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Post date: Sep 06, 2017 11:45:52 PM
James’ Fort in Kinsale was the stunning destination for the second event in the CorkO Autumn League. This sea side hamlet looked particularly resplendent on this beautiful hazy autumnal evening. Over 65 competitors gathered at this historic site to battle it out for the glory of being the James’ Fort event winner. We were delighted to welcome so many locals to the event and I’m sure their local knowledge proved beneficial on the night. This compact area with its slopes down to the water is renowned for its physicality and with a double-sided map on the Long course competitors knew they would be traversing these slopes multiple times and in all possible directions. Both courses commenced with a run towards the Dock beach before a short climb onto the open terrain. From here the criss-crossing of the terrain commenced. With 24 controls on the Long course there were plenty of short legs which required some fast decision making regarding route choice. For instance, the legs from 10 to 11, 14 to 15 and 15 to 16 forced competitors to choose the fastest route into and out of the fort as well as the optimal route around the fort. The tunnels are a unique feature of this map and many competitors elected to use them on several legs on Tuesday night. Some careful ducking was required to ensure sufficient clearance when venturing through this feature. Competitors not too familiar with this map may have been caught out by controls 5 and 18 on the Long course. These legs may have looked short on paper but the straight line route would have left competitors looking down or up at these controls before figuring out how to get around to them.
Conditions were a little windy on the night but this proved quite refreshing on the demanding courses. Perhaps the toughest leg of the night was the fast decent towards control 12 near the block house which was followed by a hard climb back up the hill before a long trek across the sloping terrain to control 13.
Both courses provided some spectacular clear views of Charlesfort, Kinsale harbour and the Bandon river for those who took the time to appreciate them. If you missed the event and are interested in seeing the amount of traversing of this compact terrain that was required on the night then check out the following video that our club chairman Rob McEvoy created based on his route around the Long course at James’ Fort.
Despite the challenging terrain the courses were very competitive on the night. After planning last week’s event our Summer League champion was back in competitive action this week and was back to his winning ways. He completed the grueling 4.2km course in a time of 27:12 to claim the event win with a comfortable winning margin over his nearest challenger Dan McDonnell. This weekend Conrad and our club chairman Rob will be competing in the Mourne Mountain Marathon so we wish them both the best of luck with this challenging adventure. Runner-up on the night was Dan McDonnell who completed the course in a time of 29:21. Jens Waechter finished in a time of 31 minutes and narrowly edge passed Rob McEvoy to claim third place on the night. There was a very close battle for the honor of being crowned the fastest lady around the Long course at James’ Fort as there was just three seconds between our winner and runner-up. It was Sinead O’Donoghue who narrowly won this race when she finished the demanding course in a time of 39:56. Hot on Sinead’s heels was our runner-up Niamh Morrissey who punched the finish in a time of 39:59. Not terribly far behind these gals was our final podium finisher Elaine Sheridan who punched all 24 controls in a time of 40:27. The Short course event winners title was fiercely contested on the night with less than a minute separating the top three finishers and a mere ten seconds differentiating the top two. It was the Meldrum Family who emerged the victors having completed the course in a time of 19:29. Perhaps it was their stylish Summer League technical t-shirts that gave them the edge on the night! Runners-up on the night were Bairbre Moynihan and Ken Walsh who pooled their navigational skills and punched all 16 controls in a time of 19:39. Third place went to Liam Twomey who punched the finish in a time of 20:26. Well done to all who took part on the night. Full individual results with split times are available here:
http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=2997
Huge thanks this week to Gerald Duffy for planning the courses, Dave O’Donovan for putting out the controls and Robert O’Connor and Niamh Murphy for assisting with starts and registration. Thanks also to Conrad Daly for helping with control collection.
Next week we’ll be visiting the Regional Park Ballincollig for the third event in the league. This park was once home to a major gunpowder works but has now become a very popular public amenity. Check out the link below for a map and some area trivia.
www.corko.net/calendar/ballincollig-regional-park
Hope you can join us!
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