Summer League #9: Curragh Wood Tuesday July 4th Results and Report

We were delighted to welcome so many families to the event among them were Larsen, Collins, O’Brien, Weronik, Meldrum and Mannix families to name just a few. It was also great to see a visiting member from Lagan Valley Orienteering club at the event. We hope you all enjoyed the testing courses our planner set out on the night.This week’s experienced planner was Dermot O’Sullivan and he last took charge of the planning for the 2016 Munster Orienteering Championship courses. So, compared to that assignment the task of planning the Summer League courses in Curragh Wood was a lot less onerous. Curragh Wood is renowned for its physicality and Dermot took sympathy on his fellow orienteers and thoughtfully positioned the start some 600m up the hill from the parking area which substantially reduced the climb on the courses. Following the steep climb to the start participants could take the time to catch their breath before the race really begun.The Short course comprised a great clockwise loop around the hill top along some charming forest trails before the fast descent to the finish. The Long course had plenty of route choice from the start with several options on offer to get to the first control. This was followed by a short leg to control two before another long leg to control three. Exiting control three competitors needed to pay careful attention to the trails and contour detail to ensure they were on the correct path to control four. One thing you don’t want to do in this wood is drop too low and add extra climb to an already arduous course. The legs from four to eight involved a nice cluster of controls in the west section of the map around the ruin. There were plenty of tracks in this region to throw competitors off their intended routes as well as some grueling climbs to endure.Even since our last visit to this area there has been extensive felling in a number of sections of the wood and his was most evident in the area around controls nine and ten. The felling and resultant rough terrain caused issues for some on the night especially on the leg from nine to ten. Again, there were several route choices on offer on this leg but the boundary between the forest and felled area was difficult to decipher on the map which led some competitors to look for control 10 too soon which proved costly on the night.This wood is very popular with mountain bikers and no doubt some of the bumps and mounds on some of the trails have been constructed for their enjoyment. However, running along these tracks was difficult at times and between the roots and the uneven surfaces competitors needed to watch their footing in places as there were plenty of trip hazards out there. In fact, one competitor had the misfortune to fall on one of these trails and a fellow competitor who was following him at speed simply jumped over him! Thankfully other less competitive orienteers ensured he was ok to continue. Needless to say, this driven competitor got some slagging at the finish for his ruthless competitive streak.Following control ten there was some fast downhill running to control 11 before one final climb on the approach to control 12. From here the downhill finish began in earnest as participants ran the gauntlet along a narrow trail at the forest boundary. It was important not to get too carried away with this enjoyable downward running as three controls needed to be punched along this route and it would be terrible to overshoot them and have to climb back up the hill again. Some might have taken the time to observe or even enjoy the interesting man-made shelter that control 228 was situated in while others may not even have noticed it in their haste to reach the finish.