Orienteering Ireland is running its 4-weekly online course on Introduction to Mapping using OCAD software. The course is primarily aimed at those new to mapping, but all are welcome. Over a progressive series of four weekly online workshops participants will learn to:
1. Complete an urban sprint orienteering map that complies to international standards.
2. Complete an orienteering map of a park / school grounds.
3. Georeference and make small updates to any orienteering map.
Each workshop will last two hours from 19:30 – 21:30, and will take place via Zoom, on the first four Mondays of November 2024:
Monday 4th November 2024
Monday 11th November 2024
Monday 18th November 2024
Monday 25th November 2024
Each participant will be given a temporary OCAD licence for 6 weeks from the beginning of the course.
Prerequisite
Be a member of an Orienteering Ireland Club
OCAD is a Windows Software – you will need Windows 8, 10 or 11
100 MB of free disk space for the installation
Basic knowledge of file handling
A second monitor, or phone or tablet is highly advised
Note for MAC users OCAD is a Windows software. Additional software like Virtual PC, Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion or Bootcamp must be installed on the MAC to use OCAD. For more information, see the OCAD Wiki – OCAD on Mac OS X page.
The course is open to members of Orienteering Ireland and its clubs. You can register here.
European Orienteering Championships – EOC2024
EOC2024
The European Orienteering Championships are taking place in Mór, Hungary, 16-20 August, and Ireland is being represented by four of our athletes:
Wishing our athletes the very best on the international stage.
Photo credit: Eszter Kocsik
SONY DSC
Her Outdoors Week 2024
Her Outdoors Week 2024 kicks off this week with an action packed schedule of events around the country. This is an amazing opportunity for women and girls of all ages to get involved in outdoor physical activity.
Orienteering Ireland, in conjunction with the Local Sports Partnerships and our clubs are hosting a range of events this week, providing women and girls to experience orienteering in a range of locations and settings and to learn new skills in a fun engaging way.
It’s an action-packed programme from 12th – 18th August. See all the events taking place around the country.
World Orienteering Championships 2024 – team announcement
Jens Waechter, Orienteering Ireland’s High Performance Manager, today announced the team for the World Orienteering Sprint Championships 2024 taking place in Edinburgh 11-16 July.
Congratulations to all on your selection.
Sprint Male
Paul Pruzina
Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan
Cillin Corbett
Sprint Female
Niamh O’Boyle
Niamh Corbett
Eadaoin McCavana
Knock-Out Sprint Male
Paul Pruzina
Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan
Kevin O’Boyle
Knock-Out Sprint Female
Niamh Corbett
Eadaoin McCavana
Relay Team 1
Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan
Colm Moran
Aoife McCavana
Niamh O’Boyle
EYOC 2024
The Irish Junior Team recently took part in the 2024 European Youth Orienteering Championships, held in Szczecin, Poland from June 21st – June 24th. The team this year was the largest ever sent to EYOC, with 13 athletes selected to represent Ireland.
This was the best team result for Ireland at EYOC so far (22nd out of 35) and also the best individual Irish male result at EYOC (Aidan McKenna, 14th on Sprint M16)
Well done to the team and also to the coaches for supporting our juniors!
Photo Credit: Jakub Kijak MoonLine Media Photo Credit: Dave MastersonPhoto Credit: Dave Masterson
Sport Development Conference 2024
The Operations Team travelled to Dublin this week to attend the annual Sport Development Conference.
With over 270 Development Officers representing 75 sporting organisations, it was Sport Ireland’s largest Sport Development Conference yet.
The conference is a fantastic networking opportunity for the NGBs and LSPs, and it enables Orienteering Ireland to meet the LSP team members face to face and link in with them for ongoing and future projects.
The Sport Ireland team had brought together some fascinating storytellers who shared their personal stories and the impact they are making through sport.
There was a great selection of breakout sessions, interspersed with fun physical interaction to keep us engaged. Breakout sessions topics included the HerMoves programme for teenage girls, Young Voices in Sport toolkit, diversity and inclusion in sport, owning your career, Get Ireland Active, insights from NGB and LSP led research, and the latest research insight to innovative practices.
There was also an amazing illustrator each day who summed up the conference content on one board. The images below give you a feel for what it was all about.
How should you act if you know the terrain before a race, meet an injured runner in the forest or are asked for directions?
These are some of the topics covered in the new basic Fair Play course, that has just become available on IOF’s E-learning platform.
The course consists of 14 different lessons with text and video clips – all with a short quiz at the end. It is a great opportunity to update your knowledge on key fair play issues before, during, and after a race.
It is strongly recommended for youths and juniors with ambitions of participating in international events
IOF’s Fair Play project has prepared the course that is available and free to everyone.
The new South West League is a replacement for the old Munster League. The big plus is that it reduces distances to events and takes advantage of the improved N22 road network. The league has been established by the Cork and Kerry orienteering clubs and is designed to encourage members to travel to the events in neighbouring counties.
While the South West League primarily targets members from Bishopstown Orienteering Club (BOC); Cork Orienteering Club (CorkO) and Kerry Orienteers (KerryO), members of the public and the wider orienteering fraternity are also encouraged to participate in the league.
There are 7 events in the South West League for 2024 spread over the calendar year and listed in the table below. An individual’s four best results go to count in the overall South West League results. The seven events will be located in Cork and Kerry and are scheduled for Sundays with a starting time of 11:00.
All events will have six colour courses to suit all abilities and age ranges. These colour courses are Brown, Blue, Green, Light Green, Red, Orange. On occasions Yellow or other colour courses such as White, Short Green, Black may be added by the organising club, but these additional courses on the day will not form part of the South West League. Check with Orienteering Ireland to ascertain the guidelines and suitability of each of the colour courses, which are currently being revised by the organisation.
Scoring and prizes
The scoring system algorithm is automated on the orienteering.ie leagues webpage. It is based on the average times of finishers on each course. The average is given 1000 points with faster runners getting more points and slower runners getting less. The number of events to count for places depends on the number of events in the league. If there are 7 events in the league the best 4 will count for scoring.
Prizes are awarded to the first female and first male competitors on each course. following age categories. Only members of the three clubs promoting the South West League are eligible for prizes on each course. Note this is just for prizes.
Anyone is free to run any course, all welcome.
2024 South West League Fixtures ********************************
1: Sunday March 3rd Ballydrehid, Cahir (CorkO) 2: Sunday April 28th Glenabo Woods, Fermoy (BOC) 3: Sunday May 19th Ross Island, Killarney (KerryO) 4: Date TBC Warrenscourt Wood, Lissarda (BOC) 5: Sunday October 4th Venue TBC (CorkO) 6: Sunday November 17th Upper Torc, Muckross (KerryO) 7: Sunday December 12th Kilworth TBC (DFO)
The Orienteering Ireland Executive Committee would like to invite our orienteering clubs to send a delegation to our Club Conference which will be held in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise on 09 March 2024.
Orienteering Ireland has begun the transition to a Type B sporting organisation and this is giving us the opportunity to discuss what the needs of our clubs and the sport are, and how these will impact our strategy and actions going forward. The conference will cover the following topics for open discussion and debate.
Fixtures
Membership
Local Sports Partnerships and available grants
Irish Orienteering Championships
If your club would like to have their say in the future of orienteering in Ireland, please respond using our google form by 21 February 2024.
The conference will commence at 1030 and run until 1600, with refreshments being served. Clubs are invited to nominate a delegation of committee members or prominent members of their club to attend, with a maximum of three per club (to manage numbers).
Upcoming Orienteering Level 1 Instructor Training Course
The next Orienteering Level 1 Instructor Training course will take place at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Mayo Campus, in Castlebar, on Thursday 29th February and Friday 1st March 2024.
Who should do it?
The course is aimed at candidates who will be introducing beginners to the sport of orienteering and assisting novices to improve their orienteering skills.
Prerequisites
Candidates must be at least 18 years old at the time of being assessed for their award.
Candidates must demonstrate an ability to perform the skills and techniques of orienteering skills level 3, as required to navigate a minimum of three orange or red courses.
Have a valid safeguarding 1 certificate.
Course Outcomes
Trainee instructors will be able to:
Understand the role of the orienteering instructor.
Be able to recall the skills requirements for Levels 1 – 3 of the Orienteering Skills Awards.
Teach the skills of orienteering skills level 1.
Make use of terrain to assess the suitability of a venue for orienteering.
Develop safe operating procedures for orienteering activities at a school, park, or woodland site and carry out a risk assessment for an orienteering venue.
Design orienteering courses at technical difficulty 1 – 3.
Utilise Purple Pen to design courses and activities suitable for teaching orienteering skills levels 1 – 3.
Instruct effectively and provide individualised instruction and feedback.
Use session planners for planning & delivering a training session.
For further information and to register please click here.
Orienteering Ireland, Irish Sport HQ, Blanchardstown
D15 DY62, Ireland
