Orienteering Training Weekend

Apologies for the late notice on this but for those of you who might be interested there will be a training weekend held this weekend (6th and 7th Feb) in Inch sanddunes for all third level students primarily. The event is not a closed event so anyone who wants to improve their navigation or get in some hours on the dunes can come along. The more the merrier. The event is being organised and run by UCCO and will incorporate the KerryO event on the Sunday.

The event is suitable for all levels of experience and fitness. On Saturday, we will be training on the sandunes at Inch Strand on the Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry and on Sunday, KerryO are staging an orienteering event at Knockreer estate in Killarney National Park that we will attend. There are no set training plans but plenty of training options so it is really a chance for people to tell us what they want to work on. Sanddunes are the perfect place to learn from mistakes and to practice for the upcoming champs. Directions: From Cork follow the N22 to Killarney, then take the R561 in the direction of Dingle.

*Plan for Saturday is:*

10.30: - Meet at Inch Strand (drive down the strand a bit to start, you will see us)
11-13: - Practice map techniques
13-14: - Lunch
14-15.30: - More practice
15.30 -16.30: - A course to practice what you've learned

We will be using SI cards for the practice course so if you have one, bring it along but we will be able to provide some also. There is also the option of having an 800m or so route marked out on the dunes if some people fancy a bit of hills training, just let the organisers know beforehand.

There are some people travelling from Cork and Limerick on Saturday morning that have some free spaces so please contact either myself (Sharon) at ulo at orienteering.ie or UCCO at orienteering .ie for other details and to book a place. There are some limited places available in the hostel in Killarney. Cost for the whole weekend is €25 for students, but again please double check with UCC if that is the standard rate. If you can, please let someone know if you intend on coming.

So why not come along and make it a one- or two-day orienteering trip. I will be on-hand all weekend if people want to approach me.

For those wanting to stay closer to home the BOC event on Sunday is in Currabinny Wood as part of the Cork Winter League (Round 6). As always keep an eye out here for other orienteering events that are taking place around the county and country.

Munster League Event Sunday

Hi all

Just a reminder that the first round of the Munster League will be held on Sunday, 24th January in Blue Pool, Muckross. It was postponed last weekend due to weather conditions. The event will be signposted from the N71 Killarney/Kenmare Road, grid reference V979 867.

The other Munster League events are:
ML 2: 21st Feb Clonmore North (CorkO)
ML 3: 14th March Goirtin Wood (WatO)
ML 4: Inch Sanddunes (KerryO)

Portugal O Meeting 2010

It is that time of year again when people are beginning to plan some international trips. First up this year is the Portugal Orienteering Meeting (POM) 2010. Last year ten senior orienteers from various IOA/NIOA clubs attended the event, including 2 BOC members, Donncha Cuttriss and Sharon Lucey. This year's event takes place 12-16th Feb, approx 100km north of Lisbon. There is also the option of tying in with NAOM 2010 the following weekend.
The event is made up multiple events including:

Fri 12Feb: Model Event POM 2010
Sat 13Feb: Day1 - Long POM 2010 and Evening Night Sprint
Sun 14Feb: Day2 - Middle WRE POM 2010 + Official Dinner
Mon 15Feb: Day3 - Long POM 2010 + Orientshow
Tue 16Feb: Day4 - Middle POM 2010
Wed-Thu 17-18Feb: : Training in Figueira/Mira/Cantanhede area
Thu 18Feb: Travel to Crato (Alentejo)
Fri 19Feb: Model Event NAOM 2010
Sat 20Feb: Day1 - Long NAOM 2010 + Evening Night Sprint
Sun 21Feb: Day2 - Middle Distance NAOM 2010

Last year the group travelled with a company called SunO, who specialise in orienteering holidays in Spain and Portugal. This year we are looking at alternative options that may work out cheaper. This is dependent on numbers, travel dates etc. Most people are availing of the AerLingus option of flying Dublin-Lisbon on either Thursday 11th or Friday 12th of Feb and returning on Wednesday 17th. Two people are also staying on to participate in NAOM the following weekend. This is an excellently organised and highly competitive event that provides a category for every level of ability and age category. It is also a very good option for families, though it does not tie into mid-term breaks for most schools. At present there are 8 confirmed people travelling with a number of others still deciding. As the deadline for entries is fast approaching (6th Feb) it is recommended that people start thinking and planning. Flights are working out at around €100.

If anyone is interested in attending please contact me (sharonlucey at gmail dot com) for details of accommodation and prices and an idea of what is happening! Full details for POM are available here and for NAOM. Price options for SunO can be found here. You can also check out last year's report in this Blog under March 2009.

The Connacht Champs in Ulster Once More

The Connacht Orienteering Championships 2009

The 2009 Connacht Championships were held on the Finner sand dunes between Ballyshannon and Bundoran in Co. Donegal on Sunday 30^th November. Seven BOC members braved the weather and the distance and travelled to the event. Despite the recent severe rain and flooding, running conditions on the day were very good, and despite the cold weather some very good time were seen. The dunes were fast, but the numerous unmarked paths throughout meant that careful running was needed. The best navigational features were tall dunes with loose sand, marked with yellow on the map. These features were highly visible and great catching features. The longer courses used the entire complex dune network with the shorter courses sticking to the main path network.

An outstanding run by CorkO's Brian Corbett saw him win the M21 Long race by 35 seconds from CNOC's Colm Hill, in the closest finish of the day, with Gerard Butler (3ROC 3^rd). In the W21 Long Maeve O'Grady (DFO) took an impressive first place ahead of Ciara Largey (FermO) and Ruth Lynam (CNOC).

Once again BOC members ran impressively with a number of solid runs and finishes. Paul O’Sullivan-Hourihan once again took third place in a major Championship in the M45 category, ahead of John O’Donovan (7^th). Sons Josh (M18) and Zac (M12) finished 4^th and 5^th respectively. Other BOC Juniors, Christine O’Donovan (W18) and Alex Simonin (M16) also finished impressively taking 2^nd and 5^th places in their respective categories. Sharon Lucey also took 5^th spot in the W21L competition.

Once again, Frank Ryan and his usual Connacht gang did an impressive job on the day and a big ‘thank you’ goes out to them for their efforts and organisation.

A full set of results can be found here

The Advent Calender of Orienteering

Here is a little something to keep the minds working on the run up to Christmas (courtesy of Rob McEvoy of CorkO who first told us about it)

Jan Kocbach at World of O (www.worldofo.com) is doing his "Route to Christmas" series again this year. It is sort of like an Advent Calendar of orienteering puzzles. Every day he uploads a snippet of a map from an Elite course from a 2009 race, and you must decide the route you would take between 2 controls. Then you can see the routes that some of the Elite runners took in that race. There is no analysis of the best route choice for each leg, but there is a comment section for people to discuss it amongst themselves. It also gives people a chance to see what sort of maps/routes are used for bigger events and for Elite courses. Hope you find it fun!

For your daily installment click here

You can also view the archived puzzles from 2007 and 2008 here: