Portugal O Meet 2020

In the run up to the selection of Irish athletes for World orienteering Championships our senior athletes attend a number of World Ranking events across Europe. These enable athletes to qualify for selection both to gain a place at the Championships and ultimately to be eligible for selection on the Irish Team. The races also give fantastic racing and training opportunities on high quality maps and varied terrain, testing athletes fitness as well as orienteering.

Niamh Corbett, Kevin O’Boyle, Niall McCarthy and Cillin Corbett attended the Portugal O Meet (POM) , a four day competition to count along with two more sprint races as a separate event. There was a world ranking long distance race on the Sunday – Niall was best of the Irish in M21E category finishing in 36th place. The race was over 18.5km with a 395m climb, check out his run on Strava!

Niamh Corbett had some great runs finishing fifth overall in W21E in the Portugal O Meet (5 person podium, hence the medal!) and second in the sprint in W21E. She also finished with a fantastic 8th place in the World ranking Forest race over 13.3km and 285m climb.

Kevin ran well in the Sprint races finishing 7th overall in the combined sprint results with 9th and 12th place finishes on the day and night sprints respectively.

Map courtesy of http://omaps.worldofo.com/

Debbie Whelan

If you have an orienteering story or news piece to post please contact me on comms@orienteering.ie