Orienteering Ireland AGM 2023

This year’s AGM will take place in Lynhams Hotel, Laragh, Co Wicklow on Sunday 30th April at 5.30pm after the classic event in Devil’s Glen. 

Hotel Location https://goo.gl/maps/2gB9mPR3kGAcDZuu9

The agenda is as follows:

• Minutes of 2022 AGM
• Matters arising from minutes
• Treasurer’s Report and 2022 Accounts
• Officer Reports
• Election of Committee
• Orienteering Ireland Annual Awards
• AOB

Further updates and reports will be made available on the Orienteering Ireland website Annual General Meetings – Orienteering in Ireland

Orienteering during Women in Sport Week

Women in Sport Week is taking place this week 6th – 12th March.

The aims of Women in Sport Week are:

• To promote and highlight the ongoing work of Sport Ireland, NGBs, LSPs and other stakeholders and funded bodies, under the topic of Women in Sport.
• To celebrate every woman and girl who plays, coaches, officiates, volunteers, works in and leads out on WIS.
• To encourage and remind men and boys to be allies for women in sport

Two orienteering clubs – Bishopstown Orienteering Club and Fingal Orienteering Club, supported by Orienteering Ireland, have opened up their events on Sunday 12th March, to be part of WIS Week, in Fota, Co. Cork, and Fauna Forest, Co.Wicklow, respectively. They are offering opportunities for women (and accompanying children) to be introduced to orienteering in an event setting and to be given an introduction to the basic skills involved in the sport of orienteering. They will then get to try out out one of the event courses aimed at beginners/newcomers (yellow/orange courses).

If you know of women, who would like to have the opportunity to be introduced to orienteering, check out the posters and registration details (free) (in the poster captions) below.

Instructor Training Course: Dublin 1st & 2nd April

The Level 1 Basic Orienteering Instructor Training course will take place in South County Dublin on 1st and 2nd April 2023. The course will also be preceded by a 1.5hr online evening session (date to be confirmed with participants).

The instructor training course is aimed at club orienteers, youth leaders and outdoor pursuits instructors, with basic knowledge of the sport including some event experience, and who are interested in introducing people to the sport of orienteering. This course is certified by Coaching Ireland.

During the instructor training course trainee instructors will:

• Explore a range of activities suitable for the introduction of orienteering in the classroom, school grounds and in local parks and woods.
• Plan and deliver sessions that develop basic understanding of orienteering skills & navigation techniques.
• Be introduced to the Orienteering Ireland Orienteering Ability Awards as a progressive scheme for the advancement of skills in novice and beginner participants.
• Become familiar with equipment and skills necessary to organise orienteering activities.
• Learn to carry out risk assessments and use these in conjunction with the orienteering venue terrain guide.
• Use course planning tools to organise simple orienteering activities in private grounds, parks and small woods.

For further information and registration please check the link below.

Registration is through Eventbrite

Announcement of new general administrator

Orienteering Ireland is pleased to announce the appointment of Eric O’Brien as their new General Administrator.

He will take up the position on January 01 2023.

We wish him well and look forward to him joining our team.

Congratulations to our new cohort of accredited planners

Over 4 weekly sessions, the participants on the recent online Planners Course were taken through the roles and responsibilties of the course planner, with emphasis on the importance of applying the planning principles to all aspects of planning. They were given a comprehensive grounding in planning for different technical difficulties (TD), and with the tools and resources to hand they were tasked with planning a range of courses from TD2 to TD5 on a selection of different maps each week. The course was ably presented by Mary Healy, Marcus Geoghegan and faciliated by Déirdre Ní Challanáin.

The group worked hard to achieve their goal and we are delighed to have another cohort of orienteers, each being recognised as an accredited Orienteering Ireland Planner Level 2. We look forward to the courses and events they will plan in the months and years ahead.

The next online planners course will take place in Autumn 2023. If interested please complete the form below and we will get in touch.

https://forms.gle/fRg12JzbY2Bdi7Zn6

Planner’s Course – November 2022

The second Planner’s Course online workshop takes place this November, starting on Monday 7th November. All clubs have previously been notified of the dates.

This accredited course is a four week online interactive workshop aimed at both new and existing planners.

4 online weekly Monday sessions – 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th November 2022

19:00 – 21:00 via Zoom

Registration details https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/planners-course-online-workshop-tickets-432520840477

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/planners-course-online-workshop-tickets-432520840477

Social Media Workshop for Orienteering Clubs.

In today’s world it is very important that clubs use social media to advertise and promote their orienteering activities.

For this purpose Orienteering Ireland is running a 1.5 hour social media workshop on:

Thursday 27th October 7:30pm – 9pm.

Mark Stephens will look at social media talk, covering posts, stories, reels, when best to use each feature, and their differences.

The workshop will also look at Canva, and how to put text together with images.

Clubs attending should have set up an Instagram account and Facebook page beforehand.

Ideally each club will have a minimum of one person attending, who will be happy to take on the role of the club’s social media accounts.

The registration form below gives you the opportunity to ask questions in advance of the workshop.

Upcoming Safeguarding 1 workshops

Orienteering Ireland is organsing two online Safeguarding 1 workshops.

Wednesday 28th September 6.30 – 9.30pm    https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/415268377897

Thursday 13th October 6.30 – 9.30pm             https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/415373883467

Safeguarding 1 – Child Welfare & Protection Basic Awareness Workshop is for everyone involved in children and young people’s sport.

The Safeguarding 1 workshop educates participants on the implementation of best practice in safeguarding the welfare of children involved in sport.

Safeguarding 1 is required for those working with, or who have interaction with young people in sport. It is also suitable for those involved in the planning / administration of activities or events involving young people.

It is recommended that coaches, committee members, children’s officers, designated liaison persons and parents attend this training.

The training is valid for 3 years, and is recognised across National Governing Bodies of Sport in the Republic of Ireland.

Junior Home International Team announced

The junior team selectors (Ruth Lynam, Mike Long, Steph Pruzina and Darren Burke) met during the week, and have selected the following athletes to represent Ireland in this year’s Ward Junior Home International Orienteering Competition, to be held near Aviemore in Scotland on October 8th and 9th 2022.

M18

• Daire O’Brien
• Dan Murphy
• Josh Hoare
• Oliver O’Kane

W18

• Clodagh O’Donnell
• Emily Rowe
• Maya Buckley

M16

• Cian O’Donnell
• Gerry Browne
• James Hottinger
• Oscar Rowe

W16

• Anastasia Maglich
• Chloe Grattan
• Eve Buckley
• Orla Church

M14

• Fionn Buckley
• Hamish Church
• Liam Casey
• Liam O’Donnell

W14

• Ellie Simpson
• Fionnuala Rowe
• Niamh Browne
• Sadhbh Hassett

Congratulations to those who were selected.

The team will be accompanied to the event by Stephanie Pruzina, David Masterson, and several other parents (that’s a lot of juniors to get to Scotland!)

HER Outdoors Week 2022

Orienteering Ireland and its clubs, in collaboration with a number of the local sports partnerships around the country, are hosting a series of orienteering events during Her Outdoors Week 8 – 14th August 2022, with many of the events being run in conjunction with the MapRun6 app.

HER Outdoors Week aims to celebrate and encourage more females to get out and enjoy the benefits of being in the outdoors while bringing visibility to the opportunities for females to get involved in outdoor physical activity.

With a number of Orienteering Ireland instructors and three clubs (SEVO, Fingal, SOLAR) running these events, the orienteering community will be well represented around the country during Her Outdoors Week.

A successful Her Outdoors grant investment application was put towards the development of MapRun information boards and resources. These will be displayed during the Her Outdoors orienteering events and can be used for future MapRun events and activities to help promote this orienteering resource.