O-maps archive handed over

A reception was held in Trinity College, Dublin, on 25th March, to mark the handing over of about 1000 Irish orienteering maps to the Glucksman Map Library in the College. IOA Chairman and Mapping Officer, Marcus Geoghegan, formally handed the maps to College Librarian Robin Adams (see photo) who accepted them on behalf of the library. The coordinator of the project, which was first proposed 15 years ago, was Brian Hollinshead, with help from provincial mapping enthusiasts Pat Healy (Leinster), Paul Hourihan (Munster), Bill Simpson (Ulster) and Frank Ryan (Connacht), all of whom were present.
In his handover speech, Marcus illustrated the many types of information on an orienteering map which might be of use to non-orienteers in years to come: old boundaries, ruined buildings and changes in vegetation among them. Much of the man-made detail on orienteering maps dates from Famine times when the population was far greater than in is today, so that old walls and field boundaries are captured on our maps but could be ignored by other map makers.

The orienteers present represented a cross section of the O-community but with a good representation from those who were involved in the early days: Joss and Nora Lynam, Seán Rothery, Liam and Hazel Convery, Robert Garrett, Ted and Brendan McGrath were there; so too were elder statesmen like Andrew Bonar Law (or just plain"ABL" as he used to put on his control card, in the days when we used control cards), Brian Power, Mick Kellett, Brendan Doherty and more, with representatives from the Ordnance Survey, TCD and the Dublin Mountains Initiative.

The project involved many orienteers scouring their dusty attics looking for obscure maps, old and new, and could not have been accomplished without the cooperation of many orienteers from all clubs and all parts of the country. Now that the ground work has been done, IOA plans to supply the map library with copies of every new O-map. Map Librarian Paul Ferguson was almost too polite to point out that they are already entitled to a copy of every map printed in any case, but they were grateful for this recent addition to their archive and, particularly, that it had already been catalogued by the time they received the collection.
A display of some of the maps, dating back some 40 years, was also mounted by the Library staff.
The Map Library is open to the public for research purposes and visits on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Wednesday mornings, but the staff like visitors to contact them in advance to make an appointment. Visit their web site here.

Prophets of Dune

We've just had two magnificent days orienteering on different sand dune areas in Leinster: Ajax's event on the Bull Island in Dublin and CNOC's at Kilmore Quay in Wexford. With such a long coastline, we have many sand dune areas which could be tapped for orienteering: areas like Curracloe in Wexford, Tramore in Waterford, Roscarbery in Cork, Inch, Rossbeigh and Banna in Kerry, Mullaghmore in Sligo, Magilligan and Portstewart in Derry are already mapped.

Unfortunately many of these areas are remote from centres of orienteering so they never get the crowds they might (except on a summer Sunday), but what orienteering! Complex contours, varying runnability, sea breezes, sunshine ... The shapes of these areas (often long and narrow) would have caused problems in the past, but with electronic timing to ensure that runners visit all the controls in sequence, the areas really open up for orienteering.
Some of these areas are sensitive from an environmental standpoint (did you notice the wild asparagus at Kilmore Quay? -Neither did I) and have severe access restrictions and limited availability. This always struck me as strange - you can have traffic jams and thousands of people at the Bull Island on a sunny Sunday but access for a responsible, controlled and organised group for orienteering is restricted.
But we should enjoy these great areas while we can - restrictions may become tighter in years to come. Don't be put off by the squiggly contours - they mean so much more when you practice and can visualise the terrain. The Long Strand in Cork, Tramore and Inch have events coming up between now and the end of May, so make the trip to the seaside.
(The photo shows Colm Hill sporting his stylish new CNOC O-top at Kilmore Quay)

Leinster Champs entries close March 23rd
The closing date for the Leinster Championships at Rossmore, outside Monaghan, is today, March 23rd. This area hasn't been used for years - it was previously used for a Leinster Relay Championships and an Irish Two-Day. The Fingal web site has details and you can enter on line. See here.

Junior Cup Starts
A new competition for Juniors gets underway at the Leinster Championships. The Junior Cup, brainchild of GEN's David Healy, will award points for the regional and national championships and one day of the ShamrockO-Ringen in classes MW14A up to MW20L. There will be 7 rounds of racing of which the best 4 results will count.

Round 1: Leinster Championships, Monaghan 05/04/09
Round 2: IOC middle distance, Donegal 02/05/09
Round 3: IOC long, Donegal 03/05/09
Round 4: Shamrock O-Ringen, Day 2 Kerry 31/05/09
Round 5: NIOC Fermanagh 03/10/09
Round 6: Munster Championships, Tipperary 25/10/09
Round 7: Connacht Championships 29/11/09

Details of prizes will be announced later.
This reinstates the idea of a National League which used to be run by Frank Cunnane under the FIOA banner for all age classes. The scoring system will be the same as the Leinster League uses.

40 Years of Irish Orienteering this April

William Augustine Mulligan: The (almost forgotten) Father of Irish Orienteering, by Aonghus ÓCléirigh

When and where exactly was Ireland's first orienteering event held? A half page article discovered by Pat Healy in the Clonmel Nationalist newspaper dated 19 April 1969 describes in detail the newly found sport and reports on the first event organised in this country (recorded in print or otherwise) - a competition planned and run for members of the 3rd Motor Squadron (FCA) based in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
The newspaper reports that on Sunday April 13th 1969 at Harney's Cross near Clonmel, 44 members of the 3rd Motor Squadron took part in the first orienteering event for FCA personnel over a 7-mile cross-country course from Boola Bridge to the Raven's Rock and back through the forest to Harney's Cross. (The current orienteering map of Kilsheelan covers some of the terrain used for that event.) The squadron was divided into district teams for the competition - Clonmel, Rathgormack, Carrick, Kilcash, Fethard, Lismolin and Mullinahone. Competitors ran in pairs; the three winning pairs in the various categories were Corporal Wm Harty and Trooper Wm Byme, Trooper Wm McGee and Trooper Devine, and Sergeant D Fahey and Trooper Dargan. Clonmel took the district team prize. The 'Clerk of the Course' was Corporal Tom Hannon, one of those whose photograph appears in the newspaper article.
Commandant William Augustine (Gus) Mulligan, commanding officer of the 3rd Motor Squadron in Clonmel, had encountered the sport while serving in Cyprus with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. He was introduced to orienteering by a Capt N Engrist of the Swedish Battalion, and on his return in 1968 he passed on the sport to his unit in December 1968.
In a separate article published in the March 1969 edition of "An Cosantóir" - the Defence Forces in-house publication - Gus Mulligan describes orienteering as 'excellent military training, combining practical use of the map, compass work, physical fitness and intelligence.' He adds that 'the fastest does not always win as one may defeat a faster runner by skilful planning'. There is 'nothing new in orienteering, as it is practised in all armies of the world with the aid of a protractor, map and compass.' He attributes the advent of the SILVA compass (which combined protractor and compass in one unit) as greatly simplifying and demystifying navigation.
The early maps used for military orienteering in Ireland were of scale 6-inches- to-one-mile. Since there were few photocopiers in those days, copies were produced by first tracing the main features of the map on to a foil and then reproducing the traced image using the Gestetner printing apparatus (a mainstay of every Defence Forces Orderly Room of that time).
Where does Gus Mulligan's event fit within the currently accepted history of Irish orienteering? The re-discovered newspaper article places the Kilsheelan event as the first organised orienteering event in this country.

(Aonghus continues “The second orienteering event held here was the competition organised by Michael Lunt in Autumn 1969 in The Devil's Glen. A following event was run in the Glen of the Downs by Paddy O'Leary”. However, Eoin Rothery’s records have the Glen of the Downs event run by Paddy O’Leary on 1st October 1969, Niall Rice’s event at Blessington on 1st November 1969, and Mike Lunt’s Devil’s Glen event on December 26th 1969 - Ed).

Irish orienteers today are indebted to these, and many other pioneers of Irish orienteering - both civilian and military.

Nocturnal Navigation

In order to explore the international dimension to the great night-O debate (but actually to avoid annihilation by the CNOC orienteering machine at Ballinastoe) four of us travelled to Mytchett, Surrey, for the 2009 British Night Orienteering Championships. The forests south of London are near perfect for orienteering; open and runnable with complex contour detail and undulating terrain. Mytchett is also criss-crossed with a multitude of tracks, some little ones from mountain bikers and some gargantuan ones gouged out by military vehicles. Recent wet weather had made the churned up forest roads into tank traps that were best avoided, sometimes forcing me to take a cross country route against my path-preferring night-O instincts. But the bramble-free open forest was a joy to run through.

The turnout of 250 on a cold, clear, Saturday night was unusually low for a British Championship event, however it should be noted that they, like us, have a 16+ age rule for night-O. I asked the organisers why the event was held on a Saturday and not a Tuesday and was met with a bemused blank stare.

I did an unscientific survey while waiting for my start slot: of the 27 people around me, three had small hillwalker-style headtorches (about 60 lumens), one had an interesting looking home made job, one woman had a dual-beam system that I think she unscrewed from her mountain bike, and the other 22 had the ever contentious (in Ireland) Silva or Mila 20-watt halogen Night-O headlamp (about 200 lumens).

The popularity of the 20-watt night-O headlamp was illustrated by the fact that the Ultrasport shop at the event was sold out of them before most competitors had even arrived. It was also interesting to note that modern high-power LED systems were in a very small minority at the event. One member of our group pushed the light bar even higher with a brand new 550-lumen Silva Alpha system that lights up the terrain by setting fire to the surrounding vegetation.

The courses were very well planned and challenging, testing our technique to the limit; even tiny lapses of concentration were punished with several minutes of tricky relocation. Proper international night-O is not dumbed-down for the lack of light or for the competitors’ choice of equipment; it has exactly the same level of technical difficulty as daylight-O and there is also little difference in course length. The men’s elite course was won in 6.9 minutes per kilometre.

Úna May of 3ROC was the star of our party, winning the W40 class (but not the British title; she’s still one of our own). Horror of horrors, Úna had a problem with the high power bulb in her headtorch and had to join the ranks of the photon-deprived with a mere 100 lumens, but even this impediment did not stop her magnificent navigation skills shining like a beacon through the darkness. The Lagan Valley junior development squad was also there, spending their UK Lottery money on shiny new Silva headlamps and compasses. Already a formidable force to be reckoned with, they performed very well in the M/W16/18 classes. Maybe we should arrange a night-time shoot-out between LVO and CNOC? He who has the biggest torch wins…

A great orienteering weekend was topped off 14 hours later on Sunday morning with a second very enjoyable run (orienteering, not hillrunning) at the nearby Yateley & Minley Concorde Chase event.

Here are the results of the event and here are the courses and routes on Routegadget.

By the way, in his 2009 event calendar I think John McCullough has found the ideal solution to everyone’s night-O concerns; it is possible to orienteer through the night with no need of a headlamp at this event: http://tinyurl.com/anqlau, the perfect politically correct compromise solution.

Marcus Geoghegan, January 2009

Editor's note: There is still some night-O to be had at home. It's a great way to sharpen up your navigation and add a new challenge to your orienteering. Check out the Fixtures List on the IOA page. In Leinster we've had two night events in Wicklow and there's one at Tara in Co. Meath on 1st February, plus Killiney Hill, Belfield and Phoenix Park to come. And who says that orienteering doesn't help your geography? Why shouldn't Wicklow and Meath feature in the Dublin by Night series?

2009 Orienteering Preview

2009 marks the 40^th anniversary of the start of Irish orienteering: why not mark the occasion by spreading your wings a bit?

A strong Euro, weak dollar, weak pound, recession: whatever the economic climate, now is the time to start planning or fantasising about your orienteering year. If you have never taken an orienteering trip abroad, it’s something every active orienteer should do at some stage and it may become part of your annual orienteering plan. It will bring you to interesting places, allow you to do something you enjoy and provide enough free time for non-orienteers in the party to do things they enjoy too.

Even if you don’t stray from Irish shores, you can take in multi-day events like the Irish Championships in Donegal or the Shamrock O-Ringen in Killarney. Without travelling too far, you could take in the Jan Kjellstrom in Northumbria at Easter or the Scottish 6-Day in Perthshire in August.

Every year the excellent CompassSport magazine (http://www.blogger.com/www.compasssport.co.uk) publishes a review of many of the events to feature in the coming twelve months and you are referred to this for a more comprehensive list.

Another good place to look for international orienteering information is the website "World of O".

If you have been to any interesting events abroad that you would recommend, please send in details and I’ll include them.

Now read on …

Ireland has the usual Championships plus the Shamrock O-Ringen in 2009. The Leinster Championships, run by Fingal, are on April 4^th at Rossmore forest in Co. Monaghan, an area which has not been used for 20 years or more. Make a two-day of it with the LVO event on Saturday 3^rd at Crosmurrin, Co. Fermanagh.

The Irish Championships on open mountain in south Donegal on May 2-4 at Lough Eske. Closing date (cd) 18/3, 1/4. There is a proposal to run a Northern Ireland Sprint Championships on Friday 1^st May, so you could maybe manage 4 days orienteering on the trot. Later that month, the Shamrock O-Ringen is based at Killarney on May 30-June 1 with events at the Black Lakes, Crohane Mountain and Muckross, three great areas with a range of terrains.

If Trail Orienteering is your speciality, the Irish Trail-O 2-Day Championships are listed on the IOA fixtures list as being at Castleward near Strangford, Co. Down on April 25-26, run – of course – by LVO. For information on Trail Orienteering, see here.

The Setanta Rogaine, a 6 and 24 hour score event for pairs, moves back from midsummer to 18^th July in Wicklow.

On September 12-13, the NIOA hosts the BOF Junior Inter-Regional Championships which may be tied in with open events for the rest of us: if not, you could offer to help, or at least go along to see some of the future stars in action, while the Senior Home International comes to Fermanagh on October 3-4.

The October Bank Holiday weekend sees the Munster Championships at Ballydavid, in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary on the 25^th, staged by Cork O and the major events of the year finish with the Connacht Championships on 29^th November, venue to be confirmed.

Britain

The big events in Britain include the Jan Kjellstrom festival at Easter and the Scottish 6-Day in August. There is a National Event in the Lake District the Sunday after Easter which you could take in as part of a JK trip.

April 10 -13: JK in the Northumbrian Hills. Sprint in Newcastle City, 2 days individual at Kyloe (JK85 anyone?) and Relay. Trail-O also. http://www.blogger.com/www.jk2009.org.uk Closing dates 31/1/09, 28/2/09, 20/3/09. (If you really like planning ahead, the JK will be in Northern Ireland at Easter 2011 …)

2-8; Scottish 6-days, Tayside with event centre at Perth racecourse. Easily accessible from Edinburgh or Glasgow. 6 days with a rest day in the middle. High quality orienteering in a relaxed atmosphere.

The major British events for 2009 can be found at www.bof.org.uk:

Jan 24 British Night Championships: Aldershot
Feb 14-15 Regional Event & Welsh Championships: Newport
Feb 21 Scottish Night Orienteering Championship: Aboyne
Feb 22 National event & Southern Championships & Interland: nr Beaconsfield
Feb 28-Mar 1BRITISH ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS: New Forest
Apr 10-13 JAN KJELLSTROM ORIENTEERING FESTIVAL: Newcastle
Apr 19 National event & Northern Championships: Ulverston
Apr 25-26 Lincolnshire Bomber Weekend: Lincoln
May 3 British Elite Championships – Long: Forest of Dean
May 3 The "Mike Nelson BOKTrot" National event: Forest of Dean
May 9 British Elite Sprint Championships: Nottingham
May 10 British Elite Championships – Middle: Loughborough
May 23 National event & Scottish Championships: Kingussie
Aug 2-8 Scottish 6 Days Regional Events: Tayside
Sep 5-6 Junior Home International: Newborough, Anglesea
Sep 12-13 Junior Inter Regional Championships: N Ireland
Sep 12 National event: Skipton
Oct 3-4 Senior Home International: Fermanagh area
Nov 14-15 Veterans Home International: Longshaw/Eyam
Dec 13 National event & Midlands Championships: Cannock

France
Easter in Eastern France? April 11-13: Easter in Kaysersberg, near Colmar. 2 x Classic, Chasing Start. C/D 25/1, 8/3.

On July 11-13 there’s a 3-day in the sandy, rocky forests of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. See here. It's followed on Bastille Day by an event called "The 77" including a course with 77 controls, 2 x 7.7. km loops, in Seine & Marne, Départment no. 77.

Scandinavia
The longest running and best attended multi-day events tend to be in Scandinavia, the home of orienteering.

The 61st Jukola overnight 7-person relay in Finland - the biggest relay competition in the world, with more than 1200 teams running - on June 13-14 (jukola2009.com) and the Junior World MTBO Championships (incorporating the European Champs and the European Youth & Masters Champs) at Birkerod in Denmark on June 22-28 may appeal.

On July 18-24, the O-Ringen (Swedish 5-Day) is based at Eksjo in Smaland, southern Sweden. It's is no longer that much more expensive than Ireland (unlike Norway) and a trip to the O-Ringen need not break the bank. They are unlikely to repeat last year’s attendance of 24000 but the events are all close together and cyclable or bussable from the event centre.

The week before, you could squeeze in the Finnish 5-Day at Hameenlinna (July 12-17), not too far from Ryanair's Tampere.

Italy
This is a busy year in Italy, with the Junior World Championships on July 6-12. On September 5-9 there's the Puglia 5-days in southern Italy, with 3 days of Forest and 2 days of cities, http://www.orienteering.it/. You could also run in the highlands around Asiago, in wonderful prealpine forests, on 16-17 May at the Highlands Open.

Mid-November attracts hundreds of orienteers to a street-O in Venice which is reportedly a unique event. In 2008 it was on 16^th November and was attended by a group from Ireland. See http://www.blogger.com/www.orivenezia.it.

Other Europe
Some of the most memorable events I have run in have been in Switzerland. This year they are hoping to capture some of the magic of the mountains again, with a 6-day at Muotatal which unfortunately clashes with the Scottish 6-Day.

2-8: Swiss O-week, Muotatal, south of Zurich. 6 days with a rest day in the middle., http://www.blogger.com/www.swiss-o-week.ch. Event includes a town sprint, short distance, three in pre-alpine terrain and an alpine long distance to finish. It sounds a bit like the superb 2006 Swiss O-week in Zermatt.

At the end of May there’s a 3-Day at Breda in Holland (May 29 - 1st June) with extra events sometimes involving beer drinking and the like, http://www.blogger.com/www.holland-ol.nl

Spain & Portugal have a range of events, particularly attractive in the winter and spring, like the 2^nd Madeira Orienteering Festival (Jan 28-30) with 3 middle distance races and a night sprint.(http://www.blogger.com/www.mof2009.com)

If you want warmer weather, try the 23 - 30: Portugal O summer 6 day in July, Cantanhede, Beira, 100km south of Porto. http://www.blogger.com/www.ptosummer.com Runnable forested sand dunes, warm weather - not too far north of the WMOC08 terrain.

August 11 -16: The 5 Days of Spain. Up by the coast in the North, based just south of Santander. http://www.blogger.com/www.ocincodias.com/noticias/

Eastern Europe
10-12: Prague Easter 2009. Kokorinsko nature reserve, 45 - 75km north of Prague. Expect tricky sandstone terrain and cheap beer within 100m of the finish line at each stage. C/D 1/3, 29/3. www.dkp.orienteering.cz/pe

August - 9: Bohemia 5 Day, Novy Bor, Czech Republic. 90km N of Prague. Same area as used for the World Masters in 1998 - and winners from then can compete free of charge! www.ok-bor.cz/bohemia2009/. Maybe a cheaper holiday alternative to Switzerland and the Scottish. C/D 30/4, 30/6.

You might like to tie this in with the World Orienteering Championships at Miskolc in Hungary from August 18 to 23. Though aimed at the Elites, the WOC welcomes ordinary orienteers too: spectators help to make the atmosphere and to make the event financially viable. You can run in the Hungaria Cup from the 21^st to 23^rd. (http://www.blogger.com/www.woc2009.hu)

North America
August : 2008 Canadian Orienteering Championships in Spruce Woods Provincial Park, Manitoba, http://www.blogger.com/www.coc2009.com. There is a 2 day the weekend before

Elsewhere

Greenland June 24-27 Arctic Midnight. Certainly a different place for a holiday.

Australia
April 10-13: Australian 3 days. Launceston, Tasmania. Day 1 is a World Ranking Event. 4 more events up to the 19th make it a 10 day feast of orienteering.

In September the World Masters O Champs 2009 is at Lithgow, New South Wales, Entry fees are a bit pricey as it is part of the World Masters Games and you have to pay their accreditation fee too.

Israel
The World Mountain BikeO-Championships are at Belt Shemesh, in Israel on August 9-16. The International O-Federation are watching the political situation in Israel and will decide if they need to change the plans for the event closer to the date.

Turkey
One of the most unusual events this year will be the Istanbul 5-Day on November 4-8. It includes a night sprint event in the Grand Bazaar, with a map on two levels: green control circles on the upper floor, red on the ground floor! Last year the 5th event had more than 600 runners.

After that, you're on your own! Good luck with your plans and please write about it for TIO when you come home.

Computers in Orienteering: December 6th 2008

Orienteering and computers are inextricably linked, from mapping, through course planning, to results processing. A recent IOA seminar dealt with many facets of the issue ...

Marcus Geoghegan of the Irish Orienteering Association organised a Computers in Orienteering workshop in the Heritage Hotel near Killenard, County Laois. The outcome of the tightly packed, regimentally controlled schedule was a recognition that our knowledge sharing must continue and improve, as well as a pile of suggestions about how we can get the most out of the technology that we use.

Martin Flynn started the day off with a discussion about his program, Ór, presenting and demonstrating the best way to use the program and leading a practical session that stressed:

• the keyboard shortcuts and reading the help menu

• the need to make sure that SportIdent units are correctly programmed and synchronised

• the importance of ticking “rented” for rented SI cards and the competitor archive problems that failure to do this can cause

• the competitor statistics that are available during and after the event

• how to handle SI card reusability, a key feature of the latest version of Ór

• how to upload results and how competitor information (name, club etc) is harvested into the online competitor database

• how an orienteer can change his own club and class details

• how results are automatically loaded into splitsbrowser and how they can be easily loaded into winsplits online

Future plans for Ór might include the handling of relays & multi-day events and the reading of start controls, but Martin needs a lot of feedback and suggestions about what features we would like to see.

It was stressed that organisers must import a blank map JPEG and the courses file (from OCAD or PurplePen) into Ór before the event so that a RouteGadget is automatically produced when the results are published. Competitors can then draw in their route in Routegadget using a mouse. Those with a GPS watch can also upload their GPS track and they can all replay their routes against each other

Clubs were asked never post results or start-lists on the Orienteering eGroup and to use links to the results pages and club websites instead.

A short discussion about orienteering.ie followed, emphasising the need for all orienteers and clubs to send in fresh information to the TIO blog and eGroup. Martin demonstrated how simple it was for a club to get a personalised club-specific fixture list and club-specific results for inclusion in their club website via an RSS feed.

Fachtna Healy then discussed how CorkO handle online event entries and PayPal on the Shamrock O Ringen website. He demonstrated how a well-built system gives extremely useful up-to-the-minute to information to organisers and planners, such as the entries by class and course, and he showed how the CorkO system automatically produces competitor files that can be loaded into Ór. The workshop unanimously agreed that we need to build on this work to create an Irish Orienteering online event entry system that is available to all clubs.

Fachtna then led an interesting discussion about how to Laser print (as opposed to inkjet) maps from the boot of a car.

Brian Power discussed Sportident hardware and the responsibility of the event controller to ensure that everything is synchronised. SI TimeMaster and checking the time via the LEDs on the rear of the units was demonstrated. Unusual occurrences, such as a competitor punching the finish station twice, were highlighted. The IOA SportIdent northern and southern inventories were listed.

Brian then talked about map printing and his experiences of getting Snap Printing to purchase a stock of Pretex waterproof paper; the discussion also covered people’s experiences of map printing services from Print5 (UK) and Sport Software (Germany).

Aine Joyce then electrified the audience with a presentation on how to get reliable 220v AC power at an event, where we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of car batteries, leisure batteries, cigarette lighters, generators, battery powered printers and 9-cell laptop batteries in a lively debate.

Stuart Scott demonstrated IOLeague both from a competitor’s and a league organiser’s point of view. IOLeague is based on a fair scoring system that uses standard deviations and can be used not just for large leagues like the Munster and Leinster, but also for club and junior leagues. The forum agreed that there is great scope for expanding IOLeague, not least for inter-club leagues and to make it the basis of a National Ranking system.

Tony Doolin demonstrated the sophisticated Orienteering game called Catching Features, with an emphasis on how to convert an OCAD map into a Catching Features map file. For example, OCAD does not have a concept of slope direction, but Catching Features needs to know if a competitor is running uphill or downhill. Catching Features is a very effective 3D orienteering simulation and it even has online events where competitors from around the world compete via the Internet. The forum agreed that it would be great publicity for Irish orienteering to create a model Irish Orienteering Catching Features map and have it available online.

Pat Healy, the OCAD maestro who can sign his name using OCAD Bezier curves, gave a well researched and detailed demonstration of how to use OCAD’s course setting features. He stressed the need to get the scale and map print areas correct and showed how the control descriptions can be overlaid on the map in a variety of sophisticated ways. It was universally agreed that we need to get Pat to run some OCAD master-classes for Irish Orienteering – watch this space in 2009.

Gerard Butler then gave a very smooth demonstration of PurplePen, an alternative to OCAD for course setting, that covered creating a new course, choose the map file, choosing map scale, zooming, control placement, course drawing and control descriptions.

The choice between OCAD and PurplePen is depends on personal preference but one suggestion was to use OCAD for sophisticated events (but be aware that OCAD 9 Demo only supports 5 courses) and use Purple Pen for standard events e.g. interfirm league event.

Marcus Geoghegan then discussed other SportIdent software including Autodownload, OE2003, SIME, Helga, Orienteering Organiser, SiCard Reader and Ór’s ability to auto-send punch information to an online database. In choosing any event software you need to make sure to that the software understands our colour-coded concept where the same class can be on many courses in the same event, something that is unusual internationally.

Marcus then briefly demonstrated two performance analysis programs, QuickRoute and WinSplits Pro. Quickroute is used with GPS tracks to extract a lot of useful information about individual legs and is used by the Swedish international squads as a performance analysis tool. Winsplits Pro, the sister product to Winsplits Online, has literally hundreds of features; Marcus showed how it can be used to replay a race, analyse your performance compared to “superman”, how to see pack formation, the percentage advantage gained from following, and how to analyse your time-loss.

Finn Van Geldern had been scheduled to discuss orienteering video publication but was unfortunately unable to be there.

A huge amount of information was shared at the event and there was agreement on the need to keep up the momentum and develop some of the systems that were discussed, and to make the forum an annual event.

We are indebted to the following presenters without whom this event would not have happened: Fachtna Healy; Brian Power; Aine Joyce; Stuart Scott; Tony Doolin; Pat Healy; Gerard Butler and Marcus Geoghegan; with thanks to Ailbhe Creedon and Fiona O’Riordan for the record of the day’s proceedings and to Pat Healy for his encouragement and support, and to Harold White for the original suggestion to run the workshop. But above all we would like to thank Martin Flynn for his immense contribution to the event and for the hours of preparation that he put into it. All presenters received a complimentary 4GB memory stick and Martin was also given a €75 outdoor sports gift voucher as a small token of our appreciation.

Attendees (31 people from 14 clubs)
3ROC: Ger Butler, Lindie Naughton; Ajax: Martin Flynn, Marcus Geoghegan; BOC: Sharon Lucey, Patrick Murphy; Boru: Ed Niland; CNOC: Bernie O'Boyle, Pat Healy; CorkO: Rob McEvoy, John Scannell, Ailbhe Creedon, Fiona O'Riordan, Brian Flannelly, Fachtna Healy; Fingal: Ian Murphy; GEN: Laurence Quinn, Aine Joyce, David Quinn, Stephen Doorly, Mary Healy; GMITO: Kevin O'Callaghan; LVO: Harold White; Setanta: Roxanne White, Terry Lawless, Brian Power, Tony Doolin; UCCO: Kieran Beausang; UCDO: Stuart Scott; WatO: Andrew Cox, Hugh Dobbs.

Ailbhe Creedon, December 2008

Home Internationals 2008

Scotland regained the title at the 2008 Senior Home International on the 25th-26th October in Perthshire with the relays at Dalnamein on Saturday and the individual event at Craig a Barns on Sunday, writes team member Kieran Rocks of LVO (on left).
Unfortunately the lack of a full Irish team at this year's event (particularly the attendance of only one M/W20) meant that there was only one competitive Irish relay team fielded, thereby ensuring the wooden spoon position even before the event began (barring a lot of non-finishers among the other national teams).

The following orienteers, managed by Fionne Austin, represented Ireland at the event:
W21 - Aislinn Austin, Fionne Austin (both CorkO), Ciara Largey (FermO), Ruth Lynam, Niamh O'Boyle (both CNOC), Faye Pinker (CorkO).
M21 - Niall Bourke, Shane Lynch (both CorkO), Declan McGrellis (LVO), Marcus Pinker (CorkO), Kieran Rocks (LVO).
M20 - Fiach O'Rourke (Fingal).

The relays were held in some fairly wet and windy conditions, although the rain did stop for a period and the forest provided shelter.
Dalnamein is a forest divided by an uncrossable river with open moorland on 3 sides, next to the A9 main road. The courses were based on a bridge over the river with a longer part firstly in the eastern half of the forest and moorland before returning past the start/finish area again for a shorter and faster finishing loop to the west. The only Irish competitive team saw Shane off first, before handing on to Fiach with Marcus running the last leg. Shane had a solid enough run, coming in ahead of two Welsh teams. However, Fiach had a bit of a problem with one of the controls so even though Marcus was able to pick off one of the Welsh teams again, they didn't score any points for their efforts. The other male team (Niall, Kieran and Declan) had a couple of mispunches and controls not registering, but the result was irrelevant anyway.
The female teams had quite solid runs and recorded the 5th (Aislinn, Faye & Niamh) and 8th (Ciara, Fionne & Ruth) best times, although again not being classified.

Overall Scotland had claimed 1st, 2nd and 5th in the men's and 1st, 3rd and 8th in the women's to claim victory.

The weather called for a quick dart back to the cars after running and on to some hot drinks and food in Pitlochry. All of the national teams were housed in Aberfeldy where the lasagne dinner was devoured on the Saturday evening. The O Mountain Marathon crisis/farce was the focus of much attention in the hostel lounge and the pub, but even Shane at his most charming could not persuade the pub landlord to turn on the news - "we'll all leave if you don't turn it on" didn't work ... so we left.

Sunday's individual event was in much dryer but colder conditions on a tough and technical area with every sort of terrain, changes of direction and leg length. Reigning Irish Champion Marcus had a great 3rd place finishing within a minute of the winner due to a steady race, particularly in the 2nd half while others made mistakes, while among the women both Niamh and Ciara claimed top 10 placings on an enjoyable course.

Scotland completed a clean sweep with M21 being won by Ewan McCarthy and W21 by Mhairi MacKenzie.

There was a final team gathering at the Birnam Arts Centre for feeding and drinking before we split up for the journey home with the Irish-bound flying and the exiles having a long trip back down south.

Thanks to Murray Cowan for getting the selection off the ground late in the day and to Fionne for taking on the managerial role. Hopefully next year back on home soil again in Fermanagh we will have a full selection of competitors and be able to do more justice to orienteering in Ireland.

Full results are available here with Routegadget of the individual here.

Read Andy Kitchin's account of the weekend from the Scottish perspective here.

JHI 2008

The Junior Home International took place on September 19-20 at Ainsdale Dunes near Southport in Lancashire. In the closest JHI so far, the final result between Ireland and Wales came down to the last two runners. Unfortunately for us victory went to Wales.
England 128, Scotland 114, Wales 60, Ireland 58
Notable Irish performances were Áine Mc Cann 2nd W16 and Jack Millar 3rd M14.
The Irish juniors displayed pride, courage and determination to show their country in the best possible light. Their attitude should provide optimism for the future of our sport - let's hope they can carry this through to senior level!
With every year that passes the Irish juniors appear to believe in themselves more and more. Without doubt we will soon lose our customary bottom slot.
Thank you and well done to all.

The team was:
W14. Niamh Corbett, Dearbhla Knight, Cliona McCullough, Deirdre Ryan.
W16. Aine McCann, Andrea Stefkova.
W18. Fiona Hill, Hannah Maxwell, Katarina Stefkova.
M14. Jack Millar, Eoin McCullough, Alex Simonin, Mark Stephens.
M16. Cillin Corbett, Sean Knight, Colm Moran, Conor Short.
M18. Niall Ewen, Alan Lane, Padraig Mulry, Kevin O'Boyle.

Greg Mc Cann
JHI Team Manager

Full Results here.

Irish Results here.

More photos here.

Veteran Home International
The VHI was on home ground on 4th-5th October, combined with the Northern Ireland Championships.
The individual race on Saturday at Magilligan brought the runners out into the open dunes into the teeth of gale force winds and rain. Sundays relays at Woodburn, close to Carrickfergus, was a more conventional, if brambly, forest.
Despite wins for Ruth Lynam in W50L and Steven Linton in M40L, the finishing order was Scotland 269, England 267, Wales 224 and Ireland 130.
For a report from Scotland's Martin Dean, see here.
For NIOC results see here.