Summer League #9: UCC Campus Results and Report

Post date: Jul 11, 2013 12:10:54 AM

After a wait of almost eighteen years Ireland finally got a taste this week of what a really good summer would be like and while some regular summer league participants may be enjoying the sunshine on their holidays 82 orienteers journeyed to University College Cork main campus in Cork city to par take in the 9th event in the CorkO Summer League. Many of those in attendance were determined to endure the sweltering heat on the night to ensure they obtained their six events so that they will complete this year's Summer League and earn themselves a stylish league finishers t-shirt as a reminder of their great achievement. This idyllic campus setting on the banks of the river Lee saw a return to Sprint O which thankfully meant the courses were shorter than normal which was very convenient given the roasting hot evening. The university campus boasts many impressive buildings including the Quadrangle, the Crawford Observatory and the Glucksman Gallery and the event planner used portions of these distinctive structures as control sites on both the Long and Short courses on Tuesday night. However with the exceptionally fast nature of Sprint O you may not have had time to appreciate the finer detail of these buildings.The Short course had a separate start to the Long course and was confined to the main campus grounds thus eliminating any road crossing. The first part of the Long course started near the Castlewhite campus accommodation. These residences are presently home to a large number of Spanish students who are undertaking English language courses on the campus and many competitors may have had to weave their way around these students who were also out enjoying the fine summers evening.Detail on this 1:4000 map can be tricky to read when running at speed and at a first glance it was hard to determine precisely were the centre of the circle for control three was and which side of the building one needed to visit. One of the principles of efficient Sprint Orienteering is choosing smooth lines on your routes. The leg from 3 to 4 presented competitors with two possible routes, the first involved coming back through the start and running up Gaol Walk and running around a number of buildings while the second option was to use the pedestrian bridge and avail of a more direct route to the control.

Following the mandatory road crossing the relatively long leg from 8 to 9 offered up more route options and plenty of steps depending on your selected route while the control site itself required entering the garden sculpture to punch. Some many have lost precious seconds at control 11 which was in a quite discrete location. This was followed by a very short leg to control 12. Another Sprint O doctrine is to never waste time evaluating routes if they look 50/50 instead just pick one and go for it so this philosophy could have been applied here.The planner provided further route options on the legs from 12 to 13 and 17 to 18. Some folks struggled a little in getting from control 20 to the finish as there were a number of levels and buildings to be negotiated. On what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year to date the availability of water at the finish was most refreshing after an exhausting run in these conditions.I’m sure this educational strong hold has taught us all a few new Sprint O lessons but whose inspiring route choices surpassed their opposition. On the Long course Rob McEvoy the reigning CorkO Summer League Champion achieved his first event win of the 2013 Summer League and completed the Long course in a time of 18:44. Rob’s exceptional local knowledge surely helped his route decisions on the night. Jonathan Lucey continues to display his consistent Summer League form and achieved another podium finish this week finishing second with a time of 21:08 giving him his best result in this year’s league. Just 18 seconds separated Jonathan and third place finisher Aidan Kelleher.The fastest Lady around the campus on Tuesday night was Ailbhe Creedon who finished the Long course with a very impressive time of 26:06 which was also good enough to see her finish inside the overall top ten on the Long course. Trishia O’Mahony took second place completing the course with a time of 31:58. The final podium spot went to Elaine Sheridan who finished with a time of 33:40.

Also very interesting to see in the results that just 6 seconds separated two of our regular Buggy O competitors, with the O'Mahony family just having the edge on the Power clan!

Things were very competitive on the Short course this week with just two seconds between first and second. It was Treasa O’Donovan who took the short course event title as she finished the course with a time of 10:09. Literally hot on her heels was Sienna Bosonnet who finished with a notable time of 10:11. Chris Brown finished third completing the course in precisely 11 minutes.

Thanks to all who entered on the day. Despite the Scorchio! Scorchio! conditions we hope you enjoyed navigating around the beautiful campus grounds. Full individual results and splits are available here.

You can also see the impact Tuesday’s results have had on the Team League results. You can find a complete break-down of the team scores at this link. So do check them out and see if you can rally your team together for one final push to climb up the leader board at our final competitive event next week.