A big congrats to the local juniors that took part in the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Macedonia in Jun representing Ireland. The results can be found at the link. A great effort by Paul P, James M, Fazer H and Peter M in putting in some solid performances across all the days.
Relaxing after a long day of orienteering in the sun Lots of the juniors from our club took part in the orienteering festival in Newcastle and Tollymore over the weekend 20 – 22 Jun. The weather, for once, was glorious with temperatures in the early 20OC making it the ideal weekend for camping. Scene from the camp site The Sprint Map The weekend started with a sprint race around Newcastle on the Friday evening with juniors having to negotiated parkland and urban control sites. This was tricky going and required careful attention to the control descriptions. Start of the Sprint Read More …
The juniors took part in a training exercise at Belfast Castle on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon on the 15 Jun. The name of the game was to locate the exact control point, using the map and control descriptions and to do so by simplifying the map picture as much as possible. Once at the centre of the control circle you had to be very sure as there was no kite to help. It was hard work in the sun but good fun for all.
Juniors took part in training at Barnett’s Park in which they had to complete a course that had the control kites placed very low and hard to find. To do so they had to really work hard at visualising the control site location so they knew they were in the right place exactly rather than hunting for the kite itself when in the rough area. They also had to write down the control description for each site and check that off at the end against the answers.
Our juniors took part in some cones and compass exercises before competing in a race at Stormont, Belfast. Well done every one it was a tough race with a lot of fences to contend with!! Ben finds an other use for the control!! Cones and Map Setting Exercise The Stormont Course
There will be basic map setting training available for juniors on Saturday at Stormont. This will include compass use so bring one along. It will take place for 45 minutes prior to the start, so from 1045 to 1130. You can join in during that period when you like and the exercise will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete at the most.
Our juniors took part in a training session at Barnett’s Park with the aim of practicing compass and pacing skills in low visibility. Alison had developed a great ‘mist course’ in which all the detail had been removed from the map (as if in the mist) with only the detail inside the control circle visible. This was tough training and really demonstrated the need to set an accurate bearing and know how far you had gone. It didn’t help when you came across a large thicket in the way and had to work your way around and still keep on Read More …
Congratulations to those LVO members selected for the Irish Squad. JWOC (in Bulgaria in July) Jack Millar Mark StephensEYOC (in Macedonia in June)Frazer Howe (LVO)Paul Pruzina (LVO)James Millar (LVO)Good luck everyone!!
Round Tower at Glendalough Monastery Well done everyone who took part in the Irish Orienteering Championships in Wicklow. The sprint race took part on Friday eventing in Maynooth and the Middle and Classic distance races took place near Glendalough. The conditions on day 2 and 3 where extremely challenging to say the least. The visibility on the top of the mountain at the start was so poor you could hardly see the cars from the assembly tent less than 100 m away. It made for interesting orienteering on the open mountainside with visibility reduced to 30 m on day 2. Read More …
It was a great day out on Sat 26 Apr at Belfast Castle. The day started with some basic compass refresher work prior to moving onto the main race itself. The hill didn’t make it easy!! Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee – but who is who? Well done also to everyone who took part in the Spring Cup race. A very big congrats to Sophie, Rachel and Andrew who completed the Green Course. This was no easy task either as it went right up over the mountain top.