Autumn League #2: Tramore Valley Park Tuesday September 3rd Results and Report
Post date: Sep 05, 2019 5:27:49 PM
Tramore Valley Park was the central destination for the second event in the CorkO Autumn league. Thankfully, the intermittent light rain showers on the night didn’t deter the 70+ entrants at the event. This was our first event in the park since it officially opened to the public back in the summer and it was wonderful to see so many people utilising this great amenity. Between orienteers, walkers, cyclist, runners and rugby players the park was a hive of activity on Tuesday night. Tramore Valley Park is in the heart of the city as commuters journeyed home along the roads adjacent to the park orienteers got to escape this mayhem and enjoy an adventure and a good work out in this new city amenity. Despite the evening showers it was warm on the night and this in conjunction with the gruelling climbs led to some exhausted finishers The planner set out two challenging courses with lots of route choice. The Short course was comprised of a series of short legs in the northern section of the park. The Long course took participants to all areas of the park. Starting under the goal posts of the main pitch the course began with a short leg across the grass pitches. The later entrants on the night had to negotiate their way around a rugby team who began training on the pitch’s midway through our event. From here there was the first of a number of long legs which took competitors from one side of the map to the other. Competitors had to decide whether to go around or up and over the infamous dome. Having punched control 2 there was some contouring required toward control 3 before a fast drop down to control four. Control 5 gave competitors a view of where the Tramore River flows under the South City Link Road. Another long leg followed and competitors were again forced to decide the fastest way around the dome to reach control 6 on the western edge of the map. There was a nice gentle run to control 7 before a tough climb up the dome to control 8. There followed a quick descent to control 9 before some further contouring to control 10.
The faster runners in the field would have made good time on the final two legs by sticking to the paths while the more adventurous orienteers may have attempted to take a more direct route to these controls. From the final control there was a fast sprint across the flat pitches to the finish.
There was a lot of competition on the Long course on Tuesday night. Jens Waechter was one of the first entrants on the course and was the early leader setting a fast pace for the rest to follow. As the event progressed several came close to matching his pace but it wasn’t until the late finishers downloaded that his time was beaten. Darragh Hoare had no issue navigating around The Dome and he completed the 4.5km course in a super time of 24:25 to take the event winner title. Just under a minute behind Darragh was Simon Upton. He punched all 12 controls in a time of 25:21 to finish runner-up. The final podium spot went to Jens Waechter who finished in a time of 26:16.
The fastest lady around Tramore Valley Park on Tuesday night was Niamh Corbett she showed great speed and endurance when she completed the course in a time of 26:59. Next weekend Niamh along with fellow CorkO members Toni O’Donovan, Dan McDonnell, Marcus Pinker and Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan as well as Darragh Hoare will travel to Wales to compete for team Ireland in the Senior Home International. We wish them all the best of luck and hope their winning ways continue this weekend. Aoife O’Sullivan held off a strong challenge from Caroline Murray to take the runner-up honour. Aoife completed the taxing course in a time of 35:59. Caroline was not far behind her and punched the finish in a time of 36:41. Of the 27 competitors on the Short course it was Eve Buckley who finished top of the leaderboard. She punched all 9 controls in a time of 21:46. Sean Hennessy took second place when he punched the finish in a time of 23:16. The final podium spot went to Chiara Bosonnet who completed the 2.4km course in a time of 27:24. Well done to all who participated on the night. Full individual results with split times are available at the following link: http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=22100Huge thanks this week to Liam O’Brien for planning and organising the event. Thanks also to Dave O’Donovan for taking care of starts on the night and to the present and past pupils of Midleton CBS for assisting with control collection. We are also very grateful to Cork City Council for giving us permission to stage the event in the park and allowing us take advantage of this great new city amenity.
Next week the Autumn League roadshow moves to the Showgrounds in Curraheen. This area is very open and not very technical but the planner will have an additional challenge at the start of the courses to test competitor’s navigational skills.
Hope you can join us for the Showgrounds challenges!