Blackrock Urban O Sunday November 10th Results and Report

Post date: Nov 12, 2019 11:3:48 PM

Many orienteers were spotted racing around the Blackrock area of Cork city on Sunday morning as over 77 orienteers participated in our Blackrock Urban Orienteering Race. The opportunity to race on a brand-new map attracted competitors from near and far to the event. With a number of participants living on the map it was great to see many folks walking or cycling to the event. We were also delighted to welcome a number of Waterford orienteers to the event. WATO are presently running an urban orienteering league and have visited a number of towns to date. Their members experience at street navigation was evident in Sunday’s results. For those that enjoyed their experience of urban racing on Sunday then why not consider attending WATO’s next urban event on Sunday November 17th at Fethard in Co. Tipperary. It was great to see a group of girls from the Bishopstown Brownies participating at the event. We hope you all had fun on the day. The bright sunny morning accentuated the picturesque nature of this part of the city on the banks of the river Lee. This area is always a hive of activity with rowers, runners, walkers and cyclist and on Sunday morning orienteers added to this mix. The crisp dry morning was perfect for an urban orienteering adventure. Some of the course lengths were a little deceptive on the day. As with most urban races the straight-line route is rarely an option on many legs. Competitors have to read the map and determine the best route to a control avoiding cul de sacs and uncrossable terrain in the process. All courses began on the steps on the northern side of the Atlantic pond and for most competitors their first leg led directly south of the start kite across the pond so their first decision was which way to round the Atlantic pond clockwise or anti-clockwise. From here the courses ventured further south into the streets, estates and parks in the Blackrock area. The Long course taking competitors as far afield as Beaumount Park. There were several long legs on all the courses were competitors had to navigate their way around the network of estates and roads to reach their control sites. The later stages of the course took competitors to the Marina park and along the Blackrock greenway. The narrow lane leading down to the old rail way line seemed to cause difficult for some on the day. Careful map reading was required to spot this lane which led down to the old Blackrock railway platform.

For many competitors on the day this was their first exposure to urban orienteering. So we hope you all enjoyed the challenge and had fun.If you missed the event then why not check out the results page as the event has been added to Route Gadget so you can check out the new map and courses that were on offer on the day. Some folks have already added their routes so you can compare their route choices with your own. There was a close battle for the Long course event winner honour on the day with a mere 14 seconds differentiating the top two finishers over the 5.7km course. Zach Harrington narrowly edged out Darren Burke to claim the top spot when he finished in a time of 40:32. Darren Burke was hot on his heels and completed the testing course in a time of 40:46. Jens Waechter punched all 18 controls in a time of 43:35 to take the final podium spot. On the 3.7km medium course Rob McEvoy was the course winner. He completed the course in a superb time of 33:34 and had a comfortable winning margin. There was however a very close contest for the runner up honour and Brid Casey from WATO took the spot when she punched all 10 controls in a time of 38:31. David Bosonnet finished third in a time of 39:52. On the Short A course, it was WATO’s Liam Casey who led the field when he completed the 2.6km in an incredibly fast time of 21:47. Runner up was Billy Cabal who punched all 11 controls in a time of 27:01. The final podium spot went to Deirdre Mannix who punched the finish in a time of 32:12. The 1.9km Short B course proved the most popular on the day and it was Chiara Bosonnet who emerged as the course winner when she finished the course in a time of 13:51. There was another close battle for the runner up spot with a meagre 3 seconds separating the next two finishers. Danny, Oisin & Fionn O’Hare were the Short B course runners up. They pooled their navigation skills and punched all 11 controls in exactly twenty minutes to edge passed WATO’s Eimer Casey. Eimer took third place finishing in a time of 20:03. Well done to all who participated on the day. Full individual results including route gadget for the event are available at the following link: http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=22152Huge thanks to Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan for planning four testing course. Unfortunately, Josh couldn’t attend on the day but we are hugely grateful to him for all the work he put into this event. Massive thanks also to Conrad Daly for organising the event. Thanks too,to John Scannell and Robert O’Connor for assisting with registration, data entry and refreshments and to Danny O’Hare for assisting with control collection.

We are also very thankful to Pat Healy for generating a lovely new map for us to enjoy and also to Cork City Council for giving us permission to stage the event in this area.

Our next orienteering event will take place at Kilworth Camp on Sunday December 15th so be sure to add this date to your orienteering diaries.