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Post date: Aug 30, 2013 12:21:3 AM
The first event in the Cork Orienteering Club Autumn League took place in Currabinny Wood on Tuesday evening. With the brightness beginning to fade in the evenings the 76 entrants on the night were determined to take full advantage of the long evenings while they still remain. Furthermore as this was the first opportunity for many of our Summer League finishers to collect their hard earned league finishers t-shirts I'm sure this was an extra incentive for some to make the journey to this legendary hillock. The focus of this year’s Autumn League is on improving ones orienteering skills and the new Explorer course on offer is design to teach a specific navigation skill as you progress around the course. At the end of the league our Explorers will have learned the skills needed to earn the Level 1 Orienteering Ability Award accredited by the Irish Orienteering Association. Tuesday’s nights Explorer course introduced the idea of Decision Points. The Explorer course had additional small purple circles on the map to show the decision points on the routes between controls. These decision points were marked on the terrain with a small Kite. At each decision point our explorers had to stop and decide whether to go straight on or take a left or right turn. Our Explores also had the opportunity to take the Explorer - Currabinny Quiz which was geared towards understanding the map symbols. If you missed it you can check it out below. So despite many schools re-opening this week we were delighted to welcome so many new families to the event and it was fantastic to see so many young Explorers enjoying a woodland adventure. In fact some participant’s even came straight from school to the event. So we hope you enjoyed the Explorer course and found the decision points a useful aid as you navigated the course. For the more experienced orienteers in the field the Advanced course proved a good orienteering challenge. The wood is exceptionally dry at the moment and the going was very fast although the hills did slow some folks down a little, in particular the leg from 7 to 8! Post course analysis seemed to indicate that control 10 proved the most challenging. Depending on the approach taken this very distinctive tree was tricky to locate. So down to the business of results. The fastest man on the Advanced course was Jonathan Lucey who completed the course with a very impressive time of 28:54 the hill didn't impede his progress. Sean Murphy claimed second place by a very narrow margin. He finished in a time of 32:07 which was a mere nine second faster than third place finisher Liam O’Brien.
A special mention must be given to a few junior orienteers that challenged their orienteering skills on Tuesday night and undertook the Advanced course. Well done in particular to our 2013 Summer League Short course Champion Joe Bosonnet who achieved a top ten finish on the Advanced course on the night.
The fastest Lady on Tuesday night was Trishia O’Mahony. Trishia completed the Advanced course in a time of 44:18. Second place went to Helen Stone with a time of 52:34 and another junior Aoife O’Sullivan took the final podium spot with a time of 57:07.
First place on the Explorer course went to Billy Caball who finished in a time of 37:03. The final two podium spots were very tightly contested with just one second separating these finishers. Sinead O’Donoghue and Karen Howe were tied for second place with a time of 43:11 while Karen Dineen finished third with a time of 43:12.
Well done to all who participated on this night. We hope you enjoyed the experience and your orienteering skills improved as a result. Full individual results and splits are available here:
http://www.orienteering.ie/result/more?id=2118
Special thanks to our club coach Danny O’Hare and Rob McEvoy who planned the courses and the training. Thanks also to Dave O’Donovan for taking care of starts and to Ailbhe Creedon for helping our Explorers getting started. Thanks to Gerald Duffy, Feargal O’Shea and Liam O’Brien for taking care of control collection and allowing me get home before it got dark!
The next event in the Autumn League will take place in Corrin Wood near Fermoy. The hill of Corrin is a prominent landmark south of Fermoy and a very historical site. The mound at the summit dates back over 3000 years to the Bronze Age so I'm sure there will be some interesting features for our Explorers next week. Further directions and location trivia are available here:
Just a reminder that the “Off the Paths Training” is scheduled for Saturday September 7th in Gougane Barra. It is sure to be a fun and social day and you will improve your orienteering skills in the process.
Finally, a reminder to those who haven’t already collected their Summer League finishers t-shirt these will be available to collect in Corrin.
Hope to see you there,
Elaine
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