Monday, March 30, 2009

BOC Evening events.....

Now that the clocks have changed and the evenings are beginning to get longer, Bishopstown Orienteering Club are starting their Business Houses League. These take place every Thursday evening and there is a choice of 3 courses...

  • SCORE COURSE (Hardest): Visit as many of the control sites as you can and in any order in 60 minutes or less. Penalties for over the hour and bonus for under the hour if all controls got.

  • MEDIUM COURSE : Slightly difficult. Visit the controls in numerical order. Might suit someone who wants a good walk or jog without getting too technical.

  • SHORT COURSE (Easiest) : Very easy. Visit the controls in numerical order. Suitable for anyone who justs wants an easy walk, beginners or kids.

ENTRY FEES : € 6 Adult, € 5 Student, € 3 Junior, and € 12 Family. Second run on the night € 2.

More details on the fixtures list.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cork...Orientację

Klub Biegów na Orientację Bishopstown jest najwiekszym i najbardziej aktywnym klubem w Cork. Nowi czlonkowie sa mile widziani na wszystkich naszych zawodach, a koszt czlonkowstwa w klubie za caly rok (od wrzesnia do lipca) to jedyne 10 euro. Wpisowe na zawody to 7 euro dla czlonkow klubu (darmowe wpisowe jesli wstapisz do klubu w dniu zawodow) i 10 euro dla niezrzeszonych. Jesli jestes poczatkujacy, możesz znalezc wiecej informacji na temat Biegow na Orientacje na polskiej stronie internetowej ... http://www.orienteering.org.pl/index.php


Czym sa Biegi na Orientacje.........Najprosciej, uzywasz mapy do znalezienia punktow zwanych kontrolnymi w lesie. Na kazdym punkcie kontrolnym jest czerwony dziurkacz, ktorego uzywasz, by oznakować kartę, by potwierdzic, ze tam byles. Wiecej szczegolow na temat istoty Biegow na:
http://www.berdozagorz.pl/infopage.php?id=3


Masz do wyboru kilka poziomow trudnosci

Zolty....bardzo latwy. Wszystkie punkty kontrolne sa na sciezkach.

Pomaranczowy....latwy. Dluzszy niz poziom zolty.

Czerwony ...troche trudniejszy. Niektore z punktow znajduja sie poza sciezkami w lesie.

Zielony.....trudny. Wiekszosc punktow znajduje sie w lesie.

Niebieski......bardzo trudny. Jest to dluzsza wersja zielonego.

Zawody odbywaja sie w prawie kazda niedziele i w czwartkowe wieczory w okresie letnim.
Na naszej stronie glownej znajdziesz szczegoly dotyczace terminow oraz miejsc gdzie odbywaja sie zawody wraz z informacja jak dotrzec na miejsce startu.


http://homepage.eircom.net/~bishopstownohc/fix.html

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Orienteering Intervarsities, 14th March 2009

The Irish Orienteering Student Intervarsities 2009 were held in Oughaval Forest in Stradbally, Co. Laois on Saturday, 14th March. Nine different Third Level colleges were represented in the event hosted by the Military College. There were six courses available and 44 competitors.
The courses were long and well planned by the organisers. Bramble bashers were an advantage, depending on route choice. Weather conditions were perfect for orienteering.
The Men’s Long course at 8.7km was the most competitive category, which saw UCD’s Christian Foley-Fisher take first place, followed closely behind by DIT’s Colm Hill and UL’s Oliver Breiling.
DUO’s Niamh O’Boyle took the Women’s Long course (7.4km) in an incredibly fast time, ahead of UL’s Sharon Lucey and DUO’s Audrey Martin. Teammate Farina Freigang finished in fourth place, giving the DUO Women’s team the overall women’s prize for 2009.
UCC’s Gearoid Ryan finished strongly ahead of UL’s Andrew Guckian to take gold in the Men’s Medium (5.2km). Similarly, Isobel Abbott of UCC took first spot in the Women’s Medium (4.3km), with Sarah O’Regan of the Military College in second place. Sarah Conlon, also of the Military College took poll position in the Women’s Short course (3.1km). UCC claimed the overall men’s team prize.
A sample of photographs from the event can be found on the BOC Picasa photo gallery
Congratulations to all those who took part and well done to UCC and Trinity on taking the team prizes. Many thanks to Brendan Delaney, Pat Farrelly, Maeve O'Grady, Ray Holohan, Pat Healy and the Military College for producing a very enjoyable event.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Portugal Orienteering Meeting 2009

Portugal ‘O’ Meeting 2009
Sharon Lucey

The annual Portugal O Meet took place on the 21st-25th February 2009 in the Alentejo region, 200km east of Lisbon. The four-day competition, held on Carnival weekend, included 2 short races, 2 classic races, an urban night race and an orienteering show.
A group of ten senior orienteers from all over Ireland headed to the event, through the orienteering holiday provider, Sun-O. The group consisted of Darren Burke CorkO, Hugh Cashell CNOC, Ailbhe Creedon CorkO, Donncha Cuttriss BOC, Neil Dobbs IFK, Colm Hill CNOC, Susan Lambe LVO, Sharon Lucey BOC, Niamh O’Boyle CNOC and Kieran Rocks LVO. Six of the group took part in the training camp before and after the competition, while the remaining four travelled for a long weekend. Based in Brotas, we were centrally located for the events on all days.
The model event was held on Friday in Pavia (Azenhas da Seda) and though the map looked slightly daunting at first, those who braved it were rewarded with fast paced terrain, intricate contour detail and high visibility. It proved to be a great start to the week, with everyone being able to get a feel for the terrain and an idea of what to expect for the coming few days races. After a long days travel and early start, the other group of weary orienteers joined the group Friday night and excitement began to bubble over in anticipation of the great orienteering to come.
Saturday began with a Middle Distance race in the National Forest of Cabeção. As start times were not until 12pm, we got our first taste of running in the mid-day Portuguese sun. Courses were short, fast and incredibly enjoyable. The best results from the day were Niamh O’Boyle 22nd W21E, Colm Hill 69th M21E and Ailbhe Creedon 8th W21L.
The late starts on this day were due to the night event being held in the streets of Cabeção later that night. After freezing cold showers and a trip to the Fluviario in Mora to check out the local marine life it was back into our running gear once more. Around 700 competitors took part in the night-O, much to the amusement of the locals who took to the streets to support and enjoy the spectacle before them. As there were no allotted start times, all competitors had to queue in the main square of the town and starts were 15-20 seconds apart. This made for a very interesting and fast paced race. The town was made up of numerous short lanes and a few grassland areas without lighting. Navigating the cobbled streets and dodging traffic and other runners proved the challenge of the night with a number of ‘hit and runs’ between competitors. The best results on the night were Niamh, 2nd Women’s Senior and Colm, 4th Men’s Senior.
For the elites, Day 2 was the main race being a world-ranking event. Almost 1,600 competitors took part in Sunday’s competition in Brotas - Torre das Águias. Despite our ingenious plan of taking a “short cut” to this morning’s event, three of us managed to miss our start times. The debate is on going as to whose fault this was! As the event was not a punching start, the clocks began ticking as soon as our start times came around. Despite a gallant effort sprinting the 2km warm up route to the start, Kieran and myself both managed to miss our starts by 8 or 9 minutes. Breathless and unfocused we began our trek into the Portuguese wilderness. Luckily, I had a solid run, after a slow start, I was consistently hitting controls steadily and kept concentration throughout the course.
Map reading and accurate compass bearings were key to success. It was a fast paced course, with a lot of brown features. The terrain was rolling cork oak plantations mostly very fast but with occasional marshy areas and barbed wire fences to slow you down. Accuracy was key, as a number of controls were only visible from the control site. Unfortunately, for Kieran and Neil the other two late starters, the push to the start defeated them and both DNFed. Not surprising, given that the men’s elite course was over 16km.
The Swiss team, in Portugal for a training camp, dominated the elite categories. The W21E was 12.5km. The top results on the day went to:
1 Simone Niggli-Luder Sui 1:20:4
2 Signes Soes Denmark 1:22:04
3 Vroni Konig-Salmi Finland 1:22:08
25 Niamh O’Boyle 1:49:37
The M21E was dominated by the Swiss team, taking the top 3 places, as well as domination by past JWOC medalists: Hubmann and Merz have both taken individual gold while Tervo has two short race silvers.
1 Matthias Merz Sui 1:23:28
2 Marc Lauenstein Sui 1:28:50
3 Baptiste Rollier Sui 1:29:42
82 Colm Hill 2:09:43
A banquet dinner was held in Mora that night, following the prize giving ceremonies for the previous races.
Monday was our last day’s orienteering as we were heading back to reality the next day, while the other six were remaining for the fourth day of competition and another training day. The Middle Distance was held in Pavia – São Miguel/Remendo. Winning times were even faster than expected, showing just how fast paced the environment was. There were some very tricky stone features and very high boulders scattered around the area making it very technical but fast.
A fantastic spectator control and subsequent loop on the top ten courses provided great viewing for those with early finishes and a chance to monitor the techniques of the top elites. Of particular interest was the Swiss elite team who were told by their coach that compasses were forbidden on this day. All eyes were on the Swiss team to check that they all stuck to this rule. The best Irish results on the day were Niamh, W21E 21st and Colm M21E 75th and Ailbhe, 10th W21A.
This led us to the most interesting event of the entire weekend, the OriShow. This took place in the football pitch of the town we had invaded during the night-O. This is one of the best ways to demonstrate the sport to outsiders and beginners. The concept is based on short courses of up to 500m in length which are run on maps at 1:500 scale or even larger. The whole idea is that the courses are run on such small areas that spectators, as well as speakers, can follow the action all the time, from start to finish, watching the runners making mistakes, breaking away from one another and running into dead ends.
Disqualification was common among competitors in this event, as the fast paced nature of the race meant that keeping a keen eye on the map and codes was essential in order to achieve a clean run. There were four heats in the men’s and women’s race, each with 20 competitors. All competitors in each heat had the same first control and then broke into smaller courses. There was a mass start for each heat. The features on the map included; barriers, tapes, bales of hay, pot plants, chairs and cars, yes there were 3 cars on the map. Barriers and tapes could not be crossed, and were marked as uncrossable fences on the map.
The men’s semi final was extra exciting, with Colm taking too long checking his code for the last control and narrowly missed on a spot in the final to Darren because of this error. There were some great Irish results in this race, proving that we can stand our ground in high-pressure situations. Niamh took top spot in the women’s race with Darren pulling out a consistent race in the final to take 3rd spot. All podium finishers received cash prizes, a much-deserved reward after completing three intense ori-show races in a row.
Overall the weekend’s competition proved a great experience for all competitors and saw some fantastic results from the team and two podium finishes. There were around 1,500 competitors each day, proving that the event was appealing to people of all ages and abilities. The majority of competitors were in the 40+ age group according to officials. The inclusion of a WRE really added to the atmosphere on Day 2. The event was highly organised, with good quality maps and a variety of very technical and fast-paced terrain thrown in. We travelled with a company called Sun-O.com who were incredibly helpful and they specialise in orienteering holidays in Spain and Portugal. A special thank you to Niamh for getting the ball rolling on organising a group to go. Here’s to POM 2010!
Results from all of the four days events can be found at http://www.cpoc.pt/eventos.php?ev=pom2009_en&op=resultados and a full selection of photographs from all alls can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/bishopstownoc/PortugalOrienteeringMeeting

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Irish Orienteering Championships 2009...2nd-4th May

The 2009 Irish Orienteering Championships will take place this year in Donegal.

Details...
IOC09 organised by WEGO and CNOC - Saturday to Monday, 2nd - 4th May 2009, east of Lough Eske, Co Donegal.
Day One - Middle Distance Event Benson Hill;
Day Two - Classic Distance Event Tawnawully;
Day Three - Relay Event Croaghmeenere - even shaped mountain.

Assembly and parking at community centre G 985 481.

Entries for reduced entry fees required by WEGO by 18th March.
Anyone BOC members interested in Club Relay teams (entry fees will be paid by BOC)?

For more information on this event, visit http://westerneaglesgalwayorienteers.blogspirit.com/

LOC - Leinster Orienteering Championships - Sun 5th Apr 2009

The 2009 Leinster Championships will take place in Rossmore Forest park, just outside Monaghan town on Sunday, the 5th of April. Rossmore Forest Park is located 3.5km south west of Monaghan Town on the R189 to Newbliss, off the N54 Monaghan to Clones Road. Grid Reference H 653 299.

The closing date will be 23rd March 2009 (post marked). No entries will be accepted after this date. There will be entry on the day courses but will not be eligible for prizes.

For more information, visit the LOC 2009 website........http://fingal.orienteering.ie/finloc09.html

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Record attendance & membership

1) Record attendance at club event........The actual attendance for last Sunday (1st March) at Farran Forest Park was 268, making it (as far as we know) our largest attendance since the club was formed.
2) Record Membership............The club membership, taking into account the people who joined us on Sunday the 8th, has just exceeded last season's record number of 654! With still quite a bit of the season to go, it looks as if 2009 is going to be a record year for the club.

3) Cork Winter League.........The final table for the Cork Winter League which took place over Jan/Feb 2009 is now up on the club website.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

National Tree Week...1st-7th March 2009

National Tree Week March 1-7...'Our Trees Our Culture’

In 2009 we celebrate 25 years of National Tree Week and we have chosen as the theme ‘Our trees Our Culture’
Although Ireland experienced a decline in tree cover for more than a millennium the memory of our ancient forests is still there. When we look at our history, our literature and poetry, our music and art we find trees and what they represent to us embedded into our identity and expression.
Trees have always been part of the world’s mythology and Ireland has its own symbols and legends. To the ancient Irish and into recent history certain trees, for example, oak and hazel were associated with knowledge and others, the ash and rowan with protection. Fairy trees and raths can evoke respect to this day.
Have you ever wondered why people say ‘touch wood’ to ward off bad luck? The Celts touched trees as they believed it warded off evil spirits. Our Celtic ancestors worshiped trees, they had sacred groves and single trees, these sacred trees have survived today at Holy wells.
The earliest form of writing in Ireland was Ogham, a tree alphabet, which can be found carved on standing stones. This had twenty letters, each corresponding to one of our native species. The protection of trees also formed a core part of our ancient legal system, the Brehon Laws.
Our sense of place finds expression in our place names, which today identify towns, villages and town lands, many of which come from trees and woods. We are all familiar with Kildare (Church of the Oak) and of course Co. Derry itself. In fact of the 62,000 place names on the island of Ireland 1,200 are associated with oak. Co. Mayo is ‘the plain of the yew trees’. Co. Roscommon is the ‘St. Comáin’s Wood’ and Co. Monaghan the ‘place of the thicket’. Original names and translated derivatives can be found on all our signposts, maps and almanacs. Indeed they can still be a source of cultural dispute.
Another imprint made by trees on our cultural identity is the use of trees for surnames. Names in Irish such as Cullen or Cullinane come from Cuillen – holly, Darragh or Mc Darragh from Dair (oak), Quill from Coill (wood) as well as Irish names in the English language, Ashe and, Woods.
Trees feature in our poetry in both languages. Cill Cais is the most often quoted poem in both in Irish and English:
‘Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad? Tá deireadh na gcoillte ar lár’’What will we do for timber; the last of the woods are gone’.
Yeats praises the hazel wood and Kavanagh the beech tree. Trees also have a place in the works our major prose writers and playwrights, for example George Moore, Flan O’Brien, Brian Friel and James Joyce, the latter personalising virtually all species known here in his description in Ulysses of the marriage of the Chief Ranger of the Irish National Foresters to Miss Fir Conifer.
Our traditional, popular and classical music pieces often have trees as a motif, for example Percy Frenches ever popular Gortnamona and compositions by Joan Trimble such as the Green Bough.
Wood features in our historical and contemporary architecture art and craftwork. Ancient homes and fortifications were wood based and although little of the original remains today, excellent reconstruction brings these features back to life. Tree planting for aesthetic reasons and to create formal landscapes resulted in the great 18th Century Estates. The engravers and pleine air (open air) artists of the 18th and 19th Centuries saw in trees and woods a focus for dramatic landscapes and studies in light and shade. Today, trees are the focus of numerous works of photography, painting and print. There has been an explosion of wood sculpture and craft and wood use in structural building and finishing has greatly increased.
The ash is of course inextricably linked with our National Sport - Hurling and is annually celebrated in the All Ireland finals. Up to 500,000 hurleys are used each year and the ash is one of our most prized trees. Hurley making is one of the last of our cottage industries.
Tree in cities, gardens, parks and woodlands make our increasingly urban life more bearable and they feature in all major developments. Tree Week 2009 will invite you to focus on the harmony and pleasure that trees and wood bring to our life experience and contribute to creative projects in whatever way you can.
National Tree Week is sponsored by
Coillte and O2.

Guided Nature Walks in Cork...8th Mar-19th Apr 2009

Guided Nature Walks in Cork...
Padraig O'Donoughue, Trails Coordinator, in partnership with Coillte, encourages parents to introduce their children to walking in the great outdoors this spring.
Pádraig is trails coordinator with Co Cork Local Sports Partnership and will be leading a series of five nature walks in selected locations throughout West Cork over the coming weeks. The walks are suitable for children aged five upwards and will include nature awareness activities.

The Guided Nature Walks will take place in the following locations:
Rathbarry, The Long Strand, 8th March
Leap, Dromillihy Wood, 22nd March
Bandon, Dukes Wood, 5th April
Glengarriff, Nature Reserve, 19th April
Each walk begins at 2.30pm from the recreation site car park. Directions to these sites are available on this website, go to the home page, select Co Cork from the map and click on the link to the forests listed above.
The duration of each walk will be 60-90 minutes and there is no charge for participation.
For further information:
www.cclsp.com
or contact Pádraig on 021 4665082 / 086 8532470

First post of the new BOC blog...

Welcome to our new club blog! We have started this new blog as an experiment for members to share information and experiences of other events. We will also be using it for items of club news, details on some non-club events and some other items as well.

This blog replaces our old BOC News page which had gotten way out of date. If you would like to write up a short report on something like an overseas orienteering event or on one of the regional championships, then contact Sean Cotter.

If you have any photos of orienteering events, local or otherwise, then let Sean know and we can put them up on our photo gallery.