The Tollymore Festival of Orienteering

Venue Tollymore Forest Park
Date Fri, 21st Jun 24 - Sun, 23rd Jun 24
Starts 00:00 to 23:59
iCal file iCal

Event Description

You are warmly invited to The Tollymore Festival of Orienteering 2024.

The 3-day festival is now in its 15th year and is recognised across the island of Ireland as being a true celebration of our sport and community. The Tollymore Festival of Orienteering is about bringing the people of our sport together to connect, reconnect, enjoy the craic and, of course, enjoy quality orienteering!

Everyone is welcome to attend, from any club, anywhere and we hope to see our friends from Orienteering Ireland join us again.

We would like to encourage our new comers to come along, even if you aren’t a member (yet!). If you want to get a real feel for the ethos and diversity of orienteering in Northern Ireland, the Tollymore Festival is the place to do that – you will be assured of a warm welcome!

For 2024, we have an exciting weekend of orienteering and activities based in the Newcastle area with camping and Barbeque at Tollymore Forest Park. The events and activities will take us beyond our base camp, to some favourite and some new spots.

Schedule of Events and Activities

DAY 1: Friday 21st June – Urban orienteering at Warrenpoint.

The first event of the weekend is staged in a brand new area. So it will be fun using a new map to explore the lovely town of Warrenpoint.  There are four courses on offer – Short, Medium, Long and a Junior Challenge for experienced juniors.

This event is part of the NI Urban League.

Note, due to road and traffic safety requirements, U16s (actual age) will have specific courses, which avoid road crossings – this needs to be strictly adhered to for insurance and safety reasons. U16s can enter the Short (which is a yellow/TD2 standard) or the Junior Challenge, where most of the map is missing and compass skills are required!

Urban entries close Monday 17th June 2024 at 23:00. There will be a limited supply of maps for entry-on-day, but book online to ensure you get a map of your preferred course at a member’s discounted price.

With thanks to planner Moire O’Sullivan, controller Stephen Gilmore and organiser Kieran Rocks.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENTER THE URBAN EVENT CLICK HERE.

 

DAY 2: Saturday 22nd June – NIOA Colour Series / LVO Club Championships – Slieve Martin.

We return to Slieve Martin for the NI Colour Series event – a great area of mixed open hill and forest orienteering. There will be a range of colour courses available, so suitable for all ages and abilities.

Please note: this event is also doubling up as the LVO Club Championships. LVO members wishing to be considered eligible for the club champs must enter the course which corresponds to their age/gender.

Brown Open (M18,20,21,35) W21, W35
Blue M40, M45, M50, M55, M60 W18, W20, W40, W45
Green M16, M65 W50, W55
Short Green M70, M75+ W16, W60, W65, W70
Light Green M14 W14, W75+
Orange M12 W12
Yellow M10 W10
White

Competitors may wish to ‘run up’ choosing a higher course, if so they will be considered competitive in the higher age category. Competitors who choose to ‘run down’ a course will be ineligible for the club championships but still eligible for NICS and BOF ranking. Example 1: a M40 who enters the Brown course will be competitive in the M21 and M35 categories but not the M18 and M20 because these are considered Junior categories. Example 2: a W45 who enters Green will not be considered eligible for the W50 and W55 titles.

Entries close Monday 17th June 2024 at 23:00.

Parking is £5 per car (unless you have a NMDDC pass) – pay at entrance hut.

Thanks to the event officials – Planner George Savell, Controller Richard Williamson and Organiser Aileen McCarron.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENTER THE COLOUR SERIES/CLUB CHAMPS CLICK HERE.

 

DAY 3: Sunday 23rd June – Tollymore Fun Relay

On the Sunday morning there will be a ‘pot-luck’ Relay Course set out in Tollymore forest.

The start, finish, registration and download will be close to the campsite. This activity is free to enter on the day – no online entry necessary.

Expected start time, approximately 10.30am.

No online entry – just register your name on the sheet at the MOO on the day before. Names (based on age/ability) will be drawn from a hat into teams of three. The three relay legs will be of varying lengths and Technical Difficulty. Each course leg should take between 15-20 minutes. So all wrapped up in about an hour.

Junior Squad Training- Sunday 23rd June – Tollymore

Also happening on Sunday morning, Steph will be organising specific training for the Junior squad to prepare them for the coming JIRCs races. This will be happening at the same time as the relay.

Camping

Camping is available in the Tollymore Forest ‘bottom’ camping field (not the main camping area or the youth camp site) from Friday through to Sunday at a reduced cost of £8 per adult. Children 16 and under are free when accompanied by an adult. Enter Tollymore Forest Park from the Bryansford Road. There is a one way system and the exit from the park is to the Hilltown Road.

Location:

54°13’23.83″N, 5°55’50.72″W.

What 3 words: ///concluded.starring.dragons

Toilet and shower facilities are located close by. You can use the Youth Camp site toilet/shower block as well as the main campsite toilet/shower block. There will also be a portaloo located in our camping field.

Barbeque

The Barbeque will be at 18:30 on Saturday. Please indicate on SI Entries your preference for meat or vegetarian. There will be paper plates but you may wish to bring your own cups, plates and cutlery to reduce the use of single use plastics and paper.

Barbeque costs £15 for adult and £7.50 for juniors of primary school age, 12 and under.

BBQ

Tollymore Festival of Orienteering BBQ

Other Activities

As well as the orienteering, there will other activities available that you and the juniors can enjoy, such as boules (if you have a set of boules please bring them with you), badminton/volleyball, archery (with the plastic suckers not the pointy ends!) If you have any garden games please bring them along.

 

Booking and Entry

Booking for the BBQ, Camping and the Day 2 event are available by clicking on the link below.

If you are just attending the BBQ or camping only then, at the bottom of the course list on the first page – select “Social Only”. You do not need to enter the event.

If you are entering the Slieve Martin event as well then you can select a course first then add any number of camping and/or BBQ tickets at the end of your entry.

TO ENTER THE SATURDAY MEELMORE EVENT AND/OR CAMPING & BBQ, CLICK HERE

Note: there is a separate entry link to the Friday Urban event.

Location

Tollymore Forest Park
Campsite
Newcastle
BT33 0PW

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Volunteers

To volunteer at this event please email volunteer@lvo.org.uk. You can find information on each role here as well as the current list of volunteers.

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