Fingal News 2013 - 2014

The next Fingal Event is at Malahide Castle on Sunday, 27 April. Registration will be in the car park on the left just inside the main gate. There will be two events on the day, a 'family' relay event. Teams of three from the same family can compete against each other. However other teams apart from family teams can also run. The relay first leg runners will start at about 12.00, so come earlier to register your team.

In addition to the relay there will also be a normal orienteering event with three courses available, long, medium, and short. Starts for these courses will be from 11.00 until around 1.00 PM. All are welcome to take part. The short course will be very suitable for beginners.

The Amayzing Mays won the relay event last year in Newbridge House. Who will challenge them this year? The Shorts, O'Boyles, O'Cléirighs, Longs, Walley/Kearns, McCavanaghs, McCulloughs, O'Connell/Morans, or Quinns? Unlike last year the legs will be long, medium, and short, with a twist on the long leg. The Malahide map has also been updated for the event with some previous out of bounds area now open.

There will be prizes for the best team and best family team.

Click here for Rossmore Results

A lovely mild spring day for our event in Rossmore. Despite the forecast the rain cleared before the event started and everyone enjoyed a good run through the woods and around the lakes. A pity we had only 60 competitors, including some from FermO and LVO - not sure if it was the distance, the forecast, or the entry fee to the forest that put people off.

Fingal's next event is the Spring Cup 2 event on Sunday February 23rd, at Rossmore Forest Park, just outside Monaghan Town, off the Clones Road. The usual 6 league courses will be available.

Click here to enter online Please enter online and pay at the registration tent on the day. Even if you don't arrive it saves us time and a lot of typing in cold weather.

Starts from 11.00 until 13.00, registration in the forest car park. Course lengths are as follows

There is now a coin operated barrier on the entrance to Rossmore. Unfortuately we haven't been able to come to an agreement with Coilte so it will cost €5 entry for each car, so it's in your interests to carpool. The best way to get there is via the M1, take the exit for Ardee, then take the N2 to Monaghan.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all Fingal Orienteers and friends. Happy orienteering next year. Highlights at home will be the Irish Championships in Wicklow, near the Wicklow Gap, in May, and the Irish 3-day revisiting the terrain of last year's Irish Championships near Oughterard in Galway in June.

We are planning a training weekend on the 8th and 9th of March. All are welcome. We are planning to have the training on Cahore sanddunes on the Saturday, scene of last year's Leinster Championships, stay overnight in Sean Ógs, Kilmuckridge, then take in the event in Balinastoe on the Sunday. If intersetd in attending please give details to Anyta.

The next 2 Fingal events are a night event in Blanchardstown/Tolka Valley Park on Saturday evening Jan 25th, and the Spring League Event in Rossmore Forest Park, Monaghan, on Sunday, 25th Feb.

Leinster Autumn League Prizewinners from Fingal - Zak White, Becky Quinn, and Jack Quinn.

Fingal Christmas gathering at the Harp Bar in Swords. From left - Bernie Sharkey, Dave Richardson, Anyta Richardson, Jean O'Neill, Ciaran Young, Damon Berry, Cliona O'Reilly, Christine Jones, Val Jones, Catriona Berry, Alex Bogomoletz, Eileen Young, Dara Young, Cillin Berry.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Castletown event. Castletown again provided an interesting contrast between fast runnable parkland and unexpecadly technical orienteering in the woods. Lots of comments on the Forest of Doom section on the new forum. Thanks to our Swedish Controller Henrik Petterson, and the club helpers, Tommy, Dave, Bernie, Anyta, Ciaran, Alex, Kathryn, Donal, and Jean.

Fingal's next event is our Autumn League event at Castletown House, Celbridge, Co Kildare. It is on Sunday the 17th of November. The usual six league courses will be available to suit all ages and levels of fitness. Starts are from 11.00 until about 13.00. Castletown house demesne is mostly flat and provides fast running but there are some tricky sections of mixed woodlands to keep things interesting.

The SHI relay was very successful. It was the most prestigious event held by the club so far and nothing but good reports were received from the runners and noted elsewhere such as on Nopesport and the Scottish Orienteering website. We all enjoyed watching the event and it was certainly exiting competively, especially in the mens race where there was a close finish for the 3 leading teams with the Irish team finished 3rd to England and Scotland. Most of us were too tired to go to Carlingford the next day but the individal race there was extremely challenging with the mist down on the mountain. On the downside there were two runners with suspected fractures that Anyta took to hospital in Newry. We hope they make a full recovery. Thanks again to all who helped out, Bernie Sharkey, Dave and Anyta Richardson, Kathryn Walley, Jean O'Neill, John and Roy Harford, Tommy Burke, Brian Corbett, and Jan from Czech Rep., and Anora from France. Thanks especially to Ciaran for SI and the electronics, Organiser Sarah Ní Ruairc Planner Val Jones, and controller Igor Stefko.

Some Photos are here

Next up for Fingal is the SHI Relay event next Saturday.

Sarah is still looking for volunteers so please contact her if you are available, at sniruairc@gmail.com

The event takes place at Carnawaddy, near Dundalk, Co Louth. The Assembly / Start / Changeover is on the southern side of the map, at the fence which marks the northern end of Ballymakellet forest. Access is via a 4K drive up through the forest. Access to the forest is off a minor road to the east behind the Lumpers Pub in Ravensdale, marked here.

Allow plenty of time to drive up through the forest. Coming from Dublin / Dundalk, take the R173 towards Carlingford, as far as the village of Lordship. From Carlingford take the R173 to Lordship. At Lordship just east of the school, take the road north signposted for Omeath. At the Y junction keep left, then turn left towards Ravensdale on the R174. About 1 mile/1.5 K on take a right on the small road just after the Lumpers Pub. The forest entrance is about 1/2K up this road on the right.

First leg Starts are at 13.00.

Mens Courses are 6.5K approx with 325M climb. Womens Courses are 4.7K approx with 205M climb. Map laser printed on A4 waterproof paper, scale 1:10000, 5M contours. IOF control descriptions on the front. The terrain is all typical Irish open mountain terrain. It is grazed by sheep and after the dry summer, is mostly very runnable. However some of the marshes are still very wet. There are extensive crags and other rock features present. Most crags are tagged crags. Untagged or line crags are used for clarity in places, particularly for facing crags. Whether a crag is tagged or not is not an indication of the size of the crag. The start / changeover is ~370M above sea level and the top of the mountain is 475M. Both are very exposed and if the weather is wet and windy cagoules may be mandatory. There will be no toilet facilities at the assembly but there are some areas of young forest nearby.

SHI runners will be given an assigned pre-cleared SI card and a map in a brown envelope on entry into the changeover box. Incoming runners should be visible, unless very misty, for ~500 M. There will be no radio warning of incoming runners. Incoming runners should touch their teammate, then punch the finish. The final leg placings will be decided by crossing the finish line, not by punching the finish. However runners should punch the finish immediately after crossing the line to record times.

Map from 2005 Leinster Championship with winners route

Carnawaddy, Cairn a' Mhadra, meaning the cairn of the dog, refers to the large cairm on the summit. It is reputed to be the burial place of Bran, the Irish wolfhound of Cuchulain / Setanta, the legendary warrior who defended Ulster against the Connaught army of Queen Maeve.

The Assembly area will allow some viewing of the action, unless it is misty, so everyone is welcome to come along and support the Irish team, and view some of the top orienteers of these islands. The Irish team is expected to feature Darren Burke, Ciaran Lynch, Conor and Rory Short, Marcus Pinker, Ciara Largey, Niamh O'Boyle, Rosalind Hussey, Tony O'Donovan, Niamh Corbett, Aine McCann, Cliona McCullough, and Roisin Long.

From accross the water likely to appear are Hollie Orr, Tessa Hill, Scott Fraser, Kristian Jones, Murray Strain, Heather Burrows, Jessica Tullie, Ruth Holmes, Fiona Berrow, Rozy Shepherd, Katrina McLeod, Ed Catmur, Kirstin Maxwell, Jo Shepherd, Will Hensmen.

There will be some extra maps available and spectators may run a course after the leading 3rd leg runners have started, expected to be about 14:30 (They may not be waterproof so bring a plastic bag, and your SI. We will not have ant rentals) This is for fit experienced orienteers only.

Dogs are not allowed

Thanks to all who came to our 2013 Scatter League events. We had three events this year instead of the usual four, and the numbers were a little bit down on previous years. Next year we will hopefully return to four events. Special thanks to those who planned and organized the events, new planners Roy and Chris, and Jean, Dave, Alex, Anyta, and Bernie.

2013 Scatter League Results

If you didn't collect your prize, someone from your club may have it. Otherwise please contact us, email fin@orienteering.ie

Fr Collins Park Results are here

The final event of the 2013 Scatter League is at Fr Collins Park, Donaghmede. Parking is on the east side of the park. Registration is from 11.00, with the 3 courses starting at 12.00 or soon after. Prizegiving for the league will be as soon as possible after the leading runners have finished.

Fr Collins Park is on the hole in the wall road in Donaghmede, north of Donaghmede Shopping Center. Look out for the wind mills.

Newbridge House Results are here

Thanks to all who came to Newbridge house, thanks to Dave and Anyta for planning and organising, and the other helpers, Alex, Bernie and Ciaran, and Jean for collecting controls.

The second event of the Fingal Scatter League is at Newbridge House, next Sunday, 8th Sept. As usual registration will be from 11.00 on, 3 courses available, Long, Medium, and Short, with all courses starting at 12.00. To get to Newbridge House, exit the M1 at the Donabate exit, follow the signs for Donabate and Newbridge House.

Applewood Results are here

Thanks to everyone who came to the Applewood event yesterday, thanks to all helpers, Dave, Anyta, Bernie, Alex, John, Ciaran, and especially Roy and Jean for planning and controlling. Everyone enjoyed the event and were full of praise for Roy's map of Applewood.

Routes of course leaders

Long, Angus Tyner

Long, Roisin Long

Medium, Ruairi Long

Short, Sinead Kearns

Fingal Scatter League 2013 - Event 1 Applewood, Swords

Registration and Start is at the Entrance to Castleview estate, North West Swords. Courses are Long Medium and Short, on a new sprint standard map. Registration is from 11.00 AM, until 12.00 noon. all courses start at 12.00 or soon after. Everyone is welcome. The courses are suitable for all ages and levels of fitness, and are on the streets around Applewood, Castleview, and Glen Ellen.

Directions - Exit M1 at the Donabate/Nth Swords exit. Turn left towards Swords. Turn right at first roundabaout. Turn Right at traffic lights (Swords Fire Station opposite) Turn left at next traffic lights. Continue straight through 2 roundabouts to Event registration.

The 2013 Fingal Scatter series will be just 3 events, A new map in Applewood, Swords, 1st Sept, Newbridge House, 8th Sept, and Fr. Collins Park, Donaghmede, 15th Sept.

Great weather for Fingal's relay event in Newbridge House, Donabate, on Sunday, May 19th. A pity there were only 10 teams and not many took up the Shorts' family challenge. At least there were about 30 on the entry on the day course. The event served it's main purpose of giving us experience of running a relay event, in preparation for us running the Senior Home International on September 28th

Results are here

The next Fingal event will be a relay event in Newbridge House, Donabate, on Sunday, May 19th. It will be a single course relay, each leg 5K approx. It will be open to any combination of teams of 3 runners. It is mainly give us some experience of running relays before we run the SHI relay in September. It should be good fun and good relay practice. The controls are not difficult and Newbridge House is flat parkland. Sarah will be looking for SI numbers of team members in advance, if possible, but teams can be formed and enter on the day. There will also be a single entry on the day course, suitable for all levels

<- Val, Dave, and Ingus, the Fingal H12 team who came second in the H12 class at the IOC 13 relays.

There was a good medal haul for Fingal members who attended the 2013 Irish Championships in Oughterard in Co. Galway on the May Bank Holiday weekend. At the Middle distance Jean O'Neill was 1st in W65, Val Jones, 2nd in M55, Sarah Ni Ruairc 2nd in W21L, Ingus Rektins 3rd M45, Anyta Richardson 3rd in W40S. At the Long distance Jean was 1st in W65, Val 1st in M55, Ciaran Kearns 3rd in M14, Ingus 2nd M45, Sarah 2nd W21L. The Fingal H12 team of Val, Dave, and Ingus came 2nd in the relay, by 12 seconds after a good head to head tussle with the winning Ajax team. Unfortunately former multiple times Irish champion Aonghus O'Cleirigh had the legs on Ingus in the run-in. The weekend was very enjoyable in Connemara and the maps and terrain were excellant. There was also some good socialising in the Boat Inn in Oughterard. The only downside was the weather, the Connemara drizzle persisted until lunchtime Monday, unlike the rest of the country basking in sunshine.

Some more photos here

Results from LOC 2013 are now on the IOA site

LOC 2013 Web Pages

<- Surf's up in Cahore

Thanks to all who came and made it a memorable event. Gale force winds, combined with soft sand, made for very difficult running but in spite of that most people enjoyed the event, and plenty of complimentary comments were received. The top courses M21L saw Darren Burke of CorkO win the 13.32k course in just over 79 minutes, one and a half minutes in front of Gerard Butler from 3ROC, great running. The W21L, 10.26k course saw LVO's Aine Mc Cann take the race in 83 minutes 48 seconds, 2 minutes 40 ahead of CorkO's Niamh Corbett. Well done, to all the course winners and the Leinster champions.

Thanks. also, to all the Fingal people who made the event a success. They all did their best and did it very well, as always. A special thanks goes to Dave Richardson for the time and effort he put into planning great courses, Val Jones for surveying and producing a great map and to Mick Mangan of Setanta Orienteers for controlling. The LIDAR data greatly facilitated providing the contour detail of the sandunes.

Thanks to Tommy Burke for organising, Ian, Chris and Sean for managing the starts, Sarah for managing the Finish, Alex for Parking, Bernie and Jean for registration, Anyta and Gabbie for the catering, and Ciaran for the download and managing the electronics.

Thanks also to the landowners and Wexford county council for giving us permission and for providing the field for parking. The largest landowner, Ballywater Farm, also owns the windfarm. I'm sure plenty of green kilowatts were produced on the day.

Approval has been given by the Parks and Wildlife Service. Online entries are available through Fabian4. See Event Entries page.

We are also planning to have a training weekend on the 16th/17th of February. We will have training in Castlemorris on the Saturday, stay in Kilkenny on Saturday night, then take in the WatO event in Woodstock on the Sunday.

We are staying in the Kilkenny Tourist Hostel in Kilkenny City. Please call them on 056 7763541 to book your accomodation. They have Family Rooms available as well as the usual dorms. It's a self-catering hostel so bring your own food for breakfast. We will go out to get something to eat on Saturday evening. The website is kilkennyhostel.ie