Well done to all our members who donned the club colours at the weekend and represented CorkO at the 2017 Irish Orienteering Championships in Oughterard, Co. Galway. 

Our members traveled from near and far to be in the start box for the most prestigious event in the Irish Orienteering calendar and these championships certainly didn't disappoint. Those in attendance got to enjoy three days of challenging orienteering on technical terrain. We were very fortunate with the weather which made this testing landscape all the more enjoyable. There were some fabulous vistas of Lough Corrib and its environs on offer to remind those who struggled to find the controls they were looking for just why we enjoy this sport so much.

I'm sure there are some tired bodies today but it was all worth it. So huge thanks to WEGO for staging three fantastic days of orienteering. Excellent courses and great organisation all around. Thanks for a great weekend!

There was some fierce competition across all the classes and several CorkO members demonstrated their orienteering prowess and their competitive edge to claim some of the prizes on offer over the weekend. Darren Burke secured the Middle Distance championship title for Cork while CorkO's Marcus Pinker claimed his 10th Classic Distance title. Incredible consistency from Marcus means this record number of wins will be exceptionally hard to beat. Frank O'Brien was the only member of the club to do the double taking the M16 Middle and Classic distance titles. He is already the bookies favourite for the 2017 Summer League title!

The Relay action on Monday was an exciting affair and following a very close contest CorkO secured the Men's Open Premier title. There was an exhilarating finish in Women's Open Premier race and CorkO narrowly missed out on the Women's Open Premier title which went to CNOC on the day. Our Handicap 12 relay team set a blistering pace in this category and had a very comfortable winning margin in claiming the H12 Championship title.

Here is the full list of the CorkO Champions and podium finishers. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough podium pants to go around!

M21E Champion Darren Burke

M16 Champion Frank O'Brien 

M35 Champion Brian Corbett

M75 Champion Ted Feehan

W12 Champion Zane Kramina

W35 Champion Elaine Sheridan

M70 2nd Bob Pinker

W55 2nd Elizabeth Deane

W70 2nd Clare Nuttall

M21S 2nd Brendan Wall

M70 3rd Robert O'Connor

W12 3rd Mia Kelly Morrish

W21E 3rd Toni O'Donovan

W45 3rd Eadaoin Morrish

M21E Champion Marcus Pinker

M16 Champion Frank O'Brien

M55 Champion Brian Corbett

M75 Champion Ted Feehan

W70 Champion Clare Nuttall

M21S Champion Brendan Wall

M18 2nd Dan McDonnell

M55 2nd Colm O'Halloran

M70 2nd Bernard Creedon

W12 2nd Zane Kramina

W40 2nd Elaine Sheridan

W45 2nd Eadaoin Morrish

W21E 3rd Toni O'Donovan

M21L 3rd Gearoid Ryan 

M35 3rd Danny O'Hare

M40 3rd Jens Waechter

M45 3rd John Scannell

M70 3rd Bob Pinker

W12 3rd Mia Kelly Morrish

Men's Open Premier Champions - Cork Exiles - Darren Burke, Share Lynch and Marcus Pinker

Handicap 12 Champions - Better Left Corked - Jens Waechter, Brian Corbett and Colm O'Halloran

Women's Open Premier 2nd - Red Wans - Toni O'Donovan, Eadaoin Morrish and Niamh Corbett

Thanks to the good weather and the photographic skills of Action Photography there are lots of great pictures from the weekend which really capture all the action across this amazing terrain. Be sure to check them out on the Irish Orienteering facebook page at

www.facebook.com/Irish.Orienteering

It was great to have such a great club presences at these championships so congratulations to all for participating and hopefully we'll have an even bigger representation at next year event.