Summer League #2: Currabinny Wood Tuesday May 15th Results and Report

Post date: May 17, 2018 7:40:52 PM

The second event in the CorkO Summer League saw a crowd of over 85 orienteers converge in Currabinny Wood near Ringaskiddy on Tuesday night. The drizzle early in the evening didn’t deter our enthusiastic followers from attending the event. Thankfully, it cleared quickly and all in attendance got to enjoy some challenging orienteering at this hilly destination. Once again, we were delighted to welcome so many families to the event. It is great to see so many out enjoying the bright summer evenings and trying out the sport of orienteering in the process. The Currabinny map is comprised of numerous trails at different levels around this prominent hill overlooking Cork harbour. The Short course managed to avoid any gruelling climb by taking participants on a scenic circuit along the middle trail which encompasses the hill. Very observant short course participants may have spotted the imposing sight of the Royal Princess cruise ship docked across the harbour at Cobh. The Long course was a slightly more challenging proposition and although the punishing climb could be minimised with route choice it couldn’t be avoided! The planner had warned that the paths were muddy underfoot in places and although the course began with a fast descent to the first control the slippery nature of the terrain led to a caution approach from some. The planner set out an interesting course which offered orienteers plenty of route choice particularly on legs 2-3, 4-5, 7-8 and 9-10. Some may have elected to stick to the paths were possible while others more familiar with the area were enticed into taking the most direct route through the wood. Needless to say, there are some interesting split times for these legs. The varied route choices meant competitors crossed paths on multiple occasions but one was never quite certain if they were heading for the same control.

Sadly, storm Ophelia has also left her mark on Currabinny and those that adopted the straight-line approach to some controls may have had to hurdle some obstacles on their way. The section of wood around controls four, eight and nine was a little less runnable that normal.

The course concluded with two controls adjacent to the car park and despite the very steep drop from the last control to the finish many decided to slide down this slope rather than take the slightly longer but safer graceful path to the finish. The refreshments available at the finish were welcomed after the taxing course. In fact, some of the later finishers on the night who missed out on the usual jellies and biscuits on offer at the finish were instead encouraged to sample some of the tasty wild garlic which was available in abundance in the woods! We’d like to apologies to the early starters who were inadvertently handed the master map with all the controls instead of their course map. I’m sure this caused some confusion. Our 2017 Summer League Champions Conrad Daly planned last week’s event at Fota House and Gardens so Currabinny Wood was his first opportunity to commenced the defence of his title. He certainly didn’t squander the opportunity and lay down a marker for all his challengers by claiming his first event win in the 2018 league. Conrad made short work of the hilly terrain and completed the 3km course in an impressive time of 22:36. He had over two minutes to spare of his nearest challenger Dan McDonnell who punched all 12 controls in a time of 24:52. Andrew Turner took third place when he finished the course in a time of 25:33. The fastest lady around the hills in Currabinny was Niamh Corbett, she maintained a steady pace on the Long course to finish in a time of 28:02. The pace of the pursuing ladies was a little more erratic and as a result Niamh had a very comfortable winning margin on the night. The runner up honour went to Sarah Hoare who punched all 12 controls in a time of 43:03. The final podium spot went to Elaine Sheridan who completed the course in a time of 47:08. On the 1.8km Short course it was Liam Twomey who took the event winner honour. He completed his circuit of this charming hillock in a time of 14:56. There was a closely fought contest for the remaining positions on the winner’s rostrum with just 12 seconds between the next three contestants at the finish line. In the end the runners-up honour was shared between Karen Howe and David Moylan who were tied at 16:27. Third place went to Joanna/Karina who combined their navigational skills to locate all 6 controls and finished in a time of 16:39. Well done to all who participated. Full individual results with some interesting split times are available at the link below. Route gadget is also available for the event. With lots of route choice on several legs on the Long course it is well worth checking out this week’s route gadget. Some competitors have already uploaded their routes and they make for interesting viewing. Are your brave enough to share yours? http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=21783This week we are very grateful to John Chandler for planning the testing courses. Thanks also to Conrad Daly, Gerald Duffy, Andrew and Cathal Turner who all assisted with various tasks on the night including registration, download, refreshments and control collection. Thanks also to David O’Donovan and Robert O’Connor for taking caring of starts.

Next week the Summer League will move on to the beautiful and majestic surrounds of Doneraile Park in North Cork. This park with its resident deer herds has an extensive network of paths, fine meadows and some unique water features. No doubt our north Cork crew will have some interesting and challenging courses in store for us next week. Further directions and park info can be found here:

www.corko.net/doneraile-forest-park

Hope you can join us on our northern adventure.