A good day out at Tiglin & Devil’s Glen

Control 175 – ruined earthbank.

We had an enjoyable day’s orienteering on the Tiglin/Devil’s Glen map on 7th April, with more than 40 complete beginners trying orienteering after the morning sessions with Deirdre Ní Challanáin, Áine Joyce, Jack Hanafin and Edith Bridcut, sponsored by Orienteering Ireland. By all accounts everyone thought it was good although not everyone finished their course in the forest – still, we all started like that!

The results are now on the OI website here with Routegadget, where you can see that way the others went and do an action replay. If you have a GPS track, you might like to upload it (or if you can remember where you went you can even put it in with a mouse).

The more difficult courses (Brown, Blue, Green and Short Green) were challenging, both physically and technically, with the CNOC pair of Ruairi Short and Kevin O’Boyle fastest on the Brown course with 3ROC event organiser Valdas Tilunas 3rd. Fellow 3Rocker Seán Nolan continued his winning ways on the Red course while the club had a 1-2-3 on the Short Green with Inga, Una and Michael.

The biggest deer in the forest was this John Deere!

The recent forestry work is still continuing, with thinning rather than clear-felling, so we’ll have to wait to see what the forest is like when that is finished.

We have started an incentive scheme for new members, with regular technical training, free entry to 3ROC events, a first year subscription which runs until the end of 2025, help with transport, more social activities and subsidised orienteering gear, so if you’d like to start orienteering and you’re not in a club please give 3ROC your vote! Signing up is easy – you can do it online by following this link. Membership fees are only €15 for adults, €10 for juniors/students/unwaged/over65’s and €25 for families.

Speaking of votes, the club AGM is on Friday 12th April at the Eden House on Grange Road, Rathfarnham – we hope to see everyone there.

Our next event is a World Orienteering Day event at Poppintree Park in Ballymun on 26th May, but there’s plenty on in the meantime – look at the Fixtures page at www.orienteering.ie to see all the events.

Remember that entry for this year’s Irish Championships closes next weekend – if you’re not going to the whole weekend of events, why not just do the Sprint event at Maynooth University on Friday 3rd May? Entry online here.

See you in the forest!