The Dark Art of a Bright Torch

After some complaints that some people cheat by using a better/bigger/brighter light. I decided to throw up a piece on how to compete better at NightO.
Bigger isn't always better!
A complete guide to what torch to use to win* in the Night

Light 1
The candle.
Viewing Map: Crap
Viewing Terrain: More crap

Light 2

Petzl

Viewing Map: Good

Viewing Terrain: Crap

Light 3

Silva Halogen

Viewing Map: Good (but not great)

Viewing Terrain: Good (but not great)

Light 4

Magicshine

Viewing Map: Poor - Reflection too strong

Viewing Terrain: Excellent

Light 5

Silva Alpha

Viewing Map: Crap - completely blinded
Viewing Terrain: Concentrated Sun!

View when the user is looking at you

* use of a light does not guarantee victory

Dark Nights

Last Saturday was the first of the Dublin by Night races. The race was held on Howth Head organised by Fingal. CNOC had 5 runners out and about. Ruairi Short had a commanding victory winning by over 2mins from Nick Barrable who was over from the UK. In the family battle, Ruth took 20mins out of Don and Brian took in a tour of Howth Village while ex pro Eddie went hunting for controls in brambles with the aid of a candle.
The bigger the light the better!

The second race of the what goes bump in the night takes place in Phoenix Park on the 14th of January.

If you think Howth is challenging at night, take a look at OK Linné's first winter training session.
10 mile LineO!

Now if only we could get out 90 runners for a long night LineO

What goes bump in the night Scandi Style

Winter 2011

The blog hasn't been updated since Jukola. This was mostly due to CNOC going to the far reaches of Europe and the World in search of World Championship glory, as well as getting distracted by hard winter training.

To try sum it up in a few lines.

Summer

WOC Team went to France. It was technical as can be seen below!
Ruairi (28th LongQ), Seamus (25th SprintQ), Niamh (27th MiddleQ, 19th SprintQ, 24th Relay) all ran but we didn't have the success of Norway.

CISM World Militarys, Brazil. Orla, Ray and Colm went. Orla ran very well. Ray broke his leg and Colm miss punched.

WOC Tour. A selection of juniors travelling to sample the tricky french terrain.

Maps: France - http://omaps.worldofo.com/?cid=1308&s=views
Brazil - http://omaps.worldofo.com/index.php?st=CISM&a=s&submit=Search

Leagues

Since the end of the summer, CNOC have being running in all the usual events.
Fingal Scatter Series, Local races and Leinster Leagues.

The Lenister League wrapped up last week at the final CNOC event that was held in Stradbally. (Waiting for a report).

The over all league can be found here http://orienteering.ie/results/leagues/show_table.php?league=Leinster+Autumn+Series&date_from=09%2F11&date_to=12%2F11&best_of=3

CNOC only had 3 runners running the required 3 races to score in a League.
They were:
Brown
Seamus O'Boyle 3rd
Ruairi Short 4th

Green
Regina Kelly 5th (2nd Female)

Championships


CNOC had a massive impact on the Senior Home International.
The teams CNOC members were
M20 Conor Short (4th), M21 Hugh Cashel (8th), Ruairi Short (14th), Colm Hill (15th), Seamus O'Boyle (17th), W20 Deirdre Ryan (9th), W21 Ruth Lynam (14th), Regina Kelly (20th).

The following day, Seamus redeemed himself by getting back first of the three Irish relay teams.
Deirdre (as well as Niamh Corrbett) deserve special mention for stepping up an age class and running well in what were very long Long Distance races.

In the JHI, CNOC had 3 runners.
Caoimhe O'Boyle finished an awesome 2nd in W14 (9sec off winning!) followed closely by Siobhan Delaney in 6th. Deirdre Ryan finished 14th in W18.

In the VHI (no jokes please), Ruth Lynam was our only runner. She finished 3rd in W55 (and was also the only person to run at all three Home Internationals!... again)


Other News


Next up on the Irish Calender are the NightO races. CNOC are organising the final one on the Curragh on the 11th of February. Before that, we have a local event in Donadea on the 22nd of January.
CNOC's 3rd event of the Spring is on the 1st of April, the weekend before the JK in Scotland!
Be on the wait for the emails in search of help.

More News


If you find any interesting orienteering info or anything of interest, send them this way and I'll up load them to the blog.

Time to get the ball rolling again!

Jukola 2011

The CNOC team finished 295th at Jukola. Detailled team results are here.

Halden took the victory by 4 minutes from Kalevan Rasti.

The CNOC team is en route home and a full report will follow.

Meet the Team

from left to right: Conor, Ruairi, Shea, Kev, Niamh, Hugh, Colm

Leg 1: Conor “only good at music” Short

Favourite orienteering technique: Relocating, I use it the most

Result most proud of: Beating Seamus at Shamrock

Result most ashamed of: (thinks deeply...) Will answer after Jukola

Orienteer they admire the most: My mammy

Most annoying habit: Singing and playing piano

Leg 2: Ruairi “the clue is in the name” Short

Favourite orienteering technique: Contouring, cause i’m unfit

Result most proud of: Beating Seamus at Shamrock

Result most ashamed of: Irish squad score-o (note: this was a personal event)

Orienteer they admire the most: My Daddy

Most annoying habit: Turning a negative into a positive, when it is still a negative.

Leg 3: Seamus “where’s the car” O’Boyle

Favourite orienteering technique: Following Seamus “where’s the car” O’Boyle

Result most proud of: Winning the CNOC Summer Series

Result most aSeamused of: See appendix A

Orienteer they admire the most: Seamus “wheres the car” O’Boyle

Most annoying habit: Talking about Seamus “wheres the car” O’Boyle. Never helping unless Ciara is around

Leg 4: Kevin “the putt master” O’Boyle

Favourite orienteering technique: Making the same mistake again, and again, and again... (also applies to orienteering)

Result most proud of: Beating Seamus at Shamrock

Result most ashamed of: Been beating by Colm at Shamrock

Orienteer they admire the most: My older brother (Cian)

Most annoying habit: Laughing about not showering

Leg 5: Niamh “the fat controller” O’Boyle

Favourite orienteering technique: Pretending I’m injured

Result most proud of: Still havn’t been beaten by Caoimhe

Result most ashamed of: Anytime Dad beats me

Orienteer they admire the most: My younger brother (Cian)

Most annoying habit: Running Jukola (they invented Venla for a reason)

Leg 6: Hugh, who? You? Me? No! Hugh Cashell

Favourite orienteering technique: Asking for directions

Result most proud of: Beating Seamus at Shamrock without actually being present

Result most ashamed of: See appendix B

Orienteer they admire the most: Roger Federer. He’s Swiss, so he’s probably good.

Most annoying habit: Overly competitive, a red head, plays cricket, from trinity, a posh Dubliner, continued overleaf (see appendix C)

Leg 7: Colm “the track fairy” Hill

Favourite orienteering technique: Pure blind random luck

Result most proud of: Beating Seamus at Shamrock

Result most ashamed of: Name a race. No seriously, any race.

Orienteer they admire the most: Not applicable.

Most annoying habit: His watch that beeps every hour during the night. Complaining. Complaining about people not training. Complaining about not complaining enough. See all appendices.

Disclaimer: Seamus does not endorse these comments

Crazy Golf

The Putt Master in action

Planning the line

Team spirit

Training map

Here is the map that we have been training on for the past 2 days, just to the west of the competition area

Jukola Training, debrief

When Conor was asked to describe Night Jukola training in Finnish terrain, his eyes lit up and the only word he could say was "Awesome!"

Starting out, the map was tough to get a handle on, but starting in the twilight helped to get used to the map before darkness fell completely (think able to run in forest but difficult to read the map kinda darkness). The Night Group ran as a pack, taking different route choices to controls to see which kind of terrain is better to run in as the event gets closer. The splitting of the group allowed them to sample more terrain types in the limited time available. As an example green is green and should be avoided, until the massive elephant tracks form motorways through it. The plan was to do a short 5km course, but, as happens when orienteering in Finland, the terrain is so fun they "accidentally" did the full 9.5km course. They arrived home at approx 02:00... they are still asleep (except Conor, who was sleeping on the floor(not on the floor tonight, apparently!)).

The day group had similar experiences to the night group. Niamh took the day off after running the World Cup race in the morning. The other 3 day runners ran the 5km course in the technical terrain, taking different routes and waiting at the next control to discuss the leg and how to improve on it. It makes the orienteering more social; unlike running alone, getting lost and being an hour behind everyone else at the finish after each mistake just makes the next mistake worse.

The groups will do a second and final training session today before finally moving into the luxurious accommodation that is a Finnish Military tent at the Jukola arena!!

Updates to follow

CNOC Jukola Team

Jukola: 2 days

Jukola 2011 is being held in Salpa, Finland. A top CNOC squad is on hand to see where we match up against the best clubs in the world. Most clubs spend months training in the hope of bringing their club the glory of winning the most coveted of relay titles. CNOC, well, we reckon we can get away with 2...days!

Of the 1,486 teams, CNOC 1 was given the number 756. This means that Conor is in the middle of the mass start, the very middle. The last time Jukola was held in this area, the winning team ran a blistering 06:21 min/k.

The team make-up is Conor Short on leg 1, Ruairi Short leg 2, Seamus O’Boyle leg 3, Kevin O’Boyle leg 4, Niamh O’Boyle leg 5, Hugh Cashell leg 6 and Colm Hill on leg 7. The legs were decided in no particular order, but we reckon we have the best line-up possible.

Training today was in two separate groups: the night group, Legs 1-3 and the day group, Legs 4-7. Its 22:00, its still extremely bright and the night group is not back. In fact, they mightn’t even have started.

Profiles and an update on how the training camp/taper/pre race prep is going will follow tomorrow.

Team CNOC out.

www.jukola2011.net

Irish WOC Team Announced

CNOC have 3 athletes off to the tough technical slopes of the French Alps to represent Ireland at the World Orienteering Championships.

Niamh O'Boyle will run the Sprint and Middle Distance.

Seamus O'Boyle will run the Sprint.

Ruairi Short will run the Long Distance.

The Relay teams will be selected according to WOC week performances.

We wish them all the best of luck.

CNOC Summer Series; Curragh!

Conor Short reports on our event on the Curragh.

The second event of the 2011 CNOC Summer Series took place last Tuesday evening, starting in the Sunny Hill area of the Curragh. Despite high winds early on in the day, as the first starters began their runs the sun was shining and a light breeze was blowing, making for perfect running conditions. Ollie and Orla planned and organised the event with the usual efficiency of the army and a total of 96 people turned up to enjoy the May evening.

The Long course was the most hotly contested with barley over a minute separating the first four places. In the end Donal Burke of DFO took first place, 45 seconds ahead of Conor Short of CNOC. GEN’s Laurence Quinn was a further 11 seconds behind to take third place. Ken Barry was clear winner of the Medium course, and Cian May stormed the Short course to beat Eadaoin McCavana by over two minutes. CNOC’s own Sean Ryan had an excellent win on the Adventure Run, with close to 5 minutes separating him from second place.

Full results are here

Thanks to all who came out for a run, and we hope to see you in Hillwood next Tuesday.

Donadea

Report from our event courtesy of Regina.

Last Tuesday was a lovely May evening- perfect for the first instalment of the CNOC summer evening
series at Donadea. There were four courses- Long, Medium, Short and an adventure course. Eileen
Loughman was the course planner/Controller. The courses were planned to avoid the rougher terrain
so race pace was high.

The results were quite close in the adventure courses where David Collins beat the team of Fogarty
and Noonan for first place. A similarly close result in the long course saw a minute between first and
third place. Laurence Quinn beat his fellow competitors even while sustaining a crippling foot injury
towards the very end of the course.

Ruairi Long was a clear winner in the short course four minutes. Similarly Don O’Hanlon from BOC
won in a time of 50:40 nearly 5 minutes ahead of Roisín Long (AJAX).
Results are available here

.....

Our next race is on Curragh East on Tuesday 24th.

CNOC Summer Series kicks off

A shameless copy and paste.

Rumor has it that this years Summer Series will have a bit of spice added to it.

Did someone say vicious gaffling....

..............................................................

The CNOC Summer Evening Orienteering Series is back for 2011. Let’s hope the summer also returns.

The first event will be in Donadea Forest Park on the evening of Tue 17^th May.
Start times 18:00 to 19:30. Courses close at 21:00 promptly.
Please let us know in advance if you are bringing a group.

As last year there will be 4 courses:
Long approx 7 km, technically and physically difficult, full leg cover definitely needed.
Medium approx 5 km, technically difficult, full leg cover needed.
Short approx 2 km, straightforward navigation, mostly on tracks
Adventure Run approx 5 km, straightforward navigation, mostly on tracks

SI electronic timing will be used, SI cards will be available to rent if don’t own one.

The other events in the Series are:
Tue 24 May Curragh, Sunnyhill area
Tue 31 June Hillwood, just outside Monasterevin on the Athy road
Tue 14 June Donadea
Tue 22 June Hollywood, West Wicklow, including end-of-season barbecue

IOC Relays

Relays. In house, Inter Club or Inter anything. It doesn't matter. The Irish Relay Championships are usually the only relays run on the Ireland. Once a year, one chance to get it right.

Most clubs look to field a couple of teams, Chairman Don, however, wants to fit every CNOC member he can find onto a relay team.

Monday morning, after a punishing Long Distance, CNOC had 8 teams across the 7 classes. And in standard style, the objective was to win the lot of them. However, that is easier said than done as it is usually the plan of the other 75 teams to win is well!

Starting with the CNOC Baryons in H12, Senan O'Boyle set out on first leg, he was completely beasting it along (according to winsplits) until a slip at the 13th saw him lose some time, he handed over to Don Short in 7th position. Don was running well until he managed to double miss punch (I'm sure he'll gladly explain his battle woes over a pint, I have yet to hear the full story)[edit: Don states he needs more therapy before he shall discuss his run, a good cry over a pint may be a more suitable at this moment in time], unknown of his miss punch, he let Tom Ryan off on the last leg. Tom ran well in the peat hags, but by then the result was MP. Fail in relay 1.

The second CNOC team, CNOC Sleptons in H18 had a much better showing. The steady hand of Bill O'Neill lead the team out on first leg. He had a pretty awesome run, coming in 6mins down on a UK team, DVO. Bernie O'Boyle was on second leg and ran around with the fastest female time for the leg, again, 6mins down on the quickest DVO runner. Eileen Hill ran last leg, she didn't have the cleanest of runs, but did have the fastest run in for her course to secure CNOC Sleptons 4th place. Getting better!

CNOC Mesons in H6, lead out on first leg by Regina Kelly, she ran a good race for her first time running in the panicked mayhem that is a mass start. Carol Ross, of JK first leg fame, took the second leg and ran a pretty clean race (map) to let Brian Hill out on last leg. Brian followed the traditional approach of mistake, spike, mistake, spike for the first 7 controls before he got into his flow and began to orienteer better. He brought the team home in 6th (4th irish team).

In Junior 38's, Joseph Delaney ran a good race, Laoise Ryan went off on a bit of an adventure and Sean ran just as clean a race as Joseph. Solid running by the junior juniors brought them home in 6th. Looking at the other teams, there are different club members running for different teams! The mini relay really provided some excitment, but for the sake of this post making CNOC look awesome, 3 teams had multi clubs, which makes the CNOC Tachyons 3rd!

In Junior 48, CNOC Hadrons, was an all female team. It was rumor'd that star CNOC athlete, Caoimhe had an argument with management, Caoimhe won and it setted up a kick ass CNOC team. Siobhan Delaney (sporting a new shinny CNOC top) was on first leg, she had an extremely tricky course, but made it around safely to unleash Irish Champions Caoimhe O'Boyle on leg 2 and Deirdre Ryan on the final leg. They tanked it around to be first all female team across the line and 3rd over all. The LVO Millar Lights, better watch out!

In the Womens Premier, CNOC once again had selection headaches. Eventually, the CNOC Bosons, Niamh O'Boyle, Bridget Lawlor and Ruth Lynam, set out to defend the IOC title of last year. Toni O'Donovan (CorkO) beasted the field by over 3mins, luckly for CNOC, she missed a control. Niamh was 3rd back, behind Sundays Long Distance Champ, Ciara Largey. Bridget Lawlor went out against Irish Squad member Rosiland Hussey (FermO), Bridget held her nerve and began the fight back as she closed the gap by 1:30min. Ruth Lynam, took the lead by the first control due to a mistake by the FermO last leg runner. Ruth then beasted the first 8 controls, dropping 15seconds total from all fastest splits at the 8th control! Once the gap was established, the title could only go one way as Ruth kept it clean for the rest of the course to bring them in for a 25min win. That makes it 3 on the trot. Ruth involved in all 3 skirmishes with Niamh and Bridget involved in 2. Irish title number 2 to CNOC.

The last race was the Mens Premier. CNOC had two teams involved, CNOC Quarks (Shea O'Boyle, Roar Short and Colm Hill) and CNOC Leptons (Conor Short, Hugh Cashel and Kev O'Boyle). The relay selections were made late on Thursday night, a move by the Chairman to make sure the so called "elites" didn't stuff up in the Middle distance and ruin his great plan.

The relay set off with Shea and Conor running well in the pack. The pack jumps right, Shea contuines on straight... A mistake... a route choice... He dives into the heather and vanishes. Bog hole! Pat Heally was giving it socks on the PA system as the teams vanish over the hill side. Johnny Kendal is announced as first through the radio control (Ajax had radio controls!), no sound from Seamus. Things don't look good. 5mins later, CorkO 1 sound through... 20mins later, Conor Short sounds through! This did not look good. Ruairi had faith in Shea and went into the box. Kendal hits the last radio, no one else around.... Suddenly Shea is seen tanking it in the run in in front for the fastest time on leg 1! Turns out, Kendal got a tow from Seamus being on the same course to finish 18sec down as Shea increased the gas over the last loop!

Roar was unleashed for leg 2, he ran a clean hard race. Saltumis (corko 2) was running faster than Roar, but got the advantage of been lead into controls to let Colm Hill out, 22sec down on CorkO's Shane Lynch. Bill Edwards gained a little time on Ruairi to let out Irish Champion Marcus Pinker. It was game on for the Irish title.

CorkO V CNOC V CorkO... again. A head to head battle ensued between Shane and Colm who were both running on the same course. Shane had a big miss on the second and recovered quick by jumping onto Colm's tail. After a veir from Colm, Shane had increased the lead to 42sec at the radio control. Over the last section, both made a race defining mistake, Shane, having the lead recovered quicker, and although slower on the last loop was first to cross the line. Colm crossed the line 28sec later and 1:35min in front of Marcus Pinker. The first CorkO team were deem Non Competitive due to IOC rules. CorkO got the win on the day, but CNOC bring the title home for a second year running.

CNOC's second team didn't have such a good day. Conor had a disaster on leg 1, dropping a lot of time on the first control. He was 10th at control 9 but fought back to gain lost time. Hugh Cashel ran a clean second leg to let Kevin O'Boyle out. As a traditional first leg runner, Kev swapped position to give anchor leg a run. He ran a good race, finishing with a Leg time just behind Irish Champ runner up Ger Butler. Over all CNOC Leptons finished 8th.

It surely sets IOC Relays up for 2012 to be electric! With 2 CNOC mens team, a CNOC womens team going for 4 in a row and a CNOC female Junior team that could potentially beat the senior team.

Bonus question: What was Don thinking of when he named the CNOC relay teams?

Irish Orienteering Championships 2011

This year Ajax hosted the Irish Orienteering Championships in Wicklow. This was the largest (open to correction) Irish Championships ever due to the extra numbers that stayed on after the JK last weekend.

The weekend opened with a Middle Distance race on Glendoo Ridge. The ridge line is covered in peat hags that formed the basis for the navigating. Kevin O'Boyle (M20), Caoimhe O'Boyle (W14) were our too most successful runners on the day, both claiming Irish titles. There were a number of close misses with Conor Short (M20), Deirdre Ryan (W18) and Billy O'Neil (M65) all coming in in second position. Regina Kelly (W21) came home in third. Full results from CNOC's 26 runners is here.

Day 2 of the championships brought CNOC to the well known slopes of Brockagh mountain. The slopes provided faster running than the previous day but runners had to be wary of the contour and rock detail. Many a runner was caught astray. CNOC came home with 3 Irish titles. Senan O'Boyle (M55L), daughter Caoimhe O'Boyle (W14) (again!) and Deirdre Ryan set the record straight by claiming her first national title in W18. The rest of CNOC's podium toppers were Conor Short (2nd M20), Eileen Loughman (3rd W21S), Billy O'Neil (3rd M60), Bridget Lawlor (W40). Laoise Ryan (W10) and Siobhan Delaney (W14) just missed out on the podium in 4th place. Full results can be found here.

There is loads of information about the event, with photos, routegadgets and results all on the IOC website.

Tony's photo's from the event can be found here

To keep ye amused, here is a link to my QuickRoute from the Long Distance on Sunday.

If people have photos or race reports send them on.

Photos from IOC Champ relays

I have lots more photos when I talk to the real PRO I will put them up.

JK

This weekend, CNOC headed north to the JK hosted by Northern Ireland Orienteering.

The JK is one of the biggest orienteering events on the BOF calender.

There was a lot of organising, from maps to car parking to getting enough volunteers. CNOC gave a hand with one of the Start teams for both the Middle and Long distance and a couple of control picker up'ers after the Long distance.

Now for the fun bit. Results!

In the Sprint, CNOC had 18 runners. Full results here. However, the pick of the bunch was Caoimhe O'Boyle finishing 2nd in the W14 sprint, crossing the line less than one min down on the winner. Not to be out done, Seamus O'Boyle and Niamh O'Boyle also succeeded in WOC qualification for the Sprint race.

Day 2 brought CNOC manning the starts and the Middle Distance race. Full results are here. We had 26 runners on the start line. Pick of the bunch was Kev O'Boyle in 9th on M20E, while Pat Healy got the better of the CNOC vets. However, once again, the CNOC women showed the mens said how its meant to be done. Laoise Ryan came home in 6th on W10B, in the W18L, Dee Ryan was 2nd, Niamh O'Boyle came 20th in W Elite. Ruth Lyanam crossed the line in 3rd in the W55L as well as Caoimhe O'Boyle in W14.

Day 2 was also CNOC's selection for the Relay and once again, miss punches, mistakes and dnf's gave the chairman the perfect opportunity to make two perfectly even CNOC mens senior teams (see below).

Sunday dawned early and sunny. The terrain was fast open mountain. An Irish specialty?

Sean Ryan had a storming run to finish 2nd on M14B, in the Mens 55L, Pat Healy jumped from 52nd to 23rd and stayed top of the CNOC bunch ahead of Senan and Don.

In the womens Laoise Ryan was 5th in W10B, scary Caoimhe O'Boyle was 2nd on W14 less than 30sec down, in the same class Siobhan Delaney just missed out on a top 10 finishing in 11th. Dee Ryan finish 3rd in W18L. Ruth Lyanam (W110??) won day 2 by over 1:30mins. All in all, the mountain results were much better. Full CNOC results here

Over all CNOC had a pretty successful weekend. CNOC had 4 runners finishing in the Top 5.. all of which were running the Women classes.

Roll of Honor

Laoise Ryan 5th W10B

Caoimhe O'Boyle 1st W14A

Dee Ryan 1st W18L

Ruth Lynam 2nd W55L

Overall results can be found here

Now, the really fun bit. Relays!

Everyone knows that there is no better rivalry than in house rivalry. CNOC had 2 JK Trophy Teams. Kev O'B, Ruairi S and Colm H -V- Conor S, Hugh C, Shea O'B. Needless to say the underdogs won, again! The chairman isn't very good at picking teams ;)

CNOC had 7 relay teams across a range of categories. The two JK trophy teams were shocking. The "2nd team" finished 18th, been beaten by 3roc, GEN and CorkO. Our "1st team" did even worse, finishing in 20th. *thats enough of a wrist slapping for now*

In Womens +120, Carol Ross came back first, the guts of 4mins clear. Bernie and Ruth brought the team home in 9th. In Mens +165, Don, Senan and Tom finished in 35th and top Irish Relay team in the group.

In Mixed Ad Hoc, the biggest of all the relays, CNOC had 3 teams. Tony, Bridget and Brian finished in 14th (2nd Irish Club). The second CNOC team consisting of Dee, Caoimhe and Dee(?) [I think Sean was running... mix up of maps maybe] finished 34th but were n/c and the 3rd CNOC team was the Delaney's, Brendan, Siobhan and Joseph came home in 52nd.

Full Relay results here.

All in all a good weekend. If anyone has any photos, send them on and I'll throw them into this post.

Scar

Today CNOC held its Spring Cup race on Scar.

There was a good turn out of around 124 runners. The weather was awesome! Sun splitting the rocks!

Full results here

Photos and a full report tomorrow.

Stop the Press

I have recieved word along the pipeline that CNOC have 2 new Irish Champions.

Caoimhe O'Boyle coasted to victory by a little over 4mins in the All Ireland Schools Championships in Donadea. In the competition, Caoimhe was running for Newbridge College in the Girls 1st Year Class.

In the Senior classes, Deirdre Ryan won the Post Junior Cert (or InterCert for the +35's) Girls race by more than 7mins. Dee was running for Gaelcholaiste Chill Dara.

CNOC's third runner was Brian Hill (Patrician Sec School, Newbridge), he couldn't live with the high standards that the girls set but still came home in a podium position, finishing 3rd in the Post JC Boys race. Brian was down by 2:11 from fellow Irish Squad member James Griffin from Midlenton CBS.

All in all it was a good warm up session for CNOC's School runners.

The next challenge is Scarr this Sunday!

Parking is at Glenmacnass waterfall.

Full details here.

If anyone has any photos or stories on CNOC related outdoor adventures, send them on.

CNOC Clean up

Today on the steep deep heathered slopes of Glencree CNOC runners cleaned up to claim a selection of Leinster Titles.

In the Elites, Seamus O'Boyle retained his title, with Ruth Lynam laying claim to the Womens Elite title (after an Adventure race the previous day!).

In the classes, Caoimhe O'Boyle (W14), Dee Ryan (W18), Bridget Lawlor (W40), Bernie O'Boyle (W50) and Billy O'Neill(M60) all took home the honors.

In total, CNOC had 17 runners compete in the Championships. Joseph Delaney (5th M12), Sean Ryan (6th M14), Brian Hill (6th M18), Tony Lawlor (7th M45), Tom Ryan (6th M50), Don Short (3rd M55), Siobhan Delaney (2nd W14) and Eileen Hill (3rd W50).

On the day, CNOC's Eileen Loughman and Pat Healy were helping out with the organising.

In the same yet seperate competition, the Irish University Championships were also on.

Seamus O'Boyle, after winning M21E, also took home the Colleges title (again?).

In the womens, Ciara Largey took the honors.

Dublin University Orienteers (aka Trinity) won both the mens and womens team titles. The Trinity team, was, as usual, a CNOC team, Seamus O'Boyle, Ruairi Short and Conor Short laying claim. In the womens, DUO (again) took the womens title, it wouldn't have been possible if CNOC's Regina Kelly didn't run "up" to W21E. No pressure for the Irish

Full results are available here

Maps of the area: Seamus and Colm (I expect Ruairi and Conor to updated their maps soon).

Seamus and Ruth

Making Mistakes?

Do you ever make an epic mistake?

Forever looking at your drawn in route and thinking why oh why did I go left?

Or perhaps your more into technology, and you can view your mistakes in real time with your fancy GPS watch. Seeing yourself accelerate after from the control through the heather like a startled deer (in the wrong direction).

Well now, with the aid of technology you can view your mistakes again and again in super HD quality. How cool will you be, been able to upload your WOC-medal-throwing-away-mistake on youtube or linking it to your facebook profile.

The future of glorifying your mistakes is now here.... the head cam!!

A review is on World of O on how best to analysis the data.

Weekend Madness!!

This weekend was once again racing packed. CNOC college athletes took part in the IMRA College Champs on Camaderry. Results will be available here

CNOC Runner Seamus descending hard

Sunday dawned bright and CNOC's college elite hobbled out of Ruiri's car.

The rest of CNOC also showed up and we had 14 runners out on the rough slopes of Glashaboy Brook (the bottom of Fair Mountain).

The ground was rough, the going was slow but the sun was out. Best runs of the day went to Seamus O'Boyle, 2nd on Brown. Don got the better of Tony also on Brown.

On the blue, Ruths O box got pilfered by "elites" that just happened to forget all of their O kit. Needless to say, lack of compass didn't stop Ruth as she finished up fourth on Green, right behind her was Billy O'Neil and Brian Hill had a strong run in the tough terrain finishing seconds behind in 6th. Pocket Rocket Caoimhe O'Boyle was 2nd junior female on Green, beaten by less than two mins by Roisin Long.... Long legs surely helped in that terrain!

Eileen Loughman finished 3rd on L. Green with the terrain getting the better of Sean Ryan and M16 (not the weapon) Keith O'Conner. On the Blue the terrain also got the better of Bernie and Deirdrea. All four will no doubt be back to fight another day.

A successful day non the less for CNOC once again.

Photo's below, are by Martain Flynn

For those that bothered to scroll down this far, CNOC has had a new Elite signing in preparation for the JK International Festival of Orienteering.... Same height, different person

Long, Longer, Longest!

The third and final LongO was held on the combined map of Tollymore, Lukes and Meelmore. Meelmore been the map of JHI fame where Ruairi Short took home the M18 title.

Once again a large group of CNOCers went north to test themselves against Ivans courses in preperation for up coming JK and IOC.

On the day Seamus O'Boyle was unstoppable as he beasted it home 5mins clear of Colm in second. Fourth was Ruairi Short with younger brother Conor claiming 6th place. It appeared to be of little consolation to Colm taking the series with 2 wins from 3, but sure isn't a little rivalry healthy. 4 in the top 6 is surely a show of strength for the up coming IOC and will no doubt cause selection head aches for the relay championships.

On the Medium course it was five Irish Squad Juniors that battled for the honors with Jack Millar (LVO) once again coming out the strongest by 3mins. Bernie O'Boyle finished 2nd female and but claimed first female overall in the series.

On the short course (since when is 6km with 220m climb short you might ask), Bridget Lawlor finished 4th over all and also claimed a series win.
Caoimhe O'Boyle finished 15th on the short course, however, she was also the only junior girl to run any of the series.

So with 2 course wins, 3 series winners and lacking a bit of blood sweat and tears, CNOC runners wait for the next race on Glashaboy Brook in Wicklow on Sunday.

On saturday, some (all) CNOC college based athletes are taking part in the College Hill Race, up and down Camaderry in Wicklow.

Relays!

In the coming weeks we have both the JK and Irish Championships relays.

Chairman Don has made a call to arms and has asked all those interested in making your mistakes count as 3 instead of one to get on a CNOC relay team!!

Relays are the best way to show your membership of a club! Run with that family member, friend or rival instead of against.

Get yourself on a team!

Niamh, Orla and Ruth. Reigning IOC Womens Relay Champions!

Shea, Colm and Ruairi. Reigning IOC Mens Relay Champions!

Climbing Carlingford (a few times...)

This weekend was all action for CNOC once again.

We had a few members over in Sweden training up their technical abilities over the midterm break. At the moment Ruairi and Regina are orienteering away. Haven't heard any details. Hope they aren't too lost! Nearer to home, Conor Short and Colm Hill pitted themselves against the best XC runners in the country in the National Championships. Both agreed that it was a bit flat, but still both were the vital 4th scorers on the Donore teams in Junior and Senior level.

Sunday morning brought a clear day on Slieve Foye. The venue for the second Long Distance race and it was anything but flat.

CNOC had a good turn out with 8 runners across the 3 courses. Conor, Colm and Ruth tested themselves on the Long Course, it measured 14km with 785m of climb. Colm somehow clocked +900m of climb on route to taking his second win. Gerard Butler of 3rock claimed 2nd with Conor a few mins adrift. Both admitting to been in slight discomfort from the previous day.

On the Short and Medium we had Mitch, Bernie, Senan, Bridget and Tony.

The views from the top were meant to be spectacular, Carlingford village could be seen nestled on the edge of a crystal clear Carlingford lough, with the Mournes on the horizon. Stunning. If only there was time to stop at the top for a cup of tea.

Full results and photos aren't up yet but all runners will have a chance to run a third Long Distance event on Slieve Martain(?) and Meelmore in the coming weeks.

The series is becoming very popular. Full credit to High Performance Director Ivan Millar (and his family!) for putting on two great events so far.

Spring Cup Round 1

The Leinster Spring cup round 1 was held in Derrycassin wood organised by Fingal Orienteers. We had a small contingent competing and gaining valuable experience for the upcoming JK. Full results available on the IOA website.Billy O Neill, Tony Lalor, Derek Kellet, Tom Ryan, Deirdre Ryan and Sean Ryan were our only runners.

Nearer home the fourth leg of the IMRA winter league series was held on Trooperstown Hill Co Wicklow, Don,Ruth,Conor,Ruairi,Brian,Regina and Eddie kept the flag flying as it was Brians last run in the winter league with the best three of five to count it looks as if he will finish in the top three of the Junior section.

LongO Series 1

This weekend a CNOC team headed up North for the first of the LongO Series, hosted by the Director of Elite Orienteering, Ivan Millar.

Ivan bests sums up the series

The series will help to prepare our Irish seniors and the more experienced juniors to compete on ’classic’ distance orienteering courses. Using the same classic scale maps as will be found at most major European competitions this coming summer (1:15000). However, it’s not all about the elites! The Long O races will be open to all runners capable of meeting the physical and technical challenge of the classic distance.

There are 3 events in the Series. Gortalughany, Carlingford and Meelmore (its 3 maps in one!)

Tony Lawlor (CNOC) in the runnable bit of terrain!

The first race, held yesterday was planned by Greg McCann (LVO) and the courses were well recieved by all. The Long course was 13km, and on paper, it doesn't seem that long considering the rumors were of a 17km monster. Considering, it was won in the guts of 2hrs, I think every felt it was long enough.

CNOC orienteers as usual came out strong with Colm Hill first across the line, closely followed by Ruairi Short. Johnathon McCloy from Queens Uni finished off the top 3. Conor Short was the 5th across the line and first junior. Don crossed the line, 4mins in front of Ruth (there was the possibility of a few sneaky pints that may have swung the result in Don's favour). In the Middle Distance race (still +10k!) Tony Lawlor crossed the line in 5th, behind a gang of Irish Juniors who are all looking for JWOC selection. Jack Millar put down a commanding performance winning by 7mins.

Full results here

There are write ups on the race from Colm and Ruairi including their maps with route choices down the bottom. (click on the names).

Photos located here

News update.

We have been busy this past week.
At the recent Night O in the Phoenix park we had a number of runners and the following day during Daylight hours we had competitors taking part.

Yesterday there was Orienteering in Dunsink wood full results for all events are on the IOA website.

On our links section we have added the membership form. (We need your money)

Aside from Orienteering well done to Colm Hill who was part of the Donore Cross Country team who won the intermediate All-Ireland club championships yesterday in very testing conditions.

Also on Sunday Brian Hill finished in the top 40 runners home in a 10km race on Annagh Hill in Very Very tough conditions. We now have a number of CNOC runners scoring in the IMRA winter league maybe we should look at entering a team for the next event which will take place in Trooperstown. (See IMRA website for details)

Dont forget training and time trial next month for the juniors you should have recieved an e-mail from Ruth if not contact her.

Photos and Money.

Does anyone have any of the following photos - As the IOA webmaster wants to put them on the Irish Championships 2011 website. They are the reigning Irish champions.

- a picture of Niamh O'Boyle
- picture of the CNOC Van Halen team as a group

Ideally hi-resolution orienteering action photos with the faces easily identifiable, anything reasonable will do. For the relay photo
a prizegiving photo is probably best as they would be together. Send me anything you have, even if you think it is only marginally useful. Also send the name of the photographer, the location/event and the date if you have that info. Send the highest resolution version of the photo you have.
please send photos or online links to my gmail address: marcus dot geoghegan

See I told you all take pictures they could be worth money.

While im at it I have recieved two e-mails we have won 300,000 pounds from a british tabacoo company and we have also won 500,000 USD in a mega lottery in the good old USA that should make us the wealtiest Orienteering in the world, If nobody minds I will not bother collecting the money, then again Pat could map the whole of Europe and our Juniors could do some altitude training during the Spring and we could bring back our overseas runners sponsoring them for a couple of years..........

latest News.

A very successful Orienteering eventy was held in Donadea yesterday with over 100 runners, walkers and crawlers (Couldnt think of anything else that rhymed with the first two)Well done to everyone who helped out and maybe we will see some new faces at future events.Full results are available on the IOA website with lots of news of whats upcoming.

Next Saturday sees a night O in the Phoenix park, Full details on IOA website.

Well done to CNOC runners who ran on Ticknock in the IMRA winter league Brian Hill finished an excellent 28th position, Conor Shortt was 61st,with Don further back there was 166 runners in this 10km event with 417 metres climb. I hope to run in the next three events which will up the competition.

Congratulations to Fiona Hill who won the Christmas quizz. The winner was drawn by Sean Ryan and we had one independent scrutineer. Correspondance will not be entered into as per the rules.

We still have a number of people overseas so hopefully they will turn up for the championship races later in the year and add to the excitment of the competitions.

My friends Gueorgiou, Nordberg, Adamski and several other top runners use a HeadCam in their o-technical training to improve their technique. Check it out on world of O.

Donadea

Curragh-Naas Orienteers are organising an orienteering event in Donadea Forest Park this Sunday 23 Jan.
The event is open to everyone, beginners & experienced, runners & walkers.

Parking & assembly will be in Donadea Forest carpark (GR N837333). Follow signposts for Donadea from the Clane-Kilcock road.
Start times 11:00 to 13:00.
There is an entrance fee to the forest, but entry will be free to orienteers between 10:30 and 12:30
Start and Finish are beside the car park.
SI timing will be used. SI cards will be available to rent, €2 each.
Map Scale 1:10000.
Please let us know in advance if you are bringing a group – cnoc@orienteering.ie.
Eileen Loughman has planned the courses:
Long 7.9 km 22 controls, difficult navigation
Medium 5.9 km, 19 controls, difficult navigation
Short 3.1 km, 10 controls, easier navigation
Adventure Run 4.8 km, 12 controls, easier navigation

Our next event.

Our first event of 2011 is at Donadea on this Sunday 23rd.

Helpers as always would be greatly appreciated.

Let me know (Contact Don) if you are available and I (He) will allocate you a task.

Well done to Colm, Shea and Niall who were "Guides" on the Art O Neill walk last weekend. There are lots of photos on FB "I was their friends but the poked me off so I dont have access to the photos"

Re the christmas quizz entries are now closed we had three entrants and the winner will be notified soon when I can find a selection box during Janruary.

Happy New Year.

CNOC members got the new year off to a start by welcoming the dawn on Toin le Gaoth.
Unfortunatly there was a heavy mist and no sun. But there was lots of Rashers and Sausages after and plans made for the coming year by our elite runners so watch this space as they take on Europe and the world (Ireland is too small for their ambitions, egos.)

On Sunday 2nd of Jan 2011 we went to three rock to support the Irish junior squad fund raising event which had been cancelled due to heavy snow over the christmas period.
With all the new gear CNOC members were wearing at the event it looks like the enthusiasm is still strong and we have four or five new juniors between the ages of 10 and 14 so watch for them over the coming season. Flash shoes, gaitors, Fast Si cards and new tops....