Orienteering News 3rd March 2020
The current Ballyward map
Mid 1970’s map of Ballyward
Catch-up time Some of the events which were cancelled recently because of the weather are rescheduled for this weekend: on Saturday evening the Killney Hill “Dublin by Night” event is on and on Sunday the WatO urban event at Callan in Co. Kilkenny. Closer to home on Sunday. Setanta are running a Leinster League event at Ballyward, near Manor Kilbride in Co. Wicklow. Details can be found on the IOA Forum here.
The Killiney Night-O is pre-entry only. See the details on the event notice on the Forum. Enter here by Friday to make sure there is a map for you.
Ballyward is right beside the upper reaches of the Liffey and you can see many of the Liffey bridges on “The Helpful Engineer” website here, including Ballyward Bridge.
Also on Saturday, Fermanagh Orienteers have an NI Colour Series league event at Castle Archdale – see details here. Starts 11.30 to 1 pm. To complete the picture of the weekend’s orienteering there are also events in Cork, Kerry and Galway.
Last weekend’s storm Jorge blew out just in time for the rescheduled Curragh night event on Saturday, where the start times were put back to 8 pm to give the winds time to abate. A small number of orienteers left their firesides and ran around the Curragh, with Ruairi Short (CNOC) taking the honours on the Long course and Brenda Farren (FIN) on the Short. Alarmingly, some finishing times were around 2 hours, which is probably pushing it as far as headlight battery life goes! Well done to CNOC for going ahead with the event in view of the conditions and particularly to the control putter-outers and taker-inners. You can see the results here. The location was described as “Sunnyhill” – maybe we have to come back during the summer to see that!
GEN’s League event at Brockagh on Sunday attracted a good crowd and managed to avoid some of the weather, but near-blizzard conditions in the afternoon made it tough going as all the courses were on the open mountain. Again, special thanks to the volunteers on the day (and the day before) – often the competitors have it comparatively easy: they just have to run and then get into their nice warm cars and go home. The organisers are there for the day and can’t leave until everyone is back and all the controls taken in. The results, courses and routes are here. Well done to 3ROC’s John Riordan (8th on Blue), to Valdas Tilunas (5th) and John McGrath (9th) on Brown, Cuan Riordan (3rd Light Green), Odhran Counhian, his grandmother Hazel and his Aunt Sheila Convery (7th, 8th and 9th on the Orange) and to Stanley Cox (1st on Yellow).
Last Saturday’s Junior Squad time trial and training in the Phoenix Park was cancelled as a precaution but no date has yet been set for a re-run.
The next 3ROC event is at Griffeen Park, Lucan, on Sunday 15th March. We have had no offers of volunteers – if there are no volunteers there are no events. Please e-mail 3rockoc@gmail.com and offer your help for the 15th.
Reminder: Club clothing – 3ROC O-suits, jackets, hats, buffs etc are all available from the club. Make sure you run in style and get yours today! Special offers for Juniors, and our junior members can trade in O-tops and get upgrades very cheaply.
Reminder (2) The 3ROC AGM is on Tuesday 7th April at the Dropping Well in Milltown, with refreshments afterwards.
Reminder (3) Remember to enter the Leinster Championships (5th April) and the Munster Championships (26th April).
See you in the forest!