3ROC Orienteering News 28th November 2019

A chance to take a break from orienteering this weekend, with no local events on. Get ready, though, for the annual CNOC event on the Curragh, Co. Kildare on Sunday 8th December. If you’d like a trip north on Saturday (30th November), you could take in the LVO event at Belfast Castle – see details here. If you’re down in the Kerry direction, Kerry Orienteers have an urban sprint event in Killarney on Sunday as well.

Information about the Curragh event will be on the IOA Forum here. This is the last Leinster League event of the year.

What about last weekend? Fingal brought us back to Fauna in west Wicklow, an area that probably hasn’t been used in more than 30 years. It’s actually a pretty good forest, largely runnable, and with very little bracken or brambles. The map could do with some more work, though, as it was rather inconsistent and lacking in detail (lots of features on the ground but not on the map!) and the courses were on the long side for a League event. If you want to see a bad start to the course, have a look at John McCullough’s efforts to find the first control on the Green course below – 13 minutes for the first leg! (He does admit that it was all his own fault, for not taking his own advice and being careful for #1).

13 minutes for 200 metres!

Nevertheless, Valdas Tilunas was 2nd on the 9.7 km/300m Brown course, Stanley Cox 3rd on Yellow, Mary O’Connell 3rd on Red, Pat Flanagan 3rd on Short Green, Nora Lee 4th on Light Green, Cuan Riordan managed 6th on the 7.1 km Blue course, Odhran Counihan 7th on Orange and Inga Lausikiene 7th on Short Green. Well done!

There used to be guidelines for planners of league events in the IOA Rules but that section is blank now as they were due to be revised.

If you were worried about the Irish orienteers heading for the event in Venice the weekend before last, they were fine: the orienteering was cancelled but their entries will still stand for the 2020 event. Apart from severe flooding at high tide, it was possible to get a run using maps from previous years to get the “Venice orienteering experience”.

Thanks to all the 3ROC members who have already renewed your membership for 2020: it’s just a click away to renew or to join for the first time. And, if you’re a lapsed orienteer, we’ll always welcome you back! See here to join or renew.

Our next events are the Christmas S core event on St Stephen’s Day, December 26th, the first Dublin by Night event in the Phoenix Park on Saturday January 4th and a second Dublin by Night event at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, on Saturday January 25th. Details of the Christmas Score event are on the 3ROC Facebook page here already.

Looking for Christmas present ideas? How about a copy of the Ordnance Survey map puzzle book, a CompassSport subscription, or a new contactless SIAC electronic timing card? Or all three?

Till then, see you in the forest!