Venue Tollymore Forest Park
Date Fri, 24th Jun 22 - Sun, 26th Jun 22
Starts 00:00 to 23:59
iCal file iCal

Event Description

Welcome

You are warmly invited to the Tollymore Festival of Orienteering 2022.

The festival is now in its 13th year and is recognised across the island of Ireland as being a true celebration of our sport and community. The Tollymore Festival of O 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 back to join us as we continue to recover from the trying times of the last few years.

We would like to encourage our hub members. Even if you aren’t a member (yet!) but would like to get a real feel for the ethos of orienteering in Northern Ireland, The Tollymore Festival is the place to do that, and you will be assured of a warm welcome!

For 2022, 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, we even have two brand new maps for you to explore!

Schedule of Activities

Orienteering

Friday 24th June 2022 Urban orienteering at Dundrum, Co.Down

This is the first event to be staged on a new map of Dundrum village with its splendid scenery of Dundrum Bay with the Mourne Mountains as a backdrop. More information and to enter click here.

Saturday 25th June 2022 NIOA Colour Series, Castlewellan Forest Park

We return to Castlewellan with a new map.  The addition of additional mountain bike trails, felling and changes in undergrowth meant that it has been a few years since we were able to host larger orienteering events in the forest. For more information and to enter  click here.

From “Discover NI”

Located in a dramatic setting of mountains and sea, this is one of the most outstanding tree and shrub collections in Europe. The beauty, vigour and perfect shape of the trees in the National Arboretum attract tree enthusiasts from around the world. However, Castlewellan has numerous features that draw wider attention. The garden is a mixture of informal and formal design with terraces, fountains, ornamental gates and flower borders. To walk around the forest park’s mile-long lake, encountering some intriguing modern sculptures on the way, is to enjoy a great experience of eighteenth-century landscaping.

The planting of the walled Annesley garden, the focus of the arboretum, was begun in the 1850s and rare conifers and maples were later imported directly from Japan. Then came the addition of more rich varieties, including Chilean eucryphias, Australian athrotaxis and pittosporum and Chinese rhododendrons. The arboretum holds many trees with record heights in the British Isles.

One of Northern Ireland’s most famous lakes, a stunning Victorian Castle, incredible panoramic views, scenic walking trails, 27km of Mountain Bike Trails, Nature Play perfect for the kids, an onsite multi-activity centre, hedge maze and equestrian centre, Castlewellan Forest Park boasts all of this and more making it a must-visit for all ages.

Sunday 26th June 2022 –  Tollymore Score and Junior Activity

On the Sunday morning there will be a 60 minute Score Course set out in Tollymore forest.

25 controls will be set out ranging from 10 points up to 40 points. The max score is 550 points and there will be a 10 point deduction for every minute (or part of) you are late beyond the 60 minute limit.

There will also be separate fun activities for younger juniors (white/yellow standard). More information click here.

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

Expected start time, approximately 11am.

MapRun6

If you want even more of an orienteering fix, then there are also three MapRun6 courses available in Newcastle, two linear courses of orange standard and a Scatter Course (like a score but without a time limit), for details see: https://www.niorienteering.org.uk/diy-orienteering-in-co-down/

Camping

Camping is available in the Tollymore Forest ‘youth’ camping field (not the main camping area) from Friday through to Sunday at a reduced cost of £7 per adult with under 16s 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.

Toilet and shower facilities are adjacent to the campsite.

Barbeque

The Barbeque will be at 18:00 on Saturday and will be provided by The Mulberry Tree. Please indicate on SI Entries your preference for meat or vegetarian. We encourage you  to bring your own cups, plates and cutlery to reduce single use plastic.

Barbeque costs £14 for adult and £7 for juniors under 12.

Boules

There will be a Boules knock out tournament – if you have a set of boules please bring them with you and we can run several matches at the same time.

Booking and Entry

Booking for the BBQ and Camping are available by clicking the Enter Online button below. If you are just attending the Social then select “Social Only” at the bottom of the course list on the first page. You do not need to enter the event. If you are entering NICS4 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.

Location

Tollymore Forest Park
Campsite
Newcastle
BT33 0PW

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.