What is Trail O?

For a full description of Trail O check out the Trail Org website.

Conventional orienteering combines fast running with precise navigation, typically through forests or over moorland. Trail Orienteering (Trail O) is a discipline of the sport designed so that people with disabilities could have meaningful orienteering competitions. It completely eliminates the element of speed over the ground, but makes the map-interpretation element much harder. Able-bodied people can compete on equal terms with the disabled.

Waterford Orienteers in association with the Office of Public Works will host a Trail Orienteering event as part of National Heritage Week on Sunday August 31st. The come and try it event will take place at Kennedy Arboretum with start times planned between 11 and 2. The event is open to all.

There will be 10 control sites in easy view of the main tracks so access is not an issue. There is no restriction on wheelchairs being pushed although the park is fairly flat. At each stopping point, the competitor will be given 3 choices (a, b, or c) to decide where the flag or kite should be correctly placed. There will be no timed control. The idea is to get all 10 controls correctly located. There is no time limit.

For details about the Arboretum check out the Heritage Ireland website.

More information will be posted later in the Summer on this Blog and also on the Disability section of Waterford Sports Partnership.

EMIT in Oak Vale

By kind invitation, I travelled up to Stradbally in the early hours of Thursday morning to observe the workings of the DFO All-Army Championships. As newly appointed Development Officer with the IOA, I was interested to see how the DFO organise their events.

On arrival at Oak Vale Forest, I was relieved to find there were Portaloos.

At the JK in Bristol, I had experienced the EMIT system but this was a chance to look at the alternative more closely. The photo shows how the tablet that you carry around with you instead of an SI card is placed on the control. It gives a reading of the control number which is always a help but it does not beep. For me it is another thing to read with my wonky eyesight and I prefer the beep on the Sport Ident system which I can hear.

At 9.15, I headed off on Course 4, a lengthy 7.5 km with almost 300 metres climb. Oak Vale forest has some nice deciduous blocks and is largely runnable. Some of the later craggy areas had a bingo feel due to the variability of ground cover. An enjoyable run even though there was sometimes more navigation in the circle than between controls!!

Download and then a welcome cup of coffee and roll and chat over the courses with other early runners who were doing a little bit of checking in return for the run. The early sun gave way to some heavy showers but as ever the army were prepared with their tents for shelter.

Back out with a camera to surprise a few runners. Settled into a depression and almost witnessed Ruairi Short taking his eye out with a branch.

Thanks to Pat Farrelly for his invitation and to all his team for their excellent organisation.

Results can be found on the DFO website.

Portlaw score event refixed

Please note that the Score event due to take place last Wednesday was postponed due to the awful weather. It has been refixed for Wednesday 25th June at Tower Hill, Portlaw.
We look forward to you being there. Scouts up to 7.30, everyone else mass start at 7.45.

Summertime on Bofin

The Irish 3-day event returned to Inishbofin after a two year absence. Once again the sun split the rocks. The lengthy car journey from Waterford up the river Suir to Cahir castle via Carrick and Clonmel is the easy bit. Heading onward to Limerick via ,that blink it and you miss it, Limerick junction, the road gets twistier. Limerick to Galway is not bad after all the investment on the infrastructure around Shannon airport and the need to whizz coachloads of Americans off to Connemara. Galway city to Clifden along the N59 has seen major improvements in recent years but is still slow through Moycullen and Oughterard. Reaching Maam Cross, you get the feeling of being in the real Connemara with peat bogs and spectacular scenery. Last sign of civilisation at Clifden before the islands. Take the ferry at Cleggan for the 45 minute trip to Inishbofin. You arrive in past Cromwells fort which guards the entrance to the harbour. Busy weekend, two weddings (and no funeral) has booked out the island. Negative effect in that it reduces the number of orienteers that can get non-tent accommodation and makes the ferry very busy. On to our accommodation at the excellent Galley B and B/cafe on the east end of the island. Do not mention the Corncrake to those bleary eyed residents who in the interests of preserving the habitat of the bird under the REP's scheme have to listen to that blasted noise all night. What does the east end have that the west does not?...the best two sandy beaches.

On to the orienteering...day 1, short and not too technical but very steep in places on the west end of the island. Day 2 in the Middle Quarter close to the new runway was the long day with the most difficult part being navigating the new tracks close to the runway. Day 3 was close to the harbour and mixed fast running around the fort peninsula with tricky open terrain further east.
All round an excellent weekend brought to a fine conclusion by the playful antics of a school of dolphins as we docked in Cleggan.

If you get the chance next time round, I would give it 1o out of 10 for fun (oh and some orienteering!)

Where did the Summer go?

Thanks to John and Brid Casey for organising the final South East League event at Tramore Sand dunes today. Where did the Summer weather go?
Full results of the event and the SE league can be found at www.orienteering.ie

The SE League finishing places are as follows:

Blue Course
1. Andrew Pim; 2. Thomas Callery
Green Course
1. Pat O'Connor; 2. Liam O'Brien
Light Green Course
1. Mark Duffy; 2. Jana Cox
There were no Orange and Yellow competitors who competed in enough events.

Please contact me to get your prize.

Thank you to all those who Planned, controlled and organised events throughout the year.

Irish Schools Relays

Well done to all who competed at the Irish Schools Relay competition held in the beautiful setting of Kennedy Arboretum.
Midleton CBS dominated the Boys section winning the Senior and Minor classes with their Juniors coming in 2nd place.
Nagle Rice, Doneraile won the Minor Boys and Junior Girls with 2nd place in the Senior Girls and Junior Boys.
Ursuline, Waterford took the Senior Girls and the Minor Girls sections.
Newtown, Waterford managed runners up spot in Junior and Minor Girls.
Full results can be found in the results section of the Irish Orienteering website.

Leinster Championships

A belated report on the Leinster Championships which took place at a snowbound Fair Mountain in Wicklow on April 6th.

Andrew Pim led the way with an excellent 2nd on the M40 course. Liisa Honkasaari (W40) and Laura Cox (W16) both took 3rd place on their respective courses. Pride of place goes to Jonathan Pim who braved the elements to win the M12B course. Well done!

Irish Championships

Waterford based orienteers dominated in the M40 class in the Classic Race at the Irish Championships on Bere Island, County Cork with John Casey in 1st place and Andrew Pim in 3rd. Tom Callery came a respectable 6th. Neil Dobbs flew in to take an excellent 6th place on the Mens Elite race. Laura Cox missed out by 30 seconds on 2nd place, helping her injured sister to the finish. In the Short course race on Monday, Laura took the 2nd place over Cliona Gallwey who had performed well in the World Schools event.

John Casey came 2nd behind Brendan O'Brien in the short course M40 class. I managed to drop two places on the last control to finish 5th on the M50 short course...who moved that crag!!! Never listen to the people near the finish who offer helpful instructions! Neil Dobbs finished another creditable 7th on the M21 elite course.

John, Neil and I joined forces for the Open Mens Relays...Neil finished the 1st leg in 4th, John pulled the team up to 3rd after leg 2 but I made a big error on the 7th control out on the course and ended up in 6th. Nice to see a Wato team competing.

League hots up!

The penultimate leg of the South East Orienteering League coincided with last Sundays Munster League Event at Tickancor wood near Clonmel. Despite the sunny weather there was a small turnout from club members. Full results from the event are posted on the IOA website
A big thanks to Thomas and Nuala Callery, John and Brid Casey and Justin May for all their hard work in organising the event.

In the South East league, 4 events count on all courses except the Orange and Yellow course where the best 3 results count.
Blue Course: Andrew Pim has an unassailable lead with 4907 points from 4 events.
Fighting it out for second place are Thomas Callery (Ajax) 2182 points, Norman Storey 2105, Ian McHardy 1946 and Pat Murphy (BOC) 1913.
Green Course: Pat O’Connor still leads the way with 2809 points followed by Con Murphy 2703, Liam O’Brien (CorkO) 2567, Niall McEvoy 2549, Willie Fitzgerald 2435, Thomas Keegan (3Roc) 2325, Pat Cadogan (CorkO) 2250, Liam Gahan 2184, Kevin Grant 2181, Orla Power 2178, Ian Heggs 2162, Anna Cronin 2029 and Ray McEvoy 1995.
Light Green: Angela Cox has a slender lead with 2501 points from Jana Cox 2468, Mark Duffy 2185, Bernie Duffy 2178, Veronica Purcell 2045, Jonathan Pim 1959, Aoife Meaney 1740 and Caoimhe O’Carroll 1477.
On the Orange Course, only Cian Cadogan has completed two events.
On the Yellow course, it is Eimear and Laura Kelly who lead the way with 2420 and 2391 points respectively. Next are Niamh Power 2230, Emma Pim 2156, Hannah O’Mahoney 1936, Isabella O’Mahoney 1927 and Andy Reidy 1665.

The final event takes place at Tramore on Sunday May 18th when prizes will be given out.

Sport Ident comes to the South East

Waterford Orienteers have moved with the times and purchased enough Sportident equipment to run their local events but what is Sportident? The best explanations are to be found on the International SI website and the UK Sportident website.
SPORTident equipment is used worldwide to identify, time and score competitors in many different types of event. The competitor carries a small electronic SI-Card. This is dipped into electronic stations, which are located at each checkpoint. At orienteering events the SI-Card is used to record that competitors have successfully visited the controls in the right order. The SI-Card stores a list of the locations and the times they were visited.
At the end of the event, the contents of the SI-Card are downloaded into a computer. Each competitor can be given a printout that provides a summary of their performance. Full results may be displayed at the event and uploaded onto a website.
Sportident cards will be available to purchase along with the annual club membership at the next event. If you do not wish to purchase a card, you will have to rent a card for 2 euro every time you go to an event. All club events from now on will hopefully use this system and most events elsewhere in the country also use this system so it is worth your while making the purchase.

The Leagues go on

The orienteering event on Sunday 13th April is both a Munster League and a South East League event. The current placings in the South East League show that the Blue Course is being dominated by Andrew Pim who has completed the maximum 4 events with an unbeatable average of 1227. Second place is still up for grabs between Thomas Callery and Ian McHardy.
On the Green course, Pat O'Connor has the highest average (1405 from 2 events) but with 2 events left and best 4 to count, he can still be caught by Niall McEvoy, Thomas Keegan, Liam Gahan or Con Murphy. On the Light Green Course, Niall McEvoy leads the way but as he has gone up to Green since Christmas, he is likely to be passed out by Angela Cox, Veronica Purcell or any number of people who have only done one event so far, with two events remaining.
The Red course has been amalgamated with the Light green. The Orange Course has not been offered at all the events to date so the best three will count. this is still open to anyone to win but most likely from St Pauls Scouts. The Yellow course is still a close call with only the Kelly sisters, Eimear and Laura plus Emma Pim, Chris Reidy and Niamh Power the only ones to complete 2 of the 4 events so far.
The current standings in the Munster League should be available at the event and we await them being loaded to the IOA website.

Waterford Orienteers on the move

In recent years, there have been few Wato members taking part in the major events.
The Cox family joined over 100 other Irish orienteers for the annual JK event at Easter. This took part in very runnable terrain in Surrey, south of London. As well as the traditional 2 days individual event, there was a fast sprintO in the University of Surrey in Guildford and a muddy relay event south of Tunbridge Wells. Taking part in such a large event is a whole new experience...next year why not head to the North east of England for the JK?
This coming weekend, the Leinster Championships take place on Fair Mountain in County Wicklow. Laura and Andrew Cox will be joined by three generations of Pims at a range of different classes. Then it is back to Tickancor, near Clonmel for the Munster League event which we hope will attract all our members. This will use Sport Ident electronic system. The club have purchased 40 sport ident cards (dibbers) which will be on sale to members along with this years membership which have not been collected yet. The club have also purchased sport ident stations which will mean that all our events in future should use the electronic system...so get your dibbers now!
Then it is on to Bere Island for the Irish Championships over the May Bank Holiday...Neil Dobbs will fly in from Poland to take part in the M21 elite whilst once again the Cox and Pim families will fly the flag for Waterford at other levels. Will we have enough to enter a relay team this year?