Hill Wood

On Tuesday evening is CNOC Summer Series Event number 3.

Where: Hillwood, Monasterevin.

When: Tuesday 1st June.

Type of Terrain: Hillwood is a lovely runnable forest only 10 minutes beyond the Curragh. Map sample available here

Start Times: 17.30 to 19.30. (We are starting earlier than usual to cater
for all those people that arrive before the event organisers do!)

Event organiser: Orla Jennings

Planner: Oliver Clear

Controller: Billy O'Neill

How to not get lost on the way to an orienteering event:
Hillwood is located in Monasterevin town. Travel south on the M7 and take
the exit for Monasterevin. Cross the motorway and turn left for
Monasterevin. Just as you come into Monasterevin take the left turn R417
South sign posted Kildangan / Athy. Hillwood is on your right hand side.
The event will be held in the last carpark on the right.

(so that's straight, left, right, left, straight, left, straight, last car park before bridge on the left...Ohh sorry I meant the right!)

Courses Close at 20:30 to allow our young energetic juniors pick them all up - as much as they love NightO, I don't want to be waiting around.

Course Descriptions:

Short Course 2.4km 8 controls
Medium Course 4.3km 15 controls
Long Course 5.8km 23 controls
Adventure Run 3.7km 9 controls

Hope to see ye all there.

By the way, CNOC League Tables are located here

Current leaders in the race to the BBQ are Ruairi Long (M12) on the Short course. Seamus O'Boyle (M21) on the Long course and Tony Joyce (M40) on the Medium.

End Note:

I almost forgot - don't forget to hit follow to stay up to date with all our latest news! And I will say again, if anyone has any article of interest, send them my way. I try to keep the blog as updated as I can but there's only so much work and research one editor can do.

Some interesting links to keep people entertained/distracted with exams starting/finishing....

WorldofO Fantasy World Cup here

Orienteering maps from around the world here

Curragh and Donadea and Brockagh.

This is a bit like Bublin Bus you wait all morning nothing happens and suddenly a whole fleet arrive to take you to your destination.
Shea has been busy at the keyboards and gives us two reports for the price of one. Brill stuff I think Ill tape a camera to his head for the next run and put it live on utube, it will be huge....
Read it and learn how to orienteer and next time you meet him theres more going on in his head than just numbers he really hates to loose.
Donadea Report
Curragh Report

We also seven runners in the Brockagh Hill race on Wednesday night.

Colm wrote up a highly one sided report available here.

Very good runs by both Seamus and Niamh.

(I'm getting tired of congratulating Niamh!)

CNOC Summer Series..

We ran a very successful event last night on the Curragh with over 170 runners taking part. Colm was our course planner for the event. I will post a full report later. The camera was at the event but the photographer forget to take pictures if anyone has any pics send them on.

Results are available on the IOA website (I dunno how to link it Help someone)

Our next event will take place in HILLWOOD near monasterevin this is a lovely mixed woodland and the Bluebells are out in full bloom see pictures above.

Race Report

Niamh got back to my reply for an expansion of "ah, sure, it was grand". I was tempted to edit out her little slip taking the wrong track - makes orienteer'ers look bad Enjoy!

And so to expand on my 'ah sure, it was grand' description of yesterday's hill race!

I was toying with the idea of running a hill-race for a while. The majority of my training has pretty much been on the flat, and if I'm running at the World Champs in Trondheim, I'm going to need to get up those hills. The 30th anniversary race seemed like a nice one to go for. Circuit training in the army gym at 8 the night before mightn't have been the best idea, but Saturday dawned bright and sunny and I decided to go for it. The race plan was simple... get up the hill as quickly as possible and be careful coming down.

From the off, it was a flurry of feet and fairy wings. Narrow track just after the start slows the pace. There's something slightly surreal about having a topless guy in a pink grass skirt running up a mountain ahead of you. Steady pace, up up up. Off the top of the 'boneshaker' and through by the masts, everything going ok. Running along the edge of the forest... hmmm... don't remember this on the map of the route. After about half a kilometer, no tapes for a while, I realise that we are on the lower track. Looking ahead and behind me, it's a stream of people all having missed the turn up to the right. Nothing in it but to keep going and cut up later. Luckily I didn't go too far down this parallel track, as happened a few of the leading group (they ended up descending and having to climb again, shudder!). Looking at my GPS route afterwards, we covered only about 150m extra. Hit the top of Two Rock and back down, along the marked route this time :-) Quick glance behind me. That was the training session - now just get back to the start with no injury. The descent was rocky in places, and I had to keep re-focussing instead of letting my thoughts wander. Two guys blasted past me about 700m from the finish, woah, no chance of staying with you two! Looking at the results this morning I realised that they were two of the leading bunch that had gone wrong, they had some descending speed. In to the finish and hurrah, safely back and to top it off, a nice boost by being first woman back. As it was the inter-club championships, and there were no other CNOC women running, I ran with Ros and Mirjam on the Trinity team and we pulled off a second place.

It was a spectacular day, sunny and bright, and IMRA had lovely 30th ballons along the route and food in the pub afterwards. Congrats to them on 30 years of existence, and hopefully many of the runners that were out yesterday will be there for the 60th anniversary race :-)

If anyone has any race reports/reports/comments/thoughts on anything CNOC related or our new website- email them on to me

O Boyle takes another win!

Niamh O'Boyle once again showed she's a class act as she put runners to the sword in the 30th annaversity of the first Irish mountain race. The race was a recreation of the original route held in Ticknock (3rock) in 1980. Straight up to the summit and straight back down. The runners set off from the lower carpark and went along the Dublin Mountain Way track before heading straight up the bone shaker, a rocky track favoured by down hill mountain bikers. Its steep and rocky, a technical runners dream.

Niamh was first female in a time of 31:19, finishing a credible 13th overall! Apparently there was a whole host of runners who took an extra few km, including Niall McAlinden (CNOC!) finishing in 21st.

In a quick interview with Niamh a short time after she crossed the line, I asked her how was her race, she was pretty blunt saying "aah, yea, it was grand" and that was the extent of the conversation.

Remember, on Tuesday night - the 2nd CNOC Summer Series race takes place on the Curragh.

First start is 18:30 at Lumville House, just off the M7. What better way to spend a glorious sunny* evening, than racing through the intricate furzes bushes on the flat* Curragh plains

(*sun and flat can not be guaranteed)

Our Next Event.

Our next event in the CNOC Summer Series will be on the Curragh on Tuesday next(25th May) with the start at Lumville house. Starts 18.00 to 19.30.

Exit the M7 at exit 12 and head for Kilcullen. Follow the signs for Lumville.

Planner Colm Hill.

Long 8.7 km. Difficult.

Medium 5.2 km Difficult.

Short 2.4 km Easy.

Adventure run 3.7km Easy.
Invite your friends all welcome.

Donadea Event

CNOC held a very successful event last night in Donadea. There were four courses,Long, Medium, Short and an adventure course. Eileen Loughman was the course planner,Controller. The courses were well planned and avoided the rougher terrain.
We ran out of Maps for some course such was the demand.Unfortunatly at the end of the event our software crashed but Ruth downloaded the data from all the SI boxes to save the event results (WELL DONE RUTH TO THE RESCUE AGAIN)
Results are available here
Shea will have report up soon when he is back on terra firma and I will link it.

Brother and Sister win Leinster Champs.

We may have a new website but that does noot stop me from bringing you news from around the world, the following article appears on the IOA web page. Im sure they wont mind me copying it to promote the sport and CNOC two birds with one stone.
In a remarkable double, CNOC brother and sister Shay and Niamh O'Boyle took both the men's and ladies titles at last weekend's Leinster Championships at Carlingford. On probably the most challenging/daunting/intimidating orienteering area in Leinster, Niamh had a comfortable 12 minutes to spare over second place Rosalind Hussey (Fermanagh/DUO) with CNOC clubmate Ruth Lynam third.
Due to a glitch in the results system the full results are not to hand at present, but watch this space for an update.(Im still waiting for a report from some of our runners at the event)

A number of runners had travelled the day before to Slievenagore in the Mournes to run the NI Series race there, followed by Igor Stefko's micro-O in Kilbroney, across the Lough from Carlingford. No doubt this was a good preparation for the rigours of Slieve Foye, where there are few linear features, lots of contours, crags and marshes, but very runnable underfoot - picture West Cork at an angle of 45 degrees. Trina Cleary, who always relishes the opportunity of planning here, kept most of the courses in the north-eastern part of the area, with long legs across the hillside interspersed with shorter legs up and down, posing a range of navigational problems which caused many a rueful shake of the head at the finish line. "If only, if only!".
Conditions were perfect for running on the day, though a bit on the chilly side for the officials standing around, in marked contrast to the first event on the area, the May 1993 Irish Championships, when the upper parts of the mountain were covered in thigh-deep snow.
The long walk from the Foy Centre in carlingford to the start/finish area was a good warm-up/down and the centre provided changing, parking, toilets and food. It is probably true to say that the citizens of Carlingford weren't even aware of the dramas unfolding on the steep slopes overlooking the medieval village, but the orienteers certainly went home knowing that they had had a good day out.
Results are available here, routegadget here, photographs here. (There is a problem with the results and routegadget at the moment - JMcC 15th May 2010)
Incidentally, I have been trying to remember if a brother and sister ever won the Leinster Championships before: possibly Justin and Carey May back in the early '80's? Maybe someone will help me out here and let me know!



Ambassador for Sport
Did you know that Dublin is the European Capitol of Sport for 2010? Sports organisations were invited to nominate people as ambassadors of sport for the year and our own Ruth Lynam was nominated as an Ambassador for Sport for Orienteering.. Since being made City of Sport, Dublin City Council have reportedly tried to close down three swimming pools in the city because of lack of funds, though they have received a stay of execution until after the summer.
Ruth is pictured above with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Emer Costello, and boxer Bernard Dunne. The honour does not, however, entitle Ruth to park on double yellow lines, graze her cattle on St. Stephen's Green or enjoy the freedom of Guinesses brewery.
Dont forget our summer series starts this Tuesday first event will take place in Donadea. Bring your friends and dont forget your camera.

Leinster IMRA Champs.

Today IMRA ran one of it Leinster Championship events in Wicklow consisting of a loop of the Glenmalure valley, taking in Clohernagh, Lugnachoille, Camenabologue, Conavalla, Lugduff, and Mullacor.

CNOC had three runners in the event, Colm Hill, Ruth Lynam and Don Short. From the start the route followed the zig zag track to Arts Lough. This track eventually became a rough firebreak. Unfortunately none of the available maps showed the end of the zig zag path accurately, therefore a very short section was marked on the ground with tape to bring runners through the correct gap in the trees to gain access to the open mountain and track to Arts Lough. Here there was an orienteering control kite fixed to the fence adjacent to the South East end of the lough. Runners had to visit and punch this control to mark their race number.

Departing the lough in a South Eastern direction they had to climb the natural ramp in the land leading up to Clohernagh. On reaching this point the Clohernagh summit was obtained due west, it was then a stamina test up along the broad ridge to the summit of Lugnaquillia.

From Lugnaquillia the runners headed north to Camenabologue.

From Camenabologue the next checkpoint was at Conavalla. A direct route offered easier navigation but a more circular route closer to Table Mountain provided easier running ground.

The next checkpoint was Lugduff summit. From Conavalla careful navigation was again required to gain the correct spur leading to the Lugduff ridge.

From Lugduff they ran southeast along the ridge towards Mullacor, the final summit of the race.

It was then a steep descent from Mullacor to the track junction in Ballinafunshoge Woods. From here there was many options to take before another orienteering control kite had to be visited and punched. Following this control, it was a break neck sprint to the finish down a series of rough switch backs.

Ruth and Don opted for an early start, unsure of how long it would take them. A group of five set off an hour in front to lay down footprints for the chasing pack. The main race started at 12:00 with the sun high in the sky. It was an ideal day to spend raceing in the mountains. From the start Colm was up towards the front as the runners made their way towards Arts Lough, the pace was an easy one with the runners chatting about the latest outdoor gossip. This climb was only the warm up. From Arts Lough the race took off with the front runners increasing the pace to split the pack, Colm was first to summit on Lug with the chasers, Peter O’Farrel and his flat mate Niall McAlinden in hot pursuit. A steep descent and clever route choice kept him in the lead for most of the run but it was Mullacor where the race was decided. Peter went straight for the safe Wicklow way route off the summit while Colm chose the obvious route on the map, straight through the fire break! It was the choice of the fire break which cost him the race as the firebreak disappeared and he had to follow the stream surrounded by green (orienteering descriptions). He emerged from the wood in second place, which he held to the finish an excellent result after 25km and 1370 metres of stamina sapping climb.

New Website.

Welcome to our new site again, It appears to offer more scope than our previous site which collapsed when we used up all our allotted space. On the right hand panel you can find out info on whats on and pics of club members. You can also follow us by clicking on follow us. On the top of the page we are linked to both Colm and Sheas blogs if you have a blog and want members to know what your at let us know and we will add it. We are only interested in Orienteering, Hill running keep your social life out of it. Theres a link to Twitter which we can update from events if you are not traveling and wonder how members got on and last but not least we have a facebook page, I can't see much interest in that but its there and knowing my luck it will probably take over as Bill Cosby said “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.”
Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions for improvement contact us.

Leinster Champs

The Leinster orienteering championships were held in Carlingford Co Louth on Sunday last. In what was ideal weather conditions and a tough course CNOC runners did well. Our best win of the day was Deirdre Ryan who won the W16 event this was just reward for all the effort she has put in during the year. Well done Dee. Seamus O Boyle won the M21Elite from a very competitive field. While Niamh O Boyle won the W21Elite in style. Caoimhe O'Boyle took the W14 title, Bridget Lawlor took the W40 title. Bernie O Boyle was second in the W50 event.

Apparently I can put in new pages, so I'll see where the this site goes . . . Onwards and upwards. The switch is here!!

Mountain Running Inter Club Champs

On the 22nd of May, the 30th anniversary of the first official Irish mountain running race is taking place. The same 6.16 km route is been used on 3rock that was used 30 years ago - straight up and straight down! This also doubles up as the Inter Clubs Champs which promises to be an epic battle for every place on the mountain side.

I know of a few O clubs (SET, GEN, AJAX, 3ROCK) that will be putting in teams so I reckon we should draw arms and show them how strong CNOC really is

Full details over on imra.ie

CNOCs First Post

Yesssss! It is completed!!!!!

Finally - an easy to use way to inform the world at how amazing CNOC really are!

We have so many Irish Champions, the google website couldn't handle it!

CNOC took home a haul of 23 medal from Northern Ireland and in the process have secured 8 national titles, including, Womens Elite Senior Irish Champion, Mens 18 Irish Champion, Mens 20 Irish Champion, Womens 40 Irish Champion, Womens 50 Irish Champion and thats before we get onto the relays!

On Sunday, CNOC demolished the other clubs taking home 12 medals and 3 national titles - including the Womens Elite - CNOC Cacophony (again!! Can anyone stop Niamh, Ruth and Orla!), H12 - CNOC Primal Scream (Bernie, Billy and Caoimhe) and Mens Elite - CNOC Van Halen wrapped up the tally with Seamus O'Boyle, Ruairi Short and Colm Hill finally beating CorkO, the threeo have waited since Beare Island to get another relay title and they clearly enjoyed it.

With the Irish over and the summer fast approaching it means only one thing...

The CNOC Summer Series is on its way (along with exam weather, exams and BBQs)