SL2013 Teams Update after Event 10

Post date: Jul 19, 2013 5:44:3 PM

We've reached the end of week 10 of our Summer League and the question on everyone's lips is: "What's all this about a Team League?"! Well since week 5 our regular Summer League orienteers have been grouped into 9 teams, and team members have been battling it out each week to score points for Summer League Team glory. The League came to a climax this week at Curragh Woods, our final competitive league event. Team True North and Team Magnetic North dominated for much of the League, but last week Team South made a sudden surge to the top of the leader-board. Could they hold on to their narrow 3-point lead for one final week?

The results are in. After a Controller's decision regarding a badly placed control, Danny O'Hare's Individual result on the Long course has been re-instated. Has this made all the difference for his team, Team East? Unfortunately not, Team East. Results have been checked and re-checked. Organisers' points have been calculated and re-calculated... but before going to the leader-board, let's first look at each team's results from this week.

The best team score on the night came from Team North-East, who clocked up a total of just 6 points. Team North-East have struggled to field a full team in recent weeks; perhaps the threat of finishing rock bottom of the league table was just the motivation they needed. Their top-ranked Long course orienteer Donal Murphy took 1st place on the Long course this week, ending his Summer League campaign on a high note and mirroring his win on week 1 at Fota House & Gardens. However, it was League newcomer Barry Ryan who scored the best points for Team North-East, finishing 6th on the Short course and earning -4 points for his team. Barry's early events at Ballincollig and Walshtown had earned him 10 handicap points, and he has clearly progressed well since then. Liam Twomey's recent adventures on the Long course stood to him this week, as he returned to the Short course and earned -1 point for his team. The rest of Team North-East's points this week were earned by Helen Stone and Joanna Gill, both taking 5 points each from the ladies' Long Course.

Last week, Team Magnetic North were just 4 points off the top of the leader-board. Maybe there was a call to arms amongst the team members, as they pulled together to score the second best score this week, a total of just 7 points. Once again the Short Course members of Team Magnetic North proved their worth. Matthew Kearney showed that he has learned a thing or two on the Long course in recent weeks, and his return to the Short Course this week meant -3 points for his team.  Jamie Condon scored equally well on the Short course, also earning -3 points. Sarah Fitzgerald had an Individual Short Course Silver medal in her sights, finishing 5th on this week's Short course. With her 5 handicap points, this means she earned 0 points for her team this week (remember this is a good thing, the lower the points earned, the better!). The rest of Team Magnetic North's scores came from the Long course men: Francis Harrington with 4 points and Pat O'Donovan with 9 points. But have they done enough to leap-frog to the top of the leader-board?

Next up this week was Team South-East, the only team to have fielded a full team of 5 orienteers on each of the 10 weeks of the League. But will this consistency translate into Team League success? This week they scored their best team score to date, a total of 14 points. Here it was Sean Bosonnet who led the charge, finishing 8th on the Short course and earning -5 points for Team South-East. Jonathan Lucey equalled his personal best from this year's Summer League, coming 2nd on the men's Long course. Incidentally, Jonathan is one of only 3 people (by my reckoning) who have completed all 10 events in the League. On the ladies' Long course, The Tuesdays banded together and took home 2 points for their team. Deirdre Creedon was gunning for overall 5th place Individual in the ladies' Long course (has she done enough to beat Liz Deane?), and picked up 6 points for her team with her efforts. Despite all of the Team's Long course orienteers also being in action at Curragh Woods, it was Short Course orienteer Helena Cogan who rounded off the team's score with 7 points.

Fourth best team this week were Team South, with 17 points. Team South's star performance this week was from Sienna Bosonnet on the Short course, she too was chasing an Individual medal and in doing so brought home -2 points for her team. Next to score for the team was her brother Joe Bosonnet, who already has the Short course Individual title in the bag, but still worked hard to earn 1 point for his team. Christine Maunsel on the ladies' Long course had a good run, bagging 3 points for the team. Aidan Kelleher also ran well on the men's Long course, claiming 6 points. Finally, junior Fiadh O'Leary made a return to the Summer League this week, and with a valuable handicap of 20 points, took home 9 points for Team South. After 9 league events we saw Team South suddenly move to the top of the leader-board. Their mission this week was to improve on the 36 points that they were carrying from a bad team week at Walshtown Woods. They achieved that and have moved forward 19 points (i.e. 36 minus 17) as a result - is this far enough away from their rival teams? 

Team South-West also gave a notable performance this week, earning a total of 18 points. That's their second-best result out of the 10 weeks of the league. Once again the Short course team members were among the most valuable. Kyle Holland returned to the Short course and secured -2 points for the team. Elaine Sheridan finished in 3rd place on the ladies' Long course, meaning 3 points for Team South-West. Elaine is one of the other dedicated orienteers who has completed all league 10 events. Kate Coleman held her own on the Short course (and some of the Long course too by all accounts) and bagged 5 points for the team. The Kearney family gave a solid performance and earned 6 points for their efforts. John Hennessy equalled his personal best on the Long course and earned 6 points for the team.

The other teams unfortunately scored higher points this week at Curragh Woods:

- Team North-West, who only completed 6 of the 10 events and barely scraped into the results last week (I was getting worried) scored 33 points. This includes a valiant 1st place on the ladies' Long course from Ailbhe Creedon, but has it been enough to keep them ahead of rivals Team North-East and off the bottom of the leader-board? What can I say folks, I'm proud of you guys and girls anyway. 

- Team True North were just 3 points off the top of the leader-board after last week's event, but this week's 38 points wasn't one of their best 5 scores, so they remain on 93 points overall.

- Team East fielded the minimum of just 5 orienteers and took home 44 points in total, which is not one of their best 5 scores.

- Team West have suffered from a lack of Short course finishers, and fielded only four orienteers this week, thus failing to earn a team score. But special mention should go to their top seed on the ladies' Long course, Trishia O'Mahony, who is the only other person to have completed all 10 summer league events.

And so ends the Team League analysis; all that is left now is to announce the overall winners.