HERE IS THE SENIOR ORIENTEERING NATIONAL TEAM 2024

Now it is clear what the national team in orienteering in 2024 look like.

After a top season in 2023, the national team is now aiming for next year’s sprint WC in Scotland and forest EOC in Hungary, and the World Cup season with four rounds. 

There are small changes in the national team squads after the successful 2023 season. 

We are delighted to have Juniors that have moved up and a few athletes re-joining the team.

New to the squad are :

Laurence Quinn

Jonathan Quinn

Conall Whelan

Eoghan Whelan

Niamh Corbett 

Liam Cotter

Women

Róisín Long

Niamh Corbett

Aoife O’Sullivan

Clodagh Moran

Aoife McCavana

Eadoin McCavana

Niamh O’Boyle 

Men 

Paul Pruzina

Cílín Corbett

Colm Moran

Eoghan Whelan 

Josh O’Sullivan – Hourihan

Kevin O’Boyle

Liam Cotter

Laurence Quinn

Conor Short

Aidan McCullough

Jonathan Quinn

Conall Whelan

Ruairi Short

Sprint WC 2024 in Scotland

July 12 sprint

July 14 sprint relay

July 16 knockout sprint

World Cup 2024

Round 1 in Switzerland

May 24 qualifying knockout sprint

May 25 knockout sprint finals

May 26 sprint

Round 2 in Italy

June 1 sprint

June 2 sprint relay

Round 3 in Hungary with forest EOC

August 17 middle distance

August 18 long distance

August 20 relay

Round 4 in Finland

September 26 long distance

September 28 middle distance

September 29 relay

Time for European Championships in fast Italian terrain

The international orienteering season will come to an intense end, when the European Orienteering Championships and World Cup Round 3 are decided over three sprint races in northern Italy in the coming days.

Verona, Soave and Vicenza in Italy’s Veneto region host a Sprint, a Sprint Relay and a Knock-Out Sprint respectively.

All three terrains offer flat and fast orienteering – primarily on hard surface in the historic cities with some park and open areas along the way.

If you are not travelling to Italy to follow races at the arenas, there will be a high quality TV-production on IOF TV from all finals at EOC.

IOF’s experienced commentators Katherine Bett and Jonas Merz will guide you through the races in English.

Find start lists, results, maps and GPS-tracking at IOF LIVE

Good luck to our Irish Team runners Niamh, Eadaoin, Alice, Colm and Josh. They are looked after by Paul for the trip.
You follow our team in Instagram here.

EOC and World Cup Round 3 Program
All times CEST (UTC +2)

Wednesday, October 4
Sprint, Verona

08.45 Sprint Qualification first start

14.30 Sprint Final First start

14.30 – 17.00 IOF TV Broadcast


Friday, October 6
Sprint Relay, Soave

15.30 – 17.00 IOF TV Broadcast

15.45 Sprint Relay start


Sunday, October 8
Knock-Out Sprint, Vicenza

8.30 KO Sprint Qualification first start

12.25 KO Sprint Quarterfinals start

14.00 – 16.00 IOF TV Broadcast

Senior Home Internationals 2023 – Team Selection

Congratulation to all selected for the Senior Home international 2023.

Women:

Clodagh Moran

Aoife McCavana

Aoife O’Sullivan

Eadaoin McCavana

Sarah Knight

Men:

Eoghan Whelan

Liam Cotter

Aidan McCullough

George Savell

Laurence Quinn

Cillin Corbett

Colm Moran

Ruairi Short

We are wishing all athletes best of luck this weekend 9th/10th September at Merthyr Common South & Clydach Terrace, organised by SWOC, in Wales.

Senior Squad Sprint Camp – Dublin – Recipe

“Team cook” : Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan

Ingredients:

  • Days: 4
  • Maps: 9
  • Controls: 162
  • Average kms: 80km – 92km
  • Helpers: 3
  • Course Planners: 8, 6 internationals
  • Photographers: 1
  • Juniors: 2, 1 international
  • Fun: to much to count

Day 1:

Day one saw 3 athletes on a training course designed by Anton from Sweden to kick off the training weekend. Great route choices kept the athletes thinking on their feet … pardon the pun.

Day 2:

Today the “cook” dished out a knock-out sprint simulation with different maps of different areas. It included correct time delays between qualification, quarter final, semi final and final. It was to mimic WOC sprint timing between knock-out events. Course Planner was Kevin O’Boyle for the quali and quarter final events who put a lot of thought into the planning with interesting route choices that encouraged great discussions.

The afternoon training block saw courses planned by one of Ukraine’s national team runners Olena for the semi final and final events. And boy were the stakes raised. Like in WOC and EOC races, the athletes had 20 seconds to look at route choices before the mass start.

Day 3:

After very intensive day 2 the team had a slightly “easier ” day. The morning saw a gaffled sprint interval training and the course at Dublin’s dockland was set this time by Warre, a Belgium national team runner.

The afternoon had the team training a line-O designed by Matthias, national team runner from Austria, before a fast sprint style training set by Kerstin, national team runner from Estonia.

Day 4:

And to finish the training camp, the team had two final task. At this point desert was served by the “cook” with a cherry on top. The team headed to Tempelbar & Grafton Quarter for another sprint style training and to leave everything “out there”. The course was set by Leo from Holper&Zapf course planning . The team delivered once again with some very fast foot speed.

And finally the afternoon was planned by the High Performance Manager Jens himself. This rounded up a very successful and first team sprint training.

Wrapping up:

My profound thanks goes to the “cook” for the training weekend Josh. The team piggy backed on his training, that he planned for himself.

I am also thankful to Donore Harriers to lend us their clubhouse for a team debrief and analysis evening. Josh is a member of that club and got permission.

I want to mention Ruairi ( currently injured ) who helped out and gave the team his insight on WOC this year, thank you. Not to forget Kevin, he not only planned courses but made himself available to train and support.

Finally, I can not wait to have many more of these trainings that are conceived & organised by other members of the senior squad.

Please help support our team and all the other internationals who planned and designed training for the team. It helps our national team to reach out and connect to other orienteering nations and their teams for future endeavours.

Jens | High Performance Manager | Orienteering Ireland

European Orienteering Championships 2023 Orienteering Ireland Team Announcement

EOC 2023 logo

The High Performance Manager and Orienteering Ireland are delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Ireland at the European Orienteering Championships (EOC) in Italy from the 1st-8th of October 2023.

Ladies: Aoife O’Sullivan, Aoife McCavana, Eadaoin McCavana and Niamh O’Boyle.

Men: Kevin O’Boyle and Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan

Team Official: Paul O’Sullivan-Hourihan

Orienteering Ireland would like to wish all the athletes the very best of luck at the Championships.


Jens – High Performance Manager

WOC starting July 12th

The Irish Team is ready and super excited to start WOC 2023 in Flims/Laax, Switzerland.
Last preparation were completed today.

A big “thank you” to Ruth who has become our Team Official last minute.

You can follow the senior squad almost live on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/irishorienteeringsquad/

You can find all the latest updates on WOC here .
And of course for some in-depth analysis why not pop over to world of O.

And finally, may I introduce the athletes. Good luck to you all and have fun out there.

Jens | High Performance Manager

Name: Clodagh Moran

Instagram: @clodaghmoran

Age: 23

Hometown: Dublin

Currently living: Leaving Gothenburg, going to Frankfurt

Club: @3rockorienteering
@goteborgmajornaok
@orienteeringucd

No. WOCs: 2

2023 events: Middle, Long

What do you think of the WOC terrain: Hardddd. So much detail, really fun but will be tricky

Favourite biscuit: Custard Creams

Orienteering strength: Open mountain

Favourite Map/Terrain: Sand dunes

Result most proud of: JK W10 Bronze

Favourite Irish mountain: Djouce

Name: Paul Pruzina

Instagram: @ppruzina

Age: 26

Hometown: Comber, Down

Currently living: travelling for the summer, moving to Cambridge in September

Club: LVO, @real_drongo@ifklidingosok

No. WOCs: 2

2023 events: Middle, Relay

What do you think of the WOC terrain: Really nice terrains, lots of detail to make it tricky. Some fast running but other places to really slow down and get things right

Favourite biscuit: Digestive cream

Orienteering strength: All-rounder. Not the fastest or the best navigator, but pretty OK at both

Favourite Map/Terrain: Fontainebleau, France

Result most proud of: JK 2011 mini relay gold

Favourite Irish mountain: Sliabh Liag. Lovely mountain with fantastic cliffs and some nice scrambling if you’re up for it.

Name: Ruairi Short

Instagram: @ruairishort

Age: 34

Hometown: Blessington, Wicklow

Currently living: Dublin

Club(s): @cnocorienteers , @oklinne

No. WOCs: 8

2023 events: Middle, Relay

What do you think of the WOC terrain: Very interesting detailed areas which will provide some great technical courses. Thick enough forest in places too so having the confidence to push through it will be key.

Favourite biscuit: Mikado

Orienteering strength: Navigation

Favourite Map/Terrain: Lunsen, Uppsala, Sweden

Result most proud of: JHI 2007 M18 1st

Favourite Irish mountain: Diamond Hill, Connemara. Great childhood memories from climbing it many summers.

Name: Colm Moran

Instagram: @colmmemaybe_yo

Age: 30

Hometown: Dublin

Currently living: Edinburgh

Club: @3rockorienteering@interlopersedinburgh

No. WOCs: 5

2023 events: Middle, Long, Relay

What do you think of the WOC terrain: A fascinating blend of vague hillside and intricate rock detail, fun.

Favourite biscuit: Fox’s Golden Crunch

Orienteering strength: contours – nothing else matters

Favourite Map/Terrain: Aveyron limestone (Les Bouzigasses)

Result most proud of: WUOC 2016 Beer Relay Gold

Favourite Irish mountain: Big Gun (An Gunna Mór)

Orienteering Ireland Selection Announcement World Championships 2023, Flims & Laax Switzerland

Orienteering Ireland is delighted to announce the athletes selected to represent Ireland at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) in Switzerland from the 11th-16th of July 2023.

Middle Distance

Ladies: Clodagh Moran

Men: Paul Pruzina,Colm Moran & Ruairi Short

Reserve: Laurence Quinn

Long Distance

Ladies: Clodagh Moran

Men: Colm Moran
Reserve: Paul Pruzina

Relay Men

Colm Moran, Ruairi Short, Paul Pruzina

Orienteering Ireland would like to wish all the athletes the very best of luck at the Championships.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the selectors for this years WOC.

Jens – High Performance Manager

WOC Test Races and Training Camp for Team Ireland

Our senior elite team will be heading to Switzerland this week for their final preparation and selection for WOC 2023!

And here is the team heading over:

  • Zoë Tyner
  • Clodagh Moran
  • Cillin Corbett
  • Seamus O’Boyle
  • Laurence Quinn
  • Colm Moran
  • Ruairi Short
  • Paul Pruzina

We will be on various training maps between May 31st and June 2nd in the Flims Laax region. The athletes will take part in three rounds of test races between June 3rd and June 6th.

To give you a taste of the Swiss training, check out the map for a middle distance :

There won’t be GPS tracking, however you can follow your favourite athlete through live results here : https://woc2023.app/live

For more information why don’t you head over to the WOC 2023 page for all information. https://woc2023.app/teams

Send your athlete good luck wishes on their social media channels, or on the Orienteering Ireland social media channels!

Good luck folks and enjoy, the weather promises to be great.

European Orienteering Championships ’23 Application Policy

EOC 2023 logo
EOC & World Cup Round #3 application policy

Senior Elite Squad Updates & Changes

Orienteering sport at the world level is an absolute top sport. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognises the sport that is not (yet) part of the Olympic Games. Inclusion in the Olympic program is one of the declared goals of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

World and European championships are held in all four orienteering sports. A world ranking list is kept. There is a World Cup for all orienteering disciplines, an unofficial European Cup is the counterpart to this.

In the dominant orienteering nations are several athletes who train at a professional level and can make a living from their sport, at least temporarily. Paid coaches are standard, not only for the national teams but also for many clubs in these nations.

In addition to the international title fights, the big Scandinavian club relays, such as the Tiomila, the 25-manna in Sweden, or the Jukola and the Venla in Finland, enjoy high prestige.

At international championships and the World Cup live reporting via TV and the Internet is now standard.

Orienteering sport in Ireland is currently far away from such conditions. The Irish athletes are currently not among the best in the world in orienteering sports.

Nevertheless, talented athletes and committed coaches take a lot of time and effort to assert themselves in the best possible way. 

I am delighted to announce a new elite senior squad policy, guidelines, and application process for the competition year 2024.

And here are the soundbites of what’s new:

  • Performance guidelines for athletes/coaches & guidelines for international competition results
  • A new & comprehensive application form for anyone eligible wishing to be part of the senior team for the competition year cycle
  • The application deadline for the senior squad team is October 30 annually.
  • Senior squad team announcement in November annually.
  • An annual publication of the season calendar in November which includes dates for training camps, test races, and relevant national and international competitions

The relevant documents can be downloaded here

Orienteering in Ireland
  • Orienteering Ireland
    Irish Sport HQ
    Blanchardstown
    D15 DY62
    Ireland
  • fixtures@orienteering.ie
  • info@orienteering.ie