Kinsale Urban-O Race Sunday March 20th Results and Report

The orienteering Sprint Relay Race which took place on UCC Campus the day before this event attracted orienteers from all four provinces and many of these competitors stayed in Cork to take advantage of the opportunity to race around the streets of Kinsale. We were also particularly delighted to welcome so many locals to the event. It was great see several Scouts in attendance and lovely to see so many families trying out the sport of orienteering for the first time. I'm sure their local knowledge was beneficial on some of the course legs. We hope you all enjoyed the experience and will consider joining us again at some of our other events.

It has been over ten years since CorkO last staged an event on the streets of Kinsale and the area was completely re-mapped for the race. The network of narrow streets combined with the steepness of the area provided an excellent challenge for all who participated. I'm sure competitors turned a few heads as they sprinted through the streets visiting all the controls at various features in the town centre. There was two courses on offer on the day and the competition was fierce on both. 

On the 2.7km Long course it was Darren Burke who led the field and claimed the event winner honour. The steep terrain and the intricate network of streets presented no challenge to him as he completed the course in a time of 17 minutes and 25 seconds. The runners-up title went to Zac O'Sullivan Hourihan who finished in a time of 19:55. Hot on Zac's heels was third place finisher Ruairi Long he was just 50 seconds behind Zac and finished in a time of 20:45.

The fastest lady around the steep and winding streets of Kinsale was visiting orienteer Olivia Baxter from Lagan Valley Orienteers. Having travelled the length of the country to attend the event she wasted no time navigating her way around this urban terrain. She punched all 20 controls in a time of 22:53. The next quickest lady was Emer Perkins, she traversed the 2.7km course in a time of 23:51. The final lady to claim a podium spot was third place finisher Leonore Winkler who completed the course in a time of 25:12.

On the Short course Daire O'Brien from Kerry Orienteers took the winners title when he completed the 1.8km course in a time of 17 minutes and 22 seconds. Daire had a comfortable winning margin over second place finisher Desmond O'Brien who punched all 12 controls in a time of 19:09. A meagre 27 seconds differentiated second and third place finishers on the day and Fiona O'Brien took third place completing the course in a time of 19:36.

Well done to all who participated at the event. Full individual results with split times are available here:

http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2683

Throughout the event we have photographer David Keane on the streets capturing all of the action on the day. His excellent album of photos can be view on our facebook page

www.facebook.com/corkorienteeing

Be sure to check them out to see if you got snapped racing around this charming town.

Huge thanks are due to Cillin Corbett and Jim O'Donovan for all their hard work and the long hours put into mapping the area for this event. The excellent quality of the map was appreciated by all competitors. We are further grateful to Cillin for planning the courses on the day. Thanks also to Rob McEvoy for controlling the event, Bobby O'Connor for erecting event signage, Dave O'Donovan and Danny O'Hare for ensuring everyone got started on the day and finally Liz Deane and Brian Corbett for their assistance with course setup and control collection.

We were very fortunate to have Sáile Kinsale Sports and Community Centre as the event centre on the day. This excellent facility over looking the picturesque Bandon river provided a fantastic focal point for our morning activities and created a very social atmosphere at the event as competitors engaged in lots of post race route analysis over brunch. So huge thanks Anne and Denis from Sáile for giving us access to this wonderful community facility.

We are also extremely grateful to Cork County Council Bandon Kinsale Municipal District and the local Gardai for allowing us to stage this event.

The superb amenities at the event centre afforded the Irish Junior Orienteering Squad a brilliant opportunity to raise some funds for their upcoming international excursions by holding a post race Cake Sale. Rosemarie O'Sullivan Hourihan provided a fabulous selection of home baked treats. These scrumptious snacks accompanied by a cuppa proved very popular and the Junior Squad are very thankful to the generosity of all competitors as they raised a staggering €320.56 on the day. Thanks are also due to the Perkins and Curran families for setting up and managing the stall.

We were delighted with the success of our first Urban-O race, we certainly enjoyed our visit to Kinsale and we'll be back again during the Summer months when we make our annual visit to James Fort during our Summer Orienteering League. In the mean time why not challenge yourself at one of the many more traditional style orienteering events taking place around the country. This is one of the busiest times in the orienteering calendar. Our next event will be a Munster League event on Sunday April 10th on the Sheep's Head. The Leinster Orienteering Championship will take place in Wicklow on Sunday April 17th and the Irish Orienteering Championships will be held over the May Bank Holiday weekend in Waterford.