BOC on Top at Irish Champs

The Irish Orienteering Championships took place at the weekend in Magilligan Strand in Co. Derry. A small number of BOC members travelled up to the three-day event.

Day One, Friday was a tempo and Sprint event around the Coleraine Campus of the University of Ulster. This was a fantastically fast and not to be under estimated event with attention to detail and speed the key to success here. Some upsets were seen in both the M and W 21E with some key performers mis punching. Not a kind mistake as this was to be a selection race for WOC 2010. The men's title was taken by our very own Nicholas Simonin who stormed home in a highly impressive time for the 2.3km course. The women's title was nabbed by LVO's Susan Lambe. Congrats to both on automatic selection for WOC.

Mens sprint:
1st Nicolas Simonin 15:35
2nd Seamus O'Boyle 16:03
3rd Bill Edwards 16:19

Womens sprint:
1st Susan Lambe 18:43
2nd Rosalind Hussey 19:07
3rd Ciara Largey 19:28

Saturday was the Classic Distance Irish Champs with perfect conditions allowing for some great runs on the day. The event was held in Magilligan Strand, where the NIOC and BOC events were held in previous years. The courses were fast and demanded full concentration. The dunes were highly runnable with good visibility, meaning that speed was the key to success once more. Course lengths for some courses were shorter than in previous years meaning the winning times were much faster than the usual 60mins estimate. Once more, Nick stormed home to an impressive victory, proving he was the man to beat at the weekend. CNOC's Niamh O'Boyle also ran an impressive race, finishing 8 mins ahead of her next rival.

1st Nicolas Simonin BOC 71:55
2nd Andrew Quin 3ROC 73:42
3rd Bill Edwards CorkO 75:40

Women's Elite:
1st Niamh O'Boyle CNOC 46:29
2nd Ciara Largey FermO 53:09
3rd Rosalind Hussey FermO 56:00

Other BOC results from the weekend were:
Classic:
4th M12 Zac O'Sullivan-Hourihan
4th M18 Josh O'Sullivan-Hourihan
6th M45L Paul O'Sullivan-Hourihan
7th W21E Sharon Lucey

Full results can be found here for all events. Full Sprint results are currently unavailable. The weekend was incredibly well organised and NWOC and LVO put on a great weekend, turning everyone's attentions to this time next year when JK2011 comes to Northern Ireland.

The next couple of months will have some more big events.

• Leinster Champs are on in two weeks time in Carlingford, 15th May. Visit here to get yourself entered in the next couple of days.
• Irish 3-day is on the June Bank Holiday, 5th - 7th June at Tamhan a Fhuile, Loch Eske, Co Donegal. Full details on the event on the WEGO website.
• Northern Irish Orienteering Championships are this year being held in June, away from its usual spot in September/October. This will be held on 19th June (Sat) by LVO in Tollymore. Keep an eye out on the LVO website for further info on the event.

Irish Champs 2010

This year's Irish Orienteering Championships will be held on the North Coast with LVO hosting the Sprint Championships at the Coleraine Campus of the University of Ulster on day 1 (19.00 - 20.30) and NWOC hosting the Individual and Relays in an extended Magilligan Dunes on days 2 and 3.

The fast semi-urban campus of day one followed by the intricate dunes of day two, finishing off with a new high runability dune area for day three, should provide a orienteering weekend or varied quality racing.

For the individual champs, most of the courses will be confined to the central complex dune area. Runability varies considerably with fast paths and short grass in the many flat valleys with mixed going in the more intricate dunes and depressions. There are significant areas of sea buckthorn and burnet rose which are marked by a vegetation screen where they present a significant barrier to progress.

Course Classes Approx. Lengths

1 M21E 12.9

2 M21L 10.0

3 M35L 8.8

4 M40L 8.2

5 W21E, M45L 7.4

6 W21L, M20L, M18L, M21S, M50L 6.6

7 M55L, M35S, W35L 5.8

8 M16A, M40S, W40L, M60L 5.4

9 M45S,W45L 4.8

10 W21S, W20L, M20S, M18S, W18L, M50S, W50L, M65L 4.4

11 W35S, M55S, W55L, W40S, W16A, W60L, M60S, W65L, M70 3.7

12 W20S, W18S, W45S, W50S, M65S, W70, M75, M80 3.3

13 W55S, W60S, W65S, W75, W80 2.8

14 W16B,W14A 3.0

15 M14A, M16B, Lt. Green 3.7

16 M14B, W14B, M12A, W12A, Orange 2.5

17 M12B, W12B, M10A, W10A, Yellow 2.3

18 M10B,W10B 1.8

The last date for cheaper entries is April 12th and closing date for all entries is April 19th. Now is also the time to start thinking about relay teams.

Best of luck to all heading to the JK at the weekend!