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Post date: Jun 13, 2013 12:5:12 AM
On Tuesday evening 72 competitors braved the real Irish summer and made the journey to Walshtown East for the fifth event in the Cork Orienteering Club Summer League. Thankfully the soft rain on the night didn't deter many of our regular Summer League followers and all present had the privilege of being the first competitors to experience this remapped area of Walshtown Wood. We were also particularly delighted to welcome some members from Waterford Orienteers to the event.Our familiarity with the maps of many of our Summer League destinations means that we often don’t pay enough attention to the detail on the map and instead operate from a certain amount of map memory. However with a new map and alien terrain come new challenges! This was all to evident at the start on Tuesday night were several competitors when handed the map of the Long course immediately ran off in the wrong direction. Although this provided much amusement for the organisers once the participants realised their mistake they had to sheepishly double back to the start to get to the correct path.The Long course this week presented plenty of route choice and nice directional changes. The planners made good use of the features in the areas of forest run and several of the control legs actually enticed competitors to take straight line routes even though for the most part alternate path options were available. Control 9 proved costly for some as it was difficult to spot the kite when it was engulfed in such a large pit! The man-made object at control 13 also proved to be a tricky control site despite the good visibility in this area of forest run......well for most participators that is, the exception being those competitors who wore glasses on the night. Unfortunately for them visibility was probably much impaired throughout the course due to the drizzly rain and subsequent fogging effects in the forest.
One final challenge awaited competitors at the last control were some climbing and scrambling was required. All in all it was a very refreshing run around a nice remapped area and we will all look forward to returning here for a Cork League event in the future. The knowledge gained from this adventure will surely give us an edge on our next visit.
While many families such as the Scannell, Bosonnets and Crowley adopt the teamwork approach to completing our Summer League events there is one family who prefer to race each other and their orienteering talent really shone this week as the Corbett family dominated the Long course results at Tuesday’s event. Perhaps they should consider entering the Ireland’s Fittest Family contest (http://www.rte.ie/tv/audienceparticipation/irelandsfittestfamily.html)
It was the Corbett men who took the top two positions on the Long course with Brian Corbett just edging passed son Cillin. Brian completed the navigational challenging Long course in a time of 29:30 while Cillin finished with a time of 30:12. Danny O’Hare had just ten seconds to spare over Donal Murphy but it was enough to secure him third place with a time of 31:46.
Niamh Corbett demonstrated her consistent form once again this week and was the fastest Lady around the Long course finishing in a time of 42:33. If Niamh continues at this rate she will have the Ladies League wrapped up in a couple of weeks. Second place went to Ailbhe Creedon who finished with a time of 46:48. Finally Niamh’s mum Liz Deane took the final podium spot as she finished the Long course with a time of 51:14 ensuring all the Corbett family finished on the podium this week.
On the Short course Joe Bosonnet was back to his winning ways and took the honours on the night. The dam conditions didn't seem to impede Joe’s progress and he finished the course with a super fast time of 16:10. Teresa Leahy finished second with a time of 17:39. Fiona Craven made all her navigation errors en route to Walshtown and having finally found the wood she had a clean run and bagged third place with a time of 21:55.
Thanks to all who attended on what turned out to be a very wet evening of orienteering. Full individual results with splits are available here.
A few damp pics from the event have also been posted to the Gallery on our website.
There are numerous famous duos around such as Laurel and Hardy, Thelma and Louise, Statler and Waldorf and Batman and Robin well thankfully CorkO has its very own infamous duo of Jim and Bobby. Thanks to their latest mapping project we all got the pleasure of orienteering in a new and challenging area. There is no limit to the efforts these guys will go to, to facilitate orienteering. Come to think of it the cairn at control 5 on the long course even looked freshly constructed! Not only did they remap the area but they also planned the testing courses. So this week we extend an extra big THANK YOU to our very own dynamic duo of Jim and Bobby for all their hard work in staging this great event. It is all very much appreciated.
Thanks also to Dave O’Donovan for assisting with starts and to our parking officials on the night Liam O’Brien and Willie Fitzgerald (Mr. Pink!). They all endured the rain and the midge for a good deal longer than the rest of us. Thanks also to Rob McEvoy and Ailbhe Creedon who were our data entry team on the night.
Next week’s terrain will present a very different challenge from this week’s extensive forest as the sixth event in the Summer League will see us battle each other at the historic setting of James’ Fort, Kinsale. The area is comprised of open hillside which surrounds the pentagonal Fort with its spear shaped earthen Bastions at the corners. The only place to shelter from the elements on this terrain is in the stone tunnels. These tunnels also provide some convenient route options but remember to keep your head well down when travelling through them the only permanent reminder you need of the 2013 Summer League is a league finishers t-shirt not a nasty gash on your head! Further information on the location and directions are available here.Hope to see you there for some more orienteering exploits.
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