2025 Summer League Finale

2025 Summer League Finale

The 2025 CorkO Summer League drew to a close on Tuesday night in Fota House and Gardens. The stakes were high for many participants at our final competitive event. Many were keen to complete the league and others were vying to improve their overall league standing in the hope of edging their way onto the podium or just over taking their orienteering rivals.

A few old faces made an appearance at the Fota event. Alan Barry who mapped the Fota House and Gardens area was in attendance and no doubt his presence worried some of our league contenders hoping for a top ten finish. Alan was our 2009 summer league Champion finishing the league with 6 event wins. A rare feat also replicated by Tuesday’s event planner John O’Donovan in 2023, Conrad Daly in 2018 and Cillin Corbett in 2014. Alan has since relocated to the Dordogne Valley in France where he runs the picturesque Domaine de Cournet-Haut self-catering rentals. Why not check them out if you're every planning a trip to France - https://cournethaut.com

Back to the serious business of our Summer League finale. Tuesday’s event planner John O’Donovan set a fitting test for our league finale. The terrain was flat but the challenging course with a total of 31 controls (too many for some SI cards) had lots of directional changes and had competitors criss-crossing the gardens in all directions. The weather was exceptionally hot last week but which orienteers would handle the heat best in our final event, would the cream rise to the top or would they crack under the added pressure. Time to see who rose to the challenge and edged their way into the podium spots at the final event.

On the Short course Daithi Russell is our 2025 Short Champion. Although he had the title secured in advance of our final event, he was very eager to improve his points total with another event win. Despite touching down at Cork airport an hour before the event started and heading straight to Fota he showed no signs of fatigue. He quickly returned to his winning ways being first to the finish on the Short course claiming his 5th event win in the 2025 series and thus reducing his overall points total to 7 pts. Our Short course runner up is Mary Ann O’Brien. She did not succumb to the pressure of the chasing pack and rose to the challenge at Fota securing a 4th place finish at the event. This boosted her overall league standing by 7 pts giving her a finishing total of 25 pts widening the gap to our third place finisher Aoibhe Walsh. Despite a good clean run at Fota her points total remained at 34 pts which was sufficient to hold off her nearest rival Laoise O’Mahony.

Heading into the final event Corrin Russell was leading the way in the Long Course Mens section. He too was fresh off the plane from France and was eager to maintain his podium position with a good run at Fota. The main contender to deny him the title of Summer League champion was Dan McDonnell. He still required one more event to complete the league and in doing so could elevate himself to the top of the leaderboard. Despite leaving it late to complete his 6th event Dan showed great speed and orienteering prowess to win the Fota event and with this event win he secures the Long Course Mens Champion title finishing with a total of 11 pts. Although Corrin got pipped at the final event he also shown great composure on his run around Fota House and Gardens and his 6th place finish helped reduce his overall points total to 24. This was enough to hold off the rest of the chasers and he is our runner up. The final podium spot goes to Fionn O’Callaghan. His 7th place finish at Fota knocked 6 pts off his total. He finished with 33 pts overtaking Gerald Duffy in the process. Unfortunately, neither Ruaidhri O’Brien nor Rob McEvoy manged to improve their points total. To Ruaidhri’s relief Rob McEvoy’s uncharacteristic DNF means he did not manage to eliminate his high Curragh Wood ranking from his points total and thus Ruaidhri achieved a top five.

The battle for the Long Course Women’s Champion title went down to the wire with three Ladies - Caroline Murray, Mary O’Brien and Niamh Morrissey all capable of claiming the title. Sadly, Caroline is still recovering for injury incurred in Glenbower Wood last week and although present in Fota she was unable to run. We send her best wishes and hope she will be back in action soon. Niamh Morrissey needed one more result to complete the league and provided this run was good she could steal the top stop from our current league leader Mary O’Brien. Mary did not let the pressure get to her on Tuesday night and did everything she could to try and maintain her league position. She had an excellent run around Fota House and Gardens punching the finish as the first Lady home. This event win reduced her overall points total to 15 but unfortunately it was not enough to hold onto the top spot. Despite leaving it late to complete the league Niamh Morrissey’s runner up finish at Fota not only made her a league finisher but gave her a points total of 13 thus overtaking Mary and claiming the 2025 Long Course Women’s Champion title. Well done Niamh! The final podium spot goes to Una Buckley with 24 pts.

Special mention to all the juniors who stepped up to the Long course this year and completed the league – Corrin Russell, Ruaidhri and Alec O’Brien, Jill Murphy, Aisling O’Mahony and Abbey Collins. Well done guys impressive stuff!

Thanks again to everyone who has participated in the 2025 CorkO Summer League we hope you all enjoyed the adventures around Cork city and its environs. Full league tables can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.corko.net/Summer-League-Results

If you did not manage to achieve one of the top places in the league don’t worry, as all league finishers will receive a specially designed t-shirt. Like last year to avoid waste and ensure that you receive a t-shirt that fits you we will order your desired size. Although our summer league boutique was open on Tuesday night, we may not have fitted everyone. If your League Finisher status is TRUE in the results table and if you have not already specified your desired size please let me know ASAP as we will be placing the order very soon to ensure the t-shirts arrive in time for distribution to finishers at the first of our Autumn league events.

Following all the racing action everyone who participated at Tuesday event got to enjoy a very tasty feast as we all celebrated the success of the 2025 league with a very social picnic. We are very thankful to our 2025 Women’s Long Course Champion - Niamh Morrissey for helping deliver the fantastic food. Some pics are available at the following link:

After all the sunshine and excitement of the 2025 Summer League we will be taking a short break for a few weeks but will be back in action again on Tuesday August 26th in Farran Forest Park for the start of our Autumn league and for our 2025 Summer League Prizegiving.

Enjoy the break and hopefully see you in Farran for the start of our Autum series!