Summer League #7: Warrenscourt Wood Results and Report

Warrenscourt Wood, Kilmurry was the setting for the seventh event in the Cork Orienteering Club Summer League. All those who journeyed west were rewarded with yet another fine evening and a delightful venue for some challenging orienteering. With the longest day of the year fast approaching the bright evening accentuated the vibrant colours of the wood from the brilliant shades of green of the thriving ferns, the leaves and the undergrowth to the stunning purples of the foxgloves. Added to this mix was the aroma of freshly cut grass from the adjacent farmland. This peaceful spot was only briefly disturbed last night when 70 orienteers converged on the wood and attempted to find the fastest routes between the controls.On the Long course the planner wasn’t joking when he recommended full body cover. He could have also suggested bringing a set of waders as they would have been particularly useful in getting to one or two controls on the Long course! The early section of the Long course brought competitors through a mix of forest run and undergrowth slow run. As the sound of the church bells ringing in the village resonated through the wood this was intermingled with the more familiar sound of orienteers struggling through the undergrowth, with the cracking of branches and the screeches of ouch and aagh as the brambles impeded their progress. Key route choice in this area was whether to stick to the high or low track.Leg 7 to 8 took participants downhill towards the second entrance to the wood and while bounding down this track many people passed fellow opponents who were on the home straight and looked a little bit more distressed then them as they tackled the persistent incline back toward the finish. Leg 9 to 10 necessitated crossing the stream and I doubt too many did this without getting their feet wet. From 10 to 11 competitors had to decide whether to cross the steam again and use the track to approach number 11 or avoid the stream crossing and traverse the area of slow run. The fastest route often requires some sacrifices and in this case it was the comfort of dry socks and runners! Leg 11 to 12 provided the option of either traversing the rough felled area or heading back towards the track. Either way competitors could be heard squelching their way to the finish.Down to the important business of results and with the competition really beginning to heat up on the Long course the arrival at the event of another of Cork O’s elite members (pictured right) really hampered anyone’s ambition of a number one finish. Darren Burke was back in Cork for the evening and managed to take in the event and his appearance definitely set the bar very high. He managed to complete the Long course in a time of 23:15 and really blew away the rest of the field achieving the fastest splits to all controls. Darren will be part of the team representing Ireland at this year’s World Orienteering Championships which are being held in Switzerland next month. So we wish him the best of luck at WOC 2012. So don’t be too disheartened by your performance relative to Darren’s phenomenal time, at least you got to compete against someone from the Irish squad. Darren had a remarkable 5 minutes and 23 second to spare over second place finisher Donal Murphy. Donal is starting to make a charge at attaining the Summer League title which he narrowly missed out on last year. Pat O’Donovan clinched the final podium spot with a time of 32:08.The first lady home last night was Niamh Corbett, she finished the course in a time of 37:39 which also saw her finish in the overall top ten. Niamh now has four number one finishes in the league to date and requires just one more event to complete the league. However with national youth squad duties beckoning, she will be heading off to the European Youth Orienteering Championships next week. We’d like to wish her all the best in France but will this responsibility deny her the Summer League Ladies title? Second place in Warrenscourt went to Eibhlin Cleary who completed the course in 47:53 and Trishia O’Mahony took third place with a time of 51:31. These two ladies will be looking to take full advantage of Niamh’s absence in the coming weeks as they steadily progress up the leaderboard.