Author: Alan Gartside

The usual tables have been updated following NISeries4 at Slievenagore last Saturday. The first NISeries class winner of the year is Moire O’Sullivan with a 100-pointer in each of the events of the series (it’s 4 to count out of the 7 colour events of the year). I haven’t highlighted Moire yet for although she can’t be beaten she can be caught by Áine MCann if Áine wins the last 3 events. It also shows how officiating can come into play – Moire didn’t compete at Slievenagore; she got her points by being on the officials team. Since the hCOW Read More …

The hCALF tables have been updated with the Lady Dixon results, ready for the final event in the series on Wednesday in Belvoir Forest. Now is the time to decide whether or not you want to go hypersonic, knock spots of your handicap speed and climb the Regatta Table or take it at a steadier pace, keep to your handicap and climb the hCOW Table. The tables can be viewed on the website under “STANDINGS>hCALF 2025”. Now to print the Belvoir maps and that will be followed by the hCOW table update after Slievenagore.

A bit more responsive this time! Just to clear up any misunderstanding – my hips are fine; it was wife Norma who went through the medical grinder. The tables can be found by clicking on “hCALF 2025” in the “STANDINGS” section of the website. There you will find the details of each event, showing how the hCOW scores are assigned, starting with the result in the middle of the list. The Hillsborough results show an event variance of 1min29secs/km, showing that the tricky forest terrain took its toll on speed. In the hCOW table the asterisk indicates those who have Read More …

We’re now about to have WEE6 and no hCALF results have yet been published. I know you’re all waiting with bated breath (!!…) to see how you’re getting on. Apologies for the delay but things have been rather difficult in the Gartside household lately, what with having a missing hip fo 9 weeks and now just 2 weeks into dealing with its replacement, so keyboard time has been at a premium. The priority has been to get maps printed rather than tables updated. The good news is that the hCALF tables are up-to-date and can be found on the website Read More …

You can find the various tables at: 1.Copy of NISeries at “RESOURCES>OneDrive Public>League & series tables>NISeries>NISereis2025.pdf” 2.Colour Standards at “STANDINGS>Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf” 3.Handicap tables at “STANDINGS>hCOW>hCOW2025>” The handicap tables show that Slieve Foye was hard work, with an event variance of 3mins11secs per kilometre, but with that there was a wide variation in performance and therefore handicap movement, with Dan Earnshaw becoming the quickest orienteer in the club, overtaking Paul Pruzina by 2secs/km!

The various tables have been calculated on the basis of the Learmount event results and are available to peruse at the following locations on the website: Colour Standards at “STANDINGS>Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf” A copy of the NISeries tables at “Resources>OneDrive Public>[1] League & Series tables>NI Series>NISeries2025.pdf” The hCOW tables are at “STANDINGS>hCOW>hCOW2025>” The hCOW Table shows the ranking by regularity i.e. how close you were to your handicap (with allowances mades for the overall speed of the terrain) and the Regatta Table shows the ranking by improvement i.e. how much you beat your handicap. Now work out where you went Read More …

You should by now have seen the posting on the NIOA website announcing the start of the 2025 Colour Series with the event at Learmount Forest, hosted by NWOC (with entries closing at 21:30 next Sunday). That signals the start of a number of year-long league series. The NISeries runs over 7 events, with your best 4 to count, so it’s time to decide your target colour for the year. The other series is hCOW, specifically for LVO members, and runs over 8 events (the club’s Autumn Trophy is the extra one). It deals only with the TD5 courses (Brown Read More …

To help you see in the New Year the Colour Standards and Colour History tables have been reset, allowing you to consider how to manage/improve your colour event performance in 2025. You can see them by going “STANDARDS>Colour Standards” from the web site home page. The Colour Standards table has been reset in a number of ways:- Your 2024 achievement has been transferred to the Colour History table, and cleared ready for your 2025 heroics. The Colour History table now stretches back over 34 years to 1990, listing all members and their standards history in that time. The 2023 results Read More …

Following the final colour event of the year, at Todd’s Leap last Saturday, the year-long competitions have reached their conclusions. The NISeries tables are already available on the NIOA website, but a copy can be found here at “Resources>OneDrive Public>NI Series”. Congratulations to the class winners and a “well-done” to the numerous LVOers who achieved podium places. Of the 14 classes 2 were void due to no-one having the requisite 4 results, but LVOers won 11 of the other 12. How about a clean sweep next year? The Colour Standards table “STANDINGS>Colour Standards” now shows, in the “2024 Standard” column, Read More …

With only one event to go (Todd’s Leap) winners and final battles are starting to appear all over the place (and one champion has emerged!). The NISeries tables have gone for publication on the NIOA website but a copy can be found at “Resources>OneDrive Public>NISeries>NISeries2024.pdf”. Congratulations to Alan Elwood, Olivia Baxter, Helen Baxter, Paul Graham and Joanne Graham for joining the band of LVO class winners. That leaves just 3 classes still to be decided, with LVOers in the mix in two of them. The Colour Standards table can be found at “STANDINGS>Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf”. With only one event dropping Read More …