Ive not had access to a computor for the past few weeks so thanks to all for undating and sending me mails, the following is an update from Niamh and her travels, Hugh dont forget to send me some photos.I may have problems with some of the links attached and some of the graphics may not display, so Ill have to wait for my technical gurus to return to help.
My summer blog part 1: Preparation for competition
This summer I was lucky enough have the chance to live in Scandinavia for 2 months prior to the World Orienteering Championships. The 2 big competitions on my 2010 calendar were:
• Borlänge, Sweden (World University Orienteering Championships, WUOC)
• Trondheim, Norway (World Orienteering Championships, WOC)
so I seized an opportunity to try and get out and do some orienteering specific training. I’ll try and share the preparation with you now and in the next blog, after WOC, will reflect on the WOC and WUOC.
2010 progress before leaving for Scandinavia
2009 was a good year of progress for me – a stepping stone on the way up. Unfortunately, about 2 months before WOC2009, I got a stress fracture in my foot and couldn’t run for 3 months. The focus switched to 2010 and after a few months of swimming, I was able to re-introduce running slowly. I now have the utmost respect for swimmers as life in the pool was fairly solitary!
The aim for 2010 was to get back running and as fit as possible over the winter/spring months, not really focussing on orienteering but rather on fitness. For the first time, I was also doing some strength training, as the terrain in Trondheim for WOC was heavy underfoot and would need leg strength to get through it. I also wanted to avoid sickness and injury, something that I managed from October to June, great! A few cross-country races early in 2010 gave a good indication that I was getting strong, with 30th place in the National Senior Inter-Club (30:23 for 8km, gps distance said 7.7km!) after a hard week training and 7th in the National Intervarsity Cross-Country (8th, 17:29 for 5km, gps distance measured at 4.85km) after an easy week. A few of the fantastic IMRA hill races confirmed that I was running well and it was time to start thinking about the summer and orienteering. Orienteering-wise, the Irish Championships, always a highlight of the season, in Northern Ireland was a mixed bag. I mispunched in the sprint, a brilliant tricky course with lots of controls, impassable objects and changes in direction, but more than made up for it the next day when I won the (rather short) classic distance by over 7 minutes. The JK held in Devon was also a mixed weekend, with a solid run in the middle distance to finish 3rd but a poorly executed classic distance left me in 4th place overall in W21E.
2010 Results:
National senior cross-country interclub championships, hosted by Donore in the Phoenix Park: http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/results-inter-club-2010-senior-women.pdf
National intervarsity cross-country championships: http://sindar.net/iuaa/results/meet/178/#Points-Overall%20Team%20Competition
IMRA races 2010: Camaderry (Colleges champs): http://www.imra.ie/events/view/tab/results/id/794/
Fairy Chase (30th Anniversary Race): http://www.imra.ie/events/view/tab/results/id/743/
Brockagh: http://www.imra.ie/events/view/tab/results/id/745/
Jan Kjellstrom, Devon: http://www.siresults.co.uk/2010/JK/overall/w21e.html
Irish Orienteering Championships: http://orienteering.ie/results/FullSIResults.php?1498#W21E
Leaving for Trondheim
I was due to leave for Trondheim, where Mike and Catherine had generously offered accommodation, on Thursday 10th June. On Monday, June 7th I ran in the Flora Women’s mini-marathon, running a new 10km PB of 39:18 (previous best was 42:30) and raising €1000 for Barretstown Gang Camp, an amazing association that works with seriously ill children and their families (www.barretstown.org). On Tuesday, 8th June I managed to submit my PhD thesis, 466 pages of anti-cancer drug-related research. I was unsure until the very last few days whether I would be able to submit it before I left, or if I would have to wait until I returned, but it was in! No time to think about it – had to start packing and before I knew what was happening, I was on my way to Norway with a bag full of orienteering kit. I had some ill-effects from the 10km – a sore underfoot – but a trip to the physio (my long-suffering physio, Aidan Woods on Pearse Street – he’s great!) assured me that it was nothing serious and a few days rest would be fine…
The Trondheim Open
Arriving on the Thursday, myself and my brother Seamus had about 18 hours to settle in before our first competition. The Trondheim Open was held over 3 days and to be honest, I was still in a bit of a daze for the whole thing (this daze was to last a while…!). My foot was still a little sore, but improving daily and I couldn’t resist the enticement of a 3-day orienteering event. A sprint on Friday was fun (map below), with a middle distance on Saturday and a longer distance chasing start on Sunday. The maps for the middle and long are available here (http://www.multiresults.net/gpsseuranta/TrondheimOpen/) with GPS tracking, though I wasn’t wearing one. In the middle distance, I was doing well until number 9, where I dropped 3 minutes. Ditto for the longer course on Sunday, where I dropped 5 minutes on number 8 with a horrible error leaving number 7 the wrong way. Lessons learned and wasn’t worried at this stage of the summer at all. It was just wonderful to be out orienteering!
The Nordic Orienteering Tour
This was a new concept in the World Cup for 2010. I won’t go into it in too much detail but basically it is aimed at raising the profile of orienteering by increasing coverage, etc. The bit that mattered for the athletes was that it incorporated 3 races in 3 countries over a 10-day period, coinciding with major races like Jukola and O-Festivalen. It was an interesting idea and an Irish team of myself and 5 males were to compete in it. The first race was in Finland and, well, you can view my GPS track for yourself (http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20100617mcD/). It was a mixed middle distance-sprint distance race, and the middle part was a disaster. It has been a long time since I made such a silly error, and I can’t even figure out a reason for it. I was running along the high bank from 13 – 14 when I saw some huts, and try as I might, I could NOT locate them on the map (of course they were there!). I was thrown by this and took way too long to relocate. Rusty map skills… The positive that I took out of the race was that I got over it well and completed the sprint part with no hiccups, and was in 33rd part for the sprint part of the race.
After this, it was time for Venla and Jukola. Unfortunately I was picking up a cold, which got way worse after my Venla run. Not good for stage 2 of the Nordic Tour, which was being held 3 days later in Stockholm. It was nearly gone by then, and I managed a good, consistent sprint race to finish 44th. Unfortunately it wasn’t fast enough to qualify for the next round (top 30 – was 45 seconds down on qualifying). The sprint finals were held in Gamla Stan (The Old Town) in Stockholm but there are no maps up on the net for this part of the tour.
The final leg of the tour was in Norway at O-festivalen. Another sprint race, not part of the World Cup series, was held on Friday and the World Cup chasing start on Saturday. The terrain was rocky and tough, and I didn’t see anyone out there, so it felt very alone. After all this, I was really looking forward to going back to Trondheim!
The Nordic Tour was fun, but for me it came at the wrong time. In hindsight, I hadn’t done enough orienteering prior to it and would have benefited far more from staying in Trondheim and recovering from the craziness of the month before I left, with writing up and my 10km road race. The Nordic tour involved a lot of travelling, and I can understand why a lot of orienteers chose not to include these races in their schedules for 2010. It also ended up being quite expensive, and if it were not for the hospitality of Andrew in Stockholm, would have been even more so. I don’t think this Tour will be an event that I’ll be aiming for in the next few years. Having said that, it was fun travelling and staying with the Irish team.
The Irish selection races, Verdal
There was a one-week gap between the end of the Nordic Tour and the start of the Irish Selection races. During this time, most of the Irish team travelled up to Trondheim to get in some terrain work. It was a great week of team bonding! And it was fantastic to see so many of the guys going for the team. The only disappointment was the number of girls – only myself and Ciara made the trip, and we were staying in Trondheim anyway for the summer. This was good in one way, as the top 2 were guaranteed selection! Because of this, there was no need to taper and I could train hard in the week before the races. However, increased competition can only be a good thing and hopefully in the future, when some juniors start coming through, competition for the women’s team will be just as intense as the men’s.
The races themselves were fun. The sprint on Friday was fast and furious, and not very technical, mostly based on route choice (which way would you go? – see the course here: http://www.ntoku.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=9&&kieli=). I was most pleased with my middle race. In the races since arriving in Scandinavia, I had been making unacceptable big mistakes, so the aim for this weekend was to forget about the pace I was running at and get around without any major mistakes. I managed to do this in the middle distance and only had a small loss of time, managing to beat some of the Swedish girls who were using it as their WOC selection race too. In the long on Sunday, I didn’t stick to this plan and lost a lot of time on number 3, and some more time with not being aggressive enough.
Routegadget middle: http://www.ntoku.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=10&&kieli=
Routegadget long: http://www.ntoku.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=11&&kieli=
In the guys, Andrew won the middle selection and Nick won the long. The Irish WOC team was selected shortly afterwards and can be seen here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/irish-orienteering/message/7659
And so, to summarise!
The trip has been a little crazy in terms of travelling around, so that’s something I’d like to reduce when preparing for a big event in the future. After the Irish selection races, I had a bit of time to breathe. I did some travelling with Hugh in the western fjords, including a hike on a glacier, incredible. I’ve been doing some training in the Trondheim area and getting some runs in too. It’s time for the 2 big aims of 2010: the World University Champs and the World Champs. I’m down in Borlänge in Sweden for the World University Champs, and unfortunately as I write this, the long distance is in progress. Food poisoning hit me three days ago, and although I’m recovered, I decided last night not to run the long distance. It was a really tough decision to make, but definitely the right one. Even if I could get around the long, I’m not here just to get around – I want to do well. Getting around the long and risking the possibility of wiping myself out again for the sprint and middle (Wednesday and Thursday) would have been silly. I learned my lesson at Venla that I shouldn’t run whilst not feeling well. So as hard as it is to sit out the long distance, I can go into competition tomorrow knowing that I’m fully fit and ready to go. Looking forward to it!
There will be blog updates about how myself, Nick and Colm are getting on here in Borlänge and also from the World Champs. After the World Champs in Trondheim, where I’m running the sprint, long and relay, I’ll let you all know my own take on the competition phase of my summer. A big thanks to Mike, Catherine, Ruairi, Roisin, Murray, Aidan, Jim, Ruchika, Hugh and the O’Boyle clan who have all helped me immensely along the way. Till then, happy orienteering!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summer Update!
This post is slightly all over the shop - so much has happened that I'm confused about it, if i'm wrong, fell free to correct me
Well the summer is well and truly here and we all know that as people are vanishing left right and centre to go to all the competitions abroad.
Niamh and Colm are in Borlange for the World University Orienteering Championships. Seamus is still in Norway preparing for his WOC Sprint. While Short's are preparing for a European assault - to include: Oringen (sweden), World Masters (switzerland), WOC Tour (Norway), its also a Junior Squad Tour, i think, and Lake 5 day (England). I think CNOC have a few others headed over to the Lakes 5 Day so hopefully we'll have a nice gang at it.
CNOC International Selections (that I know of/can remember)
JWOC - Conor and Niall. That finished a 2 weeks ago, look at the IJS website for reports etc
WUOC - Niamh and Colm. Website here
CISM - Colm. Website here
World Masters - Ruth and Don (I think). Website here
Well the summer is well and truly here and we all know that as people are vanishing left right and centre to go to all the competitions abroad.
Niamh and Colm are in Borlange for the World University Orienteering Championships. Seamus is still in Norway preparing for his WOC Sprint. While Short's are preparing for a European assault - to include: Oringen (sweden), World Masters (switzerland), WOC Tour (Norway), its also a Junior Squad Tour, i think, and Lake 5 day (England). I think CNOC have a few others headed over to the Lakes 5 Day so hopefully we'll have a nice gang at it.
CNOC International Selections (that I know of/can remember)
JWOC - Conor and Niall. That finished a 2 weeks ago, look at the IJS website for reports etc
WUOC - Niamh and Colm. Website here
CISM - Colm. Website here
World Masters - Ruth and Don (I think). Website here
and the big daddy of them all
World Orienteering Championships in Norway.
Seamus - Sprint and hopefully the Relay
Niamh - Sprint, Long and Relay (probably followed by sleep, or more orienteering!)
Looking at websites, I noticed that Ruairi has gotten himself onto the reserve list for Super Elites or Eliteseren at Oringen. For those not in the know - its the most insanely competitive competition class in the worlds biggest multi-day orienteering race in the World!! and by big I don't mean our CNOC summer series event where we had +200 people.... This event is closer to +15,000 people!
Looking at websites, I noticed that Ruairi has gotten himself onto the reserve list for Super Elites or Eliteseren at Oringen. For those not in the know - its the most insanely competitive competition class in the worlds biggest multi-day orienteering race in the World!! and by big I don't mean our CNOC summer series event where we had +200 people.... This event is closer to +15,000 people!
Well done to those who have finished and best of luck to everyone else who's summer is only getting under way.
I'll try get reports from everyone at some stage or another so check back regularly.
To keep the blog surfers happy, Niamh as written up a bit on her summer so far, its located on the Senior Squad Page
Friday, June 25, 2010
Message from the Chairman.
Our summer series has come to an end and was, I believe, a good series of challenging orienteering for the serious orienteer, and a fun family series for the not so serious ones. Helped in no small way by the excellent weather we had unprecedented turnouts. What may have seemed like a well oiled machine pumping out events was in fact a group of dedicated souls barely managing to keep the fires at bay.
At Donadea the download box failed and the event had to be reconstituted from the SI boxes. For the Curragh Lumville when over two hundred people took part. We ran out of maps, SI Cards and even entry forms. Hillwood at least went without a hitch possibly due to the fact that the event was run by Orla, Ollie & Billy, all army personnel! . At the Curragh Sunnyhill, a traveller wedding threatened the event when they took over the parking area but fortunately departed just days before. Also one of our control putterouters forgot to put kites on some of the stakes and I erroneously accused a group of young lads of stealing them. How they could possibly have found them I never stopped to consider! At Hollywood I dished out the wrong maps to the short course competitors, who ended up doing 4k. To compound this, the events that I had the evening before loaded onto the computer had mysteriously disappeared and all had to be re-entered on the fly.
All in a days work for the many of us who helped over the series. A big thank you to you all and to all who supported our events.
I took in the last of the controls at Hollywood forest yesterday and when I spotted a negative imprint in a bog, of what looked uncannily like Finn van Gelderens lower half I felt it was all worth while.
At Donadea the download box failed and the event had to be reconstituted from the SI boxes. For the Curragh Lumville when over two hundred people took part. We ran out of maps, SI Cards and even entry forms. Hillwood at least went without a hitch possibly due to the fact that the event was run by Orla, Ollie & Billy, all army personnel! . At the Curragh Sunnyhill, a traveller wedding threatened the event when they took over the parking area but fortunately departed just days before. Also one of our control putterouters forgot to put kites on some of the stakes and I erroneously accused a group of young lads of stealing them. How they could possibly have found them I never stopped to consider! At Hollywood I dished out the wrong maps to the short course competitors, who ended up doing 4k. To compound this, the events that I had the evening before loaded onto the computer had mysteriously disappeared and all had to be re-entered on the fly.
All in a days work for the many of us who helped over the series. A big thank you to you all and to all who supported our events.
I took in the last of the controls at Hollywood forest yesterday and when I spotted a negative imprint in a bog, of what looked uncannily like Finn van Gelderens lower half I felt it was all worth while.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Summer Series - Hollywood
Last night we had our annual barbie in hollywood and it didn't rain!!
We had 128 runners (so more showed up as a few ran with only one si card). This final event took place in a score race format. Conor Short, fresh from his Chemistry paper took the honours in his home forest with Colm hot on heels. First female was Hazel Thompson.
From what I heard from the forest, Caomihe O'Boyle had the best "vault" of the night. A 10 out of 10 clearing of the gate in front of a big crowd as she took off to finish a credible 23rd.
A little map bagging mistake meant that the short got the adventure and the adventure got the short - apologies about this but sure wasn't it an adventure anyways :)
The Adventure was won by Karen Duggan (SET), not use if she wanted it but a win is a win is a win.
The Short was won in 27:56 by Clodagh Moran (3rock) with 5mins to spare.
Following the event we had the food prepared by Marlena, Rosemary and Denise - A big thank you from everyone goes your way.
Once we had all been fed and watered, CNOC Chairman, Don (aka the boss) gave out the prizes and people were awarded with CNOC Buffs!!
A great evening was had by all - roll on the summer internationals
We currently have 3 of our members abroad at internationals, i'll get reports asap
We had 128 runners (so more showed up as a few ran with only one si card). This final event took place in a score race format. Conor Short, fresh from his Chemistry paper took the honours in his home forest with Colm hot on heels. First female was Hazel Thompson.
From what I heard from the forest, Caomihe O'Boyle had the best "vault" of the night. A 10 out of 10 clearing of the gate in front of a big crowd as she took off to finish a credible 23rd.
A little map bagging mistake meant that the short got the adventure and the adventure got the short - apologies about this but sure wasn't it an adventure anyways :)
The Adventure was won by Karen Duggan (SET), not use if she wanted it but a win is a win is a win.
The Short was won in 27:56 by Clodagh Moran (3rock) with 5mins to spare.
Following the event we had the food prepared by Marlena, Rosemary and Denise - A big thank you from everyone goes your way.
Once we had all been fed and watered, CNOC Chairman, Don (aka the boss) gave out the prizes and people were awarded with CNOC Buffs!!
A great evening was had by all - roll on the summer internationals
We currently have 3 of our members abroad at internationals, i'll get reports asap
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Summer Series Final Results
With the four scoring results over the winners have been decided
The league table can be found here
Its slightly edited so planner got points to encourage people to plan.
Over the series we had over 250 runners. This was probably due to the beautiful weather that has greeted us every Tuesday evening.
Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to those who didn't preform as well as they would have liked and a big thumbs up to everyone in between.
Next week is the best* event in the year - our Score Event (short and adventure courses also avaiable) in Hollywood followed by a BBQ!
For those that don't know, a score event is one where you have a set amount of time, usually 50mins to collect as many controls as you can. Different controls are worth a varying amount of points. The winner is the person who collects the most amount of points in the 50mins - if your over, your points get deducted per minute late. Time keeping, knowing your own abilities and planning are essential skills to excel at this format.
This event would be a perfect warm up for Setanta Wicklow Rogaine or an Adventure race with an element of orienteering invloved!
From what I hear some of the forest has gone through some clearing so we now have access to new sections of forest. Don and Ruairi have planned so don't run off at the start like a headless chicken!
See you all Tuesday evening
The league table can be found here
Its slightly edited so planner got points to encourage people to plan.
Over the series we had over 250 runners. This was probably due to the beautiful weather that has greeted us every Tuesday evening.
Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to those who didn't preform as well as they would have liked and a big thumbs up to everyone in between.
Next week is the best* event in the year - our Score Event (short and adventure courses also avaiable) in Hollywood followed by a BBQ!
For those that don't know, a score event is one where you have a set amount of time, usually 50mins to collect as many controls as you can. Different controls are worth a varying amount of points. The winner is the person who collects the most amount of points in the 50mins - if your over, your points get deducted per minute late. Time keeping, knowing your own abilities and planning are essential skills to excel at this format.
This event would be a perfect warm up for Setanta Wicklow Rogaine or an Adventure race with an element of orienteering invloved!
From what I hear some of the forest has gone through some clearing so we now have access to new sections of forest. Don and Ruairi have planned so don't run off at the start like a headless chicken!
See you all Tuesday evening
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunnyhill
A very successful event was held on the curragh this evening in beautiful weather conditions. We have one more event in the series to be held in Hollywood next Tuesday, this event will be followed by a BBQ.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Donegal Three Day.
Thanks to Dee for the following report..
Last weekend the annual Irish 3 Day event was held near the beautiful Lough Eske in the Bluestack Mountains. There were mixed feelings over returning to the challenging area as last year’s Irish Champs; for some it was a weekend of fantastic victories while for others the most vivid memories of that weekend were the pouring rain the dense fog the waist-deep marshes and the long haul to the start.
Just over a year later however everything was different. Saturday dawned warm and sunny, with not a breath of wind turning the wind turbines visible from the start. The event centre was at the local Community Centre, with a steep 1km walk to the start at Benson's Hill. Starts were not until 4 in the evening, meaning all the orienteer’s been relaxed and ready to race. All of the eight courses were very technical and of middle distance, but due to the blistering heat were surprisingly tough. The terrain was a fabulous open mountain with undulating hills, very intricate contour detail, many horrible marshes but very few tracks. Rock features were very useful for navigation.
CNOC performed well, with many good results on some very competitive courses. Among them were Ruairí Short and Séamus O Boyle on the Men’s 21 Elite course, in fantastic 4th and 7th places respectively. On the women’s Elite course, Orla Jennings came a close 4th, with Eileen Loughman 8 minutes behind her in 5th place. Caoimhe O Boyle finished her course in a fast time of 24 mins in the W14 class, winning her first place. I (Deirdre Ryan!) won myself the W16s course with a few minutes to spare, a surprising but very pleasing result! Beginner Regina Kelly finished 6th on W21S while Ollie Clear came 3d on the M35s course, only a few seconds away from 2nd place. In the highly competitive M50s CNOC swept away first and second place, with Sennan O Boyle coming in less than two minutes behind Pat Farrelly. Don Short came 7th on the same course. Finally, Bernie O Boyle cleaned up the W50s with an easy win.
Sunday morning came too soon, and once again too hot to be running in. There was a longer 2km trek to the start, with longer and with more climb. Day 2 started at Croaghmeenare, circling around some beautiful lakes and gruelling hills. Once again, courses were technically difficult only today they had physically challenging thrown into the mix too.
CNOC collected a few more victories- Seamus 2nd on the Men’s Elite while Ruairi dropped a few places to number 8. Unsurprisingly Caoimhe retained her lead among the W14s. I lost a few minutes but came in a happy second place on my course. Ollie clear ran to 2nd on his course, with Pat and Sennan once again battling for first and second place. On the same course Don Short came in 8th place. Bernie widened the gap between herself and second place again, winning easily.
Nerves were running high on Monday morning as people tried to mentally prepare for the stressful Chasing Start at 10am. The winners of each course set out first, with the remaining competitors starting later according to the total time they trail. The first person over the line on each course was the overall winner of the weekend. At the start at Bensons Hill on Monday morning adrenaline was pumping and I for one was super nervous, starting first on my course. Courses were the longest yet, but almost luckily the sun stayed hidden all day and temperatures remained in the high teens. The area was the driest of any of the days, with many of the marshes having dried up a bit throughout the weekend, so terrain was more runnable today than the previous days. Out on the course, orienteer’s had to concentrate on their own race and remain completely unfazed by the many other hectic competitors out on the mountain, be they on their own course or not.
In the overall results at the end of the day, Seamus finished an amazing 4th on the Elite course, with Ruairí on his heels in 5th. Orla finished 5th on women’s elite with Eileen in 6th. Caoimhe won an overall 1st place in W14. I made stupid navigational errors on my course losing my large lead (and then some) but coming 2nd at the end of the day. Ollie Clear kept his second place in M35. One of the highlights of the finish line were two CNOC men Sennan and Pat fighting for first place on the run-in. The exciting sprint finish ended with a joint first place!
Minutes after the prize giving as everyone was making their way towards the cars, the heavens opened for the first time all weekend- lucky!
Overall the 3 day event was thoroughly enjoyed and well organised (thanks to WEGO!), with great orienteering opportunities on great new terrain. Hopefully CNOC will return next year to retain all of our titles!
Last weekend the annual Irish 3 Day event was held near the beautiful Lough Eske in the Bluestack Mountains. There were mixed feelings over returning to the challenging area as last year’s Irish Champs; for some it was a weekend of fantastic victories while for others the most vivid memories of that weekend were the pouring rain the dense fog the waist-deep marshes and the long haul to the start.
Just over a year later however everything was different. Saturday dawned warm and sunny, with not a breath of wind turning the wind turbines visible from the start. The event centre was at the local Community Centre, with a steep 1km walk to the start at Benson's Hill. Starts were not until 4 in the evening, meaning all the orienteer’s been relaxed and ready to race. All of the eight courses were very technical and of middle distance, but due to the blistering heat were surprisingly tough. The terrain was a fabulous open mountain with undulating hills, very intricate contour detail, many horrible marshes but very few tracks. Rock features were very useful for navigation.
CNOC performed well, with many good results on some very competitive courses. Among them were Ruairí Short and Séamus O Boyle on the Men’s 21 Elite course, in fantastic 4th and 7th places respectively. On the women’s Elite course, Orla Jennings came a close 4th, with Eileen Loughman 8 minutes behind her in 5th place. Caoimhe O Boyle finished her course in a fast time of 24 mins in the W14 class, winning her first place. I (Deirdre Ryan!) won myself the W16s course with a few minutes to spare, a surprising but very pleasing result! Beginner Regina Kelly finished 6th on W21S while Ollie Clear came 3d on the M35s course, only a few seconds away from 2nd place. In the highly competitive M50s CNOC swept away first and second place, with Sennan O Boyle coming in less than two minutes behind Pat Farrelly. Don Short came 7th on the same course. Finally, Bernie O Boyle cleaned up the W50s with an easy win.
Sunday morning came too soon, and once again too hot to be running in. There was a longer 2km trek to the start, with longer and with more climb. Day 2 started at Croaghmeenare, circling around some beautiful lakes and gruelling hills. Once again, courses were technically difficult only today they had physically challenging thrown into the mix too.
CNOC collected a few more victories- Seamus 2nd on the Men’s Elite while Ruairi dropped a few places to number 8. Unsurprisingly Caoimhe retained her lead among the W14s. I lost a few minutes but came in a happy second place on my course. Ollie clear ran to 2nd on his course, with Pat and Sennan once again battling for first and second place. On the same course Don Short came in 8th place. Bernie widened the gap between herself and second place again, winning easily.
Nerves were running high on Monday morning as people tried to mentally prepare for the stressful Chasing Start at 10am. The winners of each course set out first, with the remaining competitors starting later according to the total time they trail. The first person over the line on each course was the overall winner of the weekend. At the start at Bensons Hill on Monday morning adrenaline was pumping and I for one was super nervous, starting first on my course. Courses were the longest yet, but almost luckily the sun stayed hidden all day and temperatures remained in the high teens. The area was the driest of any of the days, with many of the marshes having dried up a bit throughout the weekend, so terrain was more runnable today than the previous days. Out on the course, orienteer’s had to concentrate on their own race and remain completely unfazed by the many other hectic competitors out on the mountain, be they on their own course or not.
In the overall results at the end of the day, Seamus finished an amazing 4th on the Elite course, with Ruairí on his heels in 5th. Orla finished 5th on women’s elite with Eileen in 6th. Caoimhe won an overall 1st place in W14. I made stupid navigational errors on my course losing my large lead (and then some) but coming 2nd at the end of the day. Ollie Clear kept his second place in M35. One of the highlights of the finish line were two CNOC men Sennan and Pat fighting for first place on the run-in. The exciting sprint finish ended with a joint first place!
Minutes after the prize giving as everyone was making their way towards the cars, the heavens opened for the first time all weekend- lucky!
Overall the 3 day event was thoroughly enjoyed and well organised (thanks to WEGO!), with great orienteering opportunities on great new terrain. Hopefully CNOC will return next year to retain all of our titles!
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