Easter Orienteering News 2018
Good luck to the 3ROC contingent running in the JK in Stafford over Easter: Aidan, Clodagh, Colm, Cuan, Eoin, Frank, John McC, John R, Julie, Mary, Nora, Ronan and Trina – I think that’s everyone. There four events start with a sprint on Friday at an RAF base in Stafford where control sites could include helicopters and tanks; on Saturday we move on to Brereton Spurs, for the middle distance race on forested spur/gully terrain; then to the forest at Beaudesert for the Long on Sunday and an adjacent area for the Relay on Monday. Some of the group will be running with the Irish Junior Squad and we have two fully-3ROC teams in the relay. There will be about 2500 people running in the JK, and this is the 51st staging of the event.
John McC says he has been at most of them since 1977 but some Easters there has been more attractive orienteering in the sun in Spain or the snow in the Czech Republic! The 2001 JK was cancelled because of foot and mouth disease, but the event moves around the various regions in the UK – in 2011 it was a great success when it came to Northern Ireland. If you’ve never been, it’s a great introduction to large-scale international orienteering without having to travel too far. In 2019 it will be some way south of London.
The weather forecast for the weekend isn’t great but the orienteering should make up for it!
Last Sunday’s Leinster League event at Oughaval, Stradbally was a lovely day’s run in a mixed deciduous/coniferous forest with areas of limestone crags and a good path network providing plenty of route choices, not all of which were seen by the competitors in the heat of the moment! Have a look at this leg (7-8) from the Brown and Blue courses and see what you would do.
You can see the way the runners went on Routegadget here. To see what the planner thought was the best way, go to the bottom of the page!
The weekend after Easter sees GEN running a League event at Brockagh, near Laragh on Sunday 8th. Details will be on the IOA Forum closer to the event. See here. This will also be the Irish Student Championships where UCD’s dominance will be challenged, particularly by the girls from TCD with Josefine Klintberg, Caoimhe O’Boyle and 3ROC’s Clíona McCullough in the mix.
Carrick Mountain April 15th: Preparations are moving ahead for our next event at Carrick Mountain, Glenealy, on 15th April, so please offer to help when Organiser Úna Coghlan contacts you! At least the threat of snow has receded and it will have flattened the dead bracken and improved runnability. The map has been updated to the 2017 ISOM Standard – see what this means here. We’ll be starting high on the mountain and parking in the forest on the west side, so don’t go up the little road from Glenealy. The entrance to the forest is here. Travel 2 km southwest of Glenealy on the R752 towards Rathdrum and turn right onto the small road L2116 at the railway bridge. Follow this for 3 km and turn right and then right again into the forest. Leave the Ferrari at home!
AGM Notice: The 3ROC Annual General Meeting will be in the Dropping Well, Milltown on Monday 23rd April. Members – please come and support the club.
Remember to enter the Irish Championships – on May 4-7 in Sligo and Donegal. Entries are open until 15th April but they get more expensive as time goes by. If you’d like to run on a 3ROC relay team, e-mail 3rockoc@gmail.com to ensure that you’re included. The club pays for relay team entries.
You should also remember to enter the 20th Shamrock O-Ringen, the three-day in Cork and Kerry at the beginning of June. See Shamrock O-Ringen.
Invitation – you can join us or renew your 3ROC membership fee at Fabian 4 online here. 
Remember to like our Facebook page here.
See you in the forest!
(And the best route for that leg from Oughaval? Uphill to the west from 7, then take the small path out to the big track and follow the big tracks all the way around and approach the control from above, using the quarry and the wall as your attack point: tracks all the way and almost zero climb!)