NICS 4 Saturday 24th August 2019

Venue: GORTALUGHANY, Co. Fermanagh 

NIOS Sheet 26 – Grid Ref H168300

54.21889,   -7.743736

Directions:

From Enniskillen follow road signs for SLIGO (A4). After approx. 2 miles take a LEFT turn on to the (A32) towards Florencecourt and SWANLINBAR. Continue on the (A32) – past the turn to Florencecourt – then approx. a further 3 miles. Look for a turn to the RIGHT on to a minor road signposted GORTALUGHANY VIEWPOINT (‘O’ signs also).

This road winds uphill. It has steep zigzag bends towards the end just before reaching the car parking. This will be at the small viewpoint car park and along the roadside beyond it; please park closely and leave room for cars to exit back past you. All terrain adjacent to this road is OUT–OF–BOUNDS.

Terrain:

This is a challenging area; whistles will be compulsory; cags will be required in adverse weather; don’t forget to bring these. At this altitude misty conditions are not uncommon.  

It is open moorland with occasional areas of scrub woodland and where blanket bog meets limestone terrain. There are very few tracks but some fences which may prove helpful. It has good contour detail particularly depression features; some of these are entrances to very deep vertical potholes and cave systems. Very deep or less obvious ones are coloured purple and should be avoided. There will be YELLOW and BLACK tape marking some less obvious deep potholes.

Competitors are warned to take care crossing depression areas particularly where thick ground cover vegetation or scrub woodland limits visibility.

Conditions can be expected to be generally wet underfoot with some ‘poached’ ground. Vegetation is generally runnable. There are small numbers of cattle and sheep on the terrain.

It should be obvious from the description above that this is not terrain for BEGINNERS! It will however offer a very suitable challenge, both physical and technical, for those who wish to IMPROVE.

Registration: from 11:00am

Starts: 11:30 – 13.00

Courses Close: 15:00

Entry Fees

  • Juniors £5 (NIOA members £4)
  • OAP/Unwaged £8 (NIOA members £6)
  • Seniors £10 (NIOA members £8)
  • Family £25 (NIOA members £20)

Map: A4 – Scale1:10000

Provisional Course Lengths

White                           There will be no course due to the difficulty of the terrain.

Yellow                        1.5km  15m

Orange                        2.6km  45m

Lt Green                      3.1km  55m

Short Green                2.8km  55m

Green                          3.6km  75m

Blue                             5.1km  155m

Brown                          6.4km  250m              

COURSES CLOSE AT 3.30pm

Junior Fundraiser Refreshment Stall: Uncertain at this stage.

Toilets: There are no toilets – please use public toilets before arrival.

Dogs: Dogs are not allowed.

Officials

Planner:Raymond Finlay

Controller:Philip McGoldrick Organiser: Teresa Finlay

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