Summer League #4: Glenbower Wood Tuesday May 29th Results and Report

Post date: May 31, 2018 9:1:47 AM

This year World Orienteering Week ran from May 23rd to May 29th and this weeks Summer League event in Glenbower Wood in Killeagh was our contribution to World Orienteering Week and the celebration of the sport of orienteering. So far, World Orienteering Week has seen 226,482 orienteers participate at 1,394 orienteering events around the world. The 79 competitors who made the journey to Glenbower Wood on Tuesday night will further boost this total.

Furthermore, to celebrate world orienteering day there was an extra incentive for orienteers to par take at the event in Glenbower as we had some fabulous World Orienteering Day prizes on offer for the course winners on the night. The fastest male and female on the Long course were awarded official World Orienteering Day running tops while the fastest male and female on the Short course won official World Orienteering Day buffs. Additionally, all those in attendance received World Orienteering Day Diplomas in recognition of their participation in World Orienteering Day and were entered into a draw for some great spot prizes.It was all very exciting on the night and we couldn’t have gotten a nicer evening to promote our sport and enjoy a summer evening in the outdoors. The short course was a little longer than normal but the beautiful summer evening meant no one was going to complain about being out for a little longer than usual. This course took competitors on a pleasant loop around the river Dissour and across it’s bridges. It also took a little excursion into the picturesque trails through the rhododendron.The Long course was a more challenging affair and on what was possibly the hottest day of the year to date it made for difficult running on this hilly terrain. However, I’m sure the possibility of winning a stylish new O-top help motivated some competitors to power up the hills. The course began with a sequence of short legs in the forest adjacent to the entrance and parking area before entering the steeper sections of the wood.

Storm Ophelia left a substantial mark on Glenbower Wood and this was most evident at the first river crossing where the once scenic summer gazebo was left ruined in it’s wake and the quarry adjacent to control 5 was full of fallen trees. There were lots of other trees strewn across various trails it the wood so some ducking and weaving was required on the night.There was a taxing climb from control 5 through to control 8 at the north western corner of the map before competitors began a fast descent into the valley and across the river. The deluge of rain at the weekend meant some of the trails were a little slippery under foot so some care was required here. Control 10 located along the series of crags proved costly for some on the night. There were two obvious routes to the control the high road and the low road. However, the control was a little easier to spot when approaching it from the low road as the series of crags were easy to observe.From here there was another tough climb to control 11 were competitors got to bound along the soft trails through the rhododendron. Some participants may have passed the Fainin Well on the ascent to 11 or on the descent to 12. This is a Bullaun stone were rain water collects in its hollow and it is known for its curative properties but I’m not sure if anyone tried to avail of these on Tuesday night.The sight of control 13 from control 12 meant that several competitors opted to take the direct route through the undergrowth to reach it. From here there was yet another climb required back to control 14 in the depression and control 15. Then began the fast descent to control 16 before a final series of controls taking in the very impressive Metal Bridge and some nice runnable forest on the route to the finish. A powerful smell of wild garlic greeted competitors as they punched the finish control.So, after the grueling course in the evening sun who was going to be cooling off in a colourful and trendy new running top. The Bookies favourites for donning the stylish WOD running tops were our three previous Summer League event winners Darragh Hoare, Conrad Daly and Andrew Turner but could a summer league debut by some of the locals distort the odd?

Of the 48 competitors who participate on the 4.2km Long course a mere 44 seconds was all that differentiated the top three at the finish line. Darragh Hoare took the early lead on the Long course when he finished it in a time of 34:18. He then had an anxious wait as fellow competitors returned to download to see if he remained as the front-runner. Zac O’Sullivan Hourihan made his 2018 Summer League debut on Tuesday night and was one of the last competitors to start at the event. Zac pace would definitely have him in the top ten at the event and Darragh had a particularly nervous wait for his return. However, despite an excellent run he failed to deny Darragh the Glenbower event winner honour. So, Darragh Hoare was the worthy winner of the WOD running top. Zac was runner up on the night having punched all 19 controls in a time of 34:42 just 22 seconds behind Darragh. Hot of both these guys heels was Andrew Turner who completed the course in a time of 35:02.Proving that orienteering is a sport for all the family the fastest Lady around Glenbower Wood was Darragh’s mum Caroline Murray. She completed the course in a time of 47:04 and in the process bagged herself a classy new running top. Runner-up on the night was Elaine Sheridan, she punched all the controls in a time of 49:31. Elizabeth Jakobsson manged to hold off a strong challenge from Sarah Hoare to take third place in a time of precisely 50 minutes.Of the 31 competitors on the Short course it was Liam Twomey who took the title of Short course event winner. He completed the 2.6km course in a time of 24:21. Liam will get a WOD buff for his efforts. Runner up on the night was David Moylan he finished in a time of 27:26. The final podium spot went to Erin O’Brien who punched all 11 controls in a time of 30:52 and as she was the fastest female on the Short course she was also awarded a WOD buff.

Congratulations to all our WOD winners I’m sure you will spot them wearing their new gear in the woods in the coming weeks. Well done to all who participated on the night. Full individual results with splits times are available here:http://www.orienteering.ie/result2?oaction=moreResult&id=21795

 

Following the event all the participants names were placed in a hat and we had a draw for our fabulous spot prizes and the four lucky winners were:

Cathy Kennedy

Aaron Coughlan

Sarah Hoare

Shane Murray          

These prizes can be collected at any of our upcoming events.

Huge thanks this week to Brendan Wall and Liam O’Brien for planning and organising the event. Thanks also to the Dan McDonnell, Cathal Lane, Aaron Coughlan and Darragh Hoare for taking care of starts and assisting with control collection.

Next week we won’t be venturing too far from the city centre when we gather in Tramore Valley Park. The area is comprised of open grass land and the going will surely be fast. As the location is so centreal please do encourage your family and friends to attend. Further location information and important instructions regarding entry to the park are available at the following link:

Finally, best of luck to all those participating in the 20th Shamrock O-Ringen, Cork City Marathon, Carrauntoohil Hill run, Cork Harbour Festival and any other adventure activities this long weekend. Remember a nice run at Tramore Valley Park offers an ideal chance to loosen out after a strenuous weekend of activities or alternatively a nice workout after a very laid-back long weekend.

So hope you will join us next week in Tramore Valley Park.