Orienteering Ireland presents three annual awards. These awards are of equal status and reflect our community’s recognition of an individual’s contribution to the sport.
This is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding service or performance in our sport. It recognises exceptional efforts in a single year or a long term contribution that makes a lasting impact on our sport.
Frank Ryan of WEGO was awarded this year’s award in recognition of his decades of service to orienteering. From organising countless Irish Championships, to holding numerous long-term positions on our Executive Committee, Frank has had a lasting impact on our sport not only in his native west of Ireland, but nationally over the years.
This awarded for the development of orienteering with awardees being nominated by our members. Activities such as creating a new map, a new technology, bringing our sport to a new part of the country, revitalising a neglected area of our sport, staging a major event etc are typical of the work done by our previous award winners.
Dónal Dowd of KerryO was awarded this year’s Mac Tíre award for his continued work promoting our sport in Kerry and for his innovative work in KerryO by introducing new technology and social events for club members. He is also a coordinator of the Kerry & South-West leagues.
Introduced in 2012, this is awarded to members of our National Squads who perform to a high level at an international event.
The most recent recipients of our Performance Excellence awards are Aoife McCavana & Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan for their performances at EOC 2023
