Events this Weekend, 1-4 May 2015

This is the weekend of the Irish Orienteering Championships, the premier event of the orienteering year. This year it is organised by LVO and takes place in Co. Down. For details go go www.ioc2015.org

The IOA AGM is on Saturday (after Slieve Croob event) at 6pm in Lisburn Leisureplex. Details here

For those who can’t make it to the Irish Orienteering Championship there is an event in Fermoy, Co. Cork.

Call for Primary schools

The Irish Champs for Primary Schools will be held at Castlecomer Discovery Park on Wednesday May 13th, 2015.

Full details are posted to the right of the IOSG blog. (irishschoolso.blogspot.com)
The venue was picked to facilitate Dublin schools making the journey to the southeast, only 1 hour 20 mins from Red Cow on the motorway.
Follow us on Twitter  @schoolsO4U o keep updated
Please encourage as many to take part as possible. There are pairs courses on offer for those who are less experienced. Enjoy a stroll around the lakes at the park.
Queries to development@orienteering.ie

Successful Irish Schools Championships at Castlecomer

Congratulations to the over 500 participants in the annual Irish schools orienteering championships at Castlecomer. Thank you to all the staff @C_Discovery Park in north Kilkenny.
Once again a huge thanks also from the planner to the members of Waterford Orienteering club who turned out in force to lend a hand running this massive event
Results
1st year boys
1. Neil Collins (CBC Cork); 2. Eoin Healy (Midleton CBS); 3. Ben McDowell (Rockbrook); 4. Jeffrin Wilson (Rockbrook)
Teams: 1. CBC Cork; 2. Midleton CBS; 3. Rockbrook Park; 4. Clonakilty; 5. Newtown, Waterford.
1st year girls
1. Jordan Pim (Newtown); 2. Robyn Whitty (Ursuline, Waterford); 3. Caitlyn Kelleher (St Angela’s, Cork) 4. Oonagh Harvey (Newtown)
Teams: 1. Newtown; 2. Ursuline Waterford; 3. St Angela’s, Cork; 4. St Marys Mallow; 5. Nagle Rice, Doneraile.
2/3 boys
1. Dan McDonnell (Midleton CBS); 2. Oisin O’Sullivan (Clonakilty); 3. John Quinless (Rockbrook); 4. Eoin Riordain (St Gerards Bray)
Teams: 1. Rockbrook Park; 2. Midleton CBS; 3. Clonakilty; 4. Nagle Rice; 5. Newtown; 6. Waterpark College, Waterford; 7. Colaiste Cois Suire, Mooncoin
2/3 girls
1. Molly Brown (Castleknock College); 2. Ciara Silby (Ursuline, Waterford); 3. Ciara McCarthy (Ursuline); 4. Laura Crespo (Newtown)
Teams: 1. Newtown; 2. St Marys Mallow; 3.Ursuline; 4. Presentation Kilkenny; 5. Nagle Rice
PJC boys
1. Conall Whelan (St Kierans Kilkenny); 2. Zach Harrington (Clonakilty); 3. Tim O’Sullivan (CBC Cork); 4. Robert Pim (Newtown)
Teams: 1. Newtown; 2. Clonakilty; 3. CBC Cork; 4. Nagle Rice; 5. St Kierans
PJC girls
1. Norah O’Brien (St Marys Midleton); 2. Denise Hallahan (St Marys Midleton); 3. Faye Mansfield (St Marys Mallow); 4. Sinead O’Reilly (St Marys Mallow)
Teams: 1. St Marys Midleton; 2. Nagle Rice, Doneraile; 3. Newtown; 4. Ursuline Waterford

Orienteering this Sunday, 26th April 2015

There are five events on Sunday, two in the West, two in the South and one in Dublin. Beginners are welcome at all these events.

n 26 Apr, Oakport

Sun 26 Apr, Newbridge House Demesne

Sun 26 Apr, Athenry Park

Sun 26 Apr, Rossbeigh Sand Dunes

Sun 26 Apr, Spike Island

Mac Tire Trophy

We need more nominations for the Mac Tire trophy. The trophy will be presented at the AGM on May 2nd.

This is a chance for the Orienteering Community to acknowledge the efforts of others. Send your nomination (can be from an individual or a club) to info@orienteering.ie

For more details on the award go to;

Orienteering Ireland Annual Awards

What did the IOA ever do for me ?

What do the IOA do anyway…?

promote the sport, orienteering.ie website, Facebook, Strategic plan for developing the sport Grant applications for Irish Sports Council & for LiDAR & Equipment, Support orienteering in the schools Child Protections standards, Garda Vetting, Coaching courses & seminars on Planning, Controlling, Mapping, Event Organisation, etc. Fixtures list, Map Registration, Insurance, fund the Senior and Junior Squad, Maintain rules and standards And lots more!!!

What do we need ?

A new Chairperson. After 3 years Mary O’Connell is stepping down as
chairperson. According to the IOA constitution each chairperson can
only serve for 3 years. So, for the IOA to continue its work for
Orienteering, we need a new Chairperson. Our AGM is on May 2nd is
Lisburn, Co. Down.

If you can help or want to know more email info@orienteering.ie

Orienteering this Weekend, 18th & 19th April 2015

Summary

Details

Sat 18 Apr, University College Dublin; Belfield

Sun 19 Apr, Lough Firrib

Sun 19 Apr, Castletownshend Demesne & Wood

The Irish Orienteer is moving …

After a few months of inactivity, The Irish Orienteer is moving to a new location here from April 2015.

You can still read all the older posts and the archive of printed material from TIO and from the LOC Newsletter which preceded it.

TIO back in action …

After a break since late last year, The Irish Orienteer is on the way back, with a new look which should allow easier access from the Irish Orienteering Association web site. To read anything published in TIO up to October 2014, follow the link here.

After a super JK last weekend in the English Lake District where several people mentioned to me that they really miss The Irish Orienteer, we’re back to report on what’s been happening and what’s coming in the near future.

The Leinster Championships at Lough Firrib, near the Wicklow gap (scene of last year’s Irish Championships) on Sunday 19th April, followed by the Irish Championships at Lisburn, Slieve Croob and Hillsborough, and the Shamrock O-Ringen at Glengarriff are all imminent. Another unique event coming up is Setanta’s Wicklow Rogaine on 27th/28th June, so get started entering! The Leinsters entry date has been extended to Wednesday 15th April so you may still get an entry if maps are available. Just announced is UCDO’s plan to host a sprint race at the Belfield campus on the afternoon of Saturday 18th April, the day before the Leinsters – good preparation for the Irish Sprint Championships at Lisburn two weeks later. This event is not yet on the IOA Fixtures list but more details should be available soon.

The map, the whole map, and nothing but the map

I have to say that I am very concerned about one aspect of orienteering (several interlinked aspects, actually), but the one that bothers me in particular is mapping. The death of Setanta’s Brian Power, until recently the IOA Mapping Officer, brought home how few mappers we have and how much we depend on them.

We have a lot of maps, produced over the years, which now need to be revised to meet the expectations of 21st Century orienteers: they want accurate, up-to-date maps, beautifully drawn with OCAD, geo-referenced so they can reconstruct their routes using GPS, printed on waterproof paper with overprinted courses. They want new areas surveyed, and old areas revised to the same standard.

In the part, maps were produced by dedicated volunteers like Brian Power, Pat Healy, Pat Flanagan, Padraig Higgins, Seán Cotter, and they spend a lot of time on these projects. Nowadays we don’t seem to have so much time and we rely on a small group of people to survey and produce maps. Admittedly the technology has moved on, to provide us with LIDAR basemaps, GPS surveying and computer aided drawing, but these technologies are expensive and specialised, and not everyone is interested or able to use them. So where do we go from here?

We have some mappers who excel at urban maps, where the need to go into uncharted terrain is minimal, and we need to develop these kinds of map. We can attract new people to orienteering if we bring the sport to them, rather than force them to travel to us in the wilds of Wicklow or West Cork.

Trinity Map Archive update