New Year 2018

Deirdre Nagle meets Dracula on St Stephen’s Day

Happy New Year to all our members and to everyone reading this! We had a good turnout for the St Stephen’s Day score event at Three Rock, with Clíona McCullough (jointly with pavan Doherty) and Una May finishing in the top spots on the two courses. The results and Routegadget are on the IOA Results page here. Thanks to planner John McCullough, Organiser Eoin Dunne and the 3ROC helpers on the day.

Putting out controls on Christmas Eve showed the area at its best, with fantastic views as far as Carlingford, the Mournes and Slieve Gullion; Christmas Day was a grimmer affair, with a cold wind, sleet and low cloud, but it passed over for the event itself where the transition control, 199, had great views from the upper part of the mountain. The long score course (50 minutes/21 controls) had a twist which confused some of the runners – you could only visit the odd-numbered or even-numbered controls until you went to the transition control (199) when you changed to the even, or to the odd-numbered ones, so you had to think a bit more when planning your route – this seems to have been well received by the competitors (Thanks to Lakeland OC in England for the idea).

Well done to 3ROC M85 Con Carroll for scooping the prize for the best fancy dress with his Dracula outfit!

Christmas Day on Three Rock Mountain – an annual tradition since the 1970’s

On New Year’s Day the GEN Leinster League event at Trooperstown is going ahead, having been postponed because of snow. Details are on the IOA Forum here. Start times are 11.00 to 12.30.

The IOA Fixtures List is not up to date for Leinster events, so watch out for the following. Some of these could still be added to or change so keep checking.

Jan 13th Dublin by Night (DBN) 1, Phoenix Park (3ROC)

Jan 14th Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny – Leinster League (WatO)

Jan 20th DBN, Ballyward (SET)

Jan 21 Donadea, Co. Kildare – Local event. (CNOC)

Jan 27 DBN Killiney Hill (GEN)

Feb 3rd DBN, Bushy Park (AJAX)

Feb 11 Pine Forest (UCDO/DUO)

Feb 25th Leinster Champs Cronybyrne/Claravale (AJAX) (pre-entry)