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THE IRISH ORIENTEER ADDRESS LIST

AJAX ORIENTEERS Peter Kernan, 29 Wlilowbank Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin14,(kernanpeter@eircom,net)ATHLONE IT ORIENTEERS Nigel Foley-Fisher, AIT, Dublin Rd., Athlone, Co, Westmeath (0902-24465)BISHOPSTOWN OC Sean Cotter, 45 Rossbrook, Model Farm Rd, Cork, (021-4546194)BLACKWATER VALLEY OC Ellen Feehan, Scarteen Lower, Newmarket, Co, Cork (029-60385)COMMUNITY GAMES ORIENTEERS Ted Lucey, Kilpadder, Drornahane, Mallow, Co, Cork (022-47300)CIT ORIENTEERS Padralg Finnegan, Sports Office, Cork Inst. of Technology, Rossa Ave., Cork,CORK ORIENTEERS Rick Austin, Gurteenroe, Macroom, Co, Cork (026-42095)CURRAGH·NAAS ORIENTEERS Gareth Evans, 142 Rathcurragh, Green Rd, Newbrldge, Co. Kildare. (045

435515)DEFENCE FORCES ORIENTEERS Comdt. Brendan Delaney, Inf,mtry School, Military College,

Curragh Camp, Co. Klldare.DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ORIENTEERS The Secretary. DU Orienteers, House 27. TCD, Dublin 2.;FERMANAGH ORIENTEERS Mary Campbell, 5 Knocknamoe Bungalows. Oma9h. Co. Tyrone (048-

82246818)FINGAL ORIENTEERS Tom Burke, 2 Sycamore Ave .. Beaufort Place. Navan. Co, Meath (046·74711)GALWAY/MAYO IT ORIENTEERS The Secretary. P.E. Dept .. GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway (091.753161-

2213)GREAT EASTERN NAVIGATORS Nora Lalor, 6 Knocksinna Grove, Foxrock, Dublin 18 (01·2893497)KERRY ORIENTEERS Rory Costello, 14 Manor Court, Tralee, Co, Kerry, (066·25532)LAGAN VALLEY ORIENTEERS Stephen Gilmore, 41 Drumlouqh Road, Hillsborough, Co, Down. BT266PX

(048-92683812),LEE ORIENTEERS Clare Nuttall, 4 upr. Panorama Tee" Sunday'S Well, Cork (021·4300373)MIDLAND NAVIGATORS Barbara Foley·Flsher, Holly Cottage, Glasson, Athlone, Co. Westmeath (0902·

85306)NORTH WEST OC Charles Reid, 55 Brentwood Park, Belfast. BT5 7LQ, (04890.866072)NUIGO The Secretary, c/o Studenls' Union. NUl, Galway (irene_ralston@hotmall,com)OK DCU Dublin City University, David Healy (davld,healy9@mail,dcu,le)SETANTA ORIENTEERS Michael Mangan, Chapel. Redcross, Co, Wlcklow, (0404-41708)SLIGO ORIENTEERING CLUB Joe Bannon, Corrigeenroe, Boyle, Co, Roscommon (086·8305335)THREE ROCK OC Vera Murtagh, 19 The ClOisters, Terenure, Dublin 6W (01-4908237)UCC ORIENTEERS The Secretary, PE Office, UCC, College Road, Cork,UCD ORIENTEERS Box 64, Student Centre, UCD. Belfield, Dublin 4 (onenteering,club@ucd,Ie)UL ORIENTEERS Ed Niland, c/o Clubs Officer, ULSU, University of Limerick (0103187@student.ul,le)WA TERFORD ORIENTEERS Andrew Cox, Newtown School, Newtown, Waterford (wat02@waterfordlreland,

com)WESTERN EAGLES· GALWAY ORIENTEERS Frank Ryan, St. Mary's, Balllnfoyle, Galway (091.753829),IRISH O·ASSOCIATION Dave Weston, 49 AshlaY/n, Ballinteer, Dublin 16 (01·2960854) www.orienteerlng.leIRISH ORIENTEERING JUNIORS Nlanh Lalor (nlamh.lalor@emall.com)NORTHERN IRELAND OA Raymond Finlay, Gortatole OEC, Florencecourt, Co, Fermanagh BT92 1EO (048.

66348888)CONNACHT OA Padralg Higgins, 24 Alverno Ave, Willow Park, Athlone, Co. Westmeath,LEINSTER OA Vera Murtagh. 19 The Cloisters, Terenure. Dublin 6W (01-4908237)MUNSTER OA John MUcklan, 13 Elmvale Close, Wilton, Cork (021-4343348)IRISH·O STUDENTS ASSOCIATION Susan Healy, 11 Belmont Grove, Blacltrock, Co. Dublin (01-2885798)BRITISH O·FEDERATIONRlversdale, Dale Road North, Darley Dale, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 2H(0044·

1629·734042, FAX 0044·1629·733769) www,britishorienteering,org,ukINTERNATIONAL O-FEDERATION Radlokatu 20, FI-00093 SLU, Finland (00358-40585 3801, fax 00358-

934613113); www,orlenleering,org

Club and other orienteering websltes are accessible from the Irish Orienteering Association website,www.orlenteerlng.le

Remember, for round the clock orienteering information on lOA events ring 1890·923490 and for NIOAevents ring 0044-07020·963986 or check the lOA web page at www,orlenteerlng,le or the NIOA page at

www.niorlenteering.org,uk,

2 The irish Orienteer

che IRISh oracnceccThe lrish Orienteer is availablefrom all Irish orienteeringclubs or by direct subscriptionfrom the Editor: John McCul-lough, 9 Arran Road, Dublin 9e-mailjohrunccullough@bigfoot.com

Annual subscription costs€9.S0 for 6 issues,

Cover: Seamus OBoyle(CNOC) at the JK in the LakeDistrict at Easter (Photo -Ruth Lynam),

NEXT COPY DATE30U.August 2004

CONTENTSClub contacts 2News 4Leinster Champs 14lOA Executive 15Dublin Sprint Series 16Veteran Teams 17MTBO report 18Irish Champs 19Leinster League analysis 22lOA AGM/Veteran HI 25Orienteering fixtures 26Mountain Running 27

Printed by Denton Print,Dundrum, Dublin 14,

Results and articles are par-ticularly welcome on disk orbye-mail with a printed ver-sion as back up, Please keepthe formatting simplel No re-sponsibility is accepted forerrors or omissions, or theirconsequences.

ISSN 0790-1 194

SOMETHING FOREVERYONE

An unnoticed computer problem during the pro-duction of the last issue turned the editorialfrom a plea for help into a mass of gibberish,

possibly even exemplifying the lack of time for pro-ducing The Irish. Orienteer that] had been describing,

To those of you who managed to make sense of it,well done, To the rest of you, sorrylJ have had a few offers to help with the finances anddistribution ofT10, If I could get some people to writearticles, we'd be on the way again '"We have just had a superb Irish Championships andnext year's promises to be very different-see insidefor details,This year will provide plenty of raw material: theWelsh 6-Day, the World Championships, the SetantaRogaine, the World Vets in Italy, the things you havelearned that might help beginners: the list goes on,

The advent of the internet means that the focus of TIOis changing from immediate information to perhapsmore a review of the orienteering scene, More inputfrom lOA would be very welcome: the lOA AGM atInch in May highlighted the reluctance of orienteers totake on the serious roles of Secretary, Public RelationsOfficer and Development Officer. This trend has beenevident for some time but the positions are vital to thegrowth of orienteering. We are caught in a viciouscircle where we need professional officers to developthe sport but we can't afford them because the sport isso small. In the meantime, it falls to us all to play ourpart.Anyway, have a great summer: there's plenty goingon, from local events [0 the World Championships;you're bound to find something in there for you!

The Irish Orienteer 3

O-ZONEMAROONED?

LVO kicked off their Autumn season withan unusual event - on one of the CopelandIslands off Donaghadee in Co.Down. Inprevious years tbe event has been post-poned due to bad weather - access Is by asmall boat. This year the conditions werefavourable, particularly for Declan MeGrel-lis who won the 6.1 km Long course in39.26 from Colin Henderson and Ivan Mil-lar. Victoria Agnew won the short course in44.11.The main hazard this year was rabbit shoot-ers on the island while planner RichardWilliamson was checking controls beforethe start ...

GREEN TEAMVeterans Team Manger Alan Gartside hadorienteers queuing, up to join the squadwhen he unveiled the prctotypesof thegreen jackets he has sourced for the team atthe Leinster Championships. The 'fleecejackets have an embroidered "OrienteeringIreland Veteran 'team" logo and a nylonouter shell to-repel U1C elements.Jackets areavailable from Alan at €33/STG£22.~,VO have them in red and otber orienteer-ing and even from hockey clubs have ex-pressed interest,

SPRlNT~Oor SHORT-O?Sprint-O: Sprint-O courses are shorter thannormal courses but with the same numberof controls. The main feature of sprintcourses, therefore, is very short legs. Thismeans that competitors are using close-innavigation skills at high speed. Do not con-fuse this with Short-O - I know some or-ganisers do!

4 The Irish Orienteer

Short-O: There seems to be some contusionabout what exactly Short-O is. One thingthat it is NOT, is Sprint-O. As thenameimplies, courses are shorter than normal,but the legs are the same length. Thismeans fewer controls. Short-O courses canbe 600/0-80% of normal courses. The alter-native is competitors having to run twocourses, one after the other. Both short witha winning time of 20-30 minutes. The win-ner is the competitor with the shortest accu-mulated time. The second run may, even bea chasing start, based 00 the first run.

Park 0: Park 0 is very short with winningtimes of about 15 'minutes. As the namesuggests, events usually take place in parks.The navigation is 'usually quite easy withthe emphasis on speed.

- the lOA website, www.orienteering.ie

ALL OF TaE PEOPLE, ALL OFTHETTME

Some years ago the lOA and NIOA decidedto fix the date for the Irish Championshipsas tile May Bank Holiday weekend. Thisalways struck me as an eminently sensibleidea: it's the end of the season, the weathershould be reasonable, the vegetation not toohigh, the days long, there is Lime to travelfrom 'one end of the country to the other.However, it doesn't really suit peoplestudying for exams and next year thisweekend will clash with World Cup racesbeing held in the south of England wheremany of our elite competitors will be run-ning.Since the Irish Championships ill Kerrythere has been some discussion on the IrishOrienteering e-group (an internet orienteer-ing discussion group) looking at the prosand cons of this weekend for roc. Bankholiday weekends allow for maybe threeraces (as this year) but mean more trafficon the roads.

If you have any observations or argumentsabout any aspect of orienteering, why notwrite about it to Tlf)? We'll have a"SpeakersCorner" column from the nextissue for you to air your views.

MAJOR FIXTURESI wish to compile a comprehensive data-base of all scheduled, planned, and pro-posed provincial and Irish Championshipsfor the next few years. The current details Ihave received from clubs has been patchy,in future I request that all clubs keep me upto date 011 Championship event develop-ments, preferably by email. Firstly I want'final confirmed venues and dates for cham-pionship events in the 2004/2005 season.Details should be submitted 110 later than31 st May, otherwise 1 will not be able toguarantee the particular date, or that otherevents will not clash.I intend to ring-fence the May Bank Holi-day weekend for the Irish Championships,deviation from Which will require verygood reasons.For Championship events in the 05106 sea-son and beyond, could the organising clubplease contact me as soon as they are ap-pointed by their regional council, and indi-cate the particular event they plan to stage,and the proposed area (as soon as it hasbeen decided)?Finally, could all clubs forward to me con-tact 'details (especially email) of all person-nel they wish to receive fixtures correspon-dence?Fergal BuckleylOA Fixtures Secretary

MTBO REPORTCrouybyrne/Ballinastraw -Brendan O'Con-norThe second event of four, of the inauguralIrish MTBO series, took place on 8'h Mayat Cronybyrne/Ballinastraw in the vale ofClara, Co. Wicklow. The weather was kind,and in total 36 competitors took part, a

slight increase on the first event at CarrickMountain.27 bikers tackled the long course, .coveringan estimated 20km, visiting the extremitiesof Cronybyme and Ballinastraw over I Icontrol points. A further 9 tackled a trun-cated version of the Long, covering an esti-mated 13.7km.Pre-nuptial adrenaline propelled JohnCa-sey to an impressive victory on the Longcourse, completing it in 65 min, 39 sec,with Eoin Keith second male, over 7 min-utes behind. Doug Corrie was third male, afurther 2 minutes down.In th,e women's class, Elaine Mullenclaimed the top spot, with a time of 75 min,1 sec, which was good for third overall, Alittle over a minute behind came Nina Phil-ips, with Mary O'Connell third female, a!:"urther 4 rn in u t.e s behind.Down the field, there was much contentionfor the "Off-piste" award. Brian Bell, AlanAyling, and Deirdre O'Neill battled hard toavoid. tracks and take the mythical "short-cut". However Philip Brennan came out ontop, visiting parts of the forest even thenative deer would baulk at. Clear winner inthe push bike category was Paul Mahon,who, despite breaking a chain early on,completed the course in push bikefashion, his recent marathon pram-pushefforts clearly paying dividends.On the medium course, Ruaraidh Stensoncame out on top, with the indefatigableSean Hassett in second, and Harold Whitethird.Unfortunately Justin May, Justin Keatinge,and Marcus Geoghegan tailed to completetheir courses. Marcus and Justin (May) bothhad nasty collisions with a forest entrancebarrier, while Justin Kearinge damaged ashoulder enroute to' the first control. Fortu-nately no broken bones were suffered, andwe wish them all a speedy recovery.

A small ·ntunber of competitor's inadvcr-tently disqualified themselves, interpreting

The Irish Orienteer 5

the rules in relation to two sets of clustercontrols somewhat liberally!.

Results:: Long, 20km,1 John Casey2 Eoin Keith3 Elaine Mullan

IICM21M35W21

01:05:390):) 3:2201 :15:01

Medium, 13.7km, 8C1 Ruaraidh Stenson M212 Sean Hassett M353 Harold White M40 01 :27: 19

01:06:2801:24:31

MAP OF THE YEARlOA Mapping Officer, Marcus Geoghegan,wants to revitalise the Map of the Yearcompetition. There arc categories for whatused to be called Grade 1, Grade 2 andGrade 3 maps (i.e. areas capable of holdingGrade l/Championship events, colourevents and local events). There used to be ahandsome prize for the Grade I map: amounted and framed old-style hachured I"map which was frcquently won by JustinMay.No competition was held this year: doesanyone know where the award is?With the advent of OCAD it is becomingmore difficult to tell a good map from a badunless you run on it: they all look superbbut the quality of the survey is where thedifference lies. Oncc you could look at amap and say it looked rubbish but that'snormally no longer so.If you can shed any light on the competi-tion or the whereabouts of me award,please contact marcus at map-ping@orienteering.ie or phone 086-837-8200

lOA INSURANCEThe lOA has concluded the renewal its in-surance today (effective 19th May) - therehas been a considerable reduction in thepremium to under €6000. The type of coverobtained is pub lie liability insurance to the

6 TIre Irish Orienteer

m o r € 6 . 5 m .

will be receiving confirmation letters indue course which Iwill pass onto each af-filiated club. This may take a few days,however, I will be away for the next fewweeks so it may not be until the end of Maybefore Iwill be in a position to post out therelevant insurance confirmation letters.

John CaseylOA Treasurer

SETANTA ROGAINEThe Setanta Wicklow Rogaine will takeplace this year on 19-20 June.Details and entry forms are now availableat www.setantaorienleers.org/rogaine

The Rogaine is a long-distance overnightscore orienteering event.

0- MAP SPECIFICATIONSThe [OF Map Commission has released anew version of the International Specifica-tion for Sprint Orienteering Maps(ISSOM). This version is called "ISSOMFinal draft 2004". The draft will be used atthe World Cup event and European Orien-teering Championship in Denmark and atthe 2004 World Orienteering Champion-ships in Sweden. The national federationsare asked to test this new lSSOM versionand to send their feedback to the lOF MapCommission by the end of October 2004.According to the original timeframe, the10F Council is expected to approve thefinal version of ISSOM in 2005. See http://lazarus. elte.hu/mclissoml2004-20. pd r

The lOP Mountain Bike-Orienteering Com-mission and the Map Commission haveagreed on the improvement of the MTB-Omap specification. The changes after therelease of the original IS0M2000 are listedon the Map Commission website: http://

lazaru s. elte, hu/mc/i soml mbo/m bo2. h tm

This specification will be used at the 2004MTB-WOC in Australia. The official PDFfile including only the MTB-O map sym-bols will be released in May, and the filewill be published on the Map Commissionwebsite. The revision work will be contin-ued after the 2004 MTB- WOC.

For the 10F Map Commission,10F/Anu Haapalainen

LEINSTER LEAGUETABLES

Congratulations to Setanta, the 200312004Leinster Inter-Club League winners. Thefinal tally is available on www.orienteering.ie/lcinsterConsistency and strength in depth saw themthrough the long haul. But can they do itagain at the real Leinster inter-club champi-onship, GEN's inter-club score event onMay 30th in Ballinastoe?

Spring Cup 2004 winners are:Yellow: Anna Mangan of Setanta; coursewinner; Cathal O'Cleirigh of Ajax; bestmaleOrange: Ben Mangan of Setanta; coursewinner; Toni Butler of 3ROC; best femaleLt Green: Cian O'Boyle of CNOC; coursewinner; Nora Lalor of GEN; best femaleGreen: Peter Gargan of Ajax: course win-ner; Fiona O'Brien of Ajax; best femaleBlue: Seamus O'Boyle of CNOC; coursewinner; Ruth Lynam of CNOC; best femaleBrown: Brendan O'Brien of Ajax

Peter Kernan has announced special prizesfor juniors who did well in the Spring Cup;junior prize-giving will be at the Ballinas-toe event.) am going to take the liberty to declare alloverall Spring Cup men's and women'schampion. Nobody scored a perfect 200

points In the Spring Cup. Ben Mangan(MI2, SET) and Brendan O'Brien (M35,Ajax) both clocked up a very impressive196 points including three wins each. Bothalso had two second places. However Benalso had a third place which puts him aheadof Brendan to make Ben Mangan men'soverall Spring Cup champion, 2004. Hissister Anna (W I0) was the highest scoringfemale with 190 points making herwomen's overall Spring Cup Champion,2004.That's all tor this season. Ihope to see yourname in the results from the first LeinsterLeague event of the 2004/2005 seasonwhich will probably coincide with the Vet-erans' Home International in Carlingford onOctober 3rd.

Marcus Geoghegan, Leinster Orienteering

AFFILIA TED CLUBSlOA Treasurer John Casey has confirmedthat the following clubs have paid theiraffiliation (or indicated that they would payby 10C 04)

The following is a list of affiliated clubs:Athlone IT OC, DCU 0, Ajax, Galway 01Western Eagles, 3ROC, Bishopstown OC,Midland Navigators, GMIT OC, Kerry 0,UL Orienteers, UCDO, GEN, Sotanta, Cork0, Fingal Orienteers.If you are a member of a club that is notaffiliated then you cannot be crowned IrishChampion should such an event arise MIdyou will not have a vote at the AGM of thelOA.The following are the appropriate fees:New Clubs (for first 3 years of existence)€65Clubs of under 50 members €130Clubs with 51 - 100 members €200Clubs with over 100 members €260 + €2for every member over 100.

The Irish Orienteer 7

EUROPEAN TRAIL 0The Trail 0 Commission are pleased toconfirm that ffSO will host the EuropeanTrail 0 Championships from 4th - 8th July2004, in conjunction with the World Mas-ters Orienteering Championships in Asiago,Italy. Although in the mountains the areaschosen arc fully accessible to disabled peo-ple. We look forward to seeing you there.

Full details arc available on http://www.fiso.itltrail-o/euroasiag02004/ and yourattention is drawn to the information onaccommodation and Bulletin I.Anu Haapalainen, Tor

lOA AWARD WINNERSIf you can fill in any of the gaps, pleasecontact TIO.

Silva Tropby"To a person who has contributed in a mostdeserving manner to the development ofOrienteering in their country".

Previous Winners:1981198219831984 Pat Healy - CNOC19851986 Sean Cotter - CorkO19871988J 989 Brian Corbett - CorkOJ 990 John McCullough/Bernard Creedon3ROClCorkO1991 Liam O'BrienlMary Curran - CorkO1992 John Walsh - PXN1993 Brian Hollinshead - 3ROC1994 Marcus Pinker - CorkO1995 Eileen Loughman - CNOC1996 Colin Dunlop - SET1997 Noel Donagh - lvrNAV1998 Ted Lucey - BOCI999 Ken Griffin -CorkO

8 The irish Orienteer

2000 Faith White - SET2001 Julie & Ronan Cleary - 3ROC2002 Bob Pinker - CorkO

Mactire TrophyThis trophy was presented by Mactire Ori-enteering Club when it disbanded, to a per-son who has made an outstanding contribu-tion to orienteering during the previousyear in any of the following four capacities:a) Achievement in Competitionb) Mapping, planning, controlling or organ-ising an event.c) Administration.d) Other activities which the lOA may COn-sider meritable.(previous winners arc ineligible to win thetrophy again)

Previous Winners:1981 Catherine Murtagh - SET1982 John McCullough - 3ROC1983 Frank Ryan - PXN1984 Faith White - SET1985 Nuala Creagh - 3ROC1986 Aonghus O'Cleirigh - AJAX1987 Padraig Higgins - PXN1988 Sean Cotter - CorkO1989 ?1990 '?1991 Frank Cunnane - CorkO1992 Bernard Creedon - CorkO1993 Pat Flanagan - 3ROC1994 Trina Cleary - 3ROC1995 Richard Kavanagh/MiriamNiChoilir - CorkO1996 Una Creagh -3ROC1997 Kevin O'Dwyer - CorkO1998 Marcus Pinker - CorkO1999 Justin May - 3ROC2000 Rosarie Kiernan - GEN2001 John Feehan - AJAX2002 Ruth Lynam - CNOC

Silva AwardThis trophy is presented to a person who

has made an outstanding contribution toOrienteering during the previous yearmainly in a backroorn type capacity, i.e. nota prominent elite orienteer, not a memberof national or regional committees.

Previous Winners:1996 Robert O'Connor - CorkO1997 10lu1McCullough - 3ROC1998 Margaret Creedon - CorkO1999 Martin Flynn - AJAX2000 Lindie Naughton - 3ROC2001?2002 Nora Lalor - GEN

O-SPORT MAGAZINEGEN's Mary Healy has take I) 011 the distri-bution on Orienteering Sport magazine inIreland. She writes "As the No. I fan of thismagazine, they have Wisely asked me to betheir agent here in Ireland. If you haven'tseen it yet, this is a really great colourmagazine, reporting on all the big, impor-tant orienteering competitions around theworld and giving great insight into theminds and training or the orienteeringworld's elites, At last you can put faces onthose names of great orienteers, Also, thearticles capture the 'buzz' there is aroundthese big international competitions. Themagazine is brought to you by a few youngorienteering enthusiasts from the CzechRepublic, who go to many of the competi-tions themselves and report from them.

I will have back copies of the magazinewith me, at events, so you can see howgood it is for yoursel r.Anyone who wishes to subscribe to thismagazine can do so, either by sending meyour detai IS (name; address; email) and€35, or sending YOUT details and moneydirectly to the publishers, if you pre-fer. The magazine is published seven timesa year (I double issue) and each issue willbe posted direct to your address."Check OUI the website at www.orient-sport.

com

Mary Healy, II Belmont Grove, GallopingGreen, Blackrock, Co. Dublin ..Email: joehealy@iol.ie

CONNACHT CHAMPSCANCELLED

The organisers of the 2004 ConnachtChampionships unfortunately had to cancelthe event, already changed to Lough Key,Co. Roscommon, at short notice. They an-nounced "Galway Orienteers "The WesternEagles" regret the cancellation of theConnacht Orienteering Championshipsscheduled for Lough Key Forest Park onSunday 21st March 2004 due to unforeseendifficulties."This cancellation caused problems for theVeteran Team selectors who were relyingheavily on the provincial championships asselection events for the Veteran Home In-ternational at Carlingford in October. TeamManager Alan Gartside used the 3ROCLeinstcr League final at Clara as a substi-tute selection event.

TOO MANY EVENTS'?Recent discussion on the Irish orienteeringelectronic discussion group centred on thequantity and quality of events. What do youthink?

Martin Flynn started: "In an idle moment, fwent through the fixtures list and countedthe number of upcoming events. For themonths of March, April. May, June andJIIly, J counted 77 events in the Republicalone! People. this is insane! For thesame period the BOF site has 156events. Just twice as many for 20 times thepop 11 I a f i 0 II

What Is going on here? As the participationrate is decreasing. we are holding moreand more events. We are at a stage wherethere are probably nearly as many events in

The Irish Orienteer 9

the year as regular orienteers in the coun-t I' YHolding all these events is not increasingour numbers. Instead, it must be pullingpressure on the small band of people whoare prepared to organise events. Yet pre-sumably, it is this dedicated few wh.o areagreeing 10 all these events iY?Do we need up co 10 events on some week-ends? Are these events improving the sportor keeping it down? Would we be better offwith fewer, better, more expensiveii)eve n t s?What do people think? Do you need to getyour 0fIX evelY week and twice during thesummer?"

" ... I agree with Martin. We need morequality and less quantity and we shouldn'tbe-just running events just for the sake of it.lt is important to remember that organisingan event takes time and effort, the moreevents we run the greater chance there IS oforganiser burnout. I believe we loose moregood people to orineteering in this waythan we gain from running all theseevents. " - John Casey

1 agree with a lot of what you say Martin.The overall figures are bad enough but ifyou look even more closely there are coupleof dubs who are running an. extraordinarynumber of events. In Dublin the issue isn'tthe same as most clubs run a max of aboutfour events per year some of which wouldbe local events.We are a tiny country yet people are justnot willing to travel for more than 40 min-utes to an hour (0 an everu . .1 think thesituation is different in the UK where peo-ple are willing to drive Jar 3-4 hours .. Alsocorrect me if I'm wrong but they run a se-ries of Badge events which amount to anationalranking system and there is there-fore more motivation for people 10 travel tothese events.l think there is a tot to be gained by larger

10 The Irish Orienteer

attendances at fewer events although it isalso questionable whether Irish forests cancope with the parkingrequirements.The same people we doing the work ali thetime and the only thing keeping them goingis their love of the sport which says some-thing about the unique appeal that orien-teering has.In the UK the sport is much larger andtherefore the numbers willing to travel tofurther away events is larger, presumablystill large enough to make those eventsworth running. If the situation was thesame in Ireland (i. e. fewer events, furtheraway) then the casual orienteers wouldn'tgo and of the remaining say 300 regularorienteers a significant proportion proba-

, bly won't travel more than an hour to' anevent. Thus for t11e continued survival ofour sport it is probably necessary to runevents in each province most weekends.Leaving aside such thing« as the MTBOleague and CNOC summer league the re-suiting events total probably averages outat one event per province per week or closeto it. - Paul Smyth

SKI-O WORLD CHAMPSThe World ski orienteering championships2004 are look place at Asarna, Sweden inFebruary. There w e r e24 nations entered. Representing Irelandwere Eunice Cinnamon (LVO) and RoryMorrish (LeeO):In the long distance event the mens classwas 23.2 km with 980m climb. Thewomen's event was 15.9 km with 555mclimb. The start of the event hung in thebalance as with -26 CiJ,) the morning thetemperature was under the -20 C limit forracing.Eventually after a two hour delay the ther-mometer crept above -20 C. Skiing in thesecold conditions was a challenge for all aseven with good skis the glide is not100%. Russia and Norway came out topsin the men and women's class. Eunice did

not compete in the long distance due to ashoulder injury.

Results.Men:I. Eduard Khrennikov (RUS)l :52.40;2. Tomas Lofgren (8WE) 1.54.39;3. Tommy Olsen (NOR)1:54.45 ...54. ROIYMorrish (TRL) 3;41:08

Women.1. Stine Kirkevik (NOR) J :25.55;2. Hannele Valkonen (FIN) 1.28::23;3. Natalia Tomilova (RUS) 1:28.23.

The medium distance race took off with amass start. The 15 top-ranked competitorshad a GPS system strapped to their backand the race could be followed live on theinternet with their position showing on themap. This was worth checking out as thefirst past the line was the winner.

The web link is as follows: www.asarna,com/skiwoc04Rory Morrish.

lOA STRATEGIC PLANThe strategic plan for the Irish OrienteeringAssociation is ·due to be revised and up-dated. This is a very important document,as not only is it our mission statement set-ting the goals and targets to sustain andhopefully progress our sport, but it alsolargely determines our level of funding(along with our involvement with theNCTC)fi'om the Sports Council of Ireland.The existing strategic plan can be viewed athttp;//orienteering.ie/ioa/StrategicPlan.doc.1 urge each and every one of yon, if youhave an interest in the future of our sport, toread -this plan. We need to get a wide aview as possible on peoples opinion onwhat should be done and striven for, whatis achievable, what should be omitted orincluded, and so on.I hope to organise an afternoon workshop at

some stage in the near future to 'coordinateeveryone's responses with a view to draft-ing a new plan.If you could reply to me with either an ex-pression of interest in attending the work-shop, or if you wish to send your views onthe Strategic directly to me, then I would bedelighted to hear from you. Please don'tleav.e this up to someone else. We needyour views, your opinions and your input.Dave Weston, lOA Chairman.

(The workshop had been planned to followthe - cancelled- Connacht .Championshipson March 21St

)

ONLY THE TOUGHEST ...A.re we targeting the wrong people to intro-duce to orienteering? A recent article inCompassSport argues that we are.In Norway the emphasis has Changed fromthe happy families type orienteering, a niceway to add interest to a rural walkC"BeagJing for vegetarians" as. TIO de-scribed it), to emphasising that it's a toughsport where fitness, stamina and navigationtum a race into-a real test where only thetoughest survive.You only have to look at the numbers tak-ing part in tough endurance events who arelooking for a real challenge to see that thereare lots of people out there to-whom suchan approach would appeal.Anyone who has been orienteering in Ire-land in winter (or even summer) knows justhow tough it can be and how far-fetchedthe idea of a pleasant family stroll is.Maybe FermO have the idea with theirTough Guy series, or Gareth Florida James(ex NWOq; winner of the infamous ToughGuy race in Britain.Any takers?

WI6 TROPHY MYSTERYThe unique bronze cast perpetual tro-phy for the W 16 category, made and-

The Irish Orienteer 11

donated by the Creagh family, was notreturned to Bishopstown OrienteeringClub in time for the 2004 Irish Cham-pionships.If you have it, or know of its where-abouts, please contact Sean Cotter(seancotterOOl@eircom.net) or arrangeto send it directly to the Winner, Er-inna Foley-Fisher, in Glasson, Athlone.-lOA Executive Committee

O-PHOTOS WANTEDIn order to build a stock of Irish Orien-teering photos for use in general pub-licity, in TIO, and on websites, theIrish Orienteering Association is run-ning. a photo competition with a clos-ing date of November 30th, 2004. €250has been allocated as a prize fund.Any orienteer can enter as many timesas they want. The photos to be of anIrish orienteer(s) anywhere showingany aspect of the sport, and must give agood image of the sport for use inprinted matter and/or websites. Non-digital photos will be accepted as longas they can be 'scanned satisfactorily.The submitted photos will be stored inan online library for use by anyone inIrish orienteering as long as the photois attributed to the owner. It is hoped topublish photos on the web as they arereceived. For more information pleasesend all email to Gavan Doherty(gavan.doherty@spectel.cori1) or tophotos@orienteering.ie

• IDA Executive Committee

12 The Irish Orienieer

Irisb Championships 2005First announcement of 10C 2005:Saturday 30th April to Monday 2nd

Maylnishbofin., Connemara, Co. GalwayOrganisers WEGO, CNOC, GMlTOInishbofin ten-ain is embargoed for ex-pected participants of the TOC 2005

Website www.inishbofin.comFrank Ryan, Event Coordinator,

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology,Dublin Road, Galway.

Tel. 091 742213,Email: frank.ryan@gmit.ie

MTBOLEAGUEMartin Flynn and John Casey werejoint winners of the long.course in. therecent Leinster MTBO league, withJustin May and Paul Mahon runnersup. Justin also woo, the over-40 class.Nina Phillips-was first W21+ (5th over-all).The short course league was won bySean Hassett with Colleen Robinson firstW21+The series was run over four eventswith the best three results to COW1t.Theadvent of mountain bike 'orienteeringhas given a new lease of life to someforests for orienteering which are cur-rently unusable because of felling, likeCroghan Mountain or Carrick.As for the participants? It's given thema new lease of life too: orienteering andmountain biking=-what a combination!It legitimises going out and getting allmucky, careering headlong down forestroads, gutting it out over the Col deTrooperstown.-aH the things youweren't allowed to do as a kid.

LAST MINUTE ...Neil Dobbs and Niall BUT~ewere ratifiedby the Council of University Sports Admin-istrators Ireland (CUSM) to take part in theWorld University Orienteering Champion-ships at Pilsen, Czech Republic from 20th-27th June,Frank Ryan was the Team Manager.

Dublin's Setanta Orienteers won the inter-club league based on the: results of theLeinster League events and topped off theseason with a win in the inter-club champi-onship event run by GEN 'at Ballinastoe onMay 30th.This year's event was a score event with allthe scores from a club's runners beingadded to givc the club's score.Setanta finished with 1660 points, ahead ofGEN's 1640 and 3ROC's 1100.

The lames brothers, once prominent mem-bers of Limavady's NWOC, narrowlyfailed to enter the record books in the Lon-donMarathon in April.Peter (a former Irish Champion), Gareth,Geraint, Michael, Christopher, Mark andBarry wanted to enter the Guinncss Book-ofRecords as seven brothers finishing themarathon (the previous record was 6) buthad to pull out when Geraint, a physio-therapist, pulled out after 15 miles with ahip injury. The seven were running ntoraise money for the Children with Leukae-mia charity .

JWOC 2004 TEAMThe Irish team at theJ unior World Orien-teering Championships, on 4"11 Iuly inGdynia-Gdansk, Poland is:-Sarah Browne (SUOC), Christian foJey-Fisher (MNAV), Patrick I-liggins(LVO),Conor O'Brien (BOC)Team leaders are Mary Healy (GEN)David Healy (DCU/GEN)

JOSS MAKES HISTORY3ROC's Joss Lynam, oneof the founders-ofIrish orienteering, made history in Junewhen he ran as the first Irish M80 at theCNOC evening series event at Hill Wood,Monasterevan.The event attracted about 70 runners to thislittle-used area of runnable forest with com-plex sections of old quarries.Joss, who is also very well known in themountaineering world, has not been orien-teering recently because of illness. We wishJoss all the best in his new class.

JKREPORTThe combination of Lake District terrainand top-class competition lured a goodnumber of Irish orienteers to the Jan Kjell-strom O-Festil\ial at Easter. Based atGreythwaite Estate, west of Windermere,the event was as testing and rewarding asyou might ex.pect: runnable forests, com-plex rock and contour detail, thousands ofcompetitors and a great atmosphere overthe three days- of competition, preceded byan optional training event.Sprint-O World Champion Jamie Steven-son won the men's Elite class and HannahWooton won the women's.

Top ten Irish results included NiamhO'Boyle (CNOC) 2nd W20 elite, EoinMcCullough (3ROC) 6th MlOB, HarryMilIar(LVO) lOthMIOB, Meabh McCann(tVO) 2nd WI2A, Aine McCann (LVO)10th W12A, James Logue (NWOC) 3rdM35L, Ruth Lynam (CNOC) 5th W45L,Mary Healy (dEN) 10th' W50L, BrigidFlallagan(3ROC) 3rd W55S, Trina Cleary(3ROC) 2nd W60S, Noel Bogle (NWOC)7th M65S, Bill Regan (FennO) 2ri'dM70S,Alan Gartside (LVO) 4th trail-O, LVO 4thunder-12 relay (Scan Knight, MeabhMCCarul,Aine McCann).

The Irish Orienteer 13

Next year;s JK is in the English midlands,event centre Litchfield in Derbyshire, fromMarch 25th-28th.Www.jk2005.org.uk

M10M12AM12BM14AM16AM18AM20LM21LM21S

The 2004 Leinster Championships was M35Lrun by Setanta Orienteers (who have a M35Sknack of discovering new areas- M40LMullaghmeen, Powerscourt) - and ex- M40Sploiting them. On April 18th it was the ~:~~turn of Glendasan, an open mountain M50Larea between Laragh and the Wicklow M50SGap, below Lough Nahanagan and the M55LTurlough Hili power station, a setting M60Lworthy of the explosive finale of any M65LJames Bond movie. M70LMapped by Pat Healy at 1:7500 scale,the map was littered with rock detail and ~~~old mine workings, but the rain in the W12Bdays before the event made the going W14Avery slow and slippery underfoot, with W16Aenergy-sapping heather an added fea- W16Bture. W18AHeavy showers on the day and a long W20S'(by Irish standards) and mucky (by any W21Lstandards) trudge to and from the start V')I2~~and finish didn't add to the enjoyment ~;5Sfactor. W40LNevertheless, it was definitely a day W40Swhen you knew you had been orienteer- W45Ling.: good, tough, physical courses with W50Ltesting navigation. W55LSport Ident timing gave instant results W55Sand split times and seemed to work W60Lflawlessly after its recent upgrading in W70LGermany.Colm O'Halloran (Lee Orienteers) wonthe Men's open class and Ruth Lynam(CNOC) the women's.

LEINSTERCHAMPIONSHIPS

2004

14 The Irish Orienteer

LEINSTER CHAMPIONS

EoinMcCullough 3ROCSeanKnight LVOBarryHiggins LVOClanO'Boyle CNOCRualrlShort CNOCTedMcCormack G'ENChristianFoley-FisherMNAVColmO'Halioran LEEOTerryLawless SETBrendanO'Connor AJAXJosephDoherty DFOMarcusGeoghegan AJAXStephenDoorly GENValJones FINDavidO'Donovan CorkOJohnMcCullough 3ROCFrankSwift UCDOCoilnHenderson LVOTedFeehan BVOCAndrewBonarLaw GENBillRegan FERMO

CianaJonesAineMcCannFionaHillErikaJonesMarthaCallananYvonneBeliRosllndHusseyDeirdreBellRuthLynamFionaO'BrienEileenYoungCathleenMorrisonHeatherCairnsTlshMcCannAnnSavageMaryHealyJeanO'NeillAndreaMcCormackTrinaClearyFaithWhite

FINLVOCNOCFINBOCGENFERMOGENCNOCAJAXFINAJAXLVOLVOLVOGENFINGEN3ROCSET

:1

'),~

lOA ExecutivePositions

Th~.main duties of the Secretary are tofacilitate communications between thelOA and the regions, clubs and mem-

A common misconception is that rnern- ber~; to disseminate and archive Infor-bership of the Irish Oriehteering Asso- rnatlon: to be the single point of contactciation executive committee involves a for the lOA; and to keep formal minuteslot of travel to meetings. This is not of meetings and decisions. It is not atrue - most decisions are taken by email very ~ne~ous job, it just needs a bit ofand we now meet every three months or organisation. The good thing is that itso by conference call, so it can all be yo~ get paid ~2,500 annually for doing it!done from the comfort of your own This mo~ey IS paid quarterly as a bur-home. However we do still meet in per- sary, which means that you must makeson twice a year, usually at a regional sure to declare it for tax yourself.?hampionship event, to discuss majorItems such as budget allocations. lndi- The ~e~elopmeht Officer is responsiblevidual members act independently in for thlnkmg long-term abut the sport intheir own area of responsibility and do !reland, strengt~ening our links with bod-not have to spend time gaining approval res s~ch as Coillte and the OPW, work-for every decision they make. Of the Ing With outdoor education centres andeight current members, six are based in school organisations, and trying to ex-Dublin, one in the south-east and one in pand the sport across the whole country.the south-west; we have no-one fromCork, the midlands or the west. As thereis.virtually no travel required, there is noreason why orienteers from these areascan't get involved.

Following the AGM on May 2nd, threeposts remain vacant: Secretary, Com-munications Officer and DevelopmentOfficer. In previous years it was pre-sumed that the executive committeewould go out and find someone to takeon a vacant role, or would divide up theresponsibility amongst the remainingmembers. This is not the case; the roleslie vacant and no progress in these ar-eas is made until someone from the Ori-enteering community steps forward totake on the job.

While each committee member is largelyfree to define what he/she should doand can achieve, here are some broaddefinitions of what each role is:

The Communications Officer (aka PRO)is responsible for raising the externalprofile of Orienteering with the SportsCouncil (who give us money) and withthe media. In the coming years one ofthe main tasks will be to find orienteerswho can prepare and rnaintaln goodcontent for the website and work withthe lOA webmaster to keep orienteering.ie fresh and dynamic.

If you are interested, be you from theCoombe or Cork, please contact DavidWeston (dave.weston.dublincity@luas.ie, 086-8150512). Maybe there is some-one in your club who would be ideal, butthey just need a bit of encouragement?

The lOA Executive Committee

The Irish Orienteer J5

o event.For each event the Healys producedbagged pre-printed maps~ a well posi-tioned start/finish tent and used morered funnel-tape than can be seen at a

Until recently r had never seen a .truly motorway construction project. Saintsatisfactory definition of what Sprint-O Anne's park in Raheny was a super ex-actually is. Could it be I~~ norrnal-O ample of the use of a small area to greatexcept 'shorter? or maybe It IS the same effect; David only needed to use oneas Park-O except 110t in a park? ~y half of this I ;7,500 scale map to designquestion was answered at the Dublm a course that involved route choice onsprint series, organised by GE~'s both paths and on complex cross-Healy family in five easily accessible country terrain and had us running alter-locations during last February0'1arch. nately through forest and parkland.The series was run as a fundraiser to Each of the five events included at leastallow David Healy, Irish orienteering one well-placed spectator control to en-squad member, to take a year out to pur- sure there was no slacking, a good ex-sue his international orienteering ambi- ample being in Killiney Hill park wheretions. we had to run upbill to start the secondI now know that Sprint-? is ~ery very lap in full view (and earshot) of the as-fast, on any type of terrain, With ~ots.of sernbly area.controls (about 20), a short wmmng. Prizes included gym concessions (totime (about 15 minutes), on a sm~1l map make you fit), track-suits (to make you(A5 sized 1;5000 will ~o), With ?ne look fit) and fast-food vouchers (toroute choice per leg. Having spent time make you fat). The format was fourwith his Swedish 'club, Jarla, where he events in a league with the leading fin-obviously learned how it should. be ishers winning seeded places in the se-done, 'David planned fast but tricky ries final at Belfield, where howlingcourses, that rewarde~ both. running gales strong enough 'to knock over somespeed and perfect Onenteenng tech- runners were, not enough to deter anique. Things that are less. important ~or small but enthusiastic group offinalists.most of us during normal foot-O, like Belfield was also where the first eventthe ~ second you waste fumbling with in the series was held, so there were nothe punch at each control, amounts to excuses for mistakes. Runners :werethe difference between glory andobseu- seeded in order such that the leadingrity at a sprint-O event. Route ch~ice league scorer started last and tried tocould be as simple as left or right chase down the others. Winners were:around a building on Belfield campus, Course A Darren Burke of VeDO,or through or around a thicket inMarl~y M2i; Course B, Ruairi Short of CNOC,park. If you want to hone yo~r basic M16; Course C, Ruth Lynam ofCNOC;distance, orientation, attack point, con- Course 0, Niamh Moran of 3ROC,trol description and exit technique, then WIO.there is no better place than at a Sprint-

Dublin SprintSeries

This series is a very welcome additionto the Leinster Orienteering calendar.Maybe it has to move from Saturdaylunchtime to another time of day andfrom Spring to another time of year, butwhatever happens '1 hope that GEN &theHealys wi II make it an annual event.Don't forget to support the series' spon-sors: Trimtex (Norway), O-Sport Maga-zine, Sprayway, O'Neills Sports, EddieRockets, Westwood Health Club, Ar-notts, Total Fitness and Superquinn.

Marcus GeogheganAjax

VETERANORIENTEERING

TEAMAlan Gartside is compiling a list ofthose to have run for Ireland in the Vet-eran Home International series. Thecompilation is from incomplete records,augmented by selector'S notes and TIOreports, nether of which can be fullytrusted due to' the incidence of late cry-offs after they have been written. Fur-thermore he doesn't have any list of the1998 (South Wales, TrinarCleary asManager) or 1992 (embarrassing, as thatWas hosted @y LVO on Slieve Martin)teams. The current list is;

Jim Barrett 95,Brian Bell 98Andrew Bonar-Law 95 96Donal Burke 91Fred Calnan 90 91 93 94Nigel'Campbell"Crawford $5 99 00 03Trina Cleary 90,91 9394 9596' 9800' 03Sean Cotter 90' 91 94

16 The Irish Orienteer

Hazel Convery 90 91 94 95Nuala Creagh 90Bernard Creedon 93 94 96Frank Cunnane 94Terry Dooris 9091Colin Dunlop 91 92 94Ted Feehan 91 93949799000203Raymond Finlay 97Teresa Finlay 94 97 03Brigid Flanaga n 02 03Pat Flanagan 02 03Alan Gartside 93 94 97 00 02 03Marcus Geoghegan 03Nadine Grant 60'03Mary Healy 95Pat Healy 96Clare Heardrnan 03Colin Henderson 96 96 99 00 02Michael Hewson 90Maura Higgins 93 97 99 02 03Wilbert Hollinger 90 93 95 99 00Diana Large 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 99 00Eileen loughman 96Ruth tynam 9697 99 02 03Clive Majury 00Heather Majury 93 97 99 00Frank Martindale 91 99 00 02Anne May 90Justin May9S 02Freddie McCann 93 99Frank McCormack 97Paget McCorma.ck 96 97 00John McCullough 94 95 02Sean McSweeney 90 91 93 03Maurin Morrish 90 95Nael Morrish 90Tim Morrissey 97Jean Mullen 96Monica Nowlan 90 91 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 03Clare Nuttall 91 93 94 95 96 97 99 00 02 03Senan O'Boyle 99 00 02 03Llarn O'Brien 03Aonghus O'Cleirigh 02 q3Mary O'Cannell 02Kevin O'Dwyer 94 95 96 97 99Billy O'Neill 90Jean O'Neill' 9699 00 02John O'Neill 90 91Marie O'SUllivan 91 9395Alan I?im 90 95Sue Pim 91 93 94Ger Power 99 00 02Maxwell Reed go 91 93 94 95 97Denis Reidy 96 00lain Rochford 99Sean Rothery 96Aine NI ShUilieabhan 02Ann Savage 97 99 00 0.3Alan Shaw 91 96BillSimpson 93 96 97 99 00 02 03

The irish Orienteer J 7

Ireland's first ever league of mountain bikeorienteering events took place around Meanwhile the Irish MTBO team continueWicklow over four weekends in April & preparations for the 2004 World ChampsMay, organised by four orienteering near Melbourne in Australia in October. Theclubs. Over 60 competitors took part, most team is Jain Rochford, Eoin Rothery, Markwith little or no experience of Geary, Eunice Cinnamon, Nina Phillips. lainthis new sport. The first race was a 90 min- and Nina have been competing in Europeanu t e score cvent on Carrick MTBO for several years now and wereMountain, Glenealy. The followIng three both on the 2002 World MTBO Champsraces were classic events - the team in France. Eoin and Mark both livelonger course covering approximately 20 in Australia and have been competing atkm, [he short 10 km. These took place national level there so wi II haveat Cronybyrnc and Clarabcg (both near quite a terrain advantage! Eunice is a rnern-Laragh) and Croghan Kinsella (near ber of the Irish Ski 0 team (manyWooden bridge). The planning of each race international MTBO racers come from Ski 0allowed for choosing between short backgrounds) and competes in MTBObut technical, or stoep, routes and longer, races in the UK. The MTBO World Champseasier routes. Route choice is website is at www.2004worldmtbo.org/critical for success in MTBO and choices currentnewswere thoroughly discussed after aJIthe races!With over 60 competitors taking part in oneor more races, and the majorityon the long course, MTBO is starting to fi-nally starting to take hold inIreland.

::i'There were no easy. wins? with most of our ¥;: ";~"", •.~".".,2002 World Championships team in action ".""",".sw.",~

, Eoin Keith in action

Maura Thomhill 90Alison Tottenham 97Maire Walsh 91 95 97Jane Watt 93 94 95Faith White 93 94 99 00Ernie Wilson 91 95 96 97

Alan would be grateful for help in filling thegaps, either on a personal basis or by thememory of who your team-mates were.The purpose in compiling the list is to iden-tify those folk who will be eligible to pur-chase the Vets jackets for which Alan hasarranged production. They have a fleecelining and a shower proof outer skin - ideaJfor standing around draughty O-car parks.An important point- they will be strictlycash with order; cost €33/STG£22.

MTBOREPORT

18 The Irish Orienteer

vying for the top placing, which in the endwas shared by Ajax club mates Martin Flynnand John Casey. Third place wasshared by Paul Mahon (Setanta Orienteers)and Justin May, also 1st M40+(3ROC). Philip Brennan (Setania) was 2ndin the M40+ category. In thewomen's, 1st was Nina Phillips (Setanta)and 2nd Deirdre O'Neill (Fingal Orienteers),The short course winners were Sean Hassettand Colleen Robinson (both Setanta), Fullresults are on the results page of www.oricnteering.ieSome further races over the summer areplanned, with an Irish MTBO Championshiprace hopefully for September. Watch thefixtures list for details or subscribe to theM T B'O rn a iIi n g lis t: III t b 0-

subscribe@yahoogroups.com

WOC team member Bill Edwards(CorkO) managed a win in the shortrace but lost out to the younger genera-tion when Andrew Quin (3ROC) tookgold by a margin of 20 seconds at Inch.In the Women's Elite races, Andrew's

The Irish Championships should be the clubmate, Una May, won the Classichighlight of the orienteering year and race while Toni O'Donovan (CorkO)with three days of outstanding orien- took the short distance title. At theteering, so it proved to be for Bishop- prizegiving there was a special award tostown and Kerry Orienteers with their M60 Ted Feehan (BV:OC) who ran thethree events on sand dunes in Co. Kerry elite cours~ in 3 hours and 1 I minutes, aon the May Bank Holiday weekend. very creditable performance. Ted bad

run at Inch a number of times and felt

IRISHCHAMPIONSllPS

2004

The old order changeth, to some extentanyway. Previous Irish Champion and

This year saw the introduction of a shortdistance race on the Saturday at Banna,with the Individual at lncb on Sundayand the relays at Castlegregory on Mon-day. Banna and Inch have been usedbefore but still retain their challengewhile the Maharees map was a mixtureof very fast grassland and tricky sanddunes, a perfect combination for a relay.

In Monday's Relays, Northwest contin-ued the habit of a lifetime, taking theMen's (now the "Open") title for theumpteenth time with Cork 0 taking theWomen's race. Setanta finished secondin the Men's race after careless punch-ing led to the disqualification of boththe Ajax and 3ROC teams. The closestteam finish of the day was the 7 secondsseparating third legs Ronan Cleary(3ROC) and Don ShOlt(CNOC) in the

the challenge of the Elite would bemore appropriate than the M60 course.

Women's Champion, Una-May

The Irish Orienteer J 9

over or around?

Open 40 class.The short race at Banna proved an excellent warm-up for Inch [he next dthough the features at Inch areand perhaps less subtle, with largeareas a useful catching feature. Theof the Banna map was evident in places,where some revision to man-made fea-tures might have improved things a bit.This apart, the reservations expressedby the organisers about the quality oftbe maps were groundless, at least as faras the runners were concerned.However, with every silver liningcomes a cloud. While tbe qualitySean Cotter's maps was excellent, theorganisation of the relays suffered in theabsence of any results until the delayedprlzegiving. Despite there being 17teams in the event from SOC, theredidn't seem to be a results team.The seniors classes had a superb week-

end's orienteering in a magnificent set-ting.The courses each day were as challeng-ing as you might expect from sand duneteITain: a little too challenging in placesat Inch, where some taped sections onthe most junior courses would havebeen appropriate.For anyone wanting to return to thearea, the Munster Championships areexpected to be run on an extension ofthe Maharces map on the October bankholiday weekend. This part of the areais reportedly superior to the parts al-ready used, so that's something to lookforward to. Any suggestions as to howto make it a worthwhile weekend (whatevent to run with the MOC as a two-day, for example) to Bishopstown OC,please.

Irish Championships 2004Individual

M21E (27) 13.500 km 29 C1Quin, Andrew 3ROC 01:36:362 Edwards, Bill CorkO 01:36:563 O'Halioran, Colm LeeO 01:39:144 Logue, James NWOC 01:40:025 Dobbs, Neil Balise77 01:42:33M20 Foley-Fisher, Christian MNAVM21L Foley-Fisher. Zollan MNAVM35 Flynn Martin AjaxM40 Corbett Brian CorkOW21E (11) 8.400 km 16 C1 May Una 3ROC 01:12:122 Pacheva Petranka BOC 01:15:163 O'Donovan, Toni CorkO 01:22:564 Lynam Ruth CNOC 01:33:475 Creedon Ailbhe CorkO 01:33:49M45L May Justin 3ROCM18 McCormack, Ted GENW21L Loughman, Eileen CNOCM21S Lewis Roger SN2 Conlon Tom WEGOM50 O'Brien Liam CorkOW20 Browne Sarah ShUOCW35 Morrish Eadaoin LeeOM55 Creedon Bemard CorkOW40 Cleary Julie 3ROCM60 GartSide Alan LVOM45S Mulrooney, Jim SetantaW18 Largey Ciara FerrnOW45 Savage Ann LVOM65 Amour Dick INVOC 01:00:282 Martindale, Frank 3ROC 01:31:52W50 Finlay Teresa FermOW21S0'ConnorMary CorkOW55 Nowlan Monica 3ROCM70 Rothery Sean 3ROCW60 Cleary Trina 3ROCW70 White Faith SetantaM16 Simonin Nicolas BOCW16 Foley-Fisher, Erinna MNAVM14 O'Boyle Cian CNOCW14 Callanan Cliona BOCM12CorbeH CiI~ Co~OW12 McCann Maebh LVOM10 Fyffe Angus FermOW10 Moran Niamh 3ROC

20 The Irish Orienteer

Open Relay mass S(OI"I.· Gerard Butler, NiallBourke & Fiach O 'Rourke lead the way IOC 2004 photos by Martin Flynn

Relays012- LVO J. Millar, A. McCar]n, M.McCannW12- BOC L. Power, S. Callanan, G.Walsh014- CNOC C.O'Boyle, K. O'soyle, C.ShortW14· BOC C.Callanan, C. Flanagan, E.Simonin016- BOC B. Ring, J. Power, N.SimoninW16- BOC R.O'Meara, A. Horgan, J.Murphy018· BOC N.O'Donoghue, S.Carey, C.O'BrienW18- BOC M. Callanan, A.McCarthy, D.CroninPremier NWOC J.Logue, I.Locklngton, S.LintonW Open Co~O T.O'Donovan, F.Pinker, A.Creedon040+ 3ROC J.McCullough, F. Martindale, R.ClearyW40+ CorkO M.Curran, C.Heardman, E.Deane050+ LVOW.HolHnger,C. Majury, B.SimpsonW50+ 3ROC M.Nowlan, A.niShUllleabhain,G.Power060+ 3ROC P. Flanagan, N.C-Crawford, T.McGrath

Sprint resultsM21 E 5.5km 125m24C1 Edwards Bill CorkO 31 :462 Quln Andrew 3ROC 31 :473 Logue James NWOC 31:53W21E 3.9 km 125 m 17 C1 O'Donovan ToniCorkO 30:052 O'Boyle Nlamh CNOC 33:233 May Una 3ROC 34:54M21 1 Ebanks Mark OMEGA, 2 Conerney DerekWEGO. M35 1 Bell lain KNOBOC. 5 Brennan PhilipSetanta. W21 O'Brien Fiona Ajax. W35 Young Ei-leen FIN, M18 McCormack Ted GEN. M20 CormackBarry DUO, M40 Weston Dave SET, W40 ClearyJulie 3ROC, W45 Fyffe Marella FermO M16 ShortRualri CNOC, M45 Cox Andrew WalO M50 McCul-lough John 3ROC & Majury Clive LVO. W18 HusseyRosalind FermO. W50 Power Ger 3ROC, W55Walsh Maire 3ROC. W60 Cleary Trina 3ROC. M14O'Boyle Kevin CNOC. M60 White Harold 3ROC,M65 Martindale Frank 3ROC, W14 canaoan CHonaBOC. W16 Callanan Martha BOC. M12 Moran Colm

The Irish Orienteer 21

Crunching theNumbers

an' analysis of theLeinster League

" ... for every female, orieriteer there are twomales ... "" ... ran-once-never-seen-again has remainedincredibly high ... "..... a healthy one quarter of our competitorsare juniors .... "..... big isn '( necessarily best when it comesto winning the inter-club league ... "

In the three years that ,1 have been compilingthe Leinster League tables a lot of inform-tion has, been accumulated - it is now time tosee if we can Jearn anything from the num-bers. Despite league format changes an~occasional missing information, the data illthe tables is of generally good quality, sohopefully the foJlowing analyses are rea-sonably reliable apart from the many mathe-matical errors that 1have probably made.

How enthusiastic are we?The change in league format, from fifteenevents to two-leagues of five and six eventseach, was accompanied by a drop of 100people attending overall. The majority ofthese are most likely to be one-time runnersas they showed a corresponding drop of 122.However there is nothing to say that the IQO

22 The Irish Orienteer

What sex are you? enteers who run more than three times inAs tbe information that was captured in pre- eacb year are non-club. However I person-vious years by clubs on control cards was ally do not think it is a healthy thing that avery poor, it is impossible to analyse the full quarter of the people who orienteer incompetitor profile by gender and age-group Leinster do not belong to a club; non-clubfor seasons other than 2003/2004. For exam- orienteers do not get involved in organisingpie, 17% of 2001/2002 runners are of un- events, so they should not benefit from ourknown gender, and a full one-third are of very 10Vi event entry fees and from leagueunknown age, making the data useless. In participation.2003/2004 we became better at determininga person's sex, only failing to do so for eightpeople, but we still failed to capture properage classinformation for 22% of people. whoran.

lost runners did not go to local events thatwere held 011 days 'when there would havebeen a league event in previous years, so itis not necessarily correct to conclude that theleague change drove these people away.

The number of "ran-once-never-seen-again"people has remained incredibly highthroughout the three years. This implies tome that there is a large awareness and curi-osity in the general public about orienteer-ing, but when they turn up to try it out theyare somehow disappointed with the experi-ence. Presumably some of these 'are serialone-timers, i.e. running once per year, but 1am unable to quantify this. 1t is important tonote that this very high public awarenessstill exists in the near-total absence of na-tional publioity for the sport (nobody wantsto be the IOA communicatiens officer).

However using the information that we dohave we can determine that a healthy onequarter of our competitors are juniors, whichcan't be a bad thing for the future of thesport . For every female orienteer there aretwo males, there are twice as many veteranmen as women and for every junior femalethere is .a veteran female. Approximatelyfour out of every ten orienteers are between21 and 40 years of age and nearly one inthree arc over forty.

The introduction of the inter-club league hasprobably stimulated some casual orienteersto become more committed as there has beenan increase in the percentage of "ran morethan three times" oricnteers from 16% to23%, a trend which is very heartening. Eventhough this year there were four less leagueevents than last year, our committed orien-teers ran more times (S24 as opposed' to820), which means that they are becoming.much more enthusiastic; this is probably acombination of the new shorter league for-mat and club pressure to get out there moreoften.

2003/2004 Junior Scni6r Veteran Tolal~~~~ottlK'A (MWIt., ("'W~O-)

Male 16% 28.5% 20.5% 65%Female 10% 15% 10% 35%Total 26% 43.5% 30.5% 100%

ClubbingI00 less runners competed this year than didlast year, and 96 fewer non-club runnersappeared in this year's results, so presuma-bly these are the same people.The recent non-club decline from 31.5% to26% is healthy and hopefully will continuein future years as the inter-club league be-comes imbedded in Leinster Orienteeringculture. I believe that this 5,5% drop isnearly totally attributable to the introductionof the inter-club league which gave clubs abig inventive to hoover-up non-club com-petitors. Note tbat Jess than five of the Ori-

(23%)

As you can see from the chart which showsthe number of competitors declaring foreach club each year, big isn't necessarilybest when it comes 'to winning the inter-clubleague. Setanta & GEN, first and second inthe league, are not the biggest clubs. (thedefence Forces are omitted as their variablemembership causes distortion in the graph).12% of the 2003/2004 orienteers were fromnon-Leinster clubs, with Midland Navigators\'U1dLagan Valley featuring prominently.Welcome, and please come again.Seasonal VarlatlcnsWhich league was more popular, the Au-tumn Series or the Spring Cup? This table

N, ·c l u b Non-R. u n nen member Club

M om b e r~,~2001/2002 669 471 198 .",.,.2002/2003 666 4S6 210

-<.!. ••2003/2004 SS6 442' I J4 Ih'ld

shows the total number of runs 01) eachcourse across the entire league:

If you remove the approximately 40 one-timers from the Army Cadets who went tot))e Autumn Series event in the Curragh,then on average 153' people attended eachAutumn Series event and 119 attended eachSpring Cup event, a dramatic difference.This cannot be explained by a proximity toDublin factor as Autumn Series events wereheld in Brockagh, Sugarloaf, Glenda:lough,Curragh East and Donadea, most involvingabout an hour's travel and only one of whichis in County Dublin. With the exception of

The irish Orienteer 23

lOA AGM REPORTForget the past?Finally, I would like to take this op-portunity to highlight' our appallingdata-loss habit. Event results are usu-ally published without course infor-minion (length/ cl im bl controls ) in-eluded, we rarely 'note weather con-ditions and the historic fixtures list isnowhere to be found. How easilycould we answer a simple questionsuch as "was 'there an event in Ra-

ven's Rock in 2001 and if so how many peo-ple ran each course?". Of the sixteen eventresults for 200112002, three have alreadydisappeared completely, six more are on theeGroup and will presumably drop-off atsome stage. The remaining eight results arestill available on club websites.

year. The mmunum registration feewill be €3 5, with Leinster Leagueevents €70, major events €IOO. Thereare economies of scale, though: if aclub registers more than 10 events in ayear, all events over J 0 will attract aregistration fee of €20. This move is tocover the high costs of insurance fororienteering (more than €12,OOO lastyear but expected to fall this year).There will be no increase in affiliationfees for clubs this year.There was little change in the execu-tive committee: Chairman Dave Wes-ton, Treasurer Jobn Casey, FixturesSecretary Fergal Buckley, MappingMarcus Geoghegan, High PerformanceOrienteering Brendan O'Brien, JuniorsMary Healy, Technical Trina Cleary.Secretary, Public Relations and Devel-opment are still vacant.There will be a workshop on uie newlOA Strategic Plan at the MunsterChampionships in October.

80

"11ijJudhdno~aV

".' ' , , , , ,

"off'

Number of Competitors by Club .200'r.!~2

A spectacular setting, overlooking thestrand at Inch after the Irish Champion-ships, only attracted a smallish crowdto the Annual General Meetingof theIrish Orienteering Association on theMay Bank Holiday weekend.The meeting dealt with all the usualthings: officers' reports, finance, elec-tions etc. There were a couple of un-usual matters, though: the proposal wasaccepted that the lOA become a com-pany limited by guarantee, to protectthe execntive in the event of a financialcatastrophe such as a large insuranceclaim.Another motion which was acceptedwas to abolish the current arrangementof event levies (10% payable on theincome from an event, not the profit)and replace them with increased regis-tration fees, tooperate from later this

",0" <;P.J)~oo

Mulaghmeen, Spring Cup events were atroughly the same distance from Dublin(Mall Hill, Djouce, Paddock HIli, Oldboleys,Clarabeg). r leave it up to you to speculateon why we get about four people at a SpringCup for every five we get at an Autumn se-ries. It is probably a combination of manyfactors such as an area's reputation; per-ceived travel distance; bow well known anarea is; it's associated other amenities (egGlendalough); how we promote the event(family versus high-performance); buggy-friendliness; hassle factors such as bussingand parking; seasonal meteorology etc etc.

I hope that you found this article useful andthat the numbers did not make it too difficultto follow. Of all these statistics, the mostencouraging is the 25% of you who arc un-der nineteen; hopefully in future years youhot be joining the ran-once-never-seen-againclub.

Lt Green198154352

Green201173374

Btue128158286

Brown9194185

Total8037151518

Events5611

YellowAutumn Series ,84Spring Cup 71Total 155

Orange10165166

VETERAN HOME INTERNATIONAL 2004 - nish 'the Manager with results.IRISH SELECTION

Those not based In Ireland who would like tobe considered for selection should providethe Manager wit Ii results for those events,since VHI 2003, that they wish to have takeninto account as well as the basis of their eligi-bility for selection. The present eligibilityrules are:

VHI 2004 is being hosted by 3ROC on 2nd &3n:1October in Carlingfcrd. The Irish TeamManager will again be Alan Gartside, who willbe gathering and collating information to as-sist the selection process. The 'selectors willbe appointed by NIOA.

SKI-O IN MAY-O?

Believe it or not, County Mayo is preparing a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics.Despite having only six days of snow a year, Claremorris is further n011hthanthe last two Winter Olympic venues, Salt Lake City and Nagano, and the nexttwo, Turin and Calgary. If global warming turns' off the Gulf Stream, the result-ing climate cbange might make Mayo the venue of choice.Will Rory Monish and Eunice Cinnamon stick at ski-O for the next 22 years,and will it be in the winter Olympics by then?If you don't believe it, check out www.winterolympioszuze.com,

For Irish-based orienteers, selection will takeintc account performance In the Irish andProvincial Championships pills the LeinsterSpring Cup event at Clarabeg on 25th April(on a mins/km basis across the colourcourses). Individuals will be considered to be -available in the class which they entered inthe Spring 2004 series of selection events.Anyone running out of a class for which theywish to be considered must advise the Man-ager accordingly. Anyone wishing to haveother performances considered should fur-

- born in Ireland or- have at feast one parent born in Ireland or- have established permanent' residency in

Ireland for one year prior to the competi-tion andhave not represented another home coun-try in an international event within thethree years precedihg the competition (thelength of this period is under discussion).

Alan's address is 22 Ormiston Drive, Belfast8T4 3JS. His email address is alan.gartside@detini.gov.Uk.

24 The Irish Orienteer The Irish Orienteer 25

October 20042-3 Carlingford, Co. Louth, Veteran Home International, 3ROC8-10 Junior European Cup, Epping Forest, England.9 Northern Ireland Championships, Toliymore Forest, Co. Down, LVO19-24 World Cup final, Dresden, Germany.23 Binevenagh, Co. Derry, Northern Ireland Series 5, NWOC31 Burren, Co. Fermanagh, 'Tough Guy' Series 1, FERMO

November 20046 Glenariff, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland Series 6, LVO14 Lough Navar, Co. Fermanagh, 'Tough Guy' Series 2, FERMO14 BOF National Event, Flyingdales, Whitby, Yorkshire27 Crossmurrin, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland Series 7, FERMO27 Northern Irish Night Champs, Ely Lodge, Co. Fermanagh, FERMO

ORIENTEERING FIXTURES 2004June 200415 Curragh ,Co. Kildare, CNOC Summer Series 515 Tradon Wood, Carrigallne, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 6, CORKO17 Moynass Mountain, Co. Cork, Bus. Houses Summer League 3, CGO19 Slieve Croob, Co. Down, LVO Summer Series 4, LVO19-20 Setanta Rogaine, Co.Wicklow. 24 hour score event.20 Lough Bradan, Co. Tyrone, FermO Summer Series 6, FERMO22 Hollywood, Co.Wicklow, CNOC Summer Series 6, CNOC22 Farran Forest Park, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 7 - Relays, CORKO24 LyradaneWood, Co. Cork, Bus. Houses Summer League 4, CGO22-26 FISUWorld University O-Champs, Pilsen, Czech Republic29 GlenbowerWood, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 8, CORKO «-.

1M RAJuly 20041 Warrenscourt Wood, Co. Cork, Bus. Houses Summer League 5, BOC3-10 World Masters O-Champs, Asiago, Italy4-11 Junior World O-Champs, Gdansk, Poland4 Necarne, Co. Fermanagh, FermO Summer Series 7, FERMO6 Warrenscourt Wood, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 9, CORKO8 Farran Forest Park, Co. Cork, Bus. Houses Summer League 6, BOC10-17 World Cup 1 & European Championships, Roskilde, Denmark.13 GarretstownWood, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 10, CORKO15 InniscarraWoods, Canon's Cross, Co. Cork, BH Summer League 7, BOC19-25 Swedish 5-Day, Gothenburg20 Curragh Wood, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 11, CORKO22 Glenbower Wood, Co. Cork, Bus. Houses Summer League 8, BOC27 BaliincolligWest, Co. Cork, Inter-Firm League 12, CORKO29 Bishopstown Parklands North, Co. Cork, BH Summer League 9, BOC

Date16th Jun20th Jun23rd Jun30th Jun3rd Jul4th Jul7th Jul11th Jul11th Jul14th Jul21st Jul28th Jul1st Aug4th Aug8th Aug11thAug15th Aug18thAug5th Sep5th Sep26th Sep13th Nov27th Dec

August 20047 Spring Grove, Co. Fermanagh, FermO Summer Series 8, FERMO15-21 Croeso 2004 - Welsh 6 Days, Brecon Beacons, Powys22 Killeter, Co. Tyrone, FermO Summer Series 9

September 20044 Castle Archdale, Co. Fermanagh, FermO Summer Series 104-5 Junior Home International, NW England11 Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh, LVO Summer Series 511-19 World O-Champs & World Cup 2, Vasteras, Sweden19 Necarne, Co. Fermanagh, FermO Summer Series 1125 Slieve Martin, Co. Down, LVO Summer Series 626 Florencecourt, Co. Fermanagh, FermO Summer Series 12

26 The Irish Orienteer

MOUNTAIN RUNNINGFIXTURES 2004

Time Venue7:30 PM Howth, Co. Dublin12:00 PM Pier Gates, Co.Wicklow8:15 PM Brockagh, Co.Wicklow7:30 PM Maulin,Co.WickJow2:30 PM Croagh Patrick,Co.Mayo12:00 PM Nephin, Co. Mayo7:30 PM Sorrel Hill, Co. Wicklow12:00 PM Croaghan Moira, Co. Wicklow1:00 PM Slievenamon, Co. Tipperary7:30 PM Bailinastoe, Co.Wicklow7:30 PM Sugarloaf BBQ, Co.Wicklow7:30 PM Kippure, Co.Wicklow1:00 PM Mangerton, Co.Kerry7:30 PM Earl's Drive, Co.Wicklow12:00 PM Curtlestown, Co.Wicklow7:30 PM Kilmashogue, Co. Dublin12:00 PM Galtees, Co. Tipperary7:30 PM Butter Mountain, Co. Dublin12:00 AM World Trophy Race12:00 PM St Kevin's Way12:00 PM Muliaghcleevaun, Co.Wicklow 570m12:00 PM Sugar Bowl 650m12:00 PM Christmas Flash 191m

Full details on www.imra.ie

Climb360m400m400m457m762m736m412m610m591m305m427m427m

120m

250m1340m200m

Distance8.5 km14 km8km8km7.7 km5km10 km16.6 km8km12 km5.6 km10 km10 km7.9 km17 km8 km12.6 km8km

20 km11 km8km2.4km

The Irish Orienteer 27