Time Trials Success

Some of our Juniors set off to take part in the Irish Junior time trails in Phoenix Park Dublin on the 14 Mar. This is a selection criteria for those who wish to attempt to make it into the Juniors Irish Team. The day started with the time trial itself. This is made up of a loop of about 1.2 km with 60m of climb that takes in a truly cross country experience. It was made up of up and down hill sections, contouring lengths, river crossings and even some paths. Depending on age our juniors had to run between Read More …

Success In Limerick for Luke

Our very own Luke and Rachel took part in a weekend of sprint orienteering at the University of Limerick (UL) Campus. The UL Campus encompasses student accommodation, lecture halls, libraries, sports grounds, restaurants, countryside, concert hall, walk ways and cycle tracks. It provides plenty of scope for sprint races that can also traverse the river Shannon (via a compulsory crossing point bridge). Luke won the short individual course and both he and Rachel had a really great time.

Rachel Reviews Her Course

Rachel spent some useful time to review her course on the NI Score Champs and work out an improved route. This is a really important thing to do after your races so that you can work out what worked well for you.  You can then concentrate on repeating that again in your next race. Try to focus on the positive from each race more than the things that went wrong. If you do identify some areas that you need to improve on then you can always raise that and we will include it in future training.

NI Score Champs and Night Champs

The Northern Ireland Score and Night Championships took place at Crawfordsburn on the 21 Feb. This was a great day of orienteering.  The Junior Champions are Rachael Collins and Peter Reed (Score) and Andrew Elwood and Sophie Pruzina (Night). Well done to them. The event also saw the issuing of Silverware from the NI Champs in late 2014. Some juniors also took part in training at Drum Manor earlier in the week. This was a great opportunity to get some top class coaching and everyone enjoyed themselves  

Alan Gartside awarded Torch Trophy

Congratulations to Alan Gartside who will be awarded a Torch Trophy on Tuesday 24 February in London by the Countess of Wessex. The Torch Trophy Trust is a charity that recognises and rewards volunteers in sport and recreation, committed to recognising the unsung heroes of sport through bursaries to enable individuals to develop their skills, and by commemorating some of their achievements at the annual Torch Trophy Trust Awards. Alan’s trophy is in recognition of the many years of service to orienteering in Northern Ireland, particularly for his key role in developing Trail Orienteering and map printing.

Compass Capers

Our Junior Squad had a great afternoon out at Barnett’s Park practicing compass work. This session required our team to be able to locate the control flag on several courses in which elements of the map detail had been removed. This needed accurate compass work. As did the very tricky corridor exercise that they were tasked with completing at the end. All of this followed a time trial preparation run as the warm up. A big thank you goes to Steph P for planning a great session. We also had a number of beginners at the training who got the Read More …

Junior Training Sunday 15 Feb Technical Compass Use – Barnett’s Park

Our next training event will be at Barnetts Park on the 15 Feb. This event will focus on better use of the compass. This session will require you to complete exercises as follows: Holes – Find the control when the circle around each control circle, as well as the control circle itself, is blank. Donuts – Move from one control to the next when only a circular area surrounding each control is mapped but each control circle is blank. Blocks – Move between control circles using compass bearings when much of the map detail has been totally removed between the Read More …

Championships Come To Crawfordsburn – Saturday 21st February

The first two Northern Ireland Orienteering Championships of 2015 are being run at Crawfordsburn Country Park on 21st February. The park is sign-posted from the A2 Belfast to Bangor Road and parking will be in the grounds of the Scout Center. The Score Championships will have registration from 1.30pm with a mass start at 2.30pm The Night Championships will start as soon as it is dark enough – probably after 5.30pm.Don’t forget your watches and head torches. Between the two competitions there will be the NIOA Prize giving and you can also enjoy light refreshments organised in aid of the Read More …

Wait for it!

The equipment check at Kilwee has been postponed for a week.  It will now take place at 11:00 on 14th February.  Show your love of the sport on St Valentines day and come and lend a hand.        

Meelmore Contour Training

The junior squad, as well as a number of adults, took to the hills at Meelmore to practice the use of contours as a navigation aid. It was a great sunny day but snow still lay on the ground as well as a lot of ice. The rivers were cold as well if you fell in!!. This was an excellent opportunity to get those cobwebs blown away after the festive season. It was also ideal training for the Lisburn O Festival in May as the races there will include Slieve Croob.