included some tricky areas of rock and scree. Mark's time
of 2 hours 16:35 was a lot slower than what he had hoped for. The
long legged Swede Anton Johansson made the mens course look easy, he
was fastest in a time of 1 hour 15:17. Eoin just missed out on
a second top 50 by finishing an excellent 52nd, Jack was ranked 113th
and Mark finished the long in 140th place</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgszXKBmPOqnX3MlSwBKO98mzLB_qkfocRojmL1I8e3BbEhhyphenhyphenAsUuUMVKvQr_RaijuIIIeGVS_c0JYNQZwEJu8VmrWfwXvYu4DauXrWYfpxaFGhJufcVQNDKju5FhYQ0h8-UwkS8FS9tbk/s1600/JWOC+Eoin.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgszXKBmPOqnX3MlSwBKO98mzLB_qkfocRojmL1I8e3BbEhhyphenhyphenAsUuUMVKvQr_RaijuIIIeGVS_c0JYNQZwEJu8VmrWfwXvYu4DauXrWYfpxaFGhJufcVQNDKju5FhYQ0h8-UwkS8FS9tbk/s1600/JWOC+Eoin.bmp" height="320" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Eoin finishing the Long race</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The next day offered a
rest day and an excursion for the competitors to some ancient ruins.
For the rest day we opted to skip the tour of the ruins, get some
rest in the morning then have one last visit to Zheleznica before the
middle races began.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Our last training on
Zheleznica was on the new model maps and the improvement in map
detail and quality was amazing. It gave us more confidence going into
the middle distance races, knowing that the tricky terrain would test
our map reading skills to the limit.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
With 5 races during
JWOC and only 2 down I reminded the team that we weren't even half
way yet and even if some were disappointed there was still time to
improve results.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The next morning was an
early start for the team, they boarded the buses for the hour long
trip to the Middle qualification races. Harry again did a great job
at the quarantine with the team, keeping them in good spirits
pre-race. The middle qualifying race is split into three heats of
similar length, the top 20 finishers from each heat progress to the A
final, the next 20 make the B final and the remaining 20 or so will
run the C final races the next day. The team had all trained well for
these races and we hoped for good results and were very pleased when
Eoin and Jack both made the B final, even though made some mistakes
along the way. Mark struggled to keep contact on a few legs and lost
some time but was looking forward to a tough task on the C final.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPIs2bcg2AtuV_nI5zlRASO1_421Gt03yc4_R8puJwBEOihCouwgrD1_dhLNToAyevjEfTdz5-j66pNLV6mZYJ1R-q6k_R2W5d2DZK0AsyZQRDHQHOOfB1KPtuvo6hB6-bTyFiRyoDxE/s1600/JWOC+Mark.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPIs2bcg2AtuV_nI5zlRASO1_421Gt03yc4_R8puJwBEOihCouwgrD1_dhLNToAyevjEfTdz5-j66pNLV6mZYJ1R-q6k_R2W5d2DZK0AsyZQRDHQHOOfB1KPtuvo6hB6-bTyFiRyoDxE/s1600/JWOC+Mark.bmp" height="299" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mark in action - Middle Qualification</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Middle final was
held on the remaining (southern) part of the Zheleznica map. The
area was similar in nature but with more rock detail to further
complicate navigation. Eoin and Jack again made a few mistakes, Eoin
finished in 37.40 in 33rd place, whilst Jack was 44th
finishing in a time of 41.29.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was worth noting
that the A and B finals were similar courses with the same length of
3.7 km. Both finals had strong fields with similar winning times and
Eoin and Jack can take heart from running faster than many on the A
final. Mark had his best run of the competition so far with an
excellent result of 13th in the C final, finishing only 6 minutes
behind the winner, Corentin Roux of France. </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The night before the
relay at our last team meeting we reflected on how things had gone
for the team over the previous week or so. We had all had some highs
and lows, and enjoyed some good racing and training. We also
reflected on the journey the team had taken as Irish juniors and how
we had encountered similar ups and downs along the way. For the team
it would be their last major relay race as juniors, they had raced
many times together before and all had good speed and with a bit of
luck and three clean runs, I knew we were capable of a good result.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhRfJhfhSkO9x-pWHIt9erwZ-Mo0ybSZ4IfG4L5J6QAhk2msCSsneLBEohUhqpaIRPxWQ6QP5_UsphRHq6Q8_xd1dPb9eytxwyqPhuewr1oJS2DQt2x9D7A298Ws9wNJ9_1G1oUCWr-dc/s1600/JWOC+middle+map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhRfJhfhSkO9x-pWHIt9erwZ-Mo0ybSZ4IfG4L5J6QAhk2msCSsneLBEohUhqpaIRPxWQ6QP5_UsphRHq6Q8_xd1dPb9eytxwyqPhuewr1oJS2DQt2x9D7A298Ws9wNJ9_1G1oUCWr-dc/s1600/JWOC+middle+map.bmp" height="258" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-top: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Testing terrain -
Zheleznica middle B final</i></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Relay day dawned
overcast with the threat of rain. The relay area was in the
surrounding forest of the Borovets resort with the arena situated in
front of the resorts main hotel and at the foot of ski run. The
spectators would have a great view of all the action as the teams
passed by, ran a final lop of controls and then sprinted across the
slope to the final control and run in. The women's race started first
at 10:00am and at 10:15am Jack lined up along with 53 other starting
teams in the men's race.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Right on cue the
heavens opened and the thunder roared overhead as the starter sent
the teams off into the forest for the first leg. The forest around
the resort is often used for cross country skiing and has many paths,
technically it was probably the least challenging area used all week
and could be described as most similar to an Irish forest with some
dense patches of undergrowth and generally messy ground cover
effecting running speeds. Anything can happen under the pressure of a
relay and the potential for mistakes was still a real threat. Jack
ran hard on first leg staying well up in the main bunch of 30 or so
runners who were spread out over 2 or 3 minutes. Mark took over in
second leg with a few of our "target" teams just ahead and
behind him. He had another great run, handling the pressure well and
passing over to Eoin running last leg. Eoin finished off a great JWOC
week for him, with a fast run holding off the Australian team and
almost catching the German runner ahead on the final loop. We were
delighted with the end result - 20th nation and 28th team overall out
of 54 that started.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Irish team had
stayed in contact with the major teams throughout, finishing in a
time of 1 hour 50:48, Sweden were the men's relay champions followed
closely by the Czech and Swiss teams all in a time of 1 hour 36
minutes</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The relay was a great
end to a great competition in Bulgaria were we treated to challenging
and varied running terrains, pleasant running weather, excellent
event organisation and helpful, friendly hosts. There was only one
last thing to do... PARTY! </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, as the majority of
competitors let off steam at a local nightclub, I packed and loaded
the car in preparation for our 3 am departure to Bucharest. The team
turned up on time and good form and as they snored their way through
the dark Bulgarian countryside I reflected on the past few weeks we
had spent orienteering and looked forward
to the next JWOC challenge of Norway 2015.<br />
<br />
<i>- Ivan Millar, LVO.(Thanks to Ivan for permission to publish this)</i>.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Running Shorts</b></span></span></i><br />
Four <b><span style="color: blue;">MTBO </span></b>events have finally got off the ground in Leinster on the Saturdays in September: Djouce, Co. Wicklow (6th), Curragh (13th), Saggart (20th) and Three Rock (27th). Two courses will be on offer each day, and the organisers are hoping to attract a mixture of orienteers and mountain bikers. Details on the IOA Fixtures page <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/fixture" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Congratulations to W18 Róisin Long (Ajax), M18 Paul Pruzina (LVO), W20 Niamh Corbett (CorkO) and M20 Eoin McCullough (3ROC) on their selection for the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Junior European Championships</b></span> in Belgium at the beginning of October. See details of the competition <a href="http://jec2014.be/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Fermanagh Orienteers are staging the 2014 <b><span style="color: blue;">Northern Ireland Championships</span></b> at Castle Saunderson, Co. Cavan, on Saturday 4th October. See details <a href="http://www.fermo.moonfruit.com/#/nioc-2014/4585973168" target="_blank">here</a>. The weekend will also include training for the Irish elites with GB 2013 World Championships silver medallist <b><span style="color: blue;">Scott Fraser</span></b>.<br />
Andrius Michailovas, a Lithuanian elite orienteer working in Dublin, invites us all to the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Lithuanian Cup</b></span> on October 18/19: see details <a href="http://javonis.puslapiai.lt/data/2014/lcup/LTcup14_EN.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. There's a middle distance and a long distance race, and Andrius says there's lots to see and do in the area. Ryanair fly from Dublin to Vilnius, but not every day - travel out on Thursday and back on Tuesday for less than €90 return, or out to Kaunas on Friday and back on Monday for €110. The competition is about 2 hours from Vilnius.<br />
Congratulations to the I<span style="color: blue;"><b>rish Junior Team </b></span>on beating Wales at the Junior Home International in Scotland at the end of August. Realistically, the Home Internationals are two competitiopns: England v Scotland and Ireland v Wales. Let's hope the Vets (Forest of Dean, September 13/14) and Seniors (Aberdeen area, October 18/19) can follow suit!<br />
<br />
...and finally, here's something I found by accident: an IOF video of the <span style="color: blue;"><b>World Championships sprint finals in Venice</b></span> in July. It's aimed partly at non-orienteers as the commentator, Clive Allen, explains the basics of the sport, but the GPS routes and the footage of the runners on the course are great. See if you can spot the mention of our Nick Simonin. It makes me want to go back to run in Venice again, but the London City race on September 21st will have to do for now! Watch it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z131O9rc9eg" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-42926406225949854782014-08-03T00:18:00.001+01:002014-09-07T11:59:35.669+01:00Some more catching up ...It doesn't seem that long since the last TIO in June, but in the meantime we've had a range of events from the summer evening events at home, the 17th Setanta Rogaine in Wicklow, the Jukola Relay in Finland, the European Youth Championships, the World Championships, and the Junior World Championships, plus multi-day events in many countries. However, don't expect a report here on them all, unless you can write one yourself: so a particular thanks to Róisín Long for her report on EYOC in Macedonia.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Pat Long, RIP</span></b></span></i><br />
On a sad note, we learned of the death of veteran Munster orienteer, <b>Pat Long</b>, at the beginning of July. Pat was a member of Munster Orienteers (before they were called Lee Orienteers) in Cork and was very involved in the early days of orienteering. In my student days, back in the '70's, when I might hitch-hike from Dublin to Tipperary for an event, and stay in Ballydavid Wood youth hostel with the formidable Mrs Dowling, Pat was kind enough to ferry me around to events in the area in his Renault 6.<br />
One of his claims to fame, apart from breaking a leg while being avalanched on Carrantouhill, was what became known as "Long's Law of Diminishing Returns" which highlighted the fact that the biggest gain in time when orienteering is the transition from walking to jogging: if you can walk a course in, say, an hour, you could jog it in perhaps 40 minutes, saving 20 minutes. If you were to run it, you might finish in 30 minutes, only saving 10 minutes, and if you were to run hard, you might bring the time down to 25 minutes, saving only 5 minutes.<br />
I don't think Pat would have liked a big eulogy, but he was a lovely guy, with a quiet sense of humour. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Donal Burke, adds: Pat
was a very active & competitive orienteer in his day, joining
Munster Orienteers in 1974 (becoming Lee Orienteers later). His
background and entrance in to the sport came from his interest in all
things outdoors, being a long time member of the Cork Mountaineering
Club.</span> He
surveyed and drew several areas in the 80's as the sport became more
widespread including Scartnamuck (North of Bandon), Castlefreke,
Malabracka & Derryleigh. He did a new map of Seefin (recently back
into action again) and got map of the year award in 1980 for it.
</span></span><br />
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On
the competitive front he won an M35 Irish Champs beating Aubrey Flegg.
He also played rugby with Highfield and soccer with Cork Hibernians
resulting in bad knees which brought an end to his orienteering.
Thankfully he remained involved in the sport, planning and controlling a
good number of events at the Shamrock O-Ringen. Pat
continued hill walking, rock climbing with trips to Scotland, the Alps
and further a field having had a knee replacement about 10 years ago. A pure gentleman, softly spoken and generous with his time, Pat will be missed by his many, many friends.</span></span></div>
<br />
To start with some catching, up, though, the report on JK2014 at Easter spent some time lost in cyberspace but has returned to planet Earth for this issue<br />
<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>JK2014 – Better late
than never!</b></span></span></i></div>
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The Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival moves
around the UK every Easter and this year the event was in south
Wales. Entries topped 3000, with a good number from Ireland, North
and South. The Junior Squad made a tour of it, staying at a caravan
site in the National Park. The terrain for three of the four events
was open mountainside, a gamble for the organisers from the weather
perspective. The first event – the Sprint – was in Swansea
University.</div>
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The University and the neighbouring
park gave two types of terrain: buildings with passageways and steps
on the campus, and parkland across a fence with two crossing points,
and a patch of a botanic garden with small paths between the two. The
sun shone and there was a festival atmosphere. The whole area was on
a hillside so it was physically quite testing but the navigation was
straightforward enough. On the other hand, they say that if it's too
easy it means that you're not running hard enough! Best Irish result
was Ruth Lynam (CNOC) 1<sup>st</sup> W60 but top 10 placings also
went to Jack Millar (M20E), Frank Martindale (M75), Una May (W45),
Mary O'Connell (W50) and Niamh O'Boyle (W21E).</div>
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The two main events were on adjoining
areas at Merthyr Common and Llangynidr: open limestone plateaux with
an extraordinary number of pits and depressions. The two races shared
an assembly and finish area, with parking on the roads of a huge
quarry. Nesting peregrines near the assembly area meant that the
organisers lost parking for several hundred cars close to the finish.
(Birds seem to cause problems for the JK – the elite start and
courses had to be changed at the last minute for the classic distance
race at the 2011 JK in Northern Ireland for a similar reason).</div>
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Using exposed upland areas was always
going to be a gamble but conditions on Saturday, when the Elites had
a middle-distance race and the others had a full length competition,
were perfect for running. Watching the weather forecast, though, we
knew the rain was approaching: late starters on Sunday were the most
at risk, and cagoules were mandatory for all runners. Most courses
started on the edge of the huge quarry, with the first controls
almost within sight of the start, though this didn't make them any
easier!</div>
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Out on my course I there was thunder
and lightning followed by heavy rain, but the later starters had rain
all the way around.
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Hector Haines (Interlopers) won the M21
Elite over the two days and Claire Ward (ESOC) won W21 Elite.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Again, the best Irish performance was
Ruth Lynam's great win in W60L, and wins for Caoimhe May (W12B) and
Helen Pruzina (W20L), with top-ten places for Daire O'Brien (3<sup>rd</sup>
M10B), Jana Cox (3<sup>rd</sup> W20S), Bríd Casey (4<sup>th</sup>
W40S), Rebecca O'Connor (4<sup>th</sup> W20S), Donal Kearns (4<sup>th</sup>
M18S), Una May (5<sup>th</sup> W45L), Sophie Pruzina (6<sup>th</sup>
W16B), Aonghus O'Cléirigh (6<sup>th</sup> M50L), Aislinn Callery
(7<sup>th</sup> W10A), Aoife O'Brien (7<sup>th</sup> W12B) and Mary
O'Connell (8<sup>th</sup> W50S): 10 girls and 3 boys – what's
going on here? See the full results, maps etc <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/index.php?pg=246" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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The Relays on Monday were at Pwll Du,
which was actually part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of
its interesting industrial history. The choice of the area was
inspired – who would have thought that a collection of slag heaps
and mine tailings could turn into a great orienteering area? The rain
had passed and the assembly area provided a good view of part of the
courses with the incoming runners streaming towards the finish. UK
clubs seem to be numerous and big enough to field competitive relay
teams in a range of classes, so the excitement of a big relay was
very much present. Scottish club Interlopers won the JK Trophy and
there were very good Irish performances from CNOC (10<sup>th</sup>),
3ROC (12<sup>th</sup>) and CorkO (14<sup>th</sup>). An Irish Junior Squad team of Emer Perkins, Clodagh Moran and Róisín Long finished 2nd in the Internediate Women's Relay but, because they were from different clubs, weren't an official team (but they got a special prize anyway!). South Yorkshire
Orienteers won the women's trophy with CNOC 7<sup>th</sup>.<br />
And I forgot to mention the cuckoos!</div>
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Reassuringly, the June CompassSport
magazine, which arrived in the door recently, has a piece on JK2014,
so I don't feel so bad about the lateness of my brief report! Next
Easter the JK moves to the English Lake District – the best terrain
in the UK south of the Scottish border. The event will use three
fantastic areas – Ulpha Park, Bigland and Greythwaite, with the
Sprint at Lancaster University (less then 2<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">½</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
hours from Holyhead)</span>. The dates are 3-4-5-6 April 2015. See <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2015/" target="_blank">here</a>.
Definitely worth the trip, whether you have ever been to the JK or
not!</div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>European Youth
Orienteering Championships 2014</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><i>Strumica, Macedonia </i> - <span style="font-size: small;"><i>Róisín Long</i></span></span></b></span></div>
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This year Aoife McCavana, Caoimhe
O'Boyle, myself (W18), Paul Pruzina, Peter Meehan, Frazer Howe (M18),
James Millar and Robert Pim (M16), travelled to EYOC in Macedonia
along with Ruth Lynam and Mike Long in late June.
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>I was slightly
apprehensive about this year's EYOC. Firstly, because I hadn't done
as much training or orienteering in preparation for the competition
as I would have liked to due to the Leaving Cert, and secondly
because there were no old maps of the competition area posted online,
so we didn't really know what to expect.
</div>
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I was still looking forward to the
competition though, and so three days after the Leaving Cert
officially ended I found myself sitting in a slightly battered yellow
mini-van travelling from Thessaloniki airport in Greece to Strumica
in Macedonia, the town where we would be staying. Every country was
assigned a local teenager to look after the team, and our helper,
Anna, directed us to our hotel. Despite it being quite old, the hotel
was the most luxurious place I'd ever stayed in for an orienteering
competition. Fresh towels every day!? Although, with the temperature
above 30 degrees most days, we did envy some of the other teams who
had a swimming pool at their hotel...<br />
We arrived on the Monday and the
competition didn't start until the Thursday, so we spent our first
few days training and getting to know the area. The forest where the
Long Distance and Relay would be held turned out to be mostly
runnable white forest, with some areas of slower light green and lots
of intricate contour detail. Plus it was steep. Really, really steep.<br />
The sprint training area consisted mostly of wide, straight streets
and some open park areas. The Macedonian people turned out to be very
friendly and helpful, and everything in the shops was very cheap.
Taxis were free if you were taking part in EYOC so we took a taxi a
few times to the local swimming pool in between training sessions to
try and avoid the heat. Everyone drove crazily though, and seatbelts
were rarely used! We stopped going to the pool when we saw the
aftermath of a car crash which involved a taxi that looked
suspiciously like one we had been in that day..EYOC consists of a
Sprint, Long Distance and Relay race.<br />
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The competition started with
the Sprint race around Strumica on Thursday, and we gathered in
quarantine early that morning. Quarantine is an area which
competitors must remain in before they start their race to ensure
that no one has an unfair advantage over anyone else by seeing the
map or course beforehand etc. No mobile phones are allowed and you
cannot leave quarantine until you start. <br />
The Sprint race area
turned out to be quite different from the model area, with lots of
steep steps and narrow winding passageways. The second half of the
course brought us down to a wide main street, with controls located
in the gardens and yards around the buildings of the street. I was
quite happy with my race, I made one or two poor route choices but
overall I didn't make any mistakes and I ran as hard as I could. The
standard at any of these major international orienteering
competitions is always very high, so I was pleased to finish in the
top 40. I was one of the first finished of the Irish so it was nice
to be able to cheer on the rest of the team as they ran through the
arena halfway through their course, and as they finished. That night
we attended the opening ceremony in the centre of Strumica, and
paraded through the town with all the other teams to the main square.
It was the last EYOC for Aoife and myself, and so we were allowed to
carry the Irish flag as we made our way through the town. (There's
always a bit of an argument about who gets to do that!) The opening
ceremony was really impressive, with fireworks, music and traditional
dancing instead of the usual endless speeches. It was pretty late
when we got back to the hotel that night, and with a 5:30 am start
before the Long Distance the next day, it looked like we weren't
going to get much sleep!
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Everyone napped on the hour-long bus
ride up to the mountains and quarantine the next morning. Although we
all complained a little bit about the early start it was definitely a
good idea, as, even by the time I was starting, the sun was getting
unbearably hot.
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The terrain was extremely physical,
which explained the short course lengths (4.4 km for me). Some of the
hills were so steep that they were more like cliffs! Our course had
very few controls and several really long legs. I wasn’t that
pleased with my run, my route choices were quite cautious and I could
have been more accurate in the circle. I enjoyed myself though, the
map was excellent and the forest really beautiful.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Everyone had a great time at the party
that night- it was an opportunity to relax a bit and socialise with
the other teams. For some reason (!) we didn't think to bring water
guns with us to Macedonia in our hand-luggage, but it seemed like
every other team had, so we got pretty soaked that night!</div>
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The relay started early the next day,
with Caoimhe and Paul on first leg for the Irish teams. Caoimhe
handed over to me and I went out on second leg. The first half of the
course was through fairly straight-forward (but steep!) white forest,
while the second half went through some of the most complex relay
terrain I've ever seen- an intricate mix of green and light-green
forest, with detailed contours. I went quite slowly but was pretty
accurate and mistake-free, and passed over to Aoife satisfied enough
with my run. The arena offered great spectating as every runner had
to both run through the arena halfway through their course, and visit
a spectator control twice. When all the runners had finished and the
prize-giving was over we headed back to our hotel on the bus to pack.
We also took part in a fast and furious sprint relay event around the
hotel grounds that night, organised by the Swedish team. We actually
did really well (possibly because the entire Russian team was trapped
in the lift at the time!) and James won a prize of a bouquet of
flowers. Despite our flight being at 12 noon the next day the
organisers announced we would have to leave the hotel at 1 am the
next morning, ensuring that we left Macedonia very
sleep-deprived!<br />
Overall the competition was really enjoyable and a
great experience. I would definitely recommend EYOC to all younger
juniors; it’s a perfect introduction to international orienteering
and is always great fun! On behalf of all the team I’d like to
thank Ruth and Mike for all their advice and help, and the IOA for
funding the trip. - <span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Róisín Long</b></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i>See the full EYOC results <a href="http://eyoc2014.mk/?page_id=152" target="_blank">here</a>. There's some more on the IOA web site <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/eyoc-2014" target="_blank">here</a>.<b><br /></b></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>World Championships & 5-Days of
Italy: </b></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><b>If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium.</b></i></span></span></div>
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Orienteering as a spectator sport? Is
it really possible? The organisers of this year's WOC in Italy
certainly tried their best to make it one, with live tracking of
runners, big-screen views from out on the course, live TV, and exciting blow by blow accounts from commentator Per Forsberg of
who was catching whom on the courses. Added to this were a sprint
race in Venice on a Saturday afternoon and the first sprint relay in
the old city of Trento (famous for the Council of Trent) which packed
the spectators in.</div>
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The cost of staging the World
Championships is substantial and part of the way of recouping this is
by running a parallel event for non-WOC runners who want to share the
atmosphere and run on the same areas (or to “feel like a world
champion” as the organisers put it). This year the 5-Days of Italy
filled the bill, though when the “extra” races were added it
became eight days of orienteering even though only five counted for
the competition. This mix of WOC, 5-Days and “extra” races became
rather cumbersome and could surely have been simplified. The cost to
the competitor was pretty high too – at about €700 for a family
to run most of the races. Had the event been run in Switzerland, the
cost of the ski-lift (€3) on one day and of the vaporetto (water
bus) in Venice (€7.50) would probably have been covered by the
entry fee.</div>
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The prologue in Venice was great,
particularly for those of us who had never run there in the autumn
city races they have organised for several years. We just turned up
at the start, punched and ran. Tourists with big suitcases, little
old ladies shopping, and locals walking their dogs added to the
challenge, where in temperatures of almost 30C even the smaller
hump-backed canal bridges became a challenge to run over.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Nick in action at the WOC Sprint in Venice</i></td></tr>
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When we had run, it was the turn of the
World Championships runners who had had their qualification races
that morning on the nearby island of Burano. The only
Irish qualifier was Nick Simonin, though some other team members came
tantalisingly close to making the cut: Niamh O'Boyle was 21st, 20 seconds off the 15th place she would have needed to qualify for the final. At this level, however, a
second's hesitation will be punished. The excitement was heightened
by the fastest qualifiers starting last so the final times kept
getting faster and faster. In the end, it was Denmark's Soren Bobach
and Switzerland's Judith Wyder who stormed along the quayside to the finish to
take the Sprint titles. Nick finished a very creditable 32nd, 1 minute 39 seconds down on the winner. See results <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/live-woc.php?data=05072014pm" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLOlb62NgqwXOsGAaL-85SlFCYoNMFQ5g2gDgfBvhmYS87MIdFdAnOVHg6i3kzma15uXstZf_Pao8TKVTu4nvtRNB48RSBPaVIIzy1_nB9lbP1oWw_CK1OLiW95MoJTJ5zabXViAeCOQ/s1600/T1-Turcio-PERCORSI.ME.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLOlb62NgqwXOsGAaL-85SlFCYoNMFQ5g2gDgfBvhmYS87MIdFdAnOVHg6i3kzma15uXstZf_Pao8TKVTu4nvtRNB48RSBPaVIIzy1_nB9lbP1oWw_CK1OLiW95MoJTJ5zabXViAeCOQ/s1600/T1-Turcio-PERCORSI.ME.gif" height="258" width="320" /></a>Up to the highlands of Asiago for the
first day of the 5-Days, a middle distance race at Turcio on the
Sunday, only about 800m from our campsite. Most of the days this week
were either middle distance or short urban races, which seemed poor
value for our entry fees but, when it came to running the races, it
was plenty! In addition, it meant that the 5-Day competitors were
less likely to overlap with the WOC races which could be in the same
general area, and we were there to watch WOC. The forest held the
remains of First World War trench systems, still maybe 2 metres deep
with sheer sides, which had to be crossed with care. There was a lot
of fighting in this highland region between the Italian and
Austro-Hungarian armies, hence the trenches. Apart from the trenches,
the limestone -based forest was reasonably runnable but quite rocky
and stony underfoot and with parts of poor visibility. The three
Irish parties (Corbetts from CorkO, Richardsons from Fingal and
ourselves) all had widely separated start times within each car,
making the days quite long – maybe a lesson could be learned here
from the Scottish 6-Day where starting family or club members at
similar times seems to pose no problem.</div>
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On Monday we travelled the twisty roads
to the old spa town of Levico Terme for Day 2, an urban race in the
alleys and parks of this surprisingly hilly area. The first part of
the courses was interesting, with small courtyards, alleys and
passageways, but the final section was a downhill sprint through a
simple park to finish beside the lake, followed by a welcome swim.
After this it was off to Trento to see the first ever mixed sprint
relay at a WOC. Here is where the lack of a coherent approach to the
5-Day and WOC became apparent – people didn't know where the race
started, or when, or how to get there: we only found out by asking
some of the helpers we saw heading out with controls on trestles.
Anyway, after an ice cream, the race started at 5 pm from the
Cathedral Square, with the sequence woman-man-man-woman. Just as the
race started, so did the rain – gentle at first, them more fierce,
eventually torrential, – a feature of the afternoons in this area.
The runners passed back through the square in mid-course for
additional spectator interest, and the Swiss team took the laurels
by <span style="font-size: small;">3 </span>seconds from Denmark, with Russia 11 seconds down, closely followed by Sweden. The Irish team of Niamh O'Boyle, Darren Burke, Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan and Olivia
Baxter finished in 27th place.</div>
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Some additional drama was provided when
a lady on her bike, oblivious to the competitipon going on around
her, cycled blithely up the changeover lane and away through the
crowd, luckily just before the final leg runners were let in. This was
the first WOC sprint relay, although the format has been trialled at
some World Cup races, but not every WOC-country is going to have a
suitable location for such a race and the possibility of competitor
and/or general public injury must be much higher than for
conventional orienteering, so whether this format is sustainable is
an issue. See the results <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/live-woc.php?data=07072014" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Tuesday saw the first of the additional
races, in the town of Folgaria, billed as in the historical centre
and urban parks. Impossible to choose the right shoe, as it turned
out, as the early part of the courses was in steep forest and alpine
meadows, with the later parts through the town, between the
pharmacies, beauty-parlours and craft shops. A pleasant run (four
courses labelled black, red, yellow and white, with no indication of
what any of them were like in terms of distance or technical
difficulty).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thierry on his way to victory</i></td></tr>
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Wednesday, Day 3, (are you still with
me?) was an early race at Lavarone, where the WOC event centre was,
about 45 minutes drive from Asiago where we were camped and where the
Event Centre for the 5-Days was situated. This was a really nice mix
of hilly deciduous forest with tracks, coniferous forest and grassy
meadows. Running conditions were perfect: sunny and warm, but hotting
up later in the day for the WOC Long race. Again, Ireland's sole
representative was Swedish-based Nick Simonin. We waited to cheer him
on at the run through the arena, joined by local resident John Feehan
from BVOC, and you could see the 16.4 km course with 820 metres climb
and 33 controls was taking its toll on all the runners. The amazing
Frenchman Thierry Gueorgiou came through to finish in first place, followed by Daniel Hubmann (SUI) and Olav Lundanes (NOR). Nick
finished in a very good 40th place out of 74 finishers. Russian early starter Svetlana Mironova was a surprise winner of the Women's race, with 31 seconds to spare over Sweden's Tove Alexamdersson, with Switzerland's Judith Wyder third. See the results <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/live-woc.php?data=09072014" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Thursday, Day 4, was our only “long”
race, back at Lavarone again, with the same assembly field and finish
as the day before. This was the ski-lift day, a €3 option that most
competitors seemed to take to avoid a 2.5 km/250m hike to the start.
Again, lovely running conditions and a really nice mixed forest with
some challenging route choices.</div>
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Friday had another additional race at
Asiago, on a 1:4000 scale map of the town and the parks: not very
demanding but run at sprint-speed it was still a tough race, with the
additional problem of a locked gate on one otherwise viable route
towards the finish: do I climb over or run back around? (Elite: climb
over; Veteran: retrace steps and go around the long way!).<br />
After this
it was off to Campomulo to watch the WOC Middle Distance race which
finished in a spectacular natural amphitheatre at a cross-country ski
centre. <span id="goog_1484235095"></span><span id="goog_1484235096"></span>The Irish representative, Conor Short, was going well until a
mistake in a complex area of low-visibility forest put paid to his
ambitions for a good placing. The major surprise of the day, however,
was the sensational disqualification of multiple Middle-Distance
World Champion Thierry, who ran past his 6<sup>th</sup> control on a
direct line between 5 and 7, without stopping, leaving a delighted Olav Lundanes (NOR) to take the Gold, followed by Fabien Hertner (SUI) and Oleksandr Kratov (UKR). The women's result was Annika Bilstam (SWE), Ida Bobach (DEN), Tove Alexandersson (SWE). See the full results <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/live-woc.php?data=11072014" target="_blank">here</a>.<span id="goog_1484235100"></span><span id="goog_1484235101"></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>GPS shows Thierry missing control 6</i></td></tr>
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Saturday, Day 5, we were at Campomulo
ourselves, with rows of parallel limestone crags just above the start
(think of the Burren in Co.Clare with forest on it) for our final
race of the week.The M16 course was pretty challenging. See if you can find the track in among all the crags!</div>
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The WOC concluded that afternoon with
the Relays. The winning team in the man's race was Sweden, followed by Switzerland (1 min 9 secs later) and France a further 5 seconds adrift.The women's race was won by Switzerland, followed by Denmark (featuring Emma Klingenberg) and Sweden. The Irish team of Nick Simonin, Darren Burke and Conor Short finished 27th, ahead of USA, Canada, Japan and Slovenia among others, and within striking distance of Slovakia, Portugal and New Zealand and only a single tantalising second behind Belgium. The result, however, was enough to earn a promotion, with Australia, from Division 3 to Division 2 in WOC terms, meaning that we will be entitled to a bigger men's team at WOC 2015 in Scotland.</div>
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Back to the spectator sport issue: Orienteering has made huge strides in making the races more visible, if only to the already-converted people who are at the event. Contrast this to my first time going to WOC in the USA in 1993 when myself and Thomas Callery were among the volunteers who spent a wet day dressed in a black bin-liner trying to write down runners' numbers and times as they visited our control in the forest ... </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Darren, Josh & Nick in Venice</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGw6XLO8QHqxtlpKAGo0g3B9mtyHaQSSGxtRYrwO60w3DJAqrx0jhOTqUz0vPnlymUVhG6fr8ClTMrUCxu9fgdvT9VAvQXVgjIy6GwHyG5oHucg6STbTMq8xj15J5AyLb79ze8rsoTK4/s1600/14673731823_a887dfe93a_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGw6XLO8QHqxtlpKAGo0g3B9mtyHaQSSGxtRYrwO60w3DJAqrx0jhOTqUz0vPnlymUVhG6fr8ClTMrUCxu9fgdvT9VAvQXVgjIy6GwHyG5oHucg6STbTMq8xj15J5AyLb79ze8rsoTK4/s1600/14673731823_a887dfe93a_z.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Olivia, Ros, Josh, Darren & Nick en route</i></td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Well done to all the team: Darren Burke, Conor Short, Nick Simonin, Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan, Niamh O'Boyle, Ros Hussey, Olivia Baxter and to Team Manager Philip Baxter. We're immensely proud of you!</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">O-Bits and Running Shorts ...</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Did you know</span> ... that the word "<i>Cagoule</i>", used almost exclusively by orienteers to describe a weather-proof garment for running in, is the French word for a hood?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A series of four<span style="color: blue;"> mountain bike orienteering (MTB-O)</span> events are planned for September in Leinster, so get your bicycle clips out and rub that mutton fat inside your shorts. The events will be on Saturdays and are currently expected to include Djouce, Saggart and Three Rock. However, I think the people we need to persuade to try it are the mountain bikers rather than the orienteers: there are more of them and they're up for a challenge ...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;">What are we doing wrong?</span> We run Summer evening events in Leinster to attract newcomers but nearly everyone who comes is already an orienteer. In Cork it seems better, if you can believe the results, with up to maybe 70% of the runners not in a club.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Looking at a recent "Irish Mountain Log", the magazine of Mountaineering Ireland, I was surprised to see the variety or activities covered, from hill walking to navigation, equipment reviews to alpine climbing, environmental issues to indoor climbing wall competitions. We have a multi-faceted sport with a great range of activities in orienteering too: local events, world championships, 24-hour rogaines. We also have a sport which is actually on the primary school curriculum ... and what are we doing about it? For every climbing wall there should be an orienteering map in a town park; for every primary school there should be a school ground map. Have we become too high-tech and imposing too high a standard of organisation and course planning on ourselves? What about a more back-to-basics approach with orienteering for the masses: simple, fun courses that you can run and get satisfaction from. World Champion Thierry Gueorgiou said, when he gave a course at Tollymore in 2012, that orienteering should be "play", in other words it should be fun. Can we get the fun back in there while there are still some of us left? We've been overtaken by mountain biking and mountain running. What ill our next challenge be? Geocaching?<br />
<br />
Ireland is not among the 31 countries taking part in the <span style="color: blue;">World Military Orienteering Championships </span>in Austria at the end of August. It looks like we won't have anyone at the World MTBO Championships in Poland this month either - not surprisingly, since MTBO in Ireland is even more specialised than foot-O. Any takers for a night MTBO relay?<br />
<br />
On the other hand we do have at team at the <span style="color: blue;">World University Orienteering Championships</span> at Olomuoc in the Czech Republic in mid-August: Conor Short (TCD), Ruairí Short (Edinburgh University), Colm Moran (UCD), Eoin McCullough (TCD), Ros Hussey (TCD) and Áine McCann (Durham University); team manager Greg McCann.<br />
<br />
... and we did have a team at the <span style="color: blue;">Junior World Championships</span> (Jack Millar, Mark Stephens, Eoin McCullough) and Team Manager Ivan Millar: a trio of LVO Team Mangers this year with Ivan, Greg and Philip!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Congratulations </span>also to Ros Hussey and to Kyle Heron who got married recently.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">JWOC 2015</span> will be in Norway next summer and the Irish Junior Squad are spending a week training there this month in preparation for the event. Trondheim was the venue of the 2010 World Championships where the Junior Squad had a summer tour. (JWOC 2016 is in Switzerland and 2017 in Finland).<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>WOC 2015 in Scotland: An opportunity </b></span></span><br />
Ireland's first foray into World Championships was in Scotland in 1976, in the same part as the 2015 event: int Inverness and Moray coast area. Scotland is close to us, it's accessible and the terrain is reasonably familiar: there's no need to travel to Scandinavia to train, so we should be able to make a serious effort with resourcing the team for next year's World Championships.<br />
The training has already started and there's a training week around the time of the Senior Home International ans the "Race the Castles" series in October. Ireland has been promoted into Division 2 in IOF-speak, so we'll be entitled to have more runners in WOC 2015 than we had this year.<br />
For your diary: the 2016 WOC will be in SW Sweden and the 2017 event in Estonia.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">In the next issue hopefully we'll have reports on the Jukola relay, the Rogaine, the Lake District 5-Day and who knows what else? </span></i></div>
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John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-32250454404470120982014-06-12T00:52:00.000+01:002014-06-12T23:00:59.888+01:00Some catching up to do ...<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkNwAHoQLPnYR0G2Jcuu1V0GuMb0IXyNEW4nBBTwmlb3-vvQBnV7BdqdmEsOc7fNjizqenmNmvM6BIOyawgzEA-UwmfRCeOV0E0KTQ5nEOZnOL8-__bkNfc2kMNeMoya7DrSR5l5ptwc/s1600/DSC_0623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkNwAHoQLPnYR0G2Jcuu1V0GuMb0IXyNEW4nBBTwmlb3-vvQBnV7BdqdmEsOc7fNjizqenmNmvM6BIOyawgzEA-UwmfRCeOV0E0KTQ5nEOZnOL8-__bkNfc2kMNeMoya7DrSR5l5ptwc/s1600/DSC_0623.JPG" height="200" width="175" /></a></div>
A Scandinavian scene: a calm lake, with
forest running down to the edge, sunshine, open mountainside strewn
with boulders, a cuckoo calling in the distance, clouds of voracious
midges in the still evening air … orienteers lining up to start in
one of the country’s most prestigious events … Are we sprinting
in Sweden? Navigating in Norway? Disporting in Denmark? Actually, no:
we’re orienteering in Oughterard at the 2014 Irish 3-Day in Co. Galway.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Yet again the handful of orienteers
west of the Shannon put in a major effort to run a top class
competition for us: the extended Ryan and Duff families with the help
of a few others (Martin Flynn, Padraig Higgins, Paul Dunne and Pat
Healy) laid on an ambitious three days of orienteering for the
hundred and fifty lucky people who entered - disappointing turnout,
given that the effort for the organisers is pretty much the same
whether it is 150 or 300 entrants.</div>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
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Two Swedes, Simon Svensson and Josefine
Carlsson, took the top spots in the M and W21 Long classes, despite
Kevin O'Boyle's blistering run on Monday, while many of the Irish
elites were away in Italy for the World Championship selection races
the same weekend.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some of the area to the north of Lough
an Cogair had been used for last year’s Irish Championships but we
approached from a different direction this time, so we weren’t
bussed to the area and could park not far from assembly. The
organising team showed remarkable economy in having the same assembly
area and parking each day, the same last control and finish on the
first two days, and a start and finish close by on the third day.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Saturday afternoon had a
middle-distance event which basically amounted to circumnavigating
the lake in an anti-clockwise direction. The longer courses had a
section of forest to start with before emerging, blinking, into the
light where the bouldery open mountainside started; the shorter
courses had a longer walk to the start but had no orienteering in the
forest. The midges, however, did not discriminate between the two
starts.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWii9AZgzNLyNDjN8D5HdtIjTJ4ACYw-o9L7yYdwUAZRMIMvFl9Ayw9Va6jn_CmfAYs8oFI8hhzzyDzt4QcvBCVeYu6kdW3RNC670QN9vT56d9TqjlUXduvEga8ri5rHZ-LYdQm0LpEs/s1600/Galway+map+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWii9AZgzNLyNDjN8D5HdtIjTJ4ACYw-o9L7yYdwUAZRMIMvFl9Ayw9Va6jn_CmfAYs8oFI8hhzzyDzt4QcvBCVeYu6kdW3RNC670QN9vT56d9TqjlUXduvEga8ri5rHZ-LYdQm0LpEs/s1600/Galway+map+1.png" height="183" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lough an Cogair</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The early forest was actually quite
interesting, with closely-spaced moss-covered trees reducing
visibility, and widespread moss and vegetation-covered ground and
boulders. A controversial control situated on a stream caused
problems for many people, with further confusion introduced by an
unexplained hand-drawn line on the map in the same area: was it a
road? a ride? a fence? Post-race analysis came to the conclusion that
it was another stream close to the one the control was on, though it
should have been marked and explained on the maps in the start boxes.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Sunday event was a classic distance
race starting close to the finish of the previous day. No trees
today, but lots of boulders. I don’t think I was alone in having
difficulty in relating the boulders on the map to the ones on the
ground – in the terrain the boulders could be several metres high
but these weren’t always clear from the map. The terrain was
reasonably runnable and the climb wasn’t too severe.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Monday’s chasing start (where your
start time is basically calculated by adding together your times from
Day 1 and 2) went off smoothly, with the course leaders starting at
10.00 am. Some fast and furious racing with lots of changes of
direction on the longer courses, not too much climb and a nice
breeze, brought the runners home happy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The strain of running an event like
this, in quite technical terrain and with such a small number on the
organising team, did begin to show this year: there were some issues
about the accuracy of control placement and the overall accuracy of
the maps which were negative features of the weekend, but overall the
event was a positive experience for the competitors and we did
express our gratitude to Frank Ryan and the other members of Western
Eagles for staging the event. However, if only 150 people are going
to come to an event like this, it does demoralise the organising
team. Admittedly, there were several repeat visitors from abroad who
come to enjoy the Irish orienteering experience again and again, and
they were as usual very positive about the event. This year it also clashed with the British Championships, reducing numbers further. SSome additional
promotion and marketing of the 3-Day, whether it’s in Connacht or
Munster, might bring the numbers up to a level where the event would
be financially viable and it would be possible then to do some
professional remapping or correcting of the maps to make them above
reproach.<br />
<br />
See photos of the event <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9820745@N08/sets/72157644630590870" target="_blank">here</a>. For results of the individual days see the IOA results pages <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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In previous years the 3-Day Shamrock
O-Ringen, spearheaded by Cork Orienteers, has run in the years
between the WEGO events, but I understand that no firm decision has
yet been taken about the Shamrock next year. It's a lot of work for
the organising club, but a lot of fun for the competitors ...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">WOC Team Selected</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8XTNTuCVWHZTBHXGPTaCdsiw4aEHp-hMC-6SoOljH1DLVHqIs8rHvJbb0chkIMv6GhI6irKpZmBx39wDXIt2A9ExfS7PzWU_mKU8qCEul_VWUMNV4in-CrMLHEp2UeuRsEg4vXJCOcI/s1600/venice+o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8XTNTuCVWHZTBHXGPTaCdsiw4aEHp-hMC-6SoOljH1DLVHqIs8rHvJbb0chkIMv6GhI6irKpZmBx39wDXIt2A9ExfS7PzWU_mKU8qCEul_VWUMNV4in-CrMLHEp2UeuRsEg4vXJCOcI/s1600/venice+o.jpg" /></a></div>
While we were running around Co. Galway, the aspirants for the Irish World Championships team were at the selection races in Italy. You can see the team selections below - congratulations to you all!<br />
The WOC is in early July, largely in the alpine forests in the mountains about 2 hours north of Venice, but with a sprint race in Venice itself. The 5-Days of Italy is being run in parallel with WOC and has attracted an entry of about 1800. See the WOC web site <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr><td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>WOMEN</b></span></td>
<td><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">MEN</span></b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>SPRINT</b></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Niamh O’Boyle</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Rosalind Hussey</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Olivia Baxter</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reserve – Susan Lambe</span></div>
</td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nick Simonin</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Darren Burke</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reserve – Colm Moran</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>SPRINT RELAY</b></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Best two results from individual</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Competition.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Third athlete</span></div>
</td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Best two results from individual competition.</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Third athlete</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>MIDDLE</b></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Niamh O’Boyle</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Susan Lambe</span></div>
</td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Conor Short</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Darren Burke</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>LONG</b></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nick Simonin</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Colm Moran</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>RELAY</b></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
<td><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nick Simonin</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Conor Short</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Darren Burke</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Res – Colm Moran </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some interesting analysis on <b><span style="color: blue;">World of O</span></b> into the bunching in the middle distance and classic races in the pre-WOC Italy when the start interval was reduced from 2 minutes to 1.5 in the middle and from 3 minutes to 2 in the long. This is an International O-Federation initiative to reduce the total length of time the competitions take. Read about it <a href="http://news.worldofo.com/2014/06/05/grouping-and-following-at-pre-woc-races-in-italy/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tollymore O-Festival</b></span></span><br />
Another action-packed weekend of orienteering is being offered by LVO in Co. Down on June 20-22nd, starting with an urban race in Newcastle on Friday evening, then a colour event incorporating the LVO Club Championships at Donard Forest on Saturday, then Pre-O (a.k.a. trail orienteering) and junior training that afternoon, plus the NIOA AGM and a barbecue, all on Saturday. On Sunday there's a sprint relay at Tollymore.<br />
Camping is available in the beautiful Tollymore Forest Park, in a special field for orienteers, from Thursday, and there's an NWOC evening event at Drum Manor, Cookstown (admittedly, not at all close to Tollymore) on Thursday evening. More details <a href="http://lvo.jimdo.com/tollymore-festival-of-orienteering/" target="_blank">here</a>. Enter at Fabian 4 <a href="http://www.fabian4.co.uk/step1/ContactDetails.aspx?EventID=1070" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ones to watch</span></span></b><br />
The 17th <span style="color: blue;"><b>Setanta Rogaine</b></span> is on June 28th/29th, starting at the Shay Elliot memorial between Laragh and Glenmalure. There's a 24-hour event starting at 2 pm on Saturday and a 6-hour event starting at 8 am on Sunday; both finish at 2 pm on Sunday. Details <a href="http://setantaorienteers.org/rogaine" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Summer evening events</b></span> in Leinster will continue on Tuesday evenings right through to mid/late August, the first fruit of the revitalised Leinster O-Council. See full details on the IOA Fixture list. After then CNOC series, there will be events run by GEN, Fingal, Ajax and 3ROC, at least. The Cork Orienteers Tuesday evening events continue until July 22nd, while the LVO WEE ("Wednesday Evening Events") run until 27th August.<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eS9g34E0VoK3ixnSGD9gEsV-Iw1wgGtn2OgaIxmznnk7Vf-cBBX2lA8PPIb1tlDx7OlmD2R-q7GN1L5atqRaydNRkxW4kCUu0HkHSNYQE7_tTAqXGs0tmwXwL7uR_ZymYe1Fwj1ktXM/s1600/lupins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eS9g34E0VoK3ixnSGD9gEsV-Iw1wgGtn2OgaIxmznnk7Vf-cBBX2lA8PPIb1tlDx7OlmD2R-q7GN1L5atqRaydNRkxW4kCUu0HkHSNYQE7_tTAqXGs0tmwXwL7uR_ZymYe1Fwj1ktXM/s1600/lupins.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lots of Lupins in Finland ...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Take a break from the World Cup</b></span> on Saturday 14th June and watch the <span style="color: blue;">Jukola </span>overnight relay live on the internet. Starting at 9 pm Irish time, the 16000 runners on 7-person teams will run through the night at Kuopio on Europe's biggest inland island. Follow the action <a href="http://www.jukola.com/2014/en/" target="_blank">here</a>. (In all honesty, it does get pretty damn dull after a while, but the mass start is great and you can drop in and out from time to time!)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>HI Time again</b></span> - the Home Internationals are calling once more, starting with the Juniors (M&W 14/16/18) at Oban in Scotland on August 30/31, just when you were all safely back at school. See details <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/jhi-2014-selection-criteria" target="_blank">here</a>. The Veterans (M&W 40-65) are in Wales, in the Forest of Dean, on 13th/14th September. Details <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/forums?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=209" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://ngocweb.com/caddihoe/veterans-home-internationalvhi/" target="_blank">here</a>. The Senior event (M&W20/21) is in Scotland on October 18/19 in
Deeside as part of the "Race the Castles" series - details <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/senior-home-international-2014" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.racethecastles.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. It's very unusual to have two HI's in the same country in the
same year.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>JK Report</b></span>: falling into the "better late than never" category, I did a report on JK 2014 at Easter in south Wales but it has vanished into cyberspace so I'll have to do it again when I have time ... unless someone out there will do it for me?</div>
John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-77504166743750356762014-05-07T00:19:00.002+01:002014-05-07T08:23:22.181+01:00A Challenging Championships!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last weekend's Irish Championships provided a range of orienteering types and of running conditions to test the competitors in every aspect of their orienteering, from a fast and furious urban sprint race at the Maynooth university campus on Friday, through mist and heather at the Middle Distance on Saturday, to energy-sapping peat hags and 5-metre visibility on Sunday and even a bit of forest and some steep hills to finish us off on Monday.<br />
Setanta Orienteers and Great Eastern Navigators came together to run the event, with GEN running the sprint on a lovely new map by Jonathan Quinn, and Setanta running the remaining three races near the Wicklow Gap.<br />
The <span style="color: blue;"><b>sprint at Maynooth</b></span>, where the Elite race was won by 3ROC's Colm Moran by 2 seconds from favourite Darren Burke, had perfectly judged winning times of close to 12 minutes, with Colm finishing in 11.59 and Elite Ladies winner (no surprises here!) Niamh O'Boyle in 12.27. In a sprint, every second counts, and classes were won and lost by the smallest of margins.<br />
The courses were confined to the northern part of the campus, with many small and oddly-shaped buildings, some grass and trees, and the runners enjoyed the courses, proving that it is possible to have satisfying orienteering without getting all wet and muddy! See the results, courses and routes <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2280" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Saturday's middle-distance event at Camaderry</b></span> was another matter altogether, though. Luckily, the organisers were able to get access to the top of Turlough Hill, the ESB pumped storage electricity station near the Wicklow Gap, for parking, avoiding the long slog up the service road, familiar to runners on leg three of the Lug Relay. As we drove up the hill, the mist thickened more and more, until at the top the visibility was maybe 10 to 20 metres: what would it be like out on the course? Would foul-weather gear be required? A cold wind was blowing but it failed to dislodge the mist. The start, finish and car park were at the high point - about 650 metres above sea level, one of the highest drivable points in Wicklow (the summit of Kippure with its TV mast is a bit higher) but after the first control we dropped into the top of the Glenealo Valley on the side of Camaderry and the mist disappeared but the heather got higher.<br />
A run around the sides of the mountain followed by a steep climb back to the finish in the thick mist completed the outing, and GEN's David Healy, back from Sweden for the event, took first place in the men's race with Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC) adding another win to her impressive collection. See the results, courses and routes <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2281" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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There is no doubt that the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Classic race on Sunday</b></span> was an epic and was the talking point of the weekend: the cloud level dropped even lower than on Saturday and visibility was down to about 5 metres. Competitors were getting lost in the car park, that's if they could even find the car park. The thought of running 12.7 km with 530 metres climb and 30 controls was a daunting one for the elites, but equally daunting was the prospect of 1.5 km for M85's. (One of the M85's this weekend was Seán Rothery, who I vividly remember running in the first Irish Relay Championships at Ballinahinch in Co. Wicklow in 1975, an event I came across more or less by accident: this old man (why, he must have been at least forty!) steaming down the run-in with a gut-busting finish. How many sports are there that you can compete like that over a lifetime?)<br />
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The main feature of the map was the turf banks, an intricate maze of cuttings, knolls and gullies: in practically zero visibility, once you came unstuck, you stayed unstuck! Relocation was a matter of luck or of searching for some distinctive feature and trying again. There was a very high number of non-finishers and the range of times among those who persisted tells its own story. Perhaps the most extraordinary result, though, was the mere three seconds separating winner Marcus Pinker from runner up Colm Moran in the M21 Elite category, after more than two hours of running in thick mist. In the W21E class, Maeve O'Grady (DFO) took her second Irish title, adding to her win at Inch in 2012.<br />
Looking at some of the routes drawn on Routegadget is fascinating: the little spirals close to the controls as runners searched blindly and found the flag; the larger diversions where they went further astray in the mist in between controls, but few are a spectacular as Colm Hill's excursion recorded by his GPS after control 3 on the Elite course, and very brave of Colm to make it so public! See his route below. <br />
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In all honesty, it was among the most challenging orienteering I have experienced: the only thing I found more difficult was the terrain used for the World Championships in France in 2011. In my own case, I threw in the towel several times only to suddenly find where I was and decide to continue a bit longer, a tactic which eventually saw me to the finish line. For me, fogged up glasses and thick mist meant it was pretty much "compass and pacing" the whole way round. I have to say that I thought the area was excellent, the map very accurate (though I still have to find that "indistinct path") and it was much more runnable than I expected, the going underfoot a bit like Inishbofin, with low heather, grass and peat, undulating rather than steep: definitely worth a return trip on a nice dry, sunny day!<br />
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Interestingly, Turlough Hill, where there is an artificial lake on the hill top and a natural lake, Lough Nahanagan, at the base, only got this name when the ESB built the power station in the late 1960's: before that it was called Tomaneena. A "turlough" is a disappearing lake such as is found in the Burren in Co. Clare, where the lake comes and goes depending on the water level. This wasn't the only disappearing lake on Sunday, however: Lough Firrib (after which the map was named) proved equally elusive: several competitors decided to use it as an attack point or as a feature to relocate on, but couldn't find the lake! (It was notoriously difficult to find using the old OS maps too).<br />
A water station for the Elites provided a welcome recognisable feature, particularly for one runner who was offered a cup of tea there, which he gratefully accepted! Finishing on Sunday was a real achievement, so very well done all of you.<br />
The organisers wisely recognised the limitations of the area for planning Junior courses, and ran the courses for the youngest kids at Oakwood, a lower down, simpler area of forest a couple of kilometres further west. See the results, courses and routes <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2282" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Monday's Relays at Glenreemore</b></span> also moved to the Oakwood area and threw in some boulder-strewn forest and steep mountainside. Apart from the mossy boulders and the steepness, the area was runnable and a complete contrast to the previous three days. CNOC took the Open and Women's titles, showing that orienteering is indeed a family sport (Men: brothers Conor and Ruairi Short, Kevin O'Boyle; women sisters Niamh and Caoimhe O'Boyle, Regina Kelly), while Fermanagh Orienteers (Ros Hussey with sisters Eibhlin and Ciara Largey) rose to the occasion and taking their first major team prize, finishing second in the Women's race, 20 years after that club ran the Irish Championships at the Burren on the Cavan/Fermanagh border. LVO finished a close 3rd, only 5 seconds adrift of FermO, while CorkO finished second in the Men's race with 3ROC 3rd .See the results, courses and routes <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2283" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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John Shiels of Action Photography took a large number of superb photographs which you can see and buy on his website <a href="http://actionphotography.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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(This issue of <i>The Irish Orienteer</i> will develop over the next couple of days when I have time, with reports on the JK at Easter and other stuff, so keep coming back! - JMcC)<br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-29544869401306287962014-04-08T00:23:00.000+01:002014-04-08T23:19:30.988+01:00Full Steam Ahead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The high point of the year, the Irish Championships, is approaching and promises to be a great weekend’s orienteering, with a major contrast between the intricacy of the Maynooth University campus for the Sprint on Friday, to the open mountainside, peat hags, moraines and glacial deposits of the following three days around Turlough Hill and the Wicklow Gap. Before that, though, we’re in high gear for the Leinster Championships, the European Championships and the JK at Easter.<br />
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The Leinsters saw a respectable turnout coming to the midlands for CNOC’s event on April 6th, travelling from all four provinces. Carrigmeal forest, spread over several distinct limestone hills near Portlaoise, is a largely runnable deciduous forest with crags and quarries, along the lines of Mullaghmeen in Co. Westmeath. Like Mullaghmeen, the forest has some interesting history: Mullaghmeen is the largest planted beech forest in the country, while the forest at Carrigmeal was planted as part of the Marshall Plan to get Europe back on its feet economically, in the years after the Second World War, according to the farmer whose field we used for parking.<br />
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Leinster Champions Colm Moran (3ROC) and Maeve O’Grady (CNOC) weren’t concerned with the history but with the present: Colm finished more than 2 minutes clear of second-placed Corkman-turned-Kerryman Darren Burke, with the Short Brothers, Ruairi and Conor, next. (No sign of Harland, however). On the Women’s course, Welsh visitor Katie Reynolds finished fastest on the day but wasn’t eligible to take the Leinster title.<br />
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The early heavy showers passed, affecting only the first starters and the unfortunate officials, but a mild, dry day followed for most of the runners. A JK-style parking field, tea and cakes provided by the Junior Squad, and a convivial assembly area made for a great atmosphere on the day.<br />
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The area is presided over by the majestic Rock of Dunamase, first settled in the 9th century, whose image featured on the prizes, but for many the steep and muddy hills of Carrigmeal had provided enough running up and down for the day. Maybe next time …<br />
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Results and Routegadget are <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2267" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Up the Walls in Derry</span></b></span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Start of the Derry sprint</i></td></tr>
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The city of Derry, Derry/Londonderry, or Stroke City provided a great weekend’s sport around St Patrick’s Day. Masterminded by NWOC’s Allan Bogle, the "Legenderry" weekend featured a largely-downhill middle distance race at Binevenagh, under the dramatic cliffs overlooking Lough Foyle on Saturday afternoon, then an Irish victory over France in Rugby that evening, followed by three sprint races on Sunday and a further sprint on Monday.<br />
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Binevenagh has been used for Irish Championships and Home Internationals but this event mostly used a south-eastwards extension, avoiding the cliffs but bringing us into some dark coniferous forest where optically-challenged orienteers were advised to bring a torch to read their maps! Darren Burke took first place on the Men's course, with Eoin McCullough second; Niamh O'Boyle won the Women's race with her up and coming younger sister, Caoimhe, second.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Peace Bridge</i></td></tr>
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Sunday's first sprint race started just outside Derry's walls, with competitors walking across the Foyle on the sinuous Peace Bridge to start close to the Guildhall. Start times were early, to avoid tourists and a food fair in the city, and Philip Baxter's courses brought everyone up and down through the walls and around the hilly city. We should have anticipated some deviousness on the planner's part, but the most talked-about leg was one which brought us from on top of the walls, back outside to a cave-like control and back inside the city again. The walls are the most unique feature of the city and it was inevitable that they would be a major factor in the race. A super event, on Allan Bogle's map, and well worth the journey. Eoin McCullough outsprinted the field to finish 7 seconds ahead of Darren Burke, reversing Saturday's result, with Niamh O'Boyle taking the Women's race from second-placed Ros Hussey.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Post-mortem time</i></td></tr>
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Back across the bridge then to the second sprint, in St Columb's Park and the newly renovated Ebrington Square, a former military barracks (in use since the siege of Derry in 1689) now being swords-into-ploughshared to a public space. More St Patrick's Day festivity here, but the orienteers sprinted around the Park and the Square first. Not the same degree of challenge as the walled city, but a chance to run hard and finish on a running track, while keeping something in reserve for the third sprint of the day, at Coleraine in the afternoon. Darren again finished first with Josh O'Sullivan Hourihan second and Eoin third; winner Niamh again kept Ros and third-placed Olivia Baxter at bay on the Women's course.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>How would you do 4-5-6?</i></td></tr>
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The lure of the food fair proved too strong, so back over the bridge again to feast on goat burgers (I kid you not).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Control 4-5-6 ... so near and yet so far!</i></td></tr>
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The 1960's University of Ulster campus, outside Coleraine, was the venue for this last event of the day and of the Campus Sprint series, a fundraiser for the Irish Juniors to help their travel and training plans. Susan Lambe planned and a good turnout of seniors and juniors ran. The area had been used for an Irish Sprint Championships in 2010, so we had an idea what to expect. We didn't revisit the underground control that was used at IOC, but it was a good gallop to finish off the day. Josh had his moment of glory here, finishing ahead of Kevin O'Boyle and Darren; while Kevin's sister Niamh was again the fastest lady, Caoimhe second and Róisín Long third.<br />
You can find all the results from the weekend <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/?Results" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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St Patrick's Day itself saw the final event of the weekend, an ultrasprint style event again in St Columb's Park, featuring a shamrock-shaped specially constructed maze which runners entered at different stages in their courses. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for that and I <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Prizewinners at Coleraine</i></td></tr>
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haven't heard any reports except that it was great fun, though quite labour-intensive as the planner, Stephen Gilmore, had to construct the maze himself using a large number of stakes. Darren Burke was the fastest on the Shamrock Sprint, fittingly, as his club, Cork Orienteers, were the initiators of the Shamrock O-Ringen, the three-day event which started on St Patrick's weekend in 1989, later moving to the warmer weather of June.<br />
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Curiously, at the other end of the country, another St Patrick's Day event, at the opposite end of the distance scale, was taking place. Bishopstown Orienteers from Cork were running a long distance orienteering course and navigation challenge in the Galtees, to mark their 20th anniversary. The event was based on an idea from Poland, an extreme orienteering event at Gezno, and was promoted by one of their members from Poland. Just up the road at Glengarra, Cork Orienteers were running a Munster League event on Sunday 16th. A busy weekend, all in all.<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What's coming up? </b></span></span></i><br />
Well, a small group of orienteers are heading this week to the European Championships at Palmela in Portugal, while Trail-O specialists from LVO Wilbert Hollinger, Declan McGrellis and Stephen Gilmore are representing Ireland at the European Trail-O Championships there before returning home via JK2014 in South Wales at Easter.<br />
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The JK has topped 3000 runners this year, lured by the hope of reasonable weather with a late Easter, and the complex limestone moorland in the Brecon Beacons National Park which hosts three of the four races. The fourth event, the Sprint on Good Friday, is at Swansea University. Entry has closed but you can follow the fortunes of the runners <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Two weeks after the JK we have the Irish Championships, this year featuring four races, starting with a sprint (12-15 minute winning time) on a new map of a new area, the University campus at Maynooth, mapped by Jonathan and Laurence Quinn. Start times are from around 6 pm. Planner Laurence has a lot of experience of sprint maps and courses and the event promises to be a cracker.<br />
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Saturday's Middle Distance race, run by Setanta, is at Camaderry, just west of Glendalough, and Sunday's Classic distance race just a little further west again, around Lough Firrib (that difficult-to-find little pond on the Lug Walk). Monday's Relays are on the west side of the Wicklow Gap, at Glenreemore. You can get a flavour for some of the terrain of nearby areas on Routegadget: <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=329&kieli=" target="_blank">Fair Mountain</a>; <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=279&kieli=" target="_blank">Glashaboy Brook.</a> See all the IOC details <a href="http://ioc2014.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<i><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">O-Bits</span></span></b></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N75UalCyUlTBbD2bI5fPKx7cyeny5zJjRz_ObfWPuLYpg1AxHnTM89sWsd53f9IqZpzy9yt0UnXJZNyxuMtGxTg1ogIYesKoTptT_2RYqw_kXwLbgBaZEEWzgOoM6f0qxSlf8Hi1AWI/s1600/locmeet9.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N75UalCyUlTBbD2bI5fPKx7cyeny5zJjRz_ObfWPuLYpg1AxHnTM89sWsd53f9IqZpzy9yt0UnXJZNyxuMtGxTg1ogIYesKoTptT_2RYqw_kXwLbgBaZEEWzgOoM6f0qxSlf8Hi1AWI/s1600/locmeet9.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The formality of an LOC meeting ...</i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Leinster Lives! </span></b>Representatives of the Leinster clubs met at the Leinster Championships to bring the dormant Leinster Orienteering Council back to life. Putting together a full fixtures list for the next year was number one on the agenda, with discussion also on the IOA plans for provincial development officers, training schemes for juniors and novice orienteers, and how to attract people to the sport. The 2014-15 League will be a single league rather than two halves; the league events will alternate with local non-league/"come-and-try-it" events, there are plans for a mountain bike O-league, and the two student clubs will each run a League event ... all very positive developments.<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Brockagh Spectre</b></span>: a difficult decision will have to be faced on May 11th, whether to take in the final Leinster League event at Brockagh, near Glendalough, or go to see the Giro d'Italia bike race on its way from Armagh to Dublin. It's due in Dublin at 4 pm so an early start at Brockagh should do it ...<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">From the archives</span></b></span></i><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>20 years ago:</b></span> in Spring 1994, the list of Irish O-clubs included Athlone RTC Orienteers, Eastern Command Orienteers, Former UCCO, Kevin Street Orienteers, Lee Orienteers, Phoenix Navigators, Southern Orienteers, Thomond Orienteers, UCG Orienteers ...where are they now? ... Ultrasport were selling VJ O-shoes for £33.99 and £39.99 (O-shoes must be proportionately cheaper now?) ... Casio 30-memory stopwatches were all the rage in the times before SportIdent. A new one was soon to go on the market at about £75 ... Munster runners were being encouraged to travel to Galway for the Interprovincial Championships in March, which they had won for the past two years ... Pat Healy was preparing the map and courses for the second Lowe Alpine Mountain Challenge in the Comeraghs in May ... John Lyons (UCDO), Deirdre Ryan (GRTCO) and John Feehan (UCCO) were elected officers of the Irish Orienteering Students Association ... LVO and 3ROC announced a joint two-day event at Slieve Martin and Carlingford, spanning Carlingford Lough, and a Welsh team was expected to travel for the "Celtic Cup" Ireland v Wales challenge. Entries were £6 per day for seniors ... "Walking World" magazine was launched by the publishers of "Irish Runner" ... there would be a Lakeland 5-Day in August 1994, just as there will be in early August this year ... a standard entry form for pre-entry events was being introduced ... GEN ran the Leinster Championships at Glencree in March ... WATO were to run the Munster Championships at Mahon Falls in April and the Irish Championships would be at the Burren on the Cavan/Fermanagh border in May ... 31 people finished at the 3ROC night-O in Dublin's Phoenix Park in February ... Annual membership of clubs cost about £8 for adults ... 3ROC ran "Not the JK" on Easter Monday, but the TIO report misprinted it as "Waster Monday" ... <i>The Irish Orienteer Trophy</i> inter-club competition was still going strong, with WATO, CorkO, BVOC and LeeO battling it out in Munster; LVO taking on FermO and NWOC in the North; 3ROC v GEN v AJAX and SET v FIN v CNOC in Leinster. The National Final would be in September and the winners were expected to represent Ireland at the <i>CompassSport </i>Cup in Scotland in October ... Justin May had just won 4 Trailquest MTBO events out of 4 in the series in the UK ... The Irish Junior Panel consisted of more than 120 orienteers including such household names as M13's Allan Bogle and Ger Butler, W13's Aislinn Austin and Susan Bell, W15 Toni O'Donovan, M15 Shane Lynch, M19 Marcus Pinker and M17 Shane O'Neill (who has just won M35 at the Leinster Champs ... the 3-Day Shamrock O-Ringen moved to Inchigeela in July ...John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-83919068173649658322014-02-28T23:24:00.001+00:002014-03-07T12:21:08.665+00:00Spring is Sprung ...<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><img align="left" alt="Night Orienteering" src="http://qoc.us.orienteering.org/sites/default/files/photos/image3269.jpg" height="133" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px;" title="Photo by Rego Ostenon" width="200" />Night, Night, Night-O</b></span></span><br />
The night orienteering season is over for another year. A busy schedule of "Dublin by Night" events taking in old and new areas, and easy and difficult ones, ran from early December to mid-February, providing a fuller fixtures list than the normal day-orienteering one in Leinster. A cancellation of the Kerry Orienteers event in Killarney took one night-O out of the equation. The Northern Ireland Night Championships was on last weekend and soon the clocks will go forward, depriving us of those precious hours of darkness beloved of night orienteers.<br />
I enjoy night orienteering: keeping track of where you are is more difficult and more important than in the daytime as mistakes are easier to make and more costly to correct at night. Some other orienteers obviously agree, but not too many: the turnout for most of the DBN events was in the 40's. Is night-O too specialised? Too challenging? Too difficult to get to? At the wrong time of year?<br />
The numbers attending orienteering events can be very disappointing: Fingal's Spring Cup event last Sunday at Rossmore, Co. Monaghan, attracted only 60 runners. An obvious difficulty here is that there is no nucleus of orienteers in the area to bring the numbers up, but it must be demotivating for clubs, particularly for the mappers, planners, organisers and controllers who make the events happen, if their efforts go unrewarded.<br />
It's not about money (or not just about money): we all like to feel appreciated, but we'd all like the clubs and the sport to be financially viable. Bigger numbers at events mean more money for the clubs and for the sport. With that money the clubs can pay for mapping, they can subsidise juniors to go abroad to events and to training, they can invest in the sport. Without that income we are on a downslope, with falling participation, fewer people seeing the need to join clubs to ensure the future of the sport and an increasingly older age profile in the clubs.<br />
Are there too many clubs? Do we need to bring the orienteering to the people and not the people to the orienteering? Is it time to reinvent the sport, taking it away from the woolly-hat in the forest image to make it an exciting sprint in a park?<br />
Look at mountain running: the recent race on Three Rock attracted about 300 runners. Look at the Park Runs which regularly attract hundreds of runners. Look at the mountain-bike races on some of our orienteering areas, attracting good numbers at many times the cost of an orienteering entry.<br />
Buy a mountain bike and the same day you're experiencing the thrills and adrenalin of charging downhill through fantastic forests and trails in natural surroundings. Take up orienteering and experience what, exactly? The frustration of getting lost? The slow learning of map features, compass work and pacing? People nowadays want instant gratification and that's not something which orienteering in its present form can provide. Maybe it's not something we should aim to provide, but without capturing and retaining new people, we're going to be in trouble.<br />
Now, where was I? Night-O: if we are to make it attractive to the day-O people, we need to make it less intimidating: perhaps a mix of parks and urban areas, university campuses and easy forests, graduating to more difficult areas of forest of sand dunes, but a progression. We exclude under 16's for insurance reasons; to a large extent we exclude people who don't have a decent headlight (though the price has fallen and the quality has risen dramatically in the past few years); we exclude people who rely on public transport. We need to be an inclusive sport, not an exclusive one.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Springtime</span></b></span><br />
Anyway, as spring has sprung, we have the various spring series of competitions in full swing, as well as the great<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: blue;"><b>Campus Sprint</b></span></span> events which raise money for the Juniors. After a confusing start this year, the sprints at Waterford IT, DCU and UCC are culminating in the TCD and NUU (Coleraine) events on March 1st and 16th.<br />
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The <b><span style="color: blue;">LegenDerry weekend of March 15-16-17 </span></b>has a great range of competitions, from the walled city of Derry, to St Columb's Park in that city, a middle distance race at Binevenagh near Limavady, a sprint at NUU Coleraine and an ultrasprint back in St Columb's Park again. Details and entries are <a href="https://oentries.com/multi/events/41-legenderry-3-day/details" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-JjTWMFDng-wQm_sW0UxOScLix51HYS4dM3eo2I7fZnPQWUBuUCwxus7lAmlsEI00g0mC5aI6EhD5qQqdW6jvcj0piwnxyFtf_LrcdWvvurGj81qFxFu97EyCeye0BXQJlpHB-INbX4/s1600/Dunamase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-JjTWMFDng-wQm_sW0UxOScLix51HYS4dM3eo2I7fZnPQWUBuUCwxus7lAmlsEI00g0mC5aI6EhD5qQqdW6jvcj0piwnxyFtf_LrcdWvvurGj81qFxFu97EyCeye0BXQJlpHB-INbX4/s1600/Dunamase.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Rock of Dunamase</i></td></tr>
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Looking further ahead, the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Leinster Championships</b></span> on April 6th are being staged by CNOC at Dysert, close to the Rock of Dunamase in Co. Laois (definitely worth a visit: read about Dunamase <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunamase" target="_blank">here</a> and see details of the event <a href="http://www.cnoc.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>.). Entries close on March 26th. See the map from the previous (April 2012) event <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=252&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Just two weeks later, the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival</b></span> is in south Wales at Easter. Details of the sprint at Swansea University and the other events in the Brecon Beacons are <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Another two weeks (May 2-5) and we'll have the <b><span style="color: blue;">Irish Championships</span></b> in Co. Wicklow, with the Sprint Championships at the university campus in Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Details are <a href="http://ioc2014.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Cheaper entry fees apply until 31st March.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Poetry warning</b></span></span>: Stop here if you don't want a blast of whimsical poetry which has nothing whatsoever to do with orienteering ... <br />
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Spring</div>
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<tr><td>NOTHING is so beautiful as spring—</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="1"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="2"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="3"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="4"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td>The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;</td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="5"><i> </i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="6"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="7"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td>With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="8"></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td>What is all this juice and all this joy?</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="9"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning</td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="10"><i> </i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td>In Eden garden.—Have, get, before it cloy,</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="11"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="12"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="13"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td> Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.</td><td></td><td><br /></td><td><br /></td><td><br /></td><td><br /></td><td><br /></td><td><br /></td></tr>
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(Gerard Manley Hopkins)</div>
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(At least it's a nice change from Winter, when Dick the Shepherd blows his nail and milk comes frozen home in pail, and so on!).</div>
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-12054459705116704292014-01-19T23:12:00.002+00:002014-01-23T20:19:31.370+00:00Another year ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HTyd2PaOyYZ8MJxFHQTsNWO4vHDW2rr8dxJR3KKjZTZetDA2hUvEYFsbh4FbCj-IHwpdQmTgeVYhTQa6si0EZRKMIP0r_7rkC4zcjSAqGMhxX3sUwXkOYm4obVUaFK8tC4BXpk_recE/s1600/globe+2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HTyd2PaOyYZ8MJxFHQTsNWO4vHDW2rr8dxJR3KKjZTZetDA2hUvEYFsbh4FbCj-IHwpdQmTgeVYhTQa6si0EZRKMIP0r_7rkC4zcjSAqGMhxX3sUwXkOYm4obVUaFK8tC4BXpk_recE/s1600/globe+2.gif" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1788911595"></span><span id="goog_1788911596"></span>A belated "Happy New Year" to all our readers. There's lots of exciting orienteering in prospect for 2014, with new areas both at home and abroad; night-O, Sprint-O, a World Championships, and accessible multi-day events in Wales and the English Lake District. The Juniors have some interesting plans too, with the prospect of training in Norway for next year's Junior World Championships as well as a trip to the JK at Easter in Wales and maybe to the Lakes 5-Day in August.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>A brief look back ...</b></span></span><br />
One of the series of events this year is the Campus Sprint races to raise money for the Junior Teams. Two events have already been held, at Waterford Institute of Technology in October and at Dublin City University in December. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTwkdB0GFqMgoGRTOD2GCHJQ5XcEr0AxwdYI_P1a1n0wrpzqwhSqtmEoIPe3bRqcL6kTzBUWaDD0-hgSx2fqkLo6uU6a_XRa2QQVpZSM73WAL7-sSiNYjGqldt87sCQQYbJiQ2VH6LYpw/s1600/dcu+irish+map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTwkdB0GFqMgoGRTOD2GCHJQ5XcEr0AxwdYI_P1a1n0wrpzqwhSqtmEoIPe3bRqcL6kTzBUWaDD0-hgSx2fqkLo6uU6a_XRa2QQVpZSM73WAL7-sSiNYjGqldt87sCQQYbJiQ2VH6LYpw/s1600/dcu+irish+map.bmp" height="127" width="200" /></a></div>
The DCU event offered entrants a choice of a map in English or Irish, and planner Kieran Rocks used a seasonal Christmas tree as a control site, while one of the other sites, a statue, looked like something from Easter Island! (The juxtaposition of these festivals reminds me of the quiz question "When did Good Friday fall on Easter Monday?" - the answer is at the bottom of the page.) Further events in this rather scattered series are rumoured to be in UCC on February 15th with further events in TCD on 1st March and others at unspecified future dates...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqEGm-meU0QvYdfxBBOAt9OMq8Zhdi8le9M9IYCR4XipwxLgTx7E5AHNBD0P2uaUVVNRrI7eZKaM5NgK2qlPRV5kCNJc1oACW5J54_5dtXYmzXqDI7GiowY_IwyTPkVYOJrHGbsq7yWM/s1600/easter+island+head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqEGm-meU0QvYdfxBBOAt9OMq8Zhdi8le9M9IYCR4XipwxLgTx7E5AHNBD0P2uaUVVNRrI7eZKaM5NgK2qlPRV5kCNJc1oACW5J54_5dtXYmzXqDI7GiowY_IwyTPkVYOJrHGbsq7yWM/s1600/easter+island+head.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">... and forward</span></b></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0yr9de820XXR6rniVCrfyK8hFDwAeI4VIcXv8pT47A98XrDm75vu9BLaiwVtk05nSjmGKXPzrhKgcHLA-5OQGdMWQKOh5KrqvFziqzzHlE6fUlhhYr-QZBKIpQeE17yDPKvyrIZ5Jyk/s1600/DSC_0345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0yr9de820XXR6rniVCrfyK8hFDwAeI4VIcXv8pT47A98XrDm75vu9BLaiwVtk05nSjmGKXPzrhKgcHLA-5OQGdMWQKOh5KrqvFziqzzHlE6fUlhhYr-QZBKIpQeE17yDPKvyrIZ5Jyk/s1600/DSC_0345.JPG" height="200" width="133" /></a>As usual at this time of year, TIO reviews some of the interesting events both at home and away, for the coming twelve months. Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Sweden, the UK and Brazil all feature. Even if you can't go to any of these events, you can get lots of fun from looking at the websites!<br />
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Spain and Portugal are attractive destinations in the early part of the year, and this year sees multi-day events in Andalucia (February 14-16) with a World Ranking Event (WRE) at Punta Umbria, near Huelva, with training during the following week - not far from Faro airport (see <a href="http://www.aom2014.com/" target="_blank">here</a>) , and the Mediterranean O-Championships in Portugal on 21st-23rd February, again with WRE's, 160 km east of Porto, with a middle, sprint and long distance race (and some Irish already travelling) - see <a href="http://mco2014.ori-estarreja.pt/?p=140" target="_blank">here</a>. Who cares if it's not really on the Mediterranean if the entry fee is only about €20 for three days? The same weekend, there's an interesting concept at the Kvarner Bay Challenge on Cres Island in Croatia, where the entry fee is whatever you decide it's worth - see <a href="http://kbchallenge.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Moving north, the Swedes come out of hibernation on February 28th with the Pan-Spring at Kristianstad with night, middle and long races close to where the 2014 O-Ringen will be - see <a href="http://eventor.orientering.se/Events/Show/5947" target="_blank">here </a>for entry details.<br />
Early March has the <a href="http://www.pom.pt/en/" target="_blank">Portugal O-Meet</a> at Gouveia, in the middle of the country, from March 1-4. This has two middle and two long races, a night sprint, and trail-O, plus training opportunities. A week later you could run on the karst limestone terrain of Slovenia at the <a href="http://lipicaopen.com/" target="_blank">Lipica Open</a>. If you're taking off for St Patrick's weekend you could go to the <a href="http://www.orienteering.it/macro.php?subsite=n090913_111503" target="_blank">Mediterranean Open Champs</a> in Tuscany on March 13-15. The event has a sprint, a middle, and a sprint in Florence. There's also a pre-World Championships training camp near Venice from March 9-13. If you want to stay at home that weekend, there's a sprint race in the walled city of Derry on the 15th, with a middle distance race the next day in the same general area adding up to 5 races in three days. There are also hints of a long-O type event in the Galtee Mountains on March 15th/16th where Bishopstown Orienteers are celebrating their 25th birthday (details <a href="http://www.munsterhillwalkingandorienteeringchallenge.net/" target="_blank">here</a>), where there's also a CorkO Munster League event in the same area. Back in Scandinavia, the <a href="http://www.danishspring.dk/" target="_blank">Danish Spring</a> event, marking the end of winter, is on March 22-23 in North Zealand, north of Copenhagen, with sprint, middle and long races but no relay.<br />
Moving into April, CNOC's Leinster Championships at Dysert, near the Rock of Dunamase in Co. Laois, is on the 6th. Further afield, there's a <a href="http://www.wcupspain2014.es/" target="_blank">World Cup</a> race at Murcia in southern Spain on April 4-6, followed by the <a href="http://eoc2014.fpo.pt/index.php/en/" target="_blank">European Championships</a> at Palmela, just outside Lisbon, in Portugal from 9th-16th, that's roughly the week before Easter. Between then and Easter, the <a href="http://www.magnets.lv/?p=orienteering_competitions&fid=902&nol_e=1&lang=en" target="_blank">Riga O-Week</a> in Latvia takes place (15-21st) in the 2014 European City of Culture, and the <a href="http://www.ceo2014.es/" target="_blank">Spanish Championships</a> in Andalucia (17-21st) where the Malaga orienteering club are also celebrating 25 years. At Easter, the<a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/" target="_blank"> Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival</a> is in south Wales while there are also multi-day events in <a href="http://www.dkp.orienteering.cz/en/pe-news" target="_blank">Prague </a>(18-20), <a href="http://www.sardinia-o-festival.com/wordpress/?page_id=22&lang=en" target="_blank">Sardinia </a>(18-21) and <a href="http://variant5.org/" target="_blank">Bulgaria </a>(18-21).<br />
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The<a href="http://ioc2014.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> Irish Championships</a> in Kildare and Wicklow kick off the month of May: a sprint on a new map of Maynooth, and middle, long and relay races near the Wicklow Gap. The same weekend, the big overnight relay "<a href="http://www.10mila.se/index.php/en/" target="_blank">Tio Mila</a>" is on in Sweden. 2014 is a big year for orienteering in Italy: at the end of May, there's orienteering in Trentino, in the mountains north of Venice, the "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/3days2014" target="_blank">3 days of Trenches</a>", to commemorate the area where there was fighting in the First World War 100 years ago. This is followed by the regular "<a href="http://www.highlandsopen.com/index.asp?fm=1&pg=15&id=360&categ=360" target="_blank">Highlands Open</a>" WRE on June 1st.<br />
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Apart from Western Eagles <a href="http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.org/" target="_blank">Three-Day</a> in Co. Galway on May 31-June 2 and the <a href="http://www.boc2014.org.uk/" target="_blank">British Championships</a> near Newcastle on 31st/1st, , there's also a 3-day in <a href="http://3days2014.e-monsite.com/" target="_blank">Belgium </a>at St Hubert (June 7-9th) and the 11th <a href="http://www.erc2014.com/home/" target="_blank">European Rogaining Championships</a> in Estonia (7-8th). Moving towards the main orienteering holiday season, the 66th <a href="http://www.jukola.com/2014/en/" target="_blank">Jukola </a>7-person overnight relay in central Finland is on June 14-15, with the Venla women's relay in the afternoon of the 14th: thoroughly recommended. This is followed immediately by the <a href="http://tow.ee/en/2014en/program/" target="_blank">Tallinn O-week</a> in Estonia. For anyone searching for something a bit more exotic, there's a 3-day in <a href="http://orienteering.is/" target="_blank">Iceland </a>on June 27-29 and there are also a competition in <a href="http://iog.9net.dk/wordpress/?page_id=241&lang=en" target="_blank">Greenland</a> (July 2-5). (A new airline called <a href="http://wowiceland.co.uk/" target="_blank">Wow Air</a> flies from Gatwick to Iceland). Back in Sweden, at <a href="http://www.3plus3.se/" target="_blank">Salen</a> (location of the 2008 O-Ringen where the Irish Juniors went on tour) there are 3 days competition on June 27-29, and three evening races in <a href="http://www4.idrottonline.se/default.aspx?id=216482" target="_blank">Stockholm </a>on June 30-July 2, allowing you to be a tourist in the daytime and an orienteer in the evening.<br />
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Peak multi-day event time starts in July with the <a href="http://sg2014.blogspot.no/" target="_blank">Sorlandsgaloppen </a>(July 3-6) in southern Norway, but a big attraction will be the <a href="http://www.woc2014.info/" target="_blank">World Championships</a> in Asiago in northern Italy (July 5-13) with the associated <a href="http://www.5daysofitaly2014.it/en" target="_blank">Italian 5-Day</a> open to everyone and including a sprint race in Venice. Clashing with this is the <a href="http://2014.fin5.fi/eng" target="_blank">Fin-5</a> five day in (you guessed it!) Finland, at Kuusamo, from 6th-10th. Rather more out of the way is the Romanian "<a href="http://www.transilva.ro/" target="_blank">Transylvanian Open</a>" at Cluj (July 10-13) leading towards the <a href="http://jwoc2014.bg/welcome-to-borovets/" target="_blank">Junior World Championships</a> at Borovets in Bulgaria from July 21-17. (Cluj is the venue for the 2015 European Youth O-Champs - the <a href="http://eyoc2014.com/" target="_blank">2014 EYOC</a> is in Macedonia on June 25-28). A longer event is the <a href="http://kopaonikopen.org/index.php" target="_blank">Kapaonik Open</a> in Serbia (July 10-20). In Switzerland the <a href="http://www.swiss-o-week.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss O-week</a> returns to the spectacular setting of Zermatt at the foot of the Matterhorn from July 19-26 and overlaps with the 50th <a href="http://www.oringen.se/english.1_en.html" target="_blank">Swedish 5-Day O-Ringen</a> in Skane from July 20-16. The world's biggest orienteering event promises lots of seaside forests in sunny southern Sweden - the O-Ringen is a must at some stage in your orienteering career!<br />
<a href="http://www.croatiaopen.net/2014/index.php" target="_blank">Croatia</a>, <a href="http://www.bubocup.com/" target="_blank">Slovenia</a>, <a href="http://fjord-o.no/2014/?lang=en" target="_blank">Norway </a>and <a href="http://web.tuke.sk/obeh/karst/index.php?lang=EN&stranka=novinky" target="_blank">Slovakia </a>also have multi-day events in July, and the <a href="http://wuoc2014.cz/" target="_blank">World University Championships</a> are at Olomuoc in the Czech Republic, location of WOC 2008, from August 11-17.<br />
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In August the closest multi-day event to us this year is the <a href="http://www.lakes5.org.uk/" target="_blank">Lakes 5 Day</a> in the English Lake District (August 4-8), promising varied terrain and lots of international competitors, but lake district traffic and accommodation are issues you may also have to contend with. In August, Slovenia hosts the <a href="http://www.oocup.com/" target="_blank">OO Cup</a> (1-5th) on what looks like spectacular Alpine terrain, and there's a <a href="http://www.o5dias.com/en" target="_blank">5-day in Spain</a>, 240 km north of Madrid on August 5-10 and a 5-Day at <a href="http://www.olv-uslar.de/event/2014/index.htm" target="_blank">Uslar </a>in Germany (4th-9th). The <a href="http://peakassurance.net/12WRC_2014.html" target="_blank">World Rogaining Championships</a> are in South Dakota, USA, on August 16-17: "Rogaining" is long distance orienteering where you visit as many controls as you can, like a score event, but over a 24 hour period. Back in Hungary, the <a href="http://tajfutas.maccabi.hu/index.php/en/" target="_blank">Hungaria Cup</a> runs from 16th-20th near Budapest, then <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/naspok/home" target="_blank">Greenland </a>beckons again (August 23-25). For army orienteers, the CISM <a href="http://www.cism-austria.at/20140824/index.html" target="_blank">Military World Championships</a> are in Austria from 24th August.<br />
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By September the big multi-day and holiday events are over,but there's still plenty of good orienteering on, notably a series of four city races in London, Barcelona, Edinburgh and Porto. The <a href="http://cityrace.org/" target="_blank">London </a>race, on Sunday September 21st, has an urban race in Guildford the day before; the <a href="http://www.gd4caminhos.com/en/portocityrace" target="_blank">Porto</a> race in Portugal on October 3-5 has a night event, relay, score and city races. <a href="http://www.racethecastles.com/" target="_blank">Edinburgh </a>(11-12 October) features city races at Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, and <a href="http://ticbcn.clubcoc.cat/en/" target="_blank">Barcelona </a>(1-2 November) with a sprint in Nou Barris Park and an urban race around the Old Town, complete the City Race Euro Tour.<br />
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Meanwhile, back in<a href="http://www.orienteering.it/macro.php?subsite=n090913_112041" target="_blank"> Italy, Croatia and Montenegro</a> there's 10 days of orienteering from Sept 29 to October 10: what a way to end the summer! Moving on, how about the 11th <a href="http://www.ist5days.com/default.asp?lang=eng" target="_blank">Istanbul 5-Days</a> (October 29-November 2) which sometimes features a night race in the Grand Bazaar. For the more ambitious, the <a href="http://www.wmoc2014.org.br/" target="_blank">World Masters O-Championships</a> (for over 35's) are in Brazil has sprint, middle and long races from November 1-8.<br />
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At the end of the year, you have a choice of the warm or the cold ... the<a href="http://www.sylvester5.be/" target="_blank"> Sylvester 5-Day</a> in Belgium (December 26-30) or five events in the <a href="http://www.orienteering-g.com/gcom/" target="_blank">Canaries </a>(Dec 27-Jan 4 2015). Then, to look forward to in 2015 we have the <a href="http://www.woc2015.org/" target="_blank">World Championships</a> coming to Scotland in August with the <a href="http://www.scottish6days.com/2015/" target="_blank">Scottish 6-Day</a>, hopefully a <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/" target="_blank">Shamrock O-Ringen</a> in West Cork in June, and the <a href="http://www.oringen.se/english/orteren/boras2015.653_en.html" target="_blank">Swedish O-Ringen</a> and the <a href="http://www.wmoc2015sweden.se/" target="_blank">World Masters</a> back to back in SW Sweden.<br />
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Fore more details of these events,and of many more, visit the <a href="http://cal.worldofo.com/" target="_blank">World of O</a> web site. Thanks to <a href="http://www.compasssport.co.uk/" target="_blank">CompassSport </a>Magazine, the IOA web site <a href="http://www.orienteering.org/">www.orienteering.org</a> and World of O for the information I have extracted and presented here.<br />
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Finally, here's an interesting street map for you: do you recognise it? Look closely to read the street names.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fXMhxjRi1WugLQrQ59L4Sbxx_9cJfLgVk7HDInz70GXk1uryY-eqHrS1LNZaAGRkKra-DBxa0DNJHl6PRwIpa8e4tVOPSEZJgtQc1EP2ZvEV72aPPrl9W61LAeykUvx1iAStHUNhj8s/s1600/Soviet+city+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fXMhxjRi1WugLQrQ59L4Sbxx_9cJfLgVk7HDInz70GXk1uryY-eqHrS1LNZaAGRkKra-DBxa0DNJHl6PRwIpa8e4tVOPSEZJgtQc1EP2ZvEV72aPPrl9W61LAeykUvx1iAStHUNhj8s/s1600/Soviet+city+map.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
During the Cold War, apparently the Russians mapped cities and towns all over Europe and Dublin was no exception. This 1970 map shows (obsolete) tramlines and the uncrossable river Liffey and the text is in Cyrillic script, incidentally named after Saint Cyril. See more <a href="http://comeheretome.com/2012/02/17/%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE-%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD-this-is-dublin/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Good Friday question</b>: Reportedly a horse called "Good Friday" fell in a race on Easter Monday in 1946.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="color: black;">That's all for now. </span></i></span><br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-37613448056818658502013-12-05T21:51:00.000+00:002013-12-06T08:32:52.033+00:00December 2013/1<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4kVz91hTMXdspgYti2Veud3UKszurVQAY2tpCEvKbw2Yirs8hceIIy57nWG4BnG3lXiwu8rX7vauoEpIcDgK-JDaP43BIHHSouVRXS8aY3gsglsq_xc2bqc9GL-ZuVrC6TytSTgW1GU/s1600/dcu+air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4kVz91hTMXdspgYti2Veud3UKszurVQAY2tpCEvKbw2Yirs8hceIIy57nWG4BnG3lXiwu8rX7vauoEpIcDgK-JDaP43BIHHSouVRXS8aY3gsglsq_xc2bqc9GL-ZuVrC6TytSTgW1GU/s320/dcu+air.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sprint for the Juniors</span></b></span></div>
The second of the Campus Sprint events in support of the Junior Squad is on Saturday December 7th at Albert College and DCU in Glasnevin, Dublin. Kieran Rocks has planned two courses of about 2.2 and 2.9 km (straight line distances) starting and finishing in the park but mostly on the Dublin City University campus. Start times from 11 to 1 pm at Hampstead Avenue off Ballymun Road.<br />
There will also be sprint events in Cork, Belfast and Limerick, with the proceeds going to the irish Junior Team. See more details <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/forums?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=79" target="_blank">here</a>. You can register online <a href="http://tinyurl.com/pgvco35" target="_blank">here</a>, or just turn up on the day.<br />
Come and sprint for the Juniors!<br />
(You can read about some Junior activity <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/irish-juniors-travel-to-hawkshead-training-weekend" target="_blank">here</a>, where Robert Pim, Zach O'Sullivan-Hourihan and Caoimhe O'Boyle went training with the top British juniors in the Lake District recently). <br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Night-O starts</span></b></span></div>
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The weekend of December 7th/8th is a busy one for orienteering, with the first of the Dublin by Night events on Saturday at Carrickgolligan, between Kilternan and Shankill, Co. Dublin. Two courses,start times from 6 to 7 pm. See details from the organisers, GEN, <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/greateasternnavigators/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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For night-O fans, there will be more night events at Phoenix Park (January 4th), Glendoo (January 11th), Massy's Estate (January 18th), Tolka Valley Park (January 25th), Rockbrook Park School (February 1st) and a CNOC event on February 8th. Kerry Orienteers are also running one at Knockreer, Killarney, on February 15th.</div>
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Looking forward, the Northern Ireland Night Champs are on February 22nd at Loughrey Campus, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.</div>
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There has been some discussion on the IOA Forum about night events: how technical should they be? Would people travel further for more technical challenge or would they prefer easier to get to events that maybe aren't as challenging? What would you like? </div>
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So, say goodbye to Saturday Nights!<br />
As an aside, the night event planned by Allan Bogle for 5th December at Loughermore had to be cancelled because of the storms and the exposed terrain.</div>
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<b style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img class="rg_i" data-sz="f" height="320" name="DIW8KoKhaA5bAM:" 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qCNeo+E1+iJHnJPoPZ3Csp0WNpOzMIJaZ2cS6R55kN2xoNeaUvc0jMbXBiIzbxqmfDKAYxrW/S0Q0dBp8JP2ypAupgzOU3Fjc8x5LO1DqiW44jeYhcVmZc8FFTOWQSzxOcYMDoNPKZQGG4cWOcZJA0IaC7UbNI0A5blexnfUJyOzNOsjxADa31KnA8YLw1xMZpsGkwRtKJhfGyWnUHiIyD2CM8c1lRhIOZsQ79nkvnlWllq5QQYcLjzX0LC44X/pJsIj3SHtBweX99R0MZm+1wOa7Ta9N+x+IAuC1HiZKpGcj+4/dF4jISTk8PhGYagx7X6oOt9bvM/cozhdeM7AwPz5RJExBmw3JTTrt9xhOzL+H8G72cjhaNZvO69juB1mCSyRzbf/ACtfwPhQpM0GZ0F0aD+0dAjsU2wHVZS6xm1G1eRFhlJyUJ8tDOa1vY90FttZ+xTt3DqdQHOwHrF/fVV8P4WMO8PY6Wgk5XbeR/VN/wDIYw5RuJL5ATtmr4VwmniqDRWBgHQEgyRlNweS3WBp5KbWAWaAB5D/AAFkm8fYQwU5BOoDQTvJ/NHU+1LBlcS4uywWw2J5yeXshPqEAsmaCZUUXcd1qc1DNvA37vQ1WpSab1GD1AWF4piTVcxxc7wA/i1JJMn30SbG4DNV70unTM2LGOR1B/cIS6vGeLgm1aeDNL2owLeIF9KjVZ/JjOTMAm8SNbJfS7mXZntOwynw2gWMX0VPZJ7KOYOIAfrNvkaqXFcPhmuaMM50zORo8EEyTmOnkmyQoJMsze2zKuNYalWgiqynDctzOzxy/uCNoilmvUaNLyY0G2WUjq8FZMhzgemnsrcVgm1CZi4jTbT9UqNdj+Yr9Vj+YVwfAso1C5tZjgWFsDMDcM6f2fKdUq7HQA8Eja/Tp0WWo8JYx5c0kaeGfCIjTzhFCj48wdFwSNjGlp/cKDr8fzJGqQeZnMd2frOrVHUstQGo55LXtbAcTs8g7pngntZh3NqtzZoOWReCbyNd1XjKfdtIZVykXhxPnZIK1Z2eS4G97m/O5TmLVq4rxKHIrcrPq3Au1Oeq1kNDHQBz/wBzHsVPtfWDqrYNg2Lc5IPyF8mOLLGju/ASZzDWxkX9Udhe0GIc6atQusACQJgE6wBOvyg67GMiELLZHZsRUzUYlkjqLrI12GlUe3MWscc7RPhne3NFniz3SQd7aqOOeKga4xIdM/eQUhp0bEaPRi+BmxNLcECROaw/cpxhWkZdwSPVKaVQDS06RACb4N92z6hBy3dy7HcbmCxXB6wq5O7OZxOUc7mYOi2nB8PVpsa00AMoAmGe86lNqdUEZhc5ovFjMGJ8gpPwmeSx5aRqBcfawR9VrWyjaRLl9wllLP8AiAb1t6WGq7jcDuCSeSAdRcJkut0Ef4Vv8S7c36IGlyJiazOxsq2CJGnA1BHObKTqzdQqqtbN9QkqApN9PNFyPpnYkgwLtiJuW0cQ1jxUbAfBExeDYhcdiRsbqs0m8l52HbyPyqk6U93KFsXXMrrY0jRodzvH3XqWOJnM2PUFTNBvL5V+HwbCbg6O35NJV0+lZgADLJ6TEACBd7yCnSrgRdFtwbZ0MeatPDqeUm9gTryBhauQKUIPUdZbFGLX8VdNqU//AKHuu0+Iz9TcvTU/orO5byXhRHJZF6TqjEPs/Ej/AMk3+k+yVY7tIWGO78k4OHby+VRi8FTeILQfXRSh0gPRlfs/EQVu0bXiH0geskH0XquFpOZnZVEciHT9roXi3DWs+gGN5/JCYLFZDFwQtLFjwEWlxhEXtZIZIu9thoc3tor8HQcS1zCIkCbWnQR6IWi3vn5Zgc4P5fuynWwj2NkHN4iPCTYiL+qtlVQaBhGA6jnFcMqUyT9TZu4aCRuJtsjaPCnZCS3MBJgGDaJN+hCAocUcWOL7EtGUkwDljY6nb/SdYfi3ePqtEsmY0BmAIDdRMT6nVZ+QZAL+Is28cxbhyCItlv52m/wm2DZ4WmfFInlB0vvdVDCB9PNGU8xvDjNhb/ato0GNaPqLpGWNyYmQRMBLsQ3EujA8SX8PkDshc4F2xuOd/ZU0cY5lRoIkFpvobEEZuov7q9jyHvAuPqH6wq+IgNex8HWYibWnyVNx3UfMCMhujHBcMrnutLZ15Hn+90vY4TOvuig0OAGxvCm2kG6C3JKbgLlRl7uV+HkFJrW7/AXcsclzu50n8lK34nYi3gSLgNrekrzQJuQRyhS7q+66cPyHyFIYn2yFJPAEqLR09kRh2yYbrB6WiT8KruDIB1PVeuyXDUAj3sUfGCHW/mHVWUgsKEDqYOtMT/7BX0MFUb4iZA/uB57JY7iNSfq+yIwmOeXZSZB2tyK3sw+21/EcYrRhrmg7/ASri/FTRtAk/S7X0ITWGSZMe/yqsbwqnWEP20M/msLCOiw4iQQkAkcRBT7Tg/UL+Qj9UvxHH3l1iAOQ/JXcU4B3cloc8Ty89wkNdhH4StLFiwtyohFVCeJp8HxWm/w1A4uOmn5K7FcFpvFnwSd49tJWNDvREUMY5l5P3Vm0zKbxmpLYTdrLcVwypROYAgA/UP8ACO4S9tU5HyHTM2ggA2MdVCnx9xiZAG1iPsqamLaDnp2MiBEjS9+vkrHewphzJ9zCmh2Or0++DDTljQAAPeUzpVmA9+WANt4rzNhGt7CfdIKDXw6uACJgib35+u60nC8SKrX4eoBYfWI+r8EeXTUIGZaA/wAweQUI8hha7wltpF5BBBv5b26JPwmn3zz4spZAgxe9+ug+FSMRVZW7irAholjfKxnqmeVtN8RlBDBmGmttPukwmyx89QNleBKKVYkuLrGYj1sOtkfWpEiWyCREiEqpVg55B56xAmYjz/RP6TIEDQW/ygaj2tcjJ3JYZogdPldqXU4gIdtYTE/sJRbJ3CDXddiWUWgbfn8kqcrwHJRIXHKzeZZncjkzxC4F4FccqiDlGYl4kDKIggmdpkaDTdL+J4gsjcO20N7a/KbOjT4Q3FWDupMbQtHBmDOi1HBm37VA6iKrcq/AN/mN9fsgy5G8Od/Mb629Ct7Vj7LfxD5D7TH9IWdeOv8AjdYriPEq7XFhdGXcCJ03C2gd1hZbtBw131MbIPKZ21G+qxNNmRqRhFhnVlVSOoup8frtH1A31Iv5TyXcTx0PbD6VMz0IPnIMpS5pFjZVFaS4U7qFGNfiTrUmPdY5Z2d+sfdCBsKxx5qlzwmkBjCzxK7h3w64kcrwfa6g5Nez2Ha999W3gxHK866qXIVbMljQuEMxnc/SLuAIEkgA6WB+oHmmXZWhmc5xvUGmsnkOmgVD+Ht720PJbPIAWg6XBuB6K4MLMRTFJzSHA+EgkQdyf3EJHIQylR5irEEUIzY9tZ4khr2lzSBOYCTMuFrRHNTqtb3tMEkBjZEiRJm08rNjlKA4DSAc+S1zy4w6bgzz335pjWxM1aTH2LdN8wmczhsCOeiUZaeh1F6puIbw/BOkuBzCSXTFhNuaY0xbfySfs/jCGVG3JL9Zt5J7QFpWbqiwcgyubhqkKmvwovoZbTJNz6afdVYh9w0a+kHaJ6yr2gA20AA68zprqPZEx/bwknzD4aTCzeTPNaovCsDxB0CFNbkJN/flKVxozniBRC5pRLWWVb6zRqR6Kj+FcSHOeQI+kbKFXFU2bCelz7ppNNuNdn9oYYFB9xv+Ja5z7kgRNjOyq4iAaZ/d0PU4oTo33/RB4jEucIPNaeDQuMqvVAQvpjcCooQOLq3B4d4xDXtANouY6cjsVzLCIoVSNNVrZlLYyB5hGFgiOSTOnv6KVHEAjUBKBxdzfqYCr24ujUF/CVg5NGyr7lr9xzFzhXbyP7Es4pwmnW1s7+oWPrzWUxnZ6q0mBmaPxAXPkFrmYV7fpdmaRI3XaOKzSDaLTsoxZMuMew2JUK6i1NifPHYV0kZTbmD5JfWZBhfXMnILFcboUnVnScpIuYi8/dO6XXb2IIl8Oo3GiJlirKNVzbtMFP29l3EHKQ4DkddCPLVewvZgvDhLqb284IPtomjqcVGzGDmTozvAKVR4zmobjzJaBJt0gD1VvFHGk5tdktL462I8QGmUXbqNSuYDh2Iw7vFTzt0lp0BN43/YTOphAKbzd2bQOtEyTA2Ek+qVfKoe7sH4gSQWvxE3DcSHVxlGRhJgfigyddz5LVYbDB1SkSYcRJDvqde0nkb20SWhhKbnupU2uFZsOYAYEb5Xc7yisVwuq6q05gLNGVwhwy7DaRdWOL1WBBqScLMdwjHg+HIzXBvtp+9E8JgAIjsxgmU3eJ7QZcTfUkzcxpt6IDtHi6hrvDGDKDaABPWQksuiGU7g4kZtMrDcGg1XBkvzAM5gl0TtlcJ+UQG1ALd3GwzCd9Rp8pYK1YfgUDiq82afZW+lJAUlT/c4D2hTX/sbPbIIN/LquWbJMAbpU7EVz+Ar1Ss8tIcC0dVyaFy20MKPgSoRuQDQMhjeJ5rNMBAFUmoiMGAXCeYHyt7FgTGtKIYCuBCqGCc5pffK0ST+gGqOweCpuaxwObOAZc5rAGkTmjU22CvZjjSD2vhhzEh5jLktlbezYvMx5lexlN2jj4gBextFtNoS2p1RxcAf6l2IWVcQfTptJZSLwBJ2PpdcaMO5lN0upuqQA2xudAVRhu8zuzxECIPnNttvZexFGnnpkmHg+DTXaAUti1rbtrc/xKDJzJcS4U6ncw5v9Q/Pkk9ejyWt4NQxBdU74g0j9MgZid/ptl81nsawNcctwDZaamxcKwrmDYHHupnWW7j9ORT8OY8ZhEH96LNVxvELzMVUAhpPoEhqtEGO9DtMC6HsGo7xObwhtQMA1tr0CXYrCCq1wq92Xi7XA69DItZA4l1Vwvm9kmxVOqDPj87wg49EV/ULg1xV5Fw/vamHMAnLM8vv5ro7SOFTNFjqN0mqYmqbOLjHOVUykTeD5wmxo1Y++jCekDy01mH7YMdZzSINj+90U/E5iDtEje37+yxZwRJgEkGDpEmOi0OFacgAkQBqB62CT1GlxYyNkhsSrW2EYyqQRVbGZptPLQj1C1Du0fhgNY9rw3UT5HX6hJWRDtQ6bXkiPdK6GMIfla+Ghwttc9UbRi/afENjYjifU2gQT5/cpfiq2UgC5uY3gawmNcgW6lIMY0uqyHWENGsdTpY8iLc157TruckzPTl+epewVXQ7NAIBgt0k6nrCKYx0GTJ22ACnhmQP3poLq0W5KXzCyABJfKLNAQR2JaCQdoB1so8SoZ6dj1hTxVGfEPqAjlPmYn2uoUQWi9x5Enz/AH8IuEVWTGeR4hMSBltO/iZxhEw63yjv4SG5h9oTWtg6dQ5hrzS7HcPqfhcXdF6DB+IYsnDcH4MKHB4PBgWMxneNyuuBFucXE81NnaB+YTVDrQWPbYyI1iQRsZQL6Lmm4PsoPbfmnNqZB8wobxNXhqLaoANQsnUiCY6E6K+rhcMwskzku0zmdPUrKUqsIqnijr9lTHp8eP8AKJwIHQmix/aHMC1gyti5OvpyWWxWMJNrBXmnN735LlLhT3G/hHVdkzY8YtjIbIP1GANeXGOey0XDsL3TJcQCTJ6dP3zXsNg2Ur/U759Ar6jjcugACb6a7R5/CxtTqG1B2pwvzA85uuF+ZcHNOl+ihWoGbZXdDaPhcw1ens9t9PEPy1Moguus0v6bEVY/eAORUJAFiIa/DHSTAyjQjfXl9MaXSri3DXAOdALdo+5Tx8ir4qrZcbNJiY6E+khSxmJyMksztiDBEW016fdaG9gAy+YZ62BliPAYUOymSTGhg7ox3D3GTFgZEfNtUNheNNEgMMzI0BG1iuDtLUafEAR5be4UMuZjwIL3EyrtD/LaDBBP7grNNrg1WxZpIt5n9YWm4pxkYhjmFoiJBm4IvokXCuDOqkODg3KZi8kDkN/JPaQ7Ft+DHMZAHM+r4w3d6/v3QFKixocGwHCAQJ+o7i9rI3ETMDn/AL+VQRGVpidSecaLH042Y2YwenAXE+Qy6m60LsLjQpDXX96rOMz7nHBV5RefJWkqBVlJHUkEqbErfRB5n7+U6qqrWyaEaGQbmBF5tz3RJC5UbOwk22Ntbz5JlNRfGQXGU1IPGQXBKldg+sxrtOnpr0SHitnmNNlqRTDbk/u+6zPE4cS4Om5Wt+EtudqupODkmLJTPhBBeAeRS4sTHg7f5g8nfYLV1hrA1fELkHtMe1HBsARfc2HqoFpd+IEHccoBFjr7jVQxPEKdMjO8AmYHshX8cpNkw60SIA1sDG/+F5tFfbYWz8mBxmk4WzC8SxjPEWT11+6zHG+Khz2lgcwgRMkeRWpPd123AI06hJ8T2aYCCHOvYSMwBvr0V8OZd33O/wDEr6pJ98S42u6B3jWO08TIk+2q7gu0b6dj427TqPVFVOBV5NPwltyJ0kbAaj4QWO7P1GCSIEE8x5SNPMp0HCw2tUuAh7lWP42ajnODQCbXMiI5HfqjuF8TqZPERlOmYEtvqMw0/wArMvsbheNS2pjleE59MjJQhzjBWhHOIqjvCSIzD8LhHuvA03DcHqkz683geiNw+Ja4Br7ATFr33nofuhtioSpx0IRw/I2qHEWEzNxy05LQV2nO11JtMtLQQT1ixI+kibeiTYfENpkwQQ6AQRmkcoTjiOLa1ja2chznNDQABOhGZuh2vtA3QGsuIMglhN7XptdJiHGRa34iPlLDTgmdVPCudmkGZmfPpyQnaDGmi0Oy5tv9lY7oxO0RZtx9ol73AAn980jp9q6EkEOHp+hQuNxtWtRe3KGk6QToSNVj8TRLHZTqntP+Hgj7ncOumNe6avEdsr+CnP8A2P2hDN7ZVJ+hkcr/AKrMly8Cnl0WED8sIMKfE29PtdSOrHA76R6FeqdsadgGk9T+u6w+ZRNVQv4ZhaR9Mtzb8W7TA+FjZbvF+UEFZ/8AjHCmA1kuMyL2knklVOu4EZfKUe3EsLr6tH1DWd52lMafENOCFEPjx7YL/wAk+nABJO5M+gA1tcIhjKjg1zycpmQCffX4StrDWqHxW/qNrD7JjgsQchpiS11g7kT5+yM/XEKQIxx9MU2Ag22nTnBV1V7alEgttGYAGPRp5+fNDVPCQ1z2kSZYbAWPi3lW0cWwNIfcDQixI8v0ShBAleJLDcWNEBzZJyjMCJB0kE7ea0lfiAqCm5rwGVAfF1BBy+pt7rKMoipSMAA8pi3X1VOHw5ZTIfNriDLdT9PUggoOTAj8+YDJjDczfVqpDzmFnAQRe4vPIbe265WxLXWkRN7zpMnoFnsLi32M7DLN+e226rw7ofmnLJuLc+vokjpYD0YZ2l4FSc3MyKZdz0J3nksTU4dUE+E231HutfjuKZQWvaHWM6c5i1xISjh5e1sWhx0vbXdPaZsiJybhcRdRzED6ZbYiF6owgwRBWrq0mVKbbQ4eEm0eG8+4Anoo4PDjKHOGZ0GARaTMOteJi6Y+p4siE9YVyJlWVMpnlzEj2Kma5c5pN7tHyFrMTwqno8tiPDB1eQBBPILMvwZ7/LTaS1pBtew3+ETFlRzcJjdWn17C4YtBIIsdPVT4pQLmAEAjLfr8Ly8sjGgJs/MHgQFbMz1PCOBJkW0mdgYGizPGeHPLi8uBJPVcXlqqIweos/gHc2+5/RcODdzHuf0Xl5Fg544B/Me5/RRHCnwTLfcz9lxeRF6lwOJXVwLo1Huf0XKWAqHwhwAJ5n9F5eUjqXAh1HgZD3tkHKJBvqADcctURxOg5oGQ5TAJgwDbW29+S8vIB5YSh7gGF4dUeRLmmSdz67J1Rwji0AkXytkXOsXn1+F5eU5RzOcQxuCIYDaGZjEnT2v6ofD4Yuc28tJccp6DnquLyXAErQhrcE8lrQQHa5r3AkQfVdZw5zsriWzmgxMG68vIR6ldogo4e7vHsqFr535A2EW1ufYJbg8O8PdTkWs115BE30Xl5MADmWoS2pw6qxsBzbi8zqJ0sp4IOF3QYGWQTOwnTqvLy5lG0mQVFQivwp4yBrgD5nXmvUMLL3OIAcCLtJG4HLruvLyCviVAn//Z" style="height: 191px; margin-left: -1px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; width: 140px;" width="234" /></b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SouthEast short course & POC at KK</b></span></span><br />
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Also
on the weekend of 7th/8th December, Waterford Orienteers are launching
their new map of Kilkenny Castle with a South east Short Course League
event on Sunday 8th. </div>
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<a href="http://leinster.orienteering.ie/images/LOCbtn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img align="left" border="0" height="30" src="http://leinster.orienteering.ie/images/LOCbtn.gif" width="87" /></a><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Leinster revives</b></span></span></div>
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A groundswell of support for the revival of the dormant Leinster Orienteering Council has resulted in a planned meeting on December 12th after the presentation of the Autumn Series league prizes at BaseCamp in Middle Abbey Street in Dublin. See details on the new IOA Forum <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/leinster-council-meeting" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Priorities are fixtures co-ordination and more cooperation between the clubs to promote the sport by running series of local events.</div>
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<b style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img class="irc_mut" height="200" id="irc_mi" src="http://www.wmoc2008.fpo.pt/who/who55.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="150" /> </b><span style="color: blue;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Jon Musgrave comes to Hillsborough</b></span></span></div>
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Jon Musgrave- one of the UK's top coaches and silver medal winner from
WOC 1993 - is coming to Hillsborough on 14-15th Dec to hold a coaching
workshop. The weekend is designed to be beneficial to both athletes and
coaches.<br />
The Saturday session is aimed at juniors/ beginners and those that are interested in coaching at that level. The Sunday session is for older more regular orienteers and those that would like to coach at that level. <br />
Basically if you orienteer- or would like to start orienteering- then this is the perfect weekend for you!!</div>
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NIOA Coaching Officer Allan Bogle needs to know if you are interested in coming. See more details <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>O-bits</b></span></span><br />
See the short promotional video for orienteering (and particularly for the Swiss brothers Martin and Daniel Hubmann) <span style="color: blue;"><b>"Go hard or go home"</b></span> <a href="http://tv.worldofo.com/?id=1423" target="_blank">here</a>. The "Route to Christmas" feature is back for another year at World of O. See Day 1 <a href="http://news.worldofo.com/2013/12/01/route-to-christmas-day-1-2013/" target="_blank">here</a>. Orienteering in south Wales at Easter? Entries to the <span style="color: blue;"><b>2014 Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival</b></span> in the Brecon Beacons at Easter have opened. See details <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/" target="_blank">here</a>. The JK is Britain's biggest competitions, with sprint, two day's individual and a relay over the Easter weekend. </div>
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Finally, the <span style="color: blue;"><b>sad news</b></span> that Nuala Rothery, wife of Seán and mother of former Irish Champions Eoin and Colm, died recently after a short illness. Seán, one of the founders of Irish Orienteers and of the IOA, and designer of the original IOA logo, is still orienteering in the M85 class whenever it is provided (well done, Frank Ryan for having the class at the Connacht Championships). Both Eoin and Colm are now based in Australia but are still active in orienteering, Eoin having embraced MTBO as well as the running variety, and is a regular reader of TIO and was a frequent contributor in earlier times, as can be seen from the TIO archives <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/archive" target="_blank">here</a>. Our sympathy goes to Seán, Eoin, Colm and Fionnuala and their families.</div>
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John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-72303669300332309062013-11-12T21:32:00.001+00:002013-11-12T21:32:37.414+00:00November 2013<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Championships Time</b></span></span><br />
While the Irish Championships come at the effective end of the competition season, at the beginning of May, the Northern Ireland, Connacht and Munster Championships cluster in the autumn. This year the Connacht Championships were brought forward to the end of September only to be moved back to the end of October again following a clash with the Senior Home International, and the Munster Champs were run a week later.<br />
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It's unusual these days to get to run in a forest on two successive Sundays, with so many events taking place on open mountain, but both Championships provided good orienteering in good forests. The <span style="color: blue;"><b>Connacht Championships</b></span>, run by Galway's Western Eagles club at Newcastle Demesne near Ballymahon in Co. Longford, offered an interesting mix of coniferous and beautiful runnable beech wood, with an elegant setting in front of Newcastle House, the seat of the King-Harman family since the 1700's, on the banks of the river Inny. Heavy rain early in the day tested the waterproof maps to the limit, while Frank Ryan's courses used the best parts of the wood, though anyone taking the longer road routes got to know one or two sections of road intimately. 3ROC's Colm Moran took the M21Elite course while CNOC's Niamh O'Boyle won the W21 Elite. The event was run largely for the benefit of visiting orienteers as the small number of Connacht runners were mainly involved in helping: there was, however, one Connacht prizewinner in Derek Conerney, 2nd in M40L. Once again, hats off to the small group of orienteers in Connacht who ran the event: in all honesty I have to say it was much better than I had expected! You can see the results, routes and split times <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2151" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The following Sunday, Cork Orienteers ran the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Munster Championships</b></span> in a classic Galtees forest at Toureen Wood near Cahir. Galtees forests tend to have large erosion gullies running down the sides of the mountains and forests roads running parallel to one another across the slope, and Toureen Wood is no exception. Starting high and finishing low may have reduced the climb on the courses but it didn't eliminate it altogether. The turnout was better than for Connacht, with a good representation of Munster and Leinster runners and a handful from Connacht and Ulster, not to mention a couple of Swedish visitors. Cork O's Darren Burke retained the Munster title, his fifth, while his clubmate W18 Niamh Corbett continued to make her mark and took the W21 title. Yet another good day's orienteering in quite detailed forests where, again, the planners (Liam O'Brian and Willie Fitzgerald) made the best use of the area. You can see the results, routes and split times <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2162" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Wherefore Art Thou?</b></span></span><br />
<i>For those unfortunates who weren't able to make the Munster Championships, there was some consolation in the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Three Days of Rome</b></span> the same weekend. About 20 orienteers from Ireland made the trip, and you can read <span style="color: blue;"><b>Niamh O'Boyle's</b></span> account of the races here:</i><br />
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With the World Championships to be held in Venice in 2014, meaning
an embargo over parts of the city, the Italians took the opportunity to
offer a 3-day event in Rome instead. It attracted 18 orienteers from
Ireland out of a total of 974 from 17 countries. Our group of myself,
Kieran Rocks, Susan Lambe, Marcus Pinker and Ger Butler had a great
apartment just down the street from the Colosseum. </div>
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Day 1 was held in a fairly straightforward park,
made much more interesting and fun by running the event as a mass start
night-O! Villa Borghese is one of the most popular parks in Rome just
north of the city centre. Fast and furious, you had to run fast or get
left behind. Wilbert Hollinger kept his cool to finish first by 5
seconds in M65. Mary O'Connell of 3ROC took 2nd place in W50 and Aoife
McCavana of GEN was 3rd in W18. My map with route from the women's elite
course is <a href="http://www.cnocmaps.totalh.net/show_map.php?user=Niamh&map=404" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Day 2 in Villa Ada was a totally different
proposition - green and hilly with lots of route choice (through the
green or around on paths?). It was hard to follow the little paths in
places and many people lost time wandering around, including me on no.
10. Wilbert was 1st again, Mary was 2nd again, and Marcus Pinker took
3rd place in M35. Again, my course/route is <a href="http://www.cnocmaps.totalh.net/show_map.php?user=Niamh&map=403" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Day 3: the main event. This was the one that
we had been waiting for; a chance to run around ancient Rome, past the
Colosseum, on the same streets that the Emperors once ruled over. The
race didn't disappoint and required forward planning and nifty footwork
to avoid tourists and garbage trucks in the narrow streets. There was
also a challenging crossing of a major road - the option being to throw
yourself in front of the cars and hope they stopped on time to save time
or politely wait until they had passed. Marcus was the only one in the
top 3 today, with a fine 2nd place in M35. Most of the W21 course is <a href="http://www.cnocmaps.totalh.net/show_map.php?user=Niamh&map=402" target="_blank">here </a>(no A3 scanner - hence no. 1 is missing).</div>
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The Irish put up a good show overall with
Marcus sneaking up to 2nd on M35, 19 sec ahead of 3rd after 112 mins of
running! Wilbert took 1st place on M65 despite dropping time on the
third day, and IOA chairperson Mary was consistent enough to finish 2nd.
I'm not sure if they will run this event again or if it will revert to
Venice, but it's definitely a nice choice for a weekend of orienteering
in November (25 degrees and sunny :)</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Calling all Controllers</b></span></span><br />
IOA is running a one-day Controllers' Course in Kildare on 16th November, given by the doyen of UK controllers, Graham Nilsson. Graham has given controlling and planning courses here before and they are excellent. However, it is limited to 15 people and by the time most of you see this it will probably be over ... (but look for a dramatic improvement in course and event standards?)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>O-Bits ... <span style="font-size: small;">EYOC Photos</span></b></span></span> taken by Gerry Meehan at October's European Youth O-Championships in Portugal are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/102085058@N08/sets/72157637420525185/" target="_blank">here</a> ... IOA are running a two-day <span style="color: blue;"><b>First Aid course</b></span> in Newbridge on 30th November/1st December. At present there are only 2 places left. Details <a href="http://www.eventbrite.ie/e/irish-orienteering-associationss-rec-level-2-first-aid-course-registration-8472027061" target="_blank">here</a> ... There is to be a <span style="color: blue;"><b>sprint event at Dublin City University</b></span> on Saturday 7th December to raise money for the Junior Squad. There were four great sprint events last year for the same purpose, so here's a chance to do some sprint-O training in preparation for the Irish Sprint Championships at Maynooth at the beginning of May ... <span style="color: blue;"><b>JK2014</b></span>: entries are now open for Britain's biggest O-event, at Easter (April 18-21) in South Wales. See <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2014/" target="_blank">here </a>... <b>Sad news</b>: the death occurred on November 5th of Nuala Rothery, wife of Seán Rothery, one of the founders of Irish orienteering, and mother of former Irish Champions Eoin and Colm. <br />
<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-21269398794778178782013-10-15T00:29:00.001+01:002013-10-16T22:44:40.003+01:00October 2013<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">VHI 2013</span></b></span></i><br />
<i>To round off the reports on this year's Home International series, here is Team Manager <b>Helen Baxter's </b>account of the Veterans' event where, to everyone's surprise, Wales finished in second place behind England, relegating Scotland to third and Ireland to fourth.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Team Manager Helen Baxter</i></td></tr>
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After something of a
scramble to put together a full team the Irish Veterans set off for
Norfolk on the first weekend of October. It all started very well when the NI
contingent went to pick up their two Skoda Octavias and found they had
been allocated a couple of Mercedes Benz B class. It was a little
worrying that they were white and even more worrying that they were
Mercs given the usual mucky parking fields at orienteering events,
however they were very comfortable. As it turned out there was no
need to worry, the parking was on hard standing and a nice dry field.</div>
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Things started to go
downhill a little when we reached the YHA in Sheringham to be met
with an unapologetic ‘There’s no hot water all weekend’. I’m
sure it was an unfortunate coincidence that the English team hadn’t
managed to book in time and were accommodated in a different hostel
(with hot water). That and the fact that the bar wasn’t open and
they were intending to lock up at 11 with half the team (plus some
Scots and Welsh) still en route almost sent me into meltdown.
Instructions to use the keypad on the door weren’t complete either
so when they were passed by phone to Andrew at 12.15 am it didn’t
work. Fortunately Philip had waited up, helping Mary with a bottle
of red, so was able to let them in.
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Next day, fortified by
breakfast, but not necessarily showered, the team had the morning to
explore Sheringham as the Relays didn’t start until the afternoon.
I waited with bated breath for Kathryn to turn up as rumour had it
her passport had expired – she managed to persuade Ryanair to let
her aboard much to my relief. The Relay area was in three distinct
parts; a sloping contoured area and a flat area with lots of small
paths separated by a wooded holiday park with multiple rides and
roads. Running was fast and furious with England dominating the
event. The main surprise was when Wales pushed Scotland into third place. Despite some good runs we were bringing up the rear by the
end of the day and 18 points down on Scotland. Organising club NOR had arranged for
us to use shower blocks on the campsites so at least we had access to
warm water.</div>
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The four teams managed to
drink the hostel dry of red wine that evening – obviously we were
all in training for the Individuals the next day. The Individual day
dawned sunny and warm: Sheringham Park was a great area with some
well planned courses – the bracken added to the challenge but
Marcus, Toni, Mary, Jean and Colm produced fantastic runs. Despite
our best efforts the deficit was too much to make up so we held on to fourth place, but congratulations to Wales who held onto
their second place leaving Scotland in an unaccustomed third.
Photos are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77833590@N02/sets/72157636326121194/" target="_blank">here</a>. Full results are <a href="http://www.norfolkoc.co.uk/pages/veterans-home-international-results.php" target="_blank">here</a>. Relay map and routes <a href="http://www.noroc.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=59&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>; individual <a href="http://www.noroc.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=58&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It
was a great weekend and the long term plan of lulling the other
nations into a false sense of security is going well! Next year it’s
the Forest of Dean near Bristol on 13/14 September, so start the
fitness training now!
</div>
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Helen Baxter</div>
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Team Manager</div>
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<br /></div>
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The team that travelled was: M35 Marcus Pinker; M40 Declan McGrellis, Bobby Smyth; M45 Angus Tyner, Billy Reed; M50 Colm O'Halloran, Aonghus OCléirigh; M55 Andrew Cox, Philip Baxter; M60 Colin Henderson, Raymond Finlay; M65 Wilbert Hollinger.</div>
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W35 Toni O'Donovan; W40 Jeni Pim; W45 Heather Cairns, Julie Cleary; W50 Mary O'Connell, Kathryn Walley; W55 Bernie O'Boyle, Helen Baxter; W60 Jean O'Neill, Teresa Finlay; W65 Sue Pim.</div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Northern Ireland Championships: Meelmore and Luke's Mountain</b></span></span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>M21E winner Colm Moran</i></td></tr>
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About 180 ran in this year's Northern Ireland Championships on the rocky slopes of the Mourne Mountains on October 12th, with top spots on the two Elite courses going to visitors Colm Moran (3ROC) and Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC).</div>
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The map, updated for the World Police and Fire Games in August, covered the south-facing slopes of the Mournes and, though not basking in sunshine, the conditions were fine for running, with a cool breeze and good visibility. The underfoot conditions were good, with little heather and reasonably dry, and Harold White's courses brought the runners on the longer courses first west and then back east along the slopes by the old quarries, with a long leg across the hillside. The shorter courses did a clockwise loop with the juniors following the few old mining or sheep tracks available. The Meelmore café provided parking and also refreshments for the most patient orienteers in the world.</div>
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You can see the results <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/lvo/Results/displaySimple.php?result_id=223" target="_blank">here </a>and the courses and runners' routes on Routegadget <a href="http://www.lvo.routegadget.co.uk/lvo/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=171&kieli=en" target="_blank">here</a>. Bizarrely, there seem to be two LVO websites without clear communication between them, so you may not end up quite where you expected ... a bit like orienteering, really!</div>
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Harking back to the last TIO, a look at the numbers in various age classes is interesting. If we take both M21 classes together (M21 Elite and Long) there were 18 entered for this 14-year age spread. If we look at the next three age classes (M35, 40 and 45) - admittedly 15 years - there were 16; for M40-45-50 there were 34, and for M45-50-55 there were 36, with similar proportions in the Women's classes: where are all the 21? Are they all off doing adventure races or mountain biking, sports where you can get an immediate return for your investment in terms of adrenaline rush and instant gratification?<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Schools' Orienteering</span></b></span></i><br />
There is a lot happening around the country in schools' orienteering. There are primary and secondary schools competitions in Munster, in Cork, in Leinster and in Northern Ireland. The Irish Schools' Championships are being hosted by GEN in Co. Wicklow in April. A short video promoting orienteering in schools has been released by IOA - you can see it <a href="http://vimeo.com/75401229" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
For your diary, here are the forthcoming schools' fixtures from the IOA fixtures list:<br />
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<i><b>Leinster (Primary)</b></i><br />
13 November - Cabinteely Park<br />
12 February - Santry Demesne<br />
30 April - Irish Primary Schools Championships (GEN) <br />
<br />
<i><b>Leinster (Secondary) </b></i><br />
23 October - Santry Demesne<br />
4 December - Cabinteely Park <br />
29 January - Malahide Castle<br />
12 March - Leinster Schools Champs (Secondary) - Djouce Woods, Enniskerry<br />
8 April - Irish Secondary Schools Championships (GEN)<br />
<br />
<i><b>South East</b></i><br />
12 February - South East Schools' Championships - JFK Forest Park, New Ross (Primary)<br />
13 February - South East Schools' Championships - JFK Forest Park (Secondary) <br />
<br />
<i><b>Cork</b></i><br />
22 October - Farran Forest Park <br />
22 November - Doneraile<br />
28 January - Curragh Wood, Midleton (Secondary)<br />
29 January - Curragh Wood (Primary)<br />
<br />
<i><b>Munster</b></i><br />
13 March - Munster Schools' Champs (Primary & Secondary), Fota, Co. Cork.<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Northern Ireland Schools Association</i></b><br />
EVENT 1- 26th SEPT: Lakeland Forum, Enniskillen<br />
EVENT 2- 16th OCT: Stormont<br />
EVENT 3- 28th FEB: Garvagh<br />
EVENT 4- 17th APR: Castlewellan<br />
EVENT 5- 16th MAY: Portglenone<br />
EVENT 6- 18th JUNE: Drum Manor<br />
<br />
We also have an extraordinary situation in Munster where an alternative schools' orienteering organisation, also calling itself the Cork Schools Orienteering Association, which is not affiliated to IOA, is staging more than thirty schools events throughout Munster, some on the same day as the officially sanctioned events ...<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">From the archives</span></b></span></i><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>30 years ago</b></i></span> ... in September 1983 Eoin Rothery was urging us to enter the 1984 Irish Championships at Killary, the first complex open mountain area which was mapped in Ireland (before that we had thought of orienteering as being only in forests) ... Joss Lynam entered into correspondence with <i>The Irish Orienteer </i>about his course length at the 1983 Irish Championships on Keeper Hill ... IOA Fixtures Secretary Bernard Phelan was trying to get the clubs to commit to major events farther in advance ... Four schools (Wesley, de la Salle, Oatlands and Muckross Park) ran schools events in Leinster and LSOA Chairman Brian Duffy lamented the lack of development in schools orienteering ... DUO were about to unveil their map of Glencree at the 2-Day in November ... entry fees were £6 for seniors and entries closed six weeks before the event in those pre-internet days ... The Irish Orienteer Trophy inter-club competition was about to kick off another round, with Thomond v Lee Orienteers v Western Eagles; Ajax v 3ROC; Eastern Command v GEN; NWOC v Setanta ... the ripples of the "Moving Crag" controversy at Curragh's event at Stradbally in May were still being felt, with an Ajax Limerick competition including the following verse:<br />
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"There was a Young man called Wally</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
who went hunting crags in Stradbally</div>
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though he looked up and around</div>
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that crag couldn't be found</div>
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it had gone for the day to Offaly" ... </div>
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Both Aonghus O'Cléirigh and Wally Young were anxious to improve the selection process for WOC teams ... there was a report on the 1983 World Championships in Hungary where only Wally Young and Eileen Loughman made it through to the final ... Norway finished 1-2-3-4 in the men's race. This was the first time that qualification races were used to select runners for the finals. The Irish relay teams finished 18th and 15th ... National Orienteering Day was on September 25th ... John McCullough gave yet another report on the 1983 Swedish O-Ringen in Smaland where Aonghus ÓCléirigh won the H21A class on Day 5 ... the World Military Championships was to be in Brazil in November ... the IOA organised a course planning competition ... the first seven teams at the Tio Mila overnight relay in Sweden finish within 48 seconds of one another after 13 hours of racing. Finland's Kalevan Rasti win ... the inclusion of Ski Orienteering as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Canada is threatened by Curling ... IOA Juniors Officer Larry Roe was encouraging schools to make O-maps of their grounds ... IOA were running a development conference in October in Kilkenny... Plassey Orienteers (PLO) ran a relay event at Foynes, Co. Limerick ... and ECO ran an event on their new map of Fauna, near Donard in Co. Wicklow, which another club had been mapping under a different name, little suspecting that two maps were being made at the same time until the two groups of surveyors met in the forest. "What are you doing here?" "Making a map. I might ask you the same question ...".<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">35 years ago </span></b></i></span>... In Autumn 1978 Curragh Orienteerers were about to launch their new 4-colour map of the Curragh (printed on yellow paper to save ink) ... John McCullough reported on his first trip to the Swedish O-Ringen ... the second edition of John Disley's book "Orienteering" had been published (Cost £3.25) ... Wally Young and Eileen Loughman were heading the Leinster Ranking List ... Brian Porteus was about to run a planning and organising course at Newcastle Youth Hostel in Co. Down (Cost approx. £3). Brian is now the President of the International Orienteering Federation. The Irish Junior Championships were run in Donadea, Co. Kildare on 14th/15th October (I was sent by the planner to put out controls in the dark with sites marked by streamers made from pieces of black plastic rubbish bags - the only was to find them was by touch!). The two-day Leinster O-Ringen was in Clarabeg and Donadea. Schools events were run on Sundays and there were 9 planned for the season in Leinster.<br />
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You can read the full story in the <b><span style="color: blue;"><i>Irish Orienteer</i></span></b> and <b><span style="color: blue;"><i>Leinster Orienteering Clubs' Newsletter</i></span></b> archives <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/archive" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">And finally ...</span></b></span><br />
The venue of next Sunday's CNOC Leinster Autumn Series event (October 20th) is at the Curragh, Co. Kildare - the location isn't shown in the IOA fixtures list.<br />
Some reminders: don't forget to enter the <a href="http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.org/" target="_blank">Connacht Championships</a> on October 27th and the <a href="http://www.corko.net/moc13" target="_blank">Munster Championships</a> on November 3rd.<br />
Good luck to the Irish team travelling to the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Portugal on october 24-27: hope you don't miss too much school! <br />
And thanks to the people who replied to my recent request for confirmation that somebody out there is actually reading this!<br />
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JMcC<br />
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John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-13722662506783612532013-10-05T00:25:00.005+01:002013-10-07T21:59:55.615+01:00HI Time<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdxBndxlLoVZRxvqAaw6eWoizf5oBvfIF93QS2fo3x4LHnv76IqbeMTxqVbccD_b27l3LQQvdsTG_Cth76mbTueOartQdZU6uofeotuhkv9IyfTyRIFipinwN-Weh_o9zBDZEfB87FaI/s1600/machu+piccu+o+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdxBndxlLoVZRxvqAaw6eWoizf5oBvfIF93QS2fo3x4LHnv76IqbeMTxqVbccD_b27l3LQQvdsTG_Cth76mbTueOartQdZU6uofeotuhkv9IyfTyRIFipinwN-Weh_o9zBDZEfB87FaI/s320/machu+piccu+o+map.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An interesting idea!</i></td></tr>
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September and October are Home International Time, with the Juniors in South Wales in mid-September, the Seniors in Cooley last weekend and the Veterans this weekend in Norfolk. There is always a close tussle between England and Scotland for first and second and between Ireland and Wales for third and fourth. The countries with arguably the best orienteering (Scotland) and the biggest numbers (England) win out. Ireland and Wales often struggle to field a full team, borrowing runners from older and younger classes to make up the numbers. This was not a bad solution last weekend, though, when W35 Toni O'Donovan ran in as winner in the W21 race at the SHI in the mists of Carlingford. We have occasional flashes of brilliance but we don't have the strength in depth.<br />
It's a numbers game, though: with such a small number of orienteers here it's difficult to make up a team. There are plenty of people orienteering, in parks, school grounds and forests, but how do we translate that participation to active membership? <br />
The people who come along casually to do some orienteering don't make the maps or run the events. The core of active orienteers is getting older and is not being replaced by new blood at the rate that's required. The M21 and W21 classes, a 14-year age span, should be full of competitors, but if you look at many big international competitions, it's the veterans who form the biggest group, so it's not just an Irish problem.<br />
What incentives are there for someone to join a club? A nice social atmosphere? Good facilities? Regular technical and physical training? Coaching to help improve? A clubhouse on the edge of a fantastic forest? Trasnport to events? Lots of free gear? Reduced entry fees for events? A spirit of adventure and of community? Any of the above?<br />
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Anyway, back to the HI's. Mike Long's report on the Junior event follows. The Junior team is preparing for the European Youth Championships later this month in Portugal; the remaining Juniors will have a great weekend's orienteering in Co. Waterford in two weeks, so there's lots of activity, but the numbers are small and the bigger the base the higher the pyramid.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZpejs7Bh34CjoVBNE3SsoV2UhX3UgUJ1U65gaB3YMgEKaNo5RMabBsXiiw-eZ15fqoqAbGzBwOt1FE9LsjSMI-VljLF4KUX7uziQfIIofeK7axFaNJqkdiyFhQ2-G0b3yZc_x_x2Mic/s1600/carnawaddy+map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZpejs7Bh34CjoVBNE3SsoV2UhX3UgUJ1U65gaB3YMgEKaNo5RMabBsXiiw-eZ15fqoqAbGzBwOt1FE9LsjSMI-VljLF4KUX7uziQfIIofeK7axFaNJqkdiyFhQ2-G0b3yZc_x_x2Mic/s320/carnawaddy+map.bmp" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SHI Relays, Carnawaddy</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">SHI 2013</span></b></span><br />
The rotation of the three Home Internationals meant that it was Ireland's turn to host the Seniors. Some negotiation between Northern Ireland Orienteering and IOA ended up in two areas in Co. Louth, Carnawaddy and Carlingford Mountain, being chosen for the event and Fingal and 3ROC volunteered to provide the orienteering.<br />
The relays at Carnawaddy on the Saturday ran the teams straight out onto the open mountain and on to the interesting part of the map, with its crags and contours. Val Jones's courses ran across the hillside, giving the spectators and waiting runners a fine view of the race. Luckily the visibility was good even if conditions were cool and windy, but the under-strength Welsh side sufferd two injuries which put them out of contention, with one English injury also interfering with the teams' plans. Good runs by the Irish on their home turf brought the score after Day 1 to: England 26, Scotland 22, Ireland 16, Wales 10.<br />
Overnighting in the medieval village of Carlingford, the teams didn't have to travel far for Sunday's individual race. Carlingford Mountain has played host to the SHI before (in 1997?) and one Welsh runner had run in that as a W16. Its presence dominated the village, particularly with its permanent cap of cloud which was to play such a part in the proceedings on Sunday. The first couple and the last couple of controls were below the cloud, but the rest of Ger Butler's courses kept the runners in very limited visibility and challenged their natigation, fitness and nerve to the limit on the upper part of the mountain. Great wins from Toni O'Donovan and Jack Millar inspired the Irish team but still the final result was Scotland 48, England 46, Ireland 31, Wales 15.<br />
You can see the relay results and routes <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result/more?id=2135" target="_blank">here</a>, with the results and routes for the individual and the associated Leinster Autumn Series event which followed the early-startuing SHI <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/result/more?id=2137" target="_blank">here</a>. Read the Scottish perspective on how they routed the Sassanachs <a href="http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/seds/scotland-win-shis-2013" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Championships time</b></span></span><br />
Following the rescheduling of the Connacht Championships so as not to clash with the Senior Home International, we have a concentration of regional championships coming up soon. The <a href="http://lvo.jimdo.com/nioc-2013" target="_blank">Northern Ireland Championships</a> on October 12th at Meelmore and Luke's Mountain in the Mournes; the <a href="http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.org/" target="_blank">Connacht Championships</a> at Ballymahon, Co. Longford on the 27th and the <a href="http://www.corko.net/moc13" target="_blank">Munster Championships</a> at Toureen Wood, Cahir, Co. Tipperary on November 3rd.<br />
Another attractive event is the <a href="http://www.eryri-orienteers.org.uk/site/event/welsh-championships/" target="_blank">Welsh Championships</a> in the sandy forest of Newborough in Anglesey on October 13th but the ferry prices are outrageous and the ferry times aren't great either, so that idea got the chop. Quite a number (eighteen?) of Irish orienteers are going to the three days in Rome at the beginning of November, but Italian law requires that all competitors have a medical certificate stating that they are fit and well, and a certificate from their club to say that they are members. Whatever happened to adventure sports?<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Simone Niggli Retires</b></span></span><br />
Multiple World Champion Simone Niggli-Luder (Switzerland), holder of 23 World Championship Gold Medals from 2001 to 2013, is quitting elite orienteering after the 2013 World Cup series. In 2003 and 2005 she won all four gold medals (Sprint, Middle, Classic and Relay) at the World Championships!<br />
Read more <a href="http://runners.worldofo.com/simoneniggli.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Junior Home International 2013</span></b></span><br />
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The 2013 Junior Home International took place in South Wales on the weekend of 14-15 September. Ireland was represented by a full team of 24 at W/M 14, 16, 18 age groups. We had 4 debutants: Ciara Fitzgerald, Dara O'Cléirigh, Cian May and Zac O'Sullivan Hourihan. </div>
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The individual day was held at Mynydd Llangatwg, an area immediately adjacent to one of the JK competition days for next Easter. From my vantage point (OK it is easy for me to say!) it looked like clean, runnable but technically tricky open mountain terrain. I am told that the runnability reduced on the higher ground and that the ferns were poorly mapped making route choice difficult. </div>
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The relays on Day 2 were held at Clydach Terrace just off the famous (well to us Civil Engineers anyway!) Head of the Valleys Road. In this area the ground has been much altered by spoil heaps from mine workings etc. so was very tricky technically. The planner choose an excellent change over area on a hill overlooking most of the area. </div>
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In the end the Judith Wingham trophy (Ireland v Wales) came down to the performance of the last Welsh girls on their last relay team and we were beaten narrowly by 3 points. If I am honest I guess we did not deserve to beat Wales as they had 3 podium places on Day One and our best results were 5<sup>th</sup>, 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> (all girls). The juniors were excellent ambassadors for Ireland, behaved well (I missed the céilí so not sure how that went) and were definitely the best supporters. </div>
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My thanks to Ruth for her technical leadership during the weekend and to Rosemarie, Jeni, Brian, Steve, Gerry and Nigel for driving and lots more. Congrats to Cliona, Niamh, Niall and Harry, who are moving on upwards from the M/W18 ranks for their efforts over the years. Róisín was awarded the trophy as best Irish athlete of the weekend for her 5<sup>th</sup> individual place and a strong run on leg 3 of the relay.</div>
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Full results can be found <a href="http://www.swoc.org.uk/index.php?id=298" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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An excellent set of pictures, taken by Gerry Meehan, can be found <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/102085058@N08/sets/72157635597109615/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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Mike Long</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>6th London City Race - Clean around the bend</b></span></span></div>
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This was my third <span style="color: blue;"><b>London City Race</b></span>, on September 22nd, and it moved downriver from the historic centre to the Victorian docklands on the Isle of Dogs: Eastenders fans will recognise the area from the TV series opening credits. Somewhere recently I read that is was a marshy area in the past and called the Isle of Ducks. </div>
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Getting off the train, we were up high, overlooking the start at West India Dock. Courses were less tricky than in my previous two London races, but the location was unusual, with big basins, lifting bridges, industrial areas, modern skyscrapers and warrens of houses, combined with Mudchute Park featuring a city farm and a reconstructed WWII anti-aircraft battery as a control site. Two of our controls were down by the river itself, on a gravelly tidal beach, so we got the full whiff of the Thames.</div>
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The competition area was in the large U-bend in the river, just across
from Greenwich. The younger juniors ran in Mudchute Park, just across
the road from the event centre, but the rest of us took a train to the
start: we had a Docklands Light Railway ticket printed on our race
numbers - that's joined-up thinking!<br />
The map was at 1:5000 scale and was about A3 size, with the competition area split into two: the northern part on one side of the page and the southern on the back. The mapper was Italian Remo Madella who also surveyed the sprint map for JK2011 in Belfast, around Stranmillis College.</div>
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It's a very enjoyable race and certainly gives visitors a new perspective on one of the world's great cities.</div>
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You can see the map, courses and results <a href="http://cityrace.org/files/2013/results/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Next year the race (on 21st September) will revert to the heart of the city and will be tied in with three other city races to make a series: Porto in Portugal, Edinburgh and Barcelona. Ryanair, here we come!</div>
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Another city race to watch next year, though, is the Venice race during the World Championships in Italy.</div>
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The City Race was preceded on the Saturday by an <b><span style="color: blue;">Ultrasprint </span></b>run by LOK in Victoria Park in North London. The 1:1250 scale map showed every tree and bush of quite s small section of the park, and included a special orienteering maze with 2 to 4 controls in it. Runners did three short courses of about 1 km with about 25 controls each. These times were added to find the fastest four in each category (Juniors, Vets etc) who then had a head to head race, after which the rest of us ran a final course to finish 5th, 6th etc.</div>
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We had no control descriptions or control codes to check that we were at the right control (there were more than 60 controls out) and if you punched the wrong control you weren't disqualified but got a 30 second time penalty, so it paid to be careful (a lesson I learned the hard way, twice!). The precise location of the control was shown by a small dot in the circle and, in the example on the right, there could well be another control on the opposite side of the tree.</div>
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A lot of work for the organisers in terms of computer programming, mapping, control placement and maze construction, but a lot of fun for the 300 or so participants. At least this time I realised that there was an enlarged version of the maze down in the corner of the map, not like the previous time I did one of these.</div>
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You can see a video of the event <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8RmY8LERcc" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjHMmB2168" target="_blank">here</a>. Results, maps and courses are <a href="http://londonorienteering.co.uk/archive/ultra-sprint-2013/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Verdict: packed a lot into a great weekend - orienteering, sightseeing, visiting, getting parking tickets ...<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>On the level ... </b></i></span>In my own City Race, I lost 1 minute on the first control by getting the levels wrong and running past a set of stairs in a building without seeing them, and I never recovered the lost time. I ran around the corner and instead of seeing the control, the road disappeared into the bowels of the earth. Later, a small gap in a wall on the map lured me to it, only to find that it was a printing defect in the map and I was again on the wrong level! </div>
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<span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Come in, do you read me?</b></span></i></span></div>
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Since the revision of the IOA web site, it's a bit more difficult to see <span style="color: blue;"><b><i>The Irish Orienteer</i></b></span> on the page. If you are reading this, and you would like it to continue, do drop a line by e-mail to <b>theirishorienteer@gmail.com</b> to encourage the editor to keep going! Thanks to Mike Long and the people who have done reports for TIO ... how about some more from people? John McC.</div>
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-88006649422593313202013-08-26T00:14:00.001+01:002013-10-07T19:35:37.260+01:00August 2013<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Back to Business</span></b></span><br />
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A full list of orienteering fixtures ranging from mountain bike through Championships to Internationals starts this autumn. After a busy summer for our international representatives in the Czech Republic and Finland for the Junior World Champs and the World Champs itself, the focus now is on the action at home.<br />
<br />
Setanta are running the only <b>MTBO </b>event on the fixture list at Djouce on Saturday 31st August - last year's event combined route-choice with some very steep and technical small tracks (too tricky for me to ride!), but so far no other clubs are following suit - maybe if there was a Leinster orienteering organisation some more coordination between clubs would happen.<br />
Fingal, meanwhile, are running three <b>scatter events</b> in the Dublin area, including some new maps, and the energetic folk in Western Eagles are staging the <b>Connacht Championships on September 15th</b> at Ballymahon (- so what if it's not in Connacht: if Galway can play hurling in Leinster and London can play in Connacht, what's a few miles across the Shannon between friends?). Entries open until 6th September - details <a href="http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.org/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
On the <b>Home International</b> front, the Juniors (M/W14-16-18) travel to south Wales for the Junior Home International on the open limestone moors on September 14-15, while England, Scotland and Wales come here for the Senior Home International in Co. Louth (M/W20 and 21) on September 28-29, hosted by Fingal (Relays at Carnawaddy on Saturday) and 3ROC (Individual, combined with the first <b>Autumn Leinster League</b> event at Carlingford on Sunday). The Veteran Home International (M/W35-65) is in Norfolk on October 5th/6th.<br />
In <b>Munster</b>, the Cork Autumn League and the CorkO Autumn Leagues are starting, plus the Munster League, the Kingdom League in Kerry and the South East Short-O series (including Kilkenny Castle<br />
In between the JHI and SHI, the 34th <b>Mournes Mountain Marathon</b> is on September 21-22, but entries have probably closed for the event. (This weekend also sees some Irish orienteers travelling to London for the 6th London City Race, starting near Greenwich, and combined with an UltraSprint race the day before).<br />
Slightly further away, timewise, are the <b>Northern Ireland Championships</b> at Meelmore in the Mournes on October 12th (Saturday) and the <b>Munster Championships</b> at Toureen Wood, near Cahir, Co. Tipperary on November 3rd. The Juniors have their eyes on the European Youth Championships in Portugal from October x to y.<br />
The full list of IOA fixtures is <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/fixture" target="_blank">here</a>, with Northern Ireland fixtures <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/?Events" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Summer reports</b></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Finland</b>: Mike Long reports on the Junior Tour to the World Championships at Vuokatti </span>-</i><br />
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<span lang="en-US">A party 28 juniors and
parents attended WOC 2013 in Finland and occupied four adjacent
apartments in Kajaani Polytechnic School. A fantastic week was had by
all. Proof of this was that there was much discussion on a similar trip to WOC
2014 in Italy before leaving for home. There was a separate
group of Irish Seniors (who were competing at WOC) in Vuokatti but
contact between the two groups was very good, as Paul O'Sullivan Hourihan (manager of the
senior squad), was staying with the juniors.</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US">The week involved competing in the Kajaani Open Week, which was run in parallel with
WOC and on the same terrain, and spectating at the WOC events as well
as supporting the Irish contingent. Some training was also organized
by Ruth Lynam and we also competed in a sprint event on the same course as
used by the elites for qualification.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="en-US">The
events were held on two distinctly different terrains. Days 1 and 2 were
in beautiful open forest on a very runnable moss cover floor.
Thierry Gueorgiou described it as being like </span><span style="font-family: Symbol, serif;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span><span lang="en-US">a
cross country run”. Days 3 and 4 were in extremely complicated
terrain (some of which was not unlike France in 2011).</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US">Competition-wise our
best result was Ruth who finished in 5</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
place of 74 finishers in the W55A category and was our only prize
winner.</span><br />
<span lang="en-US">You can get some of the excitement of the WOC week from the Elite bulletins which were issued each day during WOC: I'll add them if I can figure out how!</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Scotland</b>: John McCullough was one of a number of Irish orienteers who went to the Scottish 6-Day, Moray 2013.</i></span><br />
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The temptation of running for four days on forested sand dunes, an urban sprint and two days in classic Highland forests was too much to resist. Moray 2013, in the region south east of Inverness, returned to the area of the sixth World Championships in 1976, the first in which Ireland took part: the names Culbin and Darnaway resonate with anyone as obsessed with orienteering as I was in those days!<br />
More than 3000 competitors from across Europe and further afield were attracted by the reputation of the event which was enhanced this year by the selection of this part of Scotland as the venue for the 2015 World Championships, tied in with the next Six-Day.<br />
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The event centre at Brodie Castle also provided space for tents and camper vans, but competitors were staying in all kinds of accommodation throughout the region. Days 1, 2, 3 and 5 were on forested dunes, with a sprint on the rest day after Day 3, and classic Scottish forest on days 4 and 6. Very heavy rain on Day 1 at Lossie kept the runners cool: a narrow strip of complex dunes along the coast, but spoiled by a big motorbike track all along the complex part which made the navigation easy. The inland part of the area was pretty featureless but did have some detail in contours and vegetation. All the sand dune maps were at 1:7500 scale with 2.5m contours. <br />
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Day 2 at Carse of Ardersier had long ridges of low parallel dunes, with some more complex areas nearer the sea. Summer returned, with sunshine and heat. A novel idea today was a Limerick competition, which could include a rhyme with the name of the area "Carse" but without using the obvious ...<br />
Each day the parking areas were close to assembly so that long hikes were minimised, though there were a couple of long walks to the start. The usual traders, food stalls and other services were on hand each day.<br />
Day 3 at Culbin, used for WOC 1976 and to be used again in 2015. We were in the western part, the least interesting section. Hundreds of small hills scattered randomly across the map; energy-sapping heather and brashings on the ground. Lesson 1 (learned half way around the course): go around the tracks, not straight through the forest.<br />
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Wednesday was a rest day, with a chance to run in a sprint race or go to a mountain bike orienteering event. We chose the sprint at Lossiemouth, right beside a busy RAF fighter base. Those luck enough to have entered early got a course around a tricky housing estate with lots of alleyways, followed by a section in a big gravel-pit: it may not sound very promising, but it provided a real challenge, with winning times in the low teens of minutes. This was also the first day of the Euromeeting: three days of orienteering at sprint, middle and long distance in WOC-relevant terrain. Juniors and later entries (such as myself) were limited to the gravel-pit section, which was OK but lacked the variety of the houses. (British Orienteering rules prohibit juniors running where there may be traffic).<br />
Interestingly, two of our younger orienteers, Laurence and Jonathan Quinn, outran five of the Irish Men's team in the Euromeeting in today's sprint race ...<br />
<br />
Day 4, Loch of Boath, again saw the return of the rain. Moderately contoured forest, a 1:10,000 scale map, and lots of heather and fraughans underfoot meant that you knew you were in Scotland. Some tracks, but not where you want them; 5 metre contours - lots of them, but very few black (rock) features: fifth day running in a row - legs are starting to tire. This was the middle distance race for the Euromeeting, with 8 Irish men and 3 women running.<br />
Day 5, back to the sand dunes of Roseisle: sunshine, sea, forested sand dunes: a lovely area, with a map-exchange for the longer courses. A long way to the start (the organisers weren't able to use the original route) so I only arrived, well warmed-up, as my name was being called!<br />
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Day 6, last chance to improve my position. Only your best 4 days count in the 6-Day, so you don't actually have to enter or to run every day. Coulmony & Belivat, another classic highland forest with good visibility, marshes, contours, heather and hills: Scotland in a nutshell. A long downhill run-in, and another 6-Day finishes. The Euromeeting Elite Men had 17.1 km today with 490 metres climb and 33 controls, and it showed as they ran in.<br />
Some Irish results were Jonathan Quinn 9th M18L, James Logue winning M45L with Bill Edwards second, Wilbert Hollinger 6th M65L, Frank Martindale 7th M75L; Niamh Corbett 5th W18L and Róisín Long 11th; Julie Cleary 5th W45S, Mary O'Connell 5th W50S, Helen Baxter 7th W55S.<br />
Overall results, routegadget (runners' routes) etc are on the Moray 2013 web site <a href="http://www.scottish6days.com/2013" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Scotland in 2015? Definitely! <br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-47711330172600172602013-07-23T23:43:00.001+01:002013-08-14T12:55:50.521+01:00July 2013 - Summer break for TIO<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>World Orienteering Championships, Vuokatti, Finland</b></span></span><br />
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You were probably following the World Championships team in Finland on the IOA web site, on facebook or on the Senior Squad blog, so there's no immediate need to rehash their adventures here. Well done to all the team, particularly Nick Simonin on qualifying for the Long final, and to the Men's Relay team of Nick, Neil Dobbs and Darren Burke, but also to Rosalind, Susan, first timers Olivia, Kevin, Conor and Josh, and to Darren and Niamh.You can see some photos of the team in action <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153022599965541.1073741850.469762695540&type=1" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
This is the last of the current format of World Championships, and next year we'll be facing a new reality as a Grade 3 country, entitled to one runner in the men's and women's long finals, but without the possibility of running three men and three women in the qualifiers, so forest orienteering is taking a back seat to the more TV-friendly Sprint format. As a result there are many good Irish orienteers who will be denied the chance of ever running a forest WOC race.<br />
However, we may still get more runs than we did in the past: at the 1976 WOC, the first in which Ireland took part, there were just two races, an individual (long) and a relay. We sent a team of six runners to Scotland ( Monica Nowlan, Eileen Loughman, Pat Healy, Paget McCormack, Wilbert Hollinger and Wally Young). In those days the WOC was run every second year, and in 1979 it changed to even years, but still every second year.<br />
In 1991 a short race was added, which changed to "middle distance" later, and in 2001 the "Sprint" race was included. From 2004 the event was run every year, and in 2014 the format will change again.<br />
The change from even to odd years in 1979 was to avoid a clash with the summer Olympics, as in those distant days the IOA still hoped that orienteering would become a full Olympic sport.<br />
You can read the plans for WOC2014 and beyond on the IOF web site <a href="http://orienteering.org/foot-orienteering/woc-in-the-future/" target="_blank">here</a>, and also read the submissions from the member federations in favour of and against the proposal <a href="http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WOC-Qualification-and-Starting-Order-hearing-replies.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
From Ireland's perspective, and that of the other smaller, under-resourced countries, the change is not a welcome one. Maybe the format will change back in future to allow more countries to try to qualify in the forest?<br />
See the squad facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IrishOrienteeringSquad" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Junior World Orienteering Championships, Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic</b></span></span><br />
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Just before the World Championships, the Junior WOC was on for under-21's in the Czech republic. Again, you could follow the fortunes of the team on-line on the IOA web site or various other places. Well done to Aine, Niamh, Jack, Eoin, Jonny and Niall. You were running against the best in the world in your age class, so don't be disappointed with your performance - it's a great experience and one you can build on.<br />
Just after exams isn't a great time to have to run at JWOC, but don't be disheartened. You will have seen the support, funding, facilities, maps and terrain that other countries have. Orienteering is a very small sport in Ireland, numbering active orienteers in the hundreds, not in the thousands or tens of thousands, but we can still compete with much bigger countries and hold our heads high.<br />
Next year's JWOC is in Bulgaria ...<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>and coming soon ...</b></span></span><br />
After the Scottish 6-Day, Moray 2013, events start off at home with the World Police and Fire Games in Belfast and the Mournes, then 3ROC's three Tuesdays (13/20/27 August) in Dublin's Phoenix Park, followed by Fingal's Sunday Scatter Series in September. The Autumn League series starts in Cotk too.<br />
Also in September we have the Connacht Championships at Ballymahon, Co. Longford on the 15th, the Junior Home International in South Wales on the 14th/15th, the Mournes Mountain Marathon (and the London City Race and Ultrasprint) on the 21st/22nd, the Senior Home International in Carlingford on the 28th/29th. See the IOA fixtures list for details of most of these.<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">How about this?</span></b></span><br />
If you want to add an additional challenge to your orienteering, here's a little titbit from the internet which you might find interesting: the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Swedish Orienteering and Firing a Rat from a Cannon Championships</b></span>: see <a href="http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Swedish_Orienteering_And_Firing_A_Rat_From_A_Cannon_Championships" target="_blank">here</a>. (<b><span style="color: red;"><u>Warning</u></span></b>: If you are of a sensitive nature you might not find this amusing, or you might even be offended, so don't go there ...)<br />
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See you in September!<br />
<br />
John McC. John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-90088066939363654762013-06-27T20:57:00.004+01:002013-06-30T17:04:57.425+01:00The Irish Orienteer June 2013/2<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>A Worm's-eye view of the Jukola</b></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>First leg mass start at 11 pm</i></td></tr>
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The Jukola Relay is a big overnight 7-person relay run every year at midsummer in Finland. It attracts a loyal following, with many runners coming back year after year, and teams ranging from the elite clubs like multiple winners Kalavan Rasti down to social groups and work-based teams of postmen and firemen. This year I met one runner who is in his 43rd successive Jukola and who is hoping to run in fifty - something of a rarity as you can't run until you are at least 16 years old.<br />
The competition this year was based at Jamsa, an area of forests and (of course) lakes about two and a half hours drive north of Helsinki. Team numbers were down on last year when the event was close to Helsinki, but still attracted about 1600 teams, equivalent to more than 11,000 runners. An associated 4-person relay for women, the "Venla", is run in the afternoon before the Jukola and featured 1200 teams, another 4800 runners.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Part of the map</i></td></tr>
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The choice of venue must be dictated by finding a suitable parking and changeover area close enough to reasonable roads and public transport, as the terrain everywhere seems to be so good. Parking was in the yard of a big paper mill and we were bussed the 10 minutes or so to the competition centre. Here a whole town had been assembled, with sports shops, food, toilets, a post office, church, tents for teams to stay in, showers and sauna, plus all the orienteering requirements like changeover area, big screen TV, PA systems etc.<br />
Irish interest focused on Nick Simonin (Leg 5 for Lidingo 1), Conor (1st leg for Tisaren) and Ruairi (6th leg for Scotland) Short, Andrew Quin (leg 6 for Lidingo 2) and Neil Dobbs (leg 3 for Helsingin Suunnistajat) all running, though on different teams.<br />
I had ended up scheduled to run leg 2, about 12 km at night, with a London OK team. We worked out a rough timetable based on expected range of good and not so good results and I expected to be starting some time around 1.30 in the morning. The question was, how to prepare for this: when should I eat? should I try and sleep beforehand? 1.30 a.m. in Finland is only 11.30 pm in Ireland, so how much adjustment would my body clock have made? I no longer go running at 11.30 at night, but there was a time when I did ... partly so the neighbours wouldn't see this eccentric in their midst.<br />
We arrived during the Venla relay, following it on the big screens with live GPS tracking of the leading teams. On the last leg Denmark's Emma Klingenberg slipped past Halden's Mari Fasting by taking a marginally shorter route on the last leg, and clinched the trophy for her club, OK Pan from Arhus.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Maps at the ready</i></td></tr>
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Food and rest were the first priorities, so we were thinking tactics like a Formula 1 team working out pit stops. I opted for the ham and potato casserole supplemented by the odd munkki (doughnut) or pulla (cinnamon flavoured pastry) while others went for chicken and pasta or other options. I got my gear sorted out before it got dark, and got dressed ready to run before hitting the sleeping bag. The PA was still working away and the sky was bright outside so I didn't get much sleep. I heard the Jukola starting at 11 pm with a loud gunshot (actually, two shots for some reason) and a microlight flying overhead filming, and dozed a bit for an hour and a half before getting ready. 12.10 a.m. and the leading runners come through: the usual suspects but with Murray Strain of Scotland lying 7th! See a video of the start from the air <a href="http://vimeo.com/68754873" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
O-shoes, headlight, EMIT brick, compass, glasses, race number ... all OK. Drink some water and go towards the start. A final bite to eat (a bowl of porridge with milk and jam set me up nicely) and into the changeover area.<br />
Right on time, first leg David Saunders came in, handing me my map and advising me to be careful in one complex area. Look at the control description for the first control, fold the huge map, and off we go. At this stage, thousands of runners had been through so there were elephant tracks through the forest. Do I really need a headlamp? To read the map - definitely; to see where I'm going - it's a big help, though you can see the shapes of the ground and where the trees are.<br />
A long run out to the start triangle, then follow the elephant tracks through the forest, onto the path, across the wide ride with the power line, across the road, into the forest and down the hill to the big depression: spot on. The EMIT unit on the site is facing the wrong way so I have to do a loop around the control to get my brick down to register. Up the hill past an unused control (all in place but the code numbers blanked out) to my re-entrant. The control codes are printed on the map beside the circles so it's easy to check you're at the right one; less easy to check the descriptions as you have to open up the map the size of a newspaper and fold it again on the run. On towards the southern part of the area which is hillier: up the steep hill, hands on knees giving an extra push, over the top and down by the knolls to the small reentrant. Phew! There it is.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Some take it less seriously ...</i></td></tr>
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Other runners are around me, many on my leg but some from later legs already coming through. It's two o'clock in the morning but still not completely dark: there is light in the sky on the horizon but I'm not sure if it's from the sun setting or rising. It's rather overcast so the low sun when it rises may not be too dazzling.<br />
Our aim was to keep our 5th leg runner out of the mass start at about 9 a.m. If we all ran to schedule we should manage that fairly comfortable, but anything could happen!<br />
Look out for the drinks stations dispensing water and "Gutzy" sports drink. The course tonight is as long as the three days of the Shamrock O-Ringen rolled into one, so just keep going and guzzle the Gutzy. Remember not to use drinks stations as attack points as they aren't always quite where they are marked on the map. Run into the forest from a drinks station with dozens of runners milling around. Can't see the control. Back out to the track and in another way - there is it. Should have done that the first time.<br />
The map is excellent: the forest is mostly runnable with good visibility and some paths and tracks plus the additional ones made by the earlier runners. Very little bare rock, few huge boulders, well-defined vegetation changes but some deep, wet and muddy drains. Someone in a Swedish OK Ravinen top goes past me and shouts "Hi, John!" - must be <i>CompassSport </i>editor Nick Barrable on Leg 3. Keep going to the tricky area David told me about: find the blob of grey for bare rock, over the hill to the control, then cross the drain into the green forest and on to the next control. Wrong number. Where am I? Back to the drain and realise I crossed it too far to the right. Cross a second drain and things start to make sense - there it is! Back on track again.<br />
Three o'clock in the morning and the sky is brightening. The birds start singing and a couple of cuckoos join in. My headlamp is still going strong: it's not really necessary now, but it's too much trouble to take it off. Follow the marsh, over the hill and down into the scattered young trees to the pond. Running on the easier flat ground now, but I drift off to the right. Make the correction but I realise I'm tiring and starting to lose concentration. Grab a handful of mixed nuts and raisins from my pocket and plough on through the marshy forest.<br />
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Legs tiring at this stage but concentrate on not making mistakes - that's where time can be lost. Into a complex area of scattered trees, scrambler tracks and contours for a couple of controls - OK. A couple of long legs coming up but it's flat. A runner stops in front of me and pulls down his trousers at the edge of the path to ... well, we won't go there! I can now hear the PA system at the finish - that always puts extra pressure on. Some easy controls coming up, while I had expected some tricky ones approaching the changeover. Pick up a couple of paths and some elephant tracks, everyone running in much the same direction now. Put away the map, run towards the sound. Out of the forest into the open. Last control - 333. Where is it? I feel everyone looking at me. I can see 222 and 444, but where is 333? Wipe the sweat from my eyes and look at the map: OK, 50 metres to the right. Punch and run, up the bridge and down again, round to the finish timing unit. Throw in my map and keep running. Take the next runner's map and look for him in the sea of expectant faces on the changeover line. Give the map to leg 3 Colm O'Halloran, mention the complex area that David had told me about, take his jacket. "Have a good run - you'll enjoy it!". He says "I ate your banana". Thanks, Colm!<br />
Walk back around to download my results, in the middle of a gaggle of leg 2, 3 and 4 runners: we knew we weren't going to win, but we are on target for keeping Alison out of the mass start and with luck we might even finish higher than our team number of 1108.<br />
Back to the tent to wake up Julie, our leg 4 runner, and get some food and drink into me. Get changed and into the sleeping bag. It's 4.30 in the morning, 2.30 Irish time. What am I doing here? Can't get warm in the sleeping bag but nibble fruit and nuts. It's too far this year to walk to the showers and the sauna, so I'll just have to stay as I am. Eventually, sleep.<br />
Meanwhile at the sharp end the top teams are battling it out. French and Swiss names (Adamski, Gueorgiou, Hubmann, Hertner) mingle with the Finns, Swedes and Norwegians. Winning the Jukola is a huge thing - will Finnish club Kalevan Rasti do it again? The spectators huddle around the big screens, wrapped in blankets or with deck chairs. The Helsinki postmen come and go from the sauna. The daily menu rolls on, from chicken and pasta to pytt-y-panna (fried potato with bacon bits), to breakfast. The PA announces the final leg runners coming in ... Thierry Gueorgiou anchors Kalevan Rasti and finishes almost two and a half minutes clear of Kristiansand's Daniel Hubmann in a team time of 7.27.58.<br />
The sun comes up and warms the ground. Bodies are strewn everywhere around the army tents, dozing on mattresses after the night's exertions. Our final leg runners, Ronan and Mark, make their way to the changeover for the final mass starts 20 minutes apart. It's heating up and the last two legs are long. Now I'm glad I did leg 2, even though the others have managed a night's sleep. All across Finland, armchair orienteers have tried to stay awake all night watching Jukola live on TV (admittedly it's not the most riveting, but it has a hypnotic fascination, like counting sheep).<br />
While the last two are running, there's time for breakfast and some final shopping in the selection of orienteering gear shops. Pick up some bargains (gaiters reduced from €26 to €10, Jukola shoe bags down from €10 to €3 ...) and laze around. The protracted prizegiving with speeches and announcements in Finnish, Swedish and English takes forever, so I give up on it.<br />
Everyone in: no disqualifications, no injuries, no DNF's, all running towards the faster end of their predicted time. About 400 teams behind us. We ran our fastest time since 2005, so it could be worse.<br />
However, this will be my last Jukola. At least until next year in Kuopio ...<br />
See the Jukola 2013 web site <a href="http://www.jukola.com/2013/en/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Other News</b></span></span><br />
This week the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Junior World Championships</b></span> and the <b><span style="color: blue;">World Championships </span></b>teams are abroad, making final preparations for the events in the Czech Republic and Finland in the coming days.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>JWOC </b></span>(essentially for the M/W20 classes) start at Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic on Sunday, with the long race on Monday, middle qualifier on Tuesday, middle final on Wednesday, sprint on Friday and relay on Saturday. The team is led by Greg McCann and the runners are Niamh Corbett and Aine McCann, Jack Millar, Niall McCarthy, Eoin McCullough, and Jonathan Quinn.<br />
Last week temperatures were in the 30's but they have coles to 15-20C this week and it looks like they will stay in that range for the duration of the competition. The team were training there at Easter in the snow but their familiarity with the maps and terrain will be a good start for JWOC. Follow JWOC <a href="http://www.jwoc2013.cz/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Meanwhile at <span style="color: blue;"><b>WOC </b></span>in Finland some of the Senior team are moving northwards, training for the long, middle and sprint races. Temperatures there are warm, in the 30's, and the mosquitos are out, but the forests are great and preparations are going well.<br />
The championships are the week after JWOC and are based at Vuokatti, 7 hours drive north of Helsinki. The team is: <br />
<u>Men</u><br />
Sprint: Darren Burke, Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan, Kevin O’Boyle <br />
Middle: Nick Simoni, Conor Short, Darren Burke<br />
Long: Nick Simonin, Conor Short, Neil Dobbs<br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Women</span><br />
Sprint: Niamh O’Boyle, Rosalind Hussey, Susan Lambe<br />
Middle: Niamh O’Boyle, Susan Lambe, Olivia Baxter <br />
Long: Rosalind Hussey<br />
Follow WOC <a href="http://www.woc2013.fi/ssl/woc.nsf/sp?open&cid=wocnews" target="_blank">here</a>.See the squad's <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IrishOrienteeringSquad" target="_blank">facebook page</a></b>.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><i>Looking forward ...</i></span></b><br />
There are a few things to look forward to during or after the summer: the <b><span style="color: blue;">World Police and Fire Games</span></b> in Belfast will feature three orienteering competitions on August 5th, 8th and 9th. The orienteering will be a sprint race in the city, middle distance in the city parks and long distance in the Mournes. See the WPFG web site <a href="http://www.2013wpfg.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. There should be opportunities for a run even if you're not strictly eleigible for the games. All eyes will be on Robbie Bryson (ex DUO and Ajax) who must have a good chance of a medal in the orienteering as well as in the fell running race.<br />
Later in the month 3ROC are running three Tuesday evening events in Dublin's <span style="color: blue;"><b>Phoenix Park</b></span>, with the same two course format as last year: dates are August 14, 21 and 28. September will also see the popular <b><span style="color: blue;">Fingal</span></b> "Scatter event" series on Sundays.<br />
In September we also move into <b><span style="color: blue;">Home International</span></b> mode, kicking off with the <b>Juniors</b> (M/W 14, 16 and 18) in South Wales on the 14th and 15th. The <b>Seniors</b> follow with a joint Fingal/Three Rock weekend in the Carlingford area for the event (M/W20 and 21 classes) on September 28/29. Sunday 29th at Carlingford will include a Leinster Autumn Series competition and the LVO Club Championships. The <b>Veterans</b> (M/W35-65) finish off the series on October 5th and 6th at Sheringham in Norfolk.<br />
If you are near a car ferry with some free time on the 13th October, how about a day trip to Anglesey to run in the <b>Welsh Championships</b> on the fantastic forested dunes of Newborough near Bangor?<br />
Looking further forward, we have notifications of out of bounds areas for the <b>2014 Irish Championships</b> to be run by Setanta in Wicklow on May 3-5 south and west of the Wicklow Gap , a <b>three day in Oughterard</b>, Co. Galway on the June Bank Holiday weekend 2014 (great areas, maybe drier underfoot then?) and the <b>2015 Irish Championships</b> on Slieve Croob, Slievegarron and Cratlieve, Co. Down, in May 2015. (Slieve Croob was used for JK2011).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;"><i>If YOU are at any interesting competitions, why not write about them for TIO?</i></span></b></span></div>
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-91083550574638556622013-06-11T14:17:00.002+01:002013-06-29T23:38:58.202+01:00The Irish Orienteer June 2013/1<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Turb-O at the Shamrock</b></span></span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Turb-O?</i></td></tr>
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With the locals outnumbered two to one by the visitors, it was going to be difficult to get podium places, but LVO's Áine McCann took the W21 Elite title. Erik Ivarsson Sandberg from Sweden won M21E with Bishopstown's Nick Simonin second.<br />
The first day of this year's Shamrock O-Ringen in Kerry brought the competitors 10 km along forest roads to an unlikely location, a surreal, post-apocalyptic James Bondian moonscape of huge wind turbines on the top of a mountain in an area formerly known to orienteers as the Black Lakes. The 30-minute drive along the construction road to Inchincoosh Wind Farm in the Derrynasaggart Mountains allowed both young and old to enjoy the challenge of the area without the long hike we used to be faced with. The slow "whoosh, whoosh" of the rotating turbine blades sounded like approaching aircraft as the runners went to the starts - the three leaves of the shamrock replaced by the vanes of the wind turbines?<br />
At the beep we entered the Minus 3 bogs, then the Minus 2 bogs, then the Minus one bogs ... then ran out into the real bogs! The revised map has had a lot of features removed (most of the form lines and crags, for example), leading to an uncluttered look but a lack of the expected detail. This change received some adverse comments from competitors as the area seemed undermapped. The terrain was typical Shamrock, with not a tree in sight, and plenty of marsh and some remaining contours. Experience has shown that it is difficult to recover from a bad run on the first day's middle distance courses, so a careful approach can pay off until you get the feel of the maps and terrain.<br />
The event centre at Killarney racecourse and Ross golf course was the focus of the evening's activities, with the usual dissection of the winners' routes and thought processes with the aid of Routegadget. A table quiz followed, raising funds for the Irish Junior Squad. The event campsite was also at the racecourse, which was fine until the tractor started to cut the grass at 5.30 the next morning!<br />
The second day featured a classic distance race at Crohane Mountain, an area used for previous Shamrocks and the 1998 World Cup. Again, the terrain was open mountain with lots of tussocky marsh. Weather conditions were ideal - dry and mild with a light breeze - and kept the midges at bay. Runnability on the first two days was not great because of the marshes and tussocks.<br />
Back at the event centre the Shamrock Sessions followed a barbecue and, as well as the winners' routes, we had interesting presentations from NIOA Development Officer Helen Baxter on introducing orienteering to non-orienteers, a theme visited also by Paul Mahon who has extensive experience in organising adventure races. We had presentations on mapping by Laurence Quinn and P-O Derebrant and on sprint orienteering by Nick Barrable, plus a potted history of Irish orienteering as recorded in The Irish Orienteer by myself. A "strategy session" with club representatives meeting IOA Chair Mary O'Connell earlier in the evening identified issues the clubs felt should be dealt with by IOA, particularly things like growing the sport. Another sound night's sleep after 3 am when the last of the celebrating golfers went home after the Captain's Prize ...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Day 3 leaders line up to start</i></td></tr>
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Day 3 was a chasing start, as usual. The course leaders started at 10.00 with your start time determined by your time behind the leaders after the first two days, so the first across the line is the winner. Crohane Lake provided a big contrast, with the first half of the courses on the open mountain (though a bit drier and more runnable than the first two areas) and a dramatic transition to some very varied forest for the second half. The forest was described by the organisers as "unique" and was something of an acquired taste: it was challenging and its low visibility was an invitation to make mistakes approaching the finish. One competitor remarked that on the third day we had the best orienteering of the weekend followed by the worst!<br />
A difficulty with complex areas like these is in planning suitable easy courses for kids or beginners, and this was a feature of the weekend. Some of the Shamrock Session presentations touched on introducing the sport to beginners and making it fun and attractive - and it is gradually dawning on me that the Shamrock isn't for everyone. For those who like it, the Shamrock is a great weekend of varied and challenging orienteering. The contrasts between the isolated windfarm, the marshy open mountain and the tricky forest provided variety and the usual Shamrock combination of informality and efficiency made for a superb weekend's orienteering.<br />
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What are the attractions for visitors of this kind of terrain? One Swedish orienteer (a regular visitor) told me that in Sweden you can get lost for 3 or 4 minutes before relocating; in this terrain it can be 30 or 40 minutes. That's what he likes about it!<br />
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See the final results <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaGFtcm9ja29yaW5nZW4yMDEzfGd4OjYzOWI4NmE3YjcyYTM1ZGI" target="_blank">here</a>. The maps and routes for Day 1 are <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=321&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>, for Day 2 <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=322&kieli=" target="_blank">here </a>and Day 3 <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=323&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>. The Shamrock website is <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Read Nick Simonin's account of the event <a href="http://nicksimonin.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/shamrock-oringen/" target="_blank">here</a>. Martin Flynn's excellent photos (including the two above) are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinflynn" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Irish Teams Announced</b></span></i></span><br />
The teams have been announced for the World Championships in Finland and the Junior World Championships in the Czech Republic, both in July. Congratulations to all the team members and the best of luck in the competitions.<br />
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<b>WOC</b>: Vuokatti, Finland, July 7-14.<br />
Men's Team: Darren Burke (CorkO) Sprint, Middle; Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan (BOC) Sprint; Kevin O'Boyle (CNOC) Sprint; Nick Simonin (BOC) Middle, Long; Conor Short (CNOC) Middle, Long; Neil Dobbs (WatO) Long.<br />
You can follow the World Championships <a href="http://www.woc2013.fi/ssl/woc.nsf/sp?open&cid=wocnews" target="_blank">here</a>. A group of Irish orienteers are travelling to support the team and to run in the associated open competitions in the Kainuu O-Week. Details of this are on the WOC web site too.<br />
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Women's Team: Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC) Sprint, Middle; Ros Hussey (FermO) Sprint, Long; Susan Lambe (LVO) Sprint; Olivia Baxter (LVO) Middle.<br />
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<b>JWOC:</b> Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic, June 30-July 7.<b><br /></b><br />
W20 Niamh Corbett (CorkO), Aine McCann (LVO)<br />
M20 Niall McCarthy (BOC), Eoin McCullough (3ROC), Jack Millar (LVO), Jonathan Quinn (GEN).<br />
Team Leader Greg McCann.<br />
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Visit the JWOC web site <a href="http://www.jwoc2013.cz/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Coming up over the summer ...</b></span></i></span><br />
The closing date for the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Setanta Rogaine</b></span> in Wicklow on June 22/23 is Thursday June 20th. The Rogaine has two classes: 6 hours and 24 hours. It's a long-distance score event where you visit as many controls as you can in the time allowed. Individuals and teams are allowed in the 6 hour class but the 24 hour is for teams only. Details <a href="http://www.setantaorienteers.org/event/rogaine-ireland-2013" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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Entries for Moray 2013, the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Scottish 6-Day</b></span>, close on 30th June. See details of this fantastic 6-Day event <a href="http://www.scottish6days.com/2013" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Summer series events</span></b>: <b>CorkO's</b> series of evening summer events in the Cork area continues on Tuesday evenings up to July 23rd. Start times 5.30 to 7 pm. Details on the CorkO web site <a href="http://www.corko.net/" target="_blank">here</a>. <b>CNOC's</b> summer Tuesday evening events in Kildare and Wicklow finish up with the Hollywood event and barbecue on June 18th. Details <a href="http://www.cnoc.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>. <b>Lagan Valley</b> are running the Tollymore Festival of Orienteering: three events on the weekend of June 21/22/23, starting with an urban sprint at Newcastle, Co. Down on Friday evening, a competition at Tollymore on Saturday and a score event at Donard on Sunday. Camping at Tollymore and a barbecue are part of the package. Details <a href="http://lvo.jimdo.com/tollymore-festival-of-orienteering/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><i><b>and finally ...</b></i></span><br />
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<i>For those of you who missed the Shamrock Sessions, here is the final slide of the Irish Orienteer presentation, bringing you right up to the minute ...</i><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hundreds queue for TIO presentation at Shamrock</b></span></span></div>
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Killarney racecourse was a sea of colour today as orienteers waited anxiously for standby places at the Shamrock Sessions. The 400-odd runners jostled for pole position before the doors opened and several W10's were trampled in the rush when organiser Danny O'Hare turned the
great rusty key to admit the crowd.<br />
The anticipation soon turned to boredom, however, when the <i>Irish Orienteer</i>
editor of more than 30 years droned on interminably about the
technological changes affecting magazine publishing in that period, and
the room was soon filled with snoring as the exhausted runners tried to
catch up on much needed sleep in the light of the next day's races.<br />
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<i>(Incidentally, the archive material which formed the basis for the talk, is on the IOA web site <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/archive" target="_blank">here</a> - Ed.)</i><br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-77936759335320401422013-05-16T23:49:00.001+01:002013-05-17T08:13:28.711+01:00IOA AGM - Oughterard<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Cllr. Thomas Welby, Mayor of Galway<span style="font-size: x-small;">, Mary O'Connell & Frank Ryan</span></i></span></td></tr>
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Annual General Meetings are rarely the most exciting events and this year's IOA AGM was no exception. The AGM is an important point in the year of the Association, where the Executive Committee are called to account for their stewardship of the sport over the past year and where policies are laid down for the year to come, office holders elected and awards distributed. This year's AGM, on the Sunday evening of the irish Championships, was squeezed in after a good meal and a long prizegiving, and was a rather rushed affair, starting just before 9 pm at The Boat Inn in Oughterard. This was hardly the optimal arrangement for the serious business of an AGM, with people wanting to socialise or go home, nevertheless the business of the meeting was transacted smoothly.<br />
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Chairman <b>Mary O'Connell</b> welcomed everyone and ran through the activities of the past year - her full report and those of many of the other officers - are on the IOA web site <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/minutes-of-ioa-meetings" target="_blank">here</a>. Did you know, for example, that there were 144 registered IOA events in 2012 with 14300 starts and 2500 competitors? Mary highlighted the work in developing orienteering in schools and scout groups and the availability of the 17 permanent courses around the country. Orienteering is on the primary school curriculum and this provides further opportunities for development. She thanked the Executive Committee, the Child Protection Officer Barbara Foley-Fisher, and particularly thanked Brendan O'Brien for his work on IOA, as Chairman and as Elite officer. She also thanked, among others, Juniors Officers Ruth Lynam (outgoing) and Mike Long (current) for their work.<br />
Treasurer <b>Sarah Ní Ruairc</b> presented the audited accounts for 2012, reporting a deficit of more than €11000, much of which was spent on the "Ten Elements of Orienteering" videos which Finn van Gelderen showed at a later stage in the meeting. Income in 2012 was €67000 of which €47000 came from the Government grant. IOA spent €15000 on high performance orienteering and €12000 on Juniors in 2012 (all figures rounded up/down). Our grant in 2013 is expected to be less than in 2012.<br />
Juniors officer <b>Mike Long</b> reported on four junior training weekends during the year, plus teams running in Junior Home Internationals, European Youth Champs and Junior World Champs as well as a junior tour to the Welsh 6-Day last August. He was encouraged by the fact that 9 of the 24 on the JHI team were first-timers: a good omen for the future. This year's EYOC will be in Portugal and JWOC in the Czech Republic. One issue which was raised by several of the officers was the new requirements for Garda vetting of anyone dealing with juniors or vulnerable adults, and Mike has circulated vetting forms to be completed and returned to Barbara Foley-Fisher.<br />
Communications officer<b> Finn van Gelderen</b> showed several of his "Ten Elements" videos and outlined some of his other corporate identity projects like car stickers and new kit for the World Championships team, and mentioned that the next CompassSport magazine will have an article on orienteering in Ireland. He also revealed that the new style IOA web site is here to stay (which is fine as long as the old one co-exists with it, as far as I'm concerned: thanks to those of you who agreed with me and are keen to keep the old format).<br />
Development Officer <b>Andrew Cox</b> reported on schools orienteering (24 IOA-sanctioned schools events in 2012) and emphasised that for schools (particularly Primary schools) the maps must be close by. There will be a Schools orienteering meeting on June 9th at Kilcoran Lodge Hotel near Cahir, Co.Tipperary and all interested people are invited.<br />
<b>Ed Niland</b> reported on orienteering education and <b>Harold White</b> on technical matters: new mapping registration rules and new event registration regulations are being introduced, to be followed by the general rules, protests and colour events. Consultation is still possible on the event registration issue but the die has been cast in relation to the mapping register.<br />
Mapping Officer <b>Brian Power</b> mentioned that there are over 700 known orienteering maps in the country and asked clubs to try to resolve any disputes about mapping rights amicably. It was suggested that a previous mapping officer has a copy of the long-lost IOA mapping register and it would seem to make sense to use this as a starting point in relation to map registration rather than having to start from scratch.<br />
Fixtures Secretary <b>Fergal Buckley</b> told the meeting about the new event registration scheme where the season will run from 1st August to 31 July and that June will be the month for event registrations. The proposals for event registration are on the IOA web site.<br />
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Other officers' reports were circulated (<b>Darren Burke's</b> on High Performance and <b>Bernard Creedon's</b> on anti-doping policy spring to mind) and these will be on the IOA web site for you to read in detail.<br />
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The elections which followed were uncontentious, with most of the officers prepared to go forward for another year. There are vacancies for Mapping Officer, however, and for Secretary.<br />
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Following the elections, the presentation of awards to those chosen by IOA took place: the Mactire Trophy to <b>Conor Short</b> for his performance in JWOC 2012; the Silva Trophy to <b>Frank Ryan</b> for years of dedicated service to orienteering in Connacht and nationwide; thew Silva Award to <b>Pat O'Connor</b> for similar work in Munster and particularly for involving scouts in orienteering; and the "Spirit of Orienteering" award to <b>Ruth Lynam</b>.<br />
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Two special awards were presented for the orienteers who ran in the most events in 2012, and they went to<b> Paul Smyth</b> (AJAX) with more than 41, and the ladies went to <b>Eadaoin McCavana</b> (GEN).<br />
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The only impassioned plea of the night came with Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan's request to use the correct overprinting colours for courses so that colour-blind orienteers like himself can see the course on the map. Evidently one needs to tweak the OCAD colour palette so the overprint colour settings are 100 magenta and 30 cyan, because the OCAD colour called "purple" is actually red.<br />
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The meeting adjourned at 10.20 pm.<br />
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So: a businesslike but uncontroversial AGM. I have been at AGM's in small halls after Connacht, Championships, at Irish Championships, in schools in Dublin and in even EGM's in forest car parks, and there is no ideal time or place, but I would have to say that trying to squeeze a meal, two prizegivings and an AGM into one evening is not a recipe for success.<br />
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On a personal note, I would have to thank the entire IOA for their work in keeping the sport going from year to year. Orienteering is a minority sport among minority sports, with an aging and possibly dwindling population, and we will struggle to survive and to regain the critical mass we need to survive through natural wastage, but it's such a fantastic sport that we have to keep chipping away at it.<br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-34135758798565671202013-05-08T00:45:00.004+01:002013-05-17T08:21:04.311+01:00Irish Championships Report<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-EmjGab8gBjvBHlurReSTf3FuignoUBzIqanDNU-2vbnJVKHr6mWs2oxxPl0s1lYkgrOXrwu7NAyEYpEtGOUxm_lJLvjUSKQa_EYh6NH2RPCcd-aHuk9xqd9_64h1419CsO3Dtqhozo/s1600/marcus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-EmjGab8gBjvBHlurReSTf3FuignoUBzIqanDNU-2vbnJVKHr6mWs2oxxPl0s1lYkgrOXrwu7NAyEYpEtGOUxm_lJLvjUSKQa_EYh6NH2RPCcd-aHuk9xqd9_64h1419CsO3Dtqhozo/s200/marcus.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Classic winner Marcus Pinker (CorkO) - </i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Another fine Championships run by a handful of dedicated Connacht orienteers saw Marcus Pinker (CorkO) stamp his authority in the Classic race on complex open moorland, with Niamh O'Boyle (CNOC) retaking the W21E title. A dead heat for 2nd in the Classic between Conor Short (CNOC) and Neil Dobbs (WATO) provided drama, while in the Relay Cork Orienteers took their 7th Women's Relay gold, relegating the CNOC ladies team into 3rd place while the CNOC Men's team regained the trophy for the 11th time (if you count their earlier incarnation of "Curragh Orienteers").<br />
In the Middle distance race former champion Una May (3ROC), having run a 5 km race that morning, claimed the W21Elite title with Conor Short taking the M21E.<br />
These are the facts, but they don't take into account the amount of work it needs to set up and run a national championships, from the selection of areas, getting landowners' permission, mapping, planning, controlling and organising. The core of the organising team from Western eagles is only half a dozen or so, and the inclusion of the likes of Pat Healy as mapper (with Padraig Higgins) and general dogsbody swelled the numbers to perhaps ten. How many other, larger, clubs could unaided provide three days of excellent orienteering in remote areas? As a recognition of Frank Ryan's contribution to orienteering over many years, he was presented with the Silva Award by IOA Chairman Mary O'Connell at the Relay prizegiving on Monday.<br />
The terrain was largely boulder-strewn open mountain with some tricky young forest but the difference between this terrain and, say, west Cork, is that it was more runnable,less hilly and more technical. The Leinster equivalent would be either much steeper or covered in high heather, or both; the Munster version might be bedevilled by large tussocks of grass and uncrossable marshes.<br />
Organisationally, having to bus the runners in and out from Glengowla Mines near Oughterard, was a necessary evil given the absence of parking in the competition area. The ride to and from the assembly area was an interesting one (interesting in the sense of the closing minutes of the original "Italian Job" movie where the bus teetered on the edge of a precipice with the gold sliding perilously close to the open door ...). However, in this case the gold went to the deserving winners.<br />
Excitement was never far away in the relays on Monday, either: despite a small entry in some classes, the races were hotly contested, with only seconds separating the teams in Handicap 6 class (Setanta edging out 3ROC and Cork) and Handicap 12 (Ajax edging out Fingal). In the Women's Premier, CorkO (Sharon Lucey, Ailbhe Creedon and Niamh Corbett) gained 5 minutes on LVO on the final leg, putting them a minute in front at the line and taking their first Women's title since 2008. CNOC (Conor Short, Kevin O'Boyle and Ruairi Short) in the Open class had a more comfortable 14-minute win over last year's winners, CorkO.<br />
The drama reached its height, however, in the final moments of the Junior 48- race, with 3ROC M12 Aidan McCullough outsprinting Ajax anchor-man Oisin Wickham only to be obstructed on the line by a race official, so a dead heat was declared.<br />
Weatherwise, while the rest of the country basked in spring sunshine, the cloud, rain and wind visited the orienteers, particularly during Saturday's Middle Distance race. The organisers had thoughtfully provided tents to shelter the waiting runners, mindful of the conditions that prevailed in Donegal during the last Connacht-run IOC in 2009, but we can't blame the organisers for the weather.<br />
In a busy weekend, there was a fund-raising table quiz on Saturday evening and the IOA AGM was squeezed into Sunday evening after the prizegiving (there'll be a separate report on the AGM soon).<br />
No TIO report on an IOC would be complete without a bit of cuckoo-spotting and, yes, there was one in the early morning where I stayed, but not in the competition area.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinflynn/sets/72157633406423979/" target="_blank">Pat Healy</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/113798247712762899386/albums/5875333904026987281" target="_blank">Val Jones</a> took photographs of the events and the results breakdown and Routegadget are all on the IOA web site <a href="http://orienteering.ie/builder.php3?Results" target="_blank">here</a>. Philip Baxter also took photographs: see the middle distance <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77833590@N02/sets/72157633427407047/" target="_blank">here</a>, classic <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77833590@N02/sets/72157633443911440/" target="_blank">here</a> and relay <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77833590@N02/sets/72157633444304792/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
This is a rather brief report which may evolve over the coming days, so keep watching this space!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Shamrock O-Ringen Entries Close on May 10th</b></span></span><br />
A reminder to enter the Shamrock O-Ringen in Kerry on June 1-2-3 before Friday 10th May. See the event web site at <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/">www.shamrock.corko.net</a><br />
<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-87575664313821345802013-05-02T18:44:00.001+01:002013-05-03T13:41:49.409+01:00May 2013/1<span style="color: blue;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Irish Championships</span></b></i></span><br />
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The rotation of the Irish Championships between the four provinces brings this year's IOC back to Connacht, with three new adjoining areas south of Oughterard in Co. Galway. Pat Healy's new maps, using LIDAR data, capture the detail of the terrain which is described as complex but runnable, undulating open with some young forest. It is reportedly more runnable than the areas used for last year's Irish 3-Day in the same general area.<br />
Marcus Pinker will try to retain his Irish Classic title, missing the British Championships which are on the same weekend to run in Galway, but Darren Burke, last year's Middle Distance Champion, is also running well. Shane Lynch, winner of the recent sprint selection race for the 2013 World Championships, and experienced on open mountain terrain, could have a strong run, and Neil Dobbs has come home for the Championships, so it's hard to call.<br />
Maeve O'Grady, winner of the Classic race last year, won't be defending her title. Ros Hussey, 2012 Middle Distance Champion, will be in the mix, with sprint specialist Susan Lambe, junior Niamh Corbett and previous winners Niamh O'Boyle and Ruth Lynam.<br />
The Irish Championships are qualification races for all the International teams so interest will be high among all the elites.<br />
Saturday will see the Middle distance race, with later afternoon starts; on Sunday it's the Classic long distance race and on Monday the Relay.<br />
Follow the action on the IOC web site <a href="http://ioc2013.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Leinster Championships </span></b></i></span><br />
Fingal produced a fine Leinster Championships on the sand dunes at Cahore, Co. Wexford on April 14th, on what looked a rather unpromising area to start with. The dunes are long and narrow, with small paths running along their length, not unlike Dublin's Bull Island (in fact the similarity didn't end there, with wind farms inland at Cahore taking the place of golf courses on Bull Island). Without SportIdent the event would not have worked, but the courses criss-crossed the dunes and provided plenty of challenge and confusion.<br />
Strong winds and loose sand underfoot meant that there was a physical challenge too, despite the small amount of climb on the courses. Val Jones's 1:7500 Lidar-based map was clear but extremely detailed with small contour features, and was printed in two strips on the A3 sheet to fit it all in (some courses used a 1:5000 scale map). Within seconds of the start we found that, while the tracks looked enticing on the map, they were hard work when it came to running, and the dunes themselves could give better runnability.<br />
Fingal Orienteers marked their 25th anniversary by staging the event, so well done!<br />
Ger Butler, 2nd on the day to Darren Burke, took the Leinster M21 title and Niamh O'Boyle took the Leinster Ladies title, though third on the day behind Áine McCann and Niamh Corbett.<br />
One of the most competitive classes was M50, with three former World Championships team members Aonghus OCléirigh, Brian Corbett and Colm O'Halloran slugging it out, to finish in that order.<br />
Results are <a href="http://orienteering.ie/builder.php3?MoreResults-2070" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Shamrock O-Ringen closing soon</span></b></i></span><br />
Entries from twelve countries have already come in for the 18th Shamrock O-Ringen 3-Day in Kerry on the June Bank Holiday weekend. Word has spread about this event but Irish entries are still disappointingly low (less than half the total entry) and the entry so far is less than 150. The events are at The Black Lakes and Croghan Mountain, between Killarney and Kilgarvan, with the event centre at Killarney racecourse. These areas were used for Irish Championships and/or World Cup races and Shamrocks before and provide the high quality open mountain orienteering we have come to associate with the Shamrock.<br />
The closing date is Friday 10th May. If you've been to the Shamrock before, you know what to expect, so enter now ... if you haven't been, enter now to experience it. You won't regret it! See the event details <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/home" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
As a warm-up, Kerry Orienteers are running a sprint event on the wonderful Ross Island, a short distance from the event centre on the Friday evening.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span style="color: blue;">Coastal Warrior Weekend</span></b></i></span><br />
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NWOC's Allan Bogle took on quite a challenge to run sprint selection races at Gransha, on the outskirts of Derry, and a middle distance selection race at Magilligan on the weekend of April 27/28. The events were aimed at the Irish World Championships hopefuls but were open to others to run.<br />
The format was a prologue with head to head sprint racing in the morning, to decide the starting order for the final in the afternoon. Gransha is a pleasant parkland area housing a hospital, used for a variety of sports (well known in cross-country running circles), but scarcely of the complexity which will be encountered in international sprint races. A small piece of forest added some tricky navigation in the final but the remainder of the area was less exciting.<br />
Magilligan, on the other hand, is an excellent sand dune area used for the British Championships in 1992 and capable of sustaining any level of competition.<br />
Numbers were disappointing: did the "Coastal Warrior" tag sound too much like an adventure race in Sligo or somewhere and put off the orienteers from coming?<br />
The events served their purpose, however, with Shane Lynch and Niamh O'Boyle finishing first and earning themselves a place in the Sprint at the World Championships in Finland in July. No results yet for the Magilligan event on Sunday, but they should be <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/?Results" target="_blank">here </a>soon.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue;"><b>IOA AGM</b></span></i></span><br />
Remember that the 2013 AGM of the IOA is on Sunday 5th May in Oughterard.<br />
Recent changes and proposals about map registration and rules will be on the agenda so it's important that you are there to make your views known.<br />
There will also be a meeting to reestablish the Munster Orienteering Council the same afternoon. Fingal's Tommy Burke made a plea on the Forum for a similar group to be reestablished in Leinster, to look after fixtures and the other things that need coordination. In fact it's a requirement of the IOA Constitution that the regional associations do this. <br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Am I all alone?</b></span></span></i><br />
... but can we <u><i>please </i></u>have the old IOA web site back? The new version simply doesn't work for me ... <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-34127466509515128732013-04-09T23:18:00.002+01:002013-04-11T23:15:21.376+01:00Hana Snow-Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thursday morning training</i></td></tr>
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Easter orienteering in the Czech Republic: shorts and T-shirts, sunlit forests with limestone pillars reaching to the sky ... it sounded idyllic. A group of similarly optimistic orienteers signed up for the trip to the Hana Orienteering Festival, organised by Greg McCann, as part of the preparation for the Junior World Championships in July.<br />
Looking at the web site for the event, the fact that we were to be based in a ski resort should have rung some alarm bells, as should the 10-day weather forecast for temperatures of -3 to +3 with wet snow and the Christmas card images from the webcams.<br />
The trip was to include some training days, then a three-day competition and another training day, all in terrain like the JWOC. The competition and training areas were on the Czech/Polish border at Zlaté Hory, about 6 hours drive east of Prague, in a depressed former gold mining area (Zlaté Hory means "gold mountain"). We did wonder why there were two 3-day events on in the country over Easter but we found that the Czech roads are like the Welsh ones: they are slow and they don't go to where you want.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thursday afternoon training</i></td></tr>
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The competition centre was a soviet-era former workers' holiday camp which provided accommodation in blocks for the runners, at least with plentiful heating and hot water, and a central dining room and socialising area. The whole thing was organised locally by a very energetic and charismatic guy called Robert Zdráhal, who was one of the instigators of the Park World Tour and is the organiser of the annual international Silva O-Camp (details <a href="http://www.silvacamp.eu/en/" target="_blank">here</a>). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Frozen gold mill (Liz Deane)</i></td></tr>
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Arriving at night on snow-covered roads gave us little indication of what the terrain would be like, but we found the forests and maps to be excellent. The first morning's training was about 40 minutes away near Vidnava, right beside the campsite used for the Silva O-Camp in the summer. The forest was rather like Mullaghmeen in Co. Westmeath, with a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees, some roads and some hills. On the first morning we ran a course with small control markers in variable depth snow: the training had been planned for a different area but there was too much snow there so the organisers improvised. That afternoon we ran repeated mass-start sprint legs of about 1 km in the snow in a fantastic old gold-mining area with lots of depressions and contour features and a frozen watermill with sheets of solid ice about 3 metres high.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Day 1 - Glucholazy</i></td></tr>
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The second day saw us back at Vidnava for middle distance training (lots of controls and lots of direction changes) with most of us using maps with all paths and tracks removed: the wonders of OCAD! That afternoon, another energy-sapping snowy forest with lots of contour features for short intense loops of perhaps 500 metres and 3 controls. The running was like soft, deep sand. Both afternoon training areas were about 15 minutes jog from the centre.<br />
Saturday was the first day of competition: across the border in the Polish town of Glucholazy, about 15 minutes from base. The event centre was in the "John Paul II" school and the hilly forest nearby was even more like Mullaghmeen than the training areas had been. The courses were disappointingly easy from the navigational viewpoint but pretty physical and the forest itself was lovely: runnable beech and conifers, something like I imagine the JK competitors were running in. Our contribution to the Polish economy was zero as we didn't have any Polish money. It was Easter Saturday and the town was thronged with people of all ages walking around in their Sunday best, carrying little wicker baskets of Easter eggs and going from church to church. Conditions were cold and sunny and perfect for running, so we thought we were made for the weekend.<br />
That evening at the event centre, a night event in the snow failed to tempt any of the Irish to don their O-gear again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Easter Monday at Zlaté Hory</i></td></tr>
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On Sunday morning it was clear that it had been snowing overnight and it continued throughout the day. After extracting the cars, the drive to Vidnava was a white-knuckle ride for drivers and passengers alike, with the team minibus leaving the road on more than one occasion; other cars crashing in the ditch or somersaulting off the road altogether, fortunately without injury.<br />
The snow continued, reducing visibility during the middle distance race, with the runners creating tracks in to all the controls. The 1:5000 scale map with 2.5 metre contours took a bit of getting used to, while sauna-like conditions in the local school hall greeted the finishing runners. Back to base for a welcome lunch (pork with everything) and a rest for the afternoon.<br />
There were runners there from the Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Norway.<br />
On Sunday evening the organisers announced that there would be a major change for Monday because of the weather: instead of the 10 minute ski-lift trip to start at the top of the forest (where there was more than 50 cm of fresh snow) the courses would be replanned in the lower parts of the forest with mass-starts for each class at 5 minute intervals. As the organisers had the maps on computer and a colour laser printer on site, the new maps (the map was named "Snow Calamity" for the event) could be printed overnight and ready to go for the first mass start at 10 a.m. Unfortunately two of the Irish runners were given the wrong maps for the mass start and didn't discover it until they were well out on the course. The leading runners had to carve elephant tracks through deep snow for the following runners so the amount of map-reading needed was minimal after that - maybe this is how our ancestors followed woolly mammoths in the days before orienteering?<br />
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Over the three days the only Irish prizewinner was Cork O's Corbett Brian (or Brian Corbett as he is known here) who took first place in M35. LVO's Áine McCann was disappointed to drop from 3rd to 4th on the last day due to one route choice in W21A. Colm Moran finished 5th in H21A.<br />
Moving on along more snowy roads brought us to Hradec Kralové which will be the event centre for JWOC and the location of the sprint race. Tuesday morning provided an opportunity to run in part of the relay forest, though not in the actual competition area: a fast, flat forest with lots of vegetation changes and a grid of rides and tracks.<br />
The seven-day tour brought us to new countries, new maps and new terrain and brought the senior juniors and junior seniors closer together as a group: these are the people who could still be running with and against each other for the next forty years or more! All in all, a very worthwhile trip and a new O-country or two notched up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>JWOC Relay Training</i></td></tr>
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One personal revelation was how effective waterproof socks are: I wore them every day running in the snow and they were great! Will they cope as well with Irish bogs?<br />
Read about the Hana O-Festival <a href="http://www.ofestival.eu/en/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Meanwhile at the JK ...</b></span></span><br />
<br />
No reports yet on the JK in southern England but the Sprint results show Róisín Long (AJAX) 5th in W18E; Jean O'Neill (FIN) 4th W65; Oisín Wickham (AJAX) 7th M12; Declan McGrellis (LVO) 8th M40; James Logue 1st M45 and Angus Tyner 9th; Aonghus OCléirigh 9th M50; Frank Martindale 6th M75.<br />
On Day 2, the long race for most classes, Marcus Pinker finished a tight 2nd on the 11.9 km/500m M35L course, 5 seconds off the winner and 7 seconds ahead of 3rd place, with Conor Barry 2nd in M35S. James Logue was in the prizes again, taking 1st in M45L. Aonghus was 5th M50L, NWOC's Noel Bogle was 1st M75S, Fionne Lynch 2nd W21V; Ruth Blair 6th W50S; Ruth Lynam 3rd W55L; Helen Baxter 2nd W55S.<br />
Over days 2 and 3, Marcus Pinker was 3rd M35L, Conor Barry 2nd M35S, James Logue won M45L by over 8 minutes; Noel Bogle was first M75S, Fionne was 1st W21V, WatO's Bríd Casey was 1st W35S, Ruth was 2nd W55L, Helen 3rd W55S.<br />
Scottish club Interlopers took the JK Trophy for the Relay and South Yorkshire took the Women's Trophy.<br />
You can see all the details <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2013/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Championship Time</b></span></span><br />
Remember to enter the<a href="http://ioc2013.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> Irish Championships</a> on May 4-5-6 (entries close on April 15th) and the <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/home" target="_blank">Shamrock O-Ringen</a> on June 1-2-3 (entries close on May 10th). Both are selection races for various international teams and should attract top quality fields. Incidentally, Kerry Orienteers are again running a sprint race on the Friday evening of the Shamrock weekend at the wonderful Ross Island near the event centre, Killarney racecourse.<br />
Entries for next weekend's <a href="http://fingal.orienteering.ie/" target="_blank">Leinster Championships</a> closed on March 31st. Late news is that LVO's Tyrella event on the sand dunes at Ballykinler, Co. Down, has been rescheduled for Saturday 13th April, the day before the Leinster Championships, also on sand dunes: a good warm-up? Details <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/?Noticeboard:NI_Colour_Series_2" target="_blank">here</a>, including some specific instructions about access and times.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>O-Bits</b></span></span><br />
The <span style="color: blue;">Child Protection course</span> planned by IOA for 20th April has been cancelled because there weren't enough people signed up. It's now up to you to find similar courses run by local sports partnerships or others.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">EastWest Mapping</span> have some new maps: they recently published second editions of two maps: 1) Dublin
& North Wicklow Mountains and 2) Lugnaquilla & Glendalough. These are
now available in standard folded format and they also have a small quantity of
unfolded, flat sheets. You can purchase in due course from regular stockists
or direct from <a href="http://www.eastwestmapping.ie/" target="_blank">EastWest Mapping</a>.<br />
<div>
Barry Dalby says "<i>There are a number of changes to both sheets, probably more so to the
Dublin map. The principal change is to a 10 metre contour interval by popular
request. Do note however, that due to the method of contouring, not a lot of
extra detail has been added. I've updated quite an amount of other topographic
detail and there has been ongoing work in the matter of placenames. These maps
are printed on Enduro paper - essentially paper with a plastic substrate, this
should give better strength at folds and is practically untearable. There is an
extra fold in the maps to reduce size
</i></div>
<div>
<i> I hope to have our map of Mount Leinster, Blackstairs and the Barrow Valley
at 1:25,000 scale, published by end of April. Finally, I would like to thank you
for your support in the past and hope that you will always continue to find
something of interest in these maps.</i>"</div>
John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-16878987993787354452013-03-26T14:34:00.000+00:002013-04-08T23:10:59.709+01:00Easter 2013<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Kalamita" class="perex_image" src="http://www.hradeckralove.org/uploads/Tiskove/Aktuality/zivotni_prostredi/kalamita2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>JWOC training in March</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
As usual, Irish orienteers are heading to the UK this week to run in the Jan Kjellstrom Orienteering Festival over the Easter weekend, this year in the south east, based around Reading in Berkshire. The format of the competition has stabilised now into a sprint, typically in an urban area on Friday, a middle distance race for the Elites on Saturday with a classic distance race for the other classes, a classic race on Sunday for everyone and a Relay on Monday.<br />
This year the events are at Reading University, Hambleden (near Henley), Cold Ash (near Newbury), and Hambleden again. See details of the JK <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2013/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
There's a big group of Juniors, led by Mike Long, travelling as the events are selection races for the European Youth Championships in Portugal and the Junior Home International.<br />
The older Juniors and the younger Seniors are travelling to the Czech Republic for a three-day competition and training in preparation for the Junior World Championships there in July, led by Greg McCann. See details of JWOC <a href="http://www.jwoc2013.cz/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Weatherwise, it will be a cold trip for both groups, in marked contrast to the 20C+ temperatures this time last year.
The JWOC organisers are advising against coming to train at the moment
because of the snow, but the Irish group will be running in different
areas and the local orienteers are confident that they can find
snow-free forests.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Campus Sprint Series finishes</b></span></i></span><br />
<img height="92" id="irc_mi" src="http://cs1.ucc.ie/%7Ekob1/cs3513/lab4/lab4/ucc.jpg" style="margin-top: 11px;" width="200" />The four-event Campus Sprint series has just finished with a race on the
hilly campus of University College, Cork. For those of us likely to get
lost, a bid sign close to the start of Saturday';s race announced that
we were at University College, Cork, Ireland, in case we were in any
doubt as to which country we had been teleported to (see above). Darren Burke was a
clear winner with 52 seconds to spare over Colm Moran, while the fastest
lady was W18 Niamh Corbett, a scant second clear of fellow Squad member
Róisín Long in 18th and 19th places.<br />
The excellent 1:4000 scale map covered the main campus, the student accommodation blocks, the college sports grounds at the Mardyke and the neighbouring Fitzgerald Park. Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan's courses were tricky, involving checking which level you should be on and whether it was possible to get at a control without having to negotiate "not to be crossed" fences and walls (which are different from "high" or "uncrossable" ones). Had there been marshals on the course to see which flowerbeds were crossed, or which railings were reached through, there would have been some disqualifications. These are vital lessons to learn in advance of more serious sprint races at European or World Championships.<br />
Jonny Quinn (GEN) won the series with 2504 points, despite not having won any of the events, with Kevin O'Boyle second on 2500 and Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan third on 2497; Róisín Long (AJAX) was the first lady, closely followed by Aoife McCavana and Niamh O'Boyle. Nearly 150 people took part in the series: see the full results <a href="http://orienteering.ie/results/leagues/show_table.php?league=Irish+Colleges+Campus+Sprint+Series+%28Irish+Junior+Squad+Fundraiser%29&date_from=01%2F13&date_to=05%2F13&best_of=2" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
The four events have left a legacy of new sprint standard maps at UCD, DCU, TCD and UCC which hopefully will encourage more sprint orienteering events. A second benefit is the money raised for the Irish Junior Squad to help their equipment, travel and training. <br />
All in all, it was a very worthwhile initiative.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">South by South-West</span></b></i></span><br />
The three events making up UCC and Kerry Orienteers "South by South West" weekend provided great variety, from the sprint at UCC, through a night event in the muddy fields and forests of Knockreer on the edge of Killarney, to the splendid but steep Upper Torc part of Muckross forest overlooking Killarney's lakes.<br />
The Knockreer outing was more of a fun event, with two courses on an area with parkland and forests, electric fences, deer, marsh and mud. It was good to get in some night-O but the map is showing its age.<br />
The next day at Torc it was the orienteers who were showing their age, however, at least in my case: huffing and puffing up (and down) the hills, and struggling with a couple of relatively long road runs. What a great area, though: more like Scotland or Scandinavia than Ireland: runnable natural forest. Darren Burke's longer courses started high and finished low, but still managed to pack in some serious climbs.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlfp8X_JDLI3kSaWJHh8F8VAOTLaaD788mXXqGRosQSElKyt59" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" id="irc_mi" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlfp8X_JDLI3kSaWJHh8F8VAOTLaaD788mXXqGRosQSElKyt59" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Torc waterfall</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The weekend included the Irish Student Championships and UCD's Colm Moran was the outright winner on the Brown course, two seconds clear of Swedish visitor Anton Hallor, with TCD's Conor Short in third. In the Women's race Rosalind Hussey (TCD) was the fastest lady.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">March News</span></b></span></i><br />
<ul>
<li>Remember that the entries for the <b>Leinster Championships</b> at Cahore, Co. Wexford, close on March 31st. See the event web site <a href="http://fingal.orienteering.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>LVO's attempts at staging a competition on the dunes at <b>Tyrella</b>, Co. Down seem doomed: the event was postponed from October to March 23rd only to be stymied at the last minute due to access problems. <span style="color: red;">Update: the event has been rescheduled for Saturday 13th April - good training for the Leinster Champs on sand dunes in Wexford the next day.</span></li>
<li>Setanta have an event to look forward to coming up: a new map of <b>Mullaghmeen</b>, Co. Westmeath, with a LIDAR basemap will be unveiled for their Leinster Spring Series event on 7th April.</li>
<li>Entries are open for the <b>Irish Championships</b> at Oughterard, Co. Galway on May 4-5-6. Details <a href="http://ioc2013.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>Entries are also open for the <b>Shamrock O-Ringen</b> in Kerry on June 1-2-3 near Killarney. Details <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>After the South by Southwest O-weekend in Cork and Kerry last weekend, NWOC are staging the "<b>Coastal Warrior</b>" orienteering weekend on April 27/28th. The weekend will consist of sprint races at Gransha in Derry (see an old map <a href="http://www.lvo.routegadget.co.uk/lvo/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=50&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>) and middle distance on the dunes at Magilligan (see map <a href="http://www.lvo.routegadget.co.uk/lvo/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=119&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>). More information will be on the NI Orienteering web site <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/NIOA/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li><b><i>CompassSport </i>Magazine</b> is out: the latest issue (Vol 34, issue 1) of <i>CompassSport </i>has just dropped through the letterbox, with tributes to the young orienteers and outdoor enthusiasts killed in an avalanche in Scotland in January, including Una Finnegan from Co. Derry. On a happier note, there are also articles on the British night champs, ski-orienteering, how to increase club membership, night-O in Devon and Cornwall, equipment reviews, orienteering fitness training, puzzles, a crossword, orienteering in South America, mountain marathons, and safety in orienteering, plus letters, advertisements for gear and events and so on. Subscribe at <a href="http://www.compasssport.co.uk/">www.CompassSport.co.uk</a>.</li>
<li>Details of orienteering at the <b>World Police & Fire Games</b> in Northern Ireland in August are available <a href="http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/orienteering-sprint-distance,-middle-distance-long-distance.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>. The competitions are on August 5, 8 and 9, just after the Scottish 6-Day.</li>
<li><b>New IOA rules</b> for discussion: IOA Controller of Technical Standards Harold White has released a draft version of new rules of orienteering and new arrangements for map registration. Read about it <a href="http://www.orienteering.ie/about-us/rules-and-tech-docs" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li><b>Child Protection Course</b>: There are still some places left on the planned IOA Child Protection Course in Dublin on April 20th. IOA needs another six participants to run then course. Remember that IOA will not accept affiliation from any club which doesn't have a qualified Child Protection Officer. Contact Áine Joyce for details.</li>
<li>MerOC shuts down: Falling numbers and an aging core of members were reasons for the Liverpool orienteering club <b>Merseyside Orienteers</b> folding at the end of last year. Several of the club's members will be familiar to Irish orienteers, particularly in the south, as the Bolland family would have been regular supporters of the Shamrock O-Ringen in the event's early days: we all looked enviously at their early model Renault Espace and thought it was the ultimate orienteering vehicle. One of the club's maps was Ainsdale nature reserve, a sand dune forest near Formby with a population of red squirrels, which (a) was used for a Junior Home International around 2008 and (b) is beside Wayne Rooney's house. Not many people know that.</li>
<li><b>Good news about chocolate</b>: For anyone who is looking forward to gorging on chocolate at Easter, the National Medicines Information Centre based in Dublin's St. James's Hospital has some good news. According to research findings published in their December 2012 newsletter,"Therapeutics Today", the risk of a stroke among Swedish men was lowest in those who ate more than 51.6 grams of chocolate per week, in comparison to those with a lower consumption. A second study found that chocolate consumption improves cognitive function and that the number of Nobel prizewinners per ten million of population for a country is proportional to the consumption of chocolate, with Switzerland scoring the highest on both. The authors estimate that to increase the number of Nobel prizewinners by 1 in a country, the national consumption of chocolate would need to increase by 400 grams per person per year. The only outlier was Sweden, with 32 Nobel Laureates as against an expected 14 based on chocolate consumption, but this may be attributed to the fact that the Nobel organisation is based in Sweden. Read the full text <a href="http://www.stjames.ie/GPsHealthcareProfessionals/Newsletters/TherapeuticsToday/TherapeuticsToday2012/T%20Today%20Dec%202012.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>Finally, a question: is orienteering getting too serious? One of the points made by Thierry Gueorgiou when he visited last Autumn was that for him, orienteering is PLAY; it should be fun. Have we lost that?</li>
</ul>
<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-91099190619724321552013-02-25T23:16:00.003+00:002013-03-26T20:48:37.886+00:00February News Round-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8W9gvG_u3x0XeCEUmmyEmqpZTmz-nWk-tXqnQLgEYv1JlXCZyglWdf9ICQyPH1-sxFlZggs-W6ZDuWjlDXo00aq0WFTysAuaBbiXML73qE0FkmZWx1B_HHx4SB2tfXM_GBhx94poM9U/s1600/Foz+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8W9gvG_u3x0XeCEUmmyEmqpZTmz-nWk-tXqnQLgEYv1JlXCZyglWdf9ICQyPH1-sxFlZggs-W6ZDuWjlDXo00aq0WFTysAuaBbiXML73qE0FkmZWx1B_HHx4SB2tfXM_GBhx94poM9U/s200/Foz+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">EYOC 2013 for Portugal</span></b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Portugal has just been announced as the venue for the 2013 European Youth Orienteering Championships<span style="font-size: small;"> in October.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The competition, planned for Israel in November, was withdrawn from that country over security concerns and Portugal, along with Poland<span style="font-size: small;">, Hungary, Italy<span style="font-size: small;"> and </span>Serbia</span>, was a candidate. The competition is held every year, usually in July, and caters for M and W 16 and 18 ages.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The event is now scheduled for 24-27 October and the event centre will
be in a holiday centre in Foz do Arelho in Caldas da Rainha
municipality<span style="font-size: small;">, on the coast a<span style="font-size: small;">bout 100 km north of Lisbon.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The bad<span style="font-size: small;"> news (or should that be the good news?) is</span> that the dates are the week before school mid-term break starts here ... the 27th is the Sunday of the October Bank Holiday weekend ...</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWLno9DIX__gGEenauYoOE0GzC1xZC-1hcJUFNztTR16BpYyj1jBEs-eQMyfBe3GDzu-x1Zyrl_6tGoMs8TCeIeIQhuSWjW7masGXjhT6CY0a7LJ3TB7lBLMWmCUAhWMsD3uM0Dl-Jyw/s1600/Ben+Hur.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWLno9DIX__gGEenauYoOE0GzC1xZC-1hcJUFNztTR16BpYyj1jBEs-eQMyfBe3GDzu-x1Zyrl_6tGoMs8TCeIeIQhuSWjW7masGXjhT6CY0a7LJ3TB7lBLMWmCUAhWMsD3uM0Dl-Jyw/s320/Ben+Hur.jpg" width="320" /></a>Wherefore art thou, Rome-O?</b></i></span></span><br />
We learned late last year that the famous Venice street orienteering competition would not take place in 2013 as the area will be used for the World Championships in July 2014. However, the orienteers of Rome have stepped into the breach and now offer an alternative - three days in the Eternal City on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of November.<br />
<table class="evdetails"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top"><br /></td><td class="rtd">ROMe MMXIII is intended to be a one-off Meeting given the lack of MO
Venice 2013.
Outline Plan:
Fri 1 Nov - a night orienteering event in the beautiful parks and
gardens of Villa Borgese with an Assembly Area over looking Piazza del
Popolo and the whole of Rome. Planner is one of Italy's most experienced
orienteers Manu Manganelli.
Sat 2 Nov - a middle distance race in the mixed park/land woodland of
Villa Ada in the North of the City, some impressive ornamental lakes on
this map too. The middle race Planner will be former pop singer, Stefano
Zarfati, who planned all 3 days of MOC 2012 and who will be controlling
at WMOC Sestrierre. Aim for the Saturday is to leave you with the PM
for sightseeing.
Sun 3 Nov - a morning sprint race in Rome's unmatchable historic Centre
that will take place on a map that includes Circo Massimo, the Coliseum
and the Tiburtine Island. Planner will be Mike Edwards and Stefano Z is
already off seeking permissions to get you into as many places as we
can.
The Clubs aim to use a commercial provider with online booking facility
for accommodation for those interested. All events will be accessible by
public transport. More to Follow on this topic.
An opportunity for 3 events like these and at this price level is not to
be missed. See the event link <a href="http://www.rome2013.net/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td><td class="rtd"><br /></td><td class="rtd"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Tyrella on again</b></i></span></span><br />
The NI Series competition postponed from October on the dunes of Tyrella, Co. Down, has been rescheduled for Saturday March 23rd. LVO are running the event on the area used for one individual day and the relays at JK 2011. See the <a href="http://www.niorienteering.org.uk/lvo/" target="_blank">LVO web site</a> for details.<br />
You could make it a 2-Day Dune Weekend by running at the Bull Island in Dublin on Sunday 24th on Ajax's Leinster Spring Series event. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLd83EcZ2nfKiFcAMLgkB5sm7jwhfD3P12UWjW5EP2-WnENpL2sIAS1F73FuwmC0WNg1IDQBKatY7moT3qey2rez6zMzbSbGeqYEwBP1K-kZqX0p3v_rP24bPAO0tfALw9lxjlat-7dY/s1600/NxNW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLd83EcZ2nfKiFcAMLgkB5sm7jwhfD3P12UWjW5EP2-WnENpL2sIAS1F73FuwmC0WNg1IDQBKatY7moT3qey2rez6zMzbSbGeqYEwBP1K-kZqX0p3v_rP24bPAO0tfALw9lxjlat-7dY/s200/NxNW.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>S by SW</b></span></span></i><br />
The same weekend as Tyrella, UCCO and Kerry Orienteers are running "South by South-West", three events including the final Campus Sprint on Saturday 23rd and the Irish Student Championships. The weekend will also feature a Saturday night event at Knockreer estate, Killarney. The Student Championships at Muckross on Sunday 24th March will be combined with a Munster League event and will also be a selection race for the Junior World Championships in the Czech Republic in July and the European Youth Championships later in the year. See details of S by SW <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/uccclubs.ie/south-by-southwest/" target="_blank">here</a>. Muckross is a unique combination of steep forest and fast parkland dotted with islands of complex contoured forest, used for Munster Championships, Shamrock O-Ringen and the 1998 World Cup Relay race ... and the views are spectacular!<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Norwegian Wood</b></span></span></i><br />
Did you read about the controversy in Norway about wood stacking? Catch up on some fascinating non-orienteering Norwegian news <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2013/0223/1224330410646.html" target="_blank">here </a>from the Irish Times. And, no, it wasn't April 1st!<br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Winter Sport</span></span></b></i><br />
<a href="http://s0.jrnl.ie/media/2013/01/road-closed-9-630x419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Road Closed" border="0" class="alignnone" height="133" src="http://s0.jrnl.ie/media/2013/01/road-closed-9-630x419.jpg" width="200" /></a>Last weekend's cancellation by CNOC of their Leinster Spring Series event at Kanturk Mountain/Scarr in Wicklow highlights how weather-dependent orienteering can be, particularly in open mountain terrain. The organisers found that roads to the area, between Laragh and the Sally Gap, were impassable by late on Saturday afternoon due to snow, so took the decision to cancel. The IOA web site, text messaging and social media were effective at getting the word out that the event was off.<br />
It also brings home the fact that orienteering in Ireland can be a winter sport and that the gear you run in on the continent in the summer is not appropriate for Irish winter conditions. That is the reason that organisers often specify that weatherproof clothing should, or even must, be used, and why whistles must be carried to attract attention in the event of injury.<br />
Orienteering started life here as an adventure sport, closely associated with AFAS, the now defunct Association for Adventure Sports based at Tiglin, and many of its early exponents came from a mountaineering background. where woolly hats and whistles were the norm. We may run in colourful O-tops and Lycra now, and use GPS and electronic timing, but we should not underestimate the power of nature. We have been lucky for more than 40 years not to have had any serious incidents, but you have to respect the conditions you are running in.<br />
It's not fair on the organisers who may have to mount search parties in difficult conditions if you fail to take reasonable precautions against exposure. The recent event at Three Rock Mountain again illustrated the risks - just because you can see your house from the top doesn't mean that you are in your back garden: even young male orienteers and not invincible or immune, and will hopefully learn that some of these rules and recommendations are there for the competitors' benefit, not just for the sake of having rules.<br />
<img height="133" id="irc_mi" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBc3y4gGzdi3fqekpoFiUMMZ3P3pc9baBskQdUQw9aPXUxb9cFeMp9zYAXTR1LExkQmVddBngt13qQjv559yXQ7XN_0RuNHqKBYzwZzwmms9ny-OgspYVmna_JtT1xMloxHYsRYiVJR0/s200/IMG_0631.JPG" style="margin-top: 24px;" width="200" /><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue;"><b>Two Down, Two to Go</b></span></i></span><br />
Two
of the Irish Junior Squad fundraising Campus Sprint races are over,
with Trinity College and University College Cork to go. The UCD and DCU
races attracted good numbers, with runners travelling from as far as
Cork and Belfast to take part. Both the "Long" and Short courses have
been won in sub-20 minutes in each of the events, so different
techniques to the usual endurance/slog method have to be used: thinking
ahead, looking for routes which shave a few metres here and a few there
off the route, checking the descriptions to see which side of the
uncrossable wall the control is on, or whether it's at the top or bottom
of the stairs ...<br />
Kevin O'Boyle and Eadaoin McCavana won at UCD, and Colm Moran and Mary Healy at DCU, so who will take the honours on Saturday? <br />
See you at TCD on Saturday 2nd March, start 11 to 1 pm; UCC on Saturday 23rd March.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-81918247864681837602013-02-12T00:41:00.003+00:002013-02-13T20:18:54.542+00:00Spring is Sprung, the grass is riz ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From Park-O to Parkour?</i></td></tr>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Campus Sprint Series Starts</b></span></span></i><br />
Leinster orienteers will doubt that spring may be here, if they were out
at DUO's Spring Series event last Sunday on Three Rock Mountain, but
there's a stretch in the evenings, the Dublin by Night series is
finished and the new Urban Sprint Series is about to start.The first of four urban sprint races is at the UCD campus at Belfield this Saturday, starting from 11 to 1 pm.<br />
Mike Long writes<br />
<span style="color: blue;">"A series of urban sprint events will start next Saturday in UCD. Specific details of the UCD event will be posted separately but the start time is 11:00 – 13:00 not 15:00 – 17:00 as it was originally stated on the web. This is a requirement of the UCD authorities.The events are at:</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">16/2 UCD<br />
23/2 DCU<br />
2/3 TCD<br />
23/3 UCC (EYOC + JWOC Qualification Race)</span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
The motivation behind the series is to provide some practice for sprint events, now a feature of all major international competitions, to raise some funds for the university clubs and the junior squad and to have a bit of fun!<br />
At each event there will be:<br />
- two courses; long (4 km) and short (2.5 km)<br />
- winning times; similar to those encountered at the JK<br />- costs; adults €5, students €4, juniors €3, families €10</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> - SI card hire €2<br />
- profits split 50% between university club and junior squad<br />
We will have a league with the best of 2 races to count. Prizes for 1st M/W 21, 1st M/W 45+, 1st & 2nd M/W 18 and 1st & 2nd M/W 14-.</span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
Any beginners who wish to try are welcome and there will be people on hand to help them out."</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulHfd3dO7H3Z-T_JL8uhtn4Uc-9HFbcm5unemjq3TsnrTHUDtdRGuCPXvqBjzc7bxQnB1Nh_c0ABx4vn2mo5orutFvaaAuHEPuz5ZE3DrhWReEbNFdcsITlNCz2C7UREL0gpXsOP8eTQ/s1600/urbano.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulHfd3dO7H3Z-T_JL8uhtn4Uc-9HFbcm5unemjq3TsnrTHUDtdRGuCPXvqBjzc7bxQnB1Nh_c0ABx4vn2mo5orutFvaaAuHEPuz5ZE3DrhWReEbNFdcsITlNCz2C7UREL0gpXsOP8eTQ/s200/urbano.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modern <i>ISSOM </i>sprint map</td></tr>
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This is a great chance for runners and others to try orienteering in a familiar environment: there's no mud, no heather or bog, no forest, no mountains: just buildings, paths, patches of "terrain", lots of route choice, thinking on your feet, seconds to be lost, decision making, map contact, brain work, adrenalin. Urban orienteering, either in sprint format (like this) or longer races (like London or Venice) is enormous fun. It's a workout for the mind as much as the body, so even veterans and/or less fit people can do it and enjoy it. Maps are often drawn specially, using ISSOM (International Sprint-O map standard).<br />
Beginners won't want to travel to deepest Munster or deepest Leinster to try a new sport, but they might hop on a 46A and take a trip to their local university to try it. What's there to lose? If it's good, they come back for more; if they don't enjoy it, they've lost an hour or two but still got some exercise. And who could fail to enjoy it?<br />
Have a look at an old sprint course at UCD from 2008 <a href="http://orienteering.ie/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=55&kieli=" target="_blank">here</a>. Incidentally, <a href="http://omaps.worldofo.com/upload/sprintpom3_2013.png" target="_blank">here</a>'s the map from this week's evening sprint race at the Portugal O-Meet which Thierry Gueorgiou and Simone Niggli won. <a href="http://bno.pl/pliki/WNOF13_E3_A.jpg" target="_blank">Here's another</a> interesting one, from the Sky Tower shopping centre in Wroclaw, Poland. You can see a headcam recording of the race <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyHwYgPNR-U&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">here</a>: bemused looking shoppers outsprinted by colourfully dresses Lycra-clad orienteers ...<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Save our Forests</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Concern has been
voiced over Government plans to sell the harvesting rights to Irish
forests owned by the state forestry company, Coillte. The proposal is
that Coillte retains the land but the trees will be sold off to private
companies. This has economic implications but also implications for
access for forest users like orienteers, mountaineers, walkers, cyclists
and others. There are no official rights of way in Ireland and the
forests in many cases provide the only viable route to upland areas.
While orienteering may be less of the "forest sport" than it used to be -
as so many open areas are used - it is still a sport closely associated
with forests. Whether commercial interests would have the same view of
recreational users as Coillte has gradually come to have, is an
unanswered question.</span></span><br />
The foresters working for Coillte have produced a booklet explaining their opposition to the proposals (see it <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.saveourforests.ie/uploads/files/SaveOurForests.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>) and the RTE "Eco Eye" programme recently did a feature on this threat to Irish forests.</span><br />
A campaign web site <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.saveourforests.ie/">www.saveourforests.ie</a>
has been set up to focus opposition to the plans. A recent meeting of
organisations affected by the proposal included the Mountaineering
Council of Ireland, the Tree Council of Ireland, the Society of Irish
Foresters, the Irish Ramblers Club and the Donadea Forest Group. The
Irish Mountain Running Association and the Irish Orienteering
Association are quoted as sharing the concerns of the other
organisations about the plans.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Orienteers,
despite being a small group, have a part to play and should consider the
effects of selling off the state's timber resources, built up over 80
years of forestry here. We have never been ones to protest much over
access and conservation issues ("Keep Ireland Open" got no official
support from IOA) but this is certainly an issue which affects us.</span><i><b><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;"><i><b>O-Bits</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Entries for the <b>Leinster Championship</b>s
have opened. Fingal Orienteers are running the event at Cahore Sand
Dunes, Co. Wexford, on 14th April. Details of the event are <a href="http://fingal.orienteering.ie/loc2013/finloc13.shtml" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Entries for the <b>Irish Championships</b>, near Oughterard, Co. Galway, on May 4-5-6 are open<span style="color: blue;">: <span style="color: black;">details </span><a href="http://ioc2013.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Entries for the <b>Shamrock O-Ringen</b> in Kerry on June 1-2-3 are also open : see <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/home" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Entries for the <b>Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival</b> in England at Easter are open: details <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2013/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">Entries for <b>Moray 2013</b>, the Scottish Six-Day,<span style="color: blue;"> </span>at the end of July/beginning of August are open: details <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.scottish6days.com/2013" target="_blank">here</a>.</span> </span><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br />
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<br />John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338466505388595392.post-7818660224964864682013-01-17T21:00:00.003+00:002013-01-17T21:00:31.732+00:00Armchair Planning<i></i><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin ...</b></i></span><br />
Once again it's time to plan your training, competition and holidays for the coming year. In our current financial situation, maybe that's all we can do, but we can still dream. Orienteering competitions from local events to World Championships are a great hook to hang a weekend away or a summer holiday on. You'll get to run on new maps, in new terrain, against new competitors, and refresh your enthusiasm for orienteering. Easter? The JK in the south of England. A weekend in London? Take in the city race in September. Venice? Well, you'll have to wait until 2014 for that. Multi-day events? The Scottish 6-Day will be a big attraction in 2013, particularly with the 2015 World Championships there. There are lots of fun events at home too: the Dublin by Night series, the campus sprint series, the Leinster Champs on a new sand dune area in Wexford, the Shamrock O-ringen in Kerry and the Irish Champs on new areas in Galway ... Now, read on...<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">January</span></i></b><br />
Spain and Portugal offer early season orienteering while it's still winter elsewhere. There are several international and/or multi-day events here, including the European Rogaining Championships near Barcelona on January 26/27 with 6 and 24 hour events (details <a href="http://www.thewildboar.org/" target="_blank">here</a>). In Portugal there is the Ori-Coa Trophy and in Spain the Trofeo Costa Blanca (25-27) near Alicante (details <a href="http://villenao-pie.blogspot.ie/" target="_blank">here</a>). At home the Dublin by Night series started on Saturday 12th at Three Rock. On January 25-27th the Edinburgh Big Weekend features an urban race, a night event and a sprint. Details <a href="http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/soul/edinburgh-big-weekend-2013" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">February</span></i></b><br />
The Portuguese O-Meet from 9th to 12th includes a World Ranking middle distance, a sprint, night sprint, long distance and trail-O events near the Spanish border, inland from Coimbra. Details <a href="http://www.pom.pt/en/" target="_blank">here</a>. Further south there's the Morocco 3-Days on 16th-18th (see some details <a href="http://sun-o.com/sites.php?sites_id=108" target="_blank">here</a>). On February 16th the first of four "campus sprint" events is at UCD, Belfield, a fund-raiser for the Junior Squad (the other events are at DCU on February 23rd, TCD on March 2nd and UCC on March 23rd).<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">March</span></i></b><br />
The major British international event, the Jan Kjellstrom O-Festival (JK2013) starts on March 29th near Reading, with sprint, long distance and relay races over the Easter weekend. Details <a href="http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2013/" target="_blank">here</a>.Note that JK2013 will use EMIT timing, not Sportident. Anyone thinking of running in JWOC in June might be tempted by a 3-day at Zlaté Hory near the Polish border in the Czech Republic at Easter. There is actually a choice of two 3-Days in CZ at Easter - for the one nearer Prague see <a href="http://www.dkp.orienteering.cz/en/pe-news" target="_blank">here</a>. Another Easter possibility is a 3-day at Colmar in eastern France from March 31st - see <a href="http://paques2013.cocolmar.fr/" target="_blank">here</a>. Earlier in the month (March 24th) the Irish Student Championships is at Muckross, Killarney, preceded by the final of the Campus Sprint races in Cork on the 23rd.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">April</span></i></b><br />
Fingal are staging the Leinster Championships on the 14th at Cahore in Co. Wexford, a new sand dune area. The Irish Schools' Championships are at Glengarra, near Cahir, Co. Tipperary, on the 17th and 18th. The Leinster Champs weekend clashes with some good events in the UK: two days in the Lake District and the Southern Area Championships on the fantastic dunes of Penhale in Cornwall. You can do some sand dune training for the Leinsters at Banna (March 18th - make a long weekend of it), the Long Strand (April 1st) and Tramore (April 7th).<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">May</span></i></b><br />
The month kicks off with the Irish Championships at Lettercraffroe, near Oughterard, Co. Galway, on the 4th (Middle), 5th (Long) and 6th (Relays), run by Western Eagles: close to the excellent areas used for last year's 3-Day in June, followed a week later by a Munster League event at Inch sand dunes in Kerry.<br />
The May Bank Holiday weekend is a popular one for orienteering, as the IOC unfortunately clashes with the British Championships in Surrey (details <a href="http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/site/BOC2013/" target="_blank">here</a>). Entries for IOC are now open on the <a href="http://www.fabian4.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fabian4</a> web site. See details of IOC2013 <a href="http://ioc2013.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Another fixture on the May Bank Holiday weekend is the 68th Tio Mila overnight relay 30 km NW of Stockholm - details <a href="http://2013.10mila.se/?lang=en" target="_blank">here</a>. The relay, for teams of 10, covers almost 120 km with legs from 7 to 18 km. There's also a youth relay, a women's relay and a night trail race.<br />
On May 11-12 the Porto City Race in Portugal looks fun - with a middle distance race the day before. Porto is a World Heritage site with lots of intricate alleyways. Details <a href="http://www.gd4caminhos.com/en/portocityrace" target="_blank">here</a>. The first of three multi-day events in Holland is on May 24-26 at Brabant - see <a href="http://www.orienteering.nl/uitnodiging/3DvB2013.html" target="_blank">here</a> (the other two start on 23rd August and 26th October), preceded by a <a href="http://orientatie.org/evenementen/big-events/3-days-belgium-2013" target="_blank">3-day in Belgium</a> from 18th to 20th May.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">June</span></i></b><br />
Moving into exam time, the two-yearly (is that biannual or biennial?) Shamrock O-Ringen is back in the Black Lakes and Crohane area south of Killarney. This event attracts a loyal following from abroad every time, and a small number of Irish orienteers too. Why not try it if you haven't already? See the event web site <a href="http://www.shamrock.corko.net/" target="_blank">here</a>. Later in the month the famous <a href="http://www.jukola.com/2013/en/" target="_blank">Jukola</a> 7-person overnight relay (the 65th staging of the race) takes place on the weekend of the 15th-16th at Jamsa in Finland. The Setanta Wicklow Rogaine, a 24 hour score event, is on June 22nd. Details will be <a href="http://www.setantaorienteers.org/rogaine" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
For the selected M and W20's, the Junior World Championships in the Czech Republic from June30th to 7th July will be the focus of the early summer, but there will be open events for the rest of us from 1st to 6th July - details <a href="http://www.jwoctour.cz/invitation" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Further north , there's orienteering in June in Greenland (22-24th) (details in Danish <a href="http://www.nasp.gl/nuuk-o-fest-2012" target="_blank">here</a>) and the Arctic Midnight Orienteering (26th-29th) - see <a href="http://www.iog.gl/amo_2013_uk.asp" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">July</span></i></b><br />
The <a href="http://www.woc2013.fi/ssl/woc.nsf/sp?Open&cid=event" target="_blank">World Championships</a>, at Vuokatti in Finland, runs from the 6th to the 14th, and there are open events for everyone - details of the associated Kainuu Week <a href="http://www.woc2013.fi/ssl/woc.nsf/sp?Open&cid=kainuuoweek" target="_blank">here</a>. The World Trail-Orienteering Championships is also run with WOC. July is peak season for big internationals, with the Swedish O-Ringen five day near the Arctic Circle at Boden from 20th to 26th (details <a href="http://www.oringen.se/english/orteren/boden2013.22_en.html" target="_blank">here</a>). The event is so far north that there should be 24-hour daylight. Early in the month the annual Sorlandsgaloppen in southern Norway runs from the 4th to 7th - see <a href="http://www.sorlandsgaloppen.no/" target="_blank">here</a>, though the web site only goes to 2012 at the moment. A 5-Day in the French Pyrenees on July 13-18 is based in the Font Romeu skiing area, home of the French national centre for altitude training, and Narbonne: see <a href="http://www.otramontane.fr/" target="_blank">here</a>. Croatia has the Croatia Open at Delnice (July 23-28) on technical karst terrain with lots of depressions see <a href="http://www.croatiaopen.net/2013/index.php" target="_blank">here</a>. LVO's Igor Stefko recommends the Grand Prix Slovakia and Karst Cup from 11th to 14th July at Mosovce (see <a href="http://web.tuke.sk/obeh/karst/index.php?stranka=novinky&lang=EN" target="_blank">here</a>) , while the <a href="http://www.oocup.com/" target="_blank">OO Cup</a> in Slovenia from 26th to 30th July is an alternative to the Swedish O-Ringen.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">August</span></i></b><br />
<a href="http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/logo_small2-100x108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/logo_small2-100x108.jpg" style="max-height: 108px; max-width: 100px;" width="185" /></a>Hot on the heels of the Swedish O-Ringen is the Scottish 6-Day at Inverness from 28th July to 3rd August. There will be a lot of interest this year as Scotland is to host the World Championships in two years time with the 2015 6-Day. Details of Moray 2013 <a href="http://www.scottish6days.com/2013" target="_blank">here</a>. (I am reliably informed that is is possible to do a round trip taking in JWOC, WOC, O-Ringen and Moray 2013 ...)<br />
After the Scottish 6-Day some of you might be eligible for the orienteering at the World Police & Fire Games in Belfast is on the 5th, 8th and 9th. details <a href="http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/orienteering-sprint-distance,-middle-distance-long-distance.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>. Over-35's might be tempted by the World Masters Championships near Turin in Italy from August 2 to 10. (Details <a href="http://www.wmoc2013.it/" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
For those of you who don't like running up hills, there's a 3-day at Diever in northern Holland from August 23-25, including a middle distance WRE. See <a href="http://www.drenthe3days.nl/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">September</span></i></b><br />
September starts to go quiet again, with a highlight being the 6th London City race starting on the Isle of Dogs on Sunday 22nd, preceded by the LOK Ultrasprint in Hyde Park on the Saturday. (The Venice street event won't be on in November so this may be your only chance to experience top class urban orienteering this year). Details <a href="http://cityrace.org/" target="_blank">here</a>. Closer to home the Senior Home International will be in Ireland in late September. A multi-day event in Sardinia starts on September 30th and runs on and off until October 10th - see details of the "5+5" <a href="http://www.orienteering.it/public/bulletin/ita_n151112_170820.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">October</span></i></b><br />
EYOC, the European Youth O-Champs for M/W16 and 18 was withdrawn from Israel in November and instead will be in October: the organisers will be announced at the end of January. The World Masters MTBO Championships is on in southern Portugal from October 10-13, midway between Faro and Lisbon. Details are <a href="http://wmmtboc2013.fpo.pt/index.php/en/" target="_blank">here</a>. In Turkey, the Istanbul 5-day event (October 29 to November 3: mid term for schools?) has 5 races in 4 days, and sometimes includes one in the famous, complex and rather claustrophobic Grand Bazaar. Details of the 2012 event are <a href="http://www.ist5days.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">November</span></i></b><br />
To preserve the area for the sprint races in the 2014 World Championships, there will be no street-O in Venice in November this year. No EYOC either - see October. So, all in all, a limited choice of exotic destinations for November, but there is a monthly local event in the Canaries, at La Esperanza in Tenerife which, in November, is on the 17th. Details <a href="http://www.cocantf.com/web/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">December</span></i></b><br />
South Africa's "Big 5" O-week runs from 30th December to 4th January, based in the east in the province of Mpumalanga. See details <a href="http://www.bigfive-o.co.za/" target="_blank">here</a>. Closer to home, but in the cold, is Belgium's Sylvester 3-Days between Christmas and New Year. Details closer to the time on the <a href="http://orientatie.org/" target="_blank">Belgian O web site</a>.<br />
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I think this is roughly where we came in ...<br />
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See you in the forest ! <br />
<i><br /></i><i>(Thanks to CompassSport Magazine, World of O website and the various flyers picked up at events for much of this information. <a href="http://cal.worldofo.com/" target="_blank">The World of O calendar</a> is a fantastic source of information). Don't forget to watch for big events in the UK on the <a href="http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/" target="_blank">British Orienteering</a> web site.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><i>O-Bits</i></b></span></span><br />
<h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>Nearest neighbours BOF benefit from UK government funding</i></span></span></span> </h1>
<span class="newsbody">Sport England is investing £2.3 million into orienteering to help the sport find its niche amongst mass-participation events and to continue the development of the talent pathway.<br />The funding demonstrates confidence in the progress shown over the last three years. Changes to British Orienteering’s infrastructure and the proposed creation of new on-demand versions of the sport will help to open up new opportunities for growth.<br />Around 12,000 people take part in orienteering at least once a month and there are likely to be many more participants who are running regularly as they train for each orienteering event. The sport is attractive to people seeking personal challenges, a change from their usual running-related training and an opportunity to use the latest technology.<br />British Orienteering’s plan is based on a strategic vision – More People, More Places, More Podiums. It pulls together a range of planning activity including:</span><br />
<ul><span class="newsbody">
<li>Community O+: a range of focused programmes designed to start and keep people taking part. These include an introduction to the sport, an informal and social running challenge for younger people; park orienteering for the family market; and a Student Starter offer for 16-25 year olds.</li>
<li>Virtual Orienteering: on-demand orienteering for recreational runners that blends mobile running apps with traditional fixed point orienteering.</li>
<li>Events and competitions: a series of local and national events aimed at retaining participants through increased challenge and progression and a new UK Orienteering League.</li>
<li>Talent development: continued implementation of the nationally managed pathway to provide sustainable success at the highest level of the sport.</li>
</span></ul>
<span class="newsbody">The plan also covers the recruitment and support of a paid and volunteer workforce capable of delivering a full programme of events.<br />Lisa O’Keefe, Sport England’s Director of Sport said: “This investment will enable the British Orienteering Federation to continue the expansion of its events programme and explore the potential of technology to enhance the experience of the sport." (from the BOF website).</span><br />
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<span class="newsbody">On a similar note, congratulations to the <b>Cork Schools Orienteering Association</b> who received a grant of €13000 from the Sports Capital Programme of the Department of Tourism and Sport.See the full list of grants, totalling €26 million, <a href="http://www.transport.ie/uploads/documents/news/Sports%20Capital%20Programme%20Local%20Projects.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="newsbody"><b>Smartphone orienteering: </b>LVO's Geoffrey Collins has developed an appcalled "oGo", for running the start at a colour event, which can cope with up to 8 courses and a range of start intervals from 10 seconds up to 5 minutes. Get details <a href="http://www.appindesign.com/ogo/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span> <br />
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John McCulloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12113900951851667629noreply@blogger.com0