Autumn League #1: Currabinny Wood Tuesday August 30th Results and Report

Post date: Sep 01, 2016 11:39:43 AM

The first event in the CorkO Autumn Orienteering League attracted a crowd of 70 enthusiastic orienteers to Currabinny Wood on Tuesday evening. As the evening light continues to close in, many families and individuals were keen to take advantage of the few remaining opportunities in 2016 for some evening orienteering.  After many kilometers of trails and numerous orienteering destinations lots of summer league finishers were eager to get hold of their hard earned Summer League finisher t-shirts. No doubt these great 2016 Summer League mementos lured some folks to Currabinny on Tuesday night. Several competitors wasted no time in testing these technical running tops and immediately donned their new top and set off on their course.The fine dry evening accentuated the charming features in this unique woodland setting. This area is renowned for its physically challenging terrain. However the planner set out two challenging courses which gracefully took competitors across this pleasant hillock. The Short course began with a steep ascent towards the Giant’s Grave before winding down the hill via the summer house to the lower paths adjacent to the sea. The relatively flat stretch at the start of the Long course provided an opportunity for some forward planning and allowed contestants to take a glimpse of the meandering ascent that lay ahead.With steep terrain such as this contouring is one of the key factors which influences competitor’s route choice and this was particularly evident on the legs from 6 to 7 and 13 to 14 on Tuesday night. Several participants opted to venture through the car park area to avoid unnecessary additional climb on the leg from 6 to 7. Similarly, on the route from 13 to 14 many participants delayed dropping to the lower path until they reached the vicinity of the control site. The Long course finished with a long straight run to the finish. This gave some of the fast runners in the field a chance to make up for any previous errors on the early stages of the course. For others this was a long exhausting sprint finish which required one final steep ascent before punching the finish control.It seems that several competitors weren’t resting on their laurels during our five week break from orienteering action. As a result the competition was fierce on the 4.3km Long course with less than a minute separating the top three finishers on the night. Jens Waechter managed to hold off a strong challenge from a number of competitors in the field to take the event win in a time of 26:21. Hot on Jens’s heels was Agris Kramins who punched all 15 controls in a time of 26:48 to finish runner up on the night. Third place went to Colm O’Sullivan who finished just 21 seconds after Agris in a time 27:09. The hilly terrain didn’t seem to slow these guys down.Incredibly, the fastest lady around the hills in Currabinny was Elaine Sheridan. She completed the taxing long course in a time of 36:33. There was a very close battle for the runner up honour and despite the grueling terrain just two seconds differentiated the next two lady finishers. Sinead O’Donoghue finished runner up on the night when she completed the course in a time of 38:38. A meager two seconds behind her was Eibhlin Cleary who took the final podium spot.On the 2.1km Short course it was Sienna Bosonnet who led the field. She finished the course in a time of 19:17 and claimed the title of Short course event winner. Runner up on the night was Liam Twomey who punched all 11 controls in a time of 22:26. Two other Bosonnet siblings battled hard for the final podium spot on the Short course and there was just 14 seconds between them at the finish line. Isaac Bosonnet edged passed his sister Chiara to take third place in a time of 23:09.Well done to all who participated on the day. Full individual results with splits are available here.Huge thanks to Dermot Gallagher for planning the testing courses and to Mary Curran, Andrew and Cathal Turner for helping with registration. Thanks also to Dave O’Donovan and John Scannell for assisting with starts.Next week will see us head West along the Wild Atlantic away when we visit Garretstown Wood in Ballinspittle. It has been a long number of years since we’ve orienteered in this wood so it should present a rewarding challenge to all who participate.Hope you can join us!